BUMKT5902 Marketing Management

Group Assignment – Marketing Report

This document contains the details for the individual assignment for BUMKT5902 Marketing Management. Included are aspects such as:

• The assignment overview;
• The assignment instructions;
• How the assignments are to be formatted; and
• How it will be assessed by using an Assessment Criteria Sheet.

You should read this in conjunction with the Course Description, which contains other pertinent information on submission, etc. It is your responsibility to fully acquaint yourself with these requirements. If you are not clear on any aspect, please speak with your lecturer who will be happy to clarify any questions.

Overview of the Assignment

Marketing, as you will learn this semester, is a very purposeful activity. It’s no accident that you, as a consumer, are exposed to the Marketing communications you see every day across numerous channels. Behind these messages and campaigns, notably those that target the correct consumers and are well-executed, is a huge amount of research. Marketers draw on information from a variety of sources to develop a clear understanding of the value their product or service provides, how to reach their target market, and how changes in the environments will impact their Marketing efforts.

This information can be uncovered by conducting a Situation Analysis, which is designed to identify trends within the Microenvironments and Macro-environments to better understand the current business environment, customers and the business’ capabilities. Another approach, and the one adopted for this assignment, is to instead use a SWOT Analysis to really focus on the key areas a business should be focusing on in moving forward with their new product or service.

The purpose of this assignment is for students to write a marketing report and give a presentation using the SWOT Analysis as a point to step off from. Groups will begin by selecting a business, either one they are familiar with, one they work for or, if you are wanting to pursue a more entrepreneurial path, a side business you have launched. The group will then identify a new product that the company is going to launch (it doesn’t have to be ‘new to world’, but at least new to the company). This product should be congruent with the company’s image and align with its current offerings. Such an assignment is designed to meet a number of objectives:

• Demonstrate your understanding of Marketing theory and its application in practice
• Integrate Marketing theory with research to provide an in-depth discussion of the relevant marketing environments
• Apply what is being learned in this course directly to a real-life example you may be invested in
• Create a deeper understanding of the content from the course as it relates to the assignment

General Formatting Requirements for the Report

For those students who are unfamiliar or do not feel confident with academic writing, there are many sources on the Federation University and Library websites. The formatting of assignments should adhere to the following requirements:

• Report format—business (not an essay)
• Follow the headings outlined under the Assignment Instructions section
• Use a report Title page containing all of the relevant information
• The Executive Summary is placed before the Table of Contents and does not contribute to the word count
• The Table of Contents can be inserted using the following steps in Word: click on References, click Table of Contents and automate the process. If you have tables and figures, you may want to consider having a Table of Tables and a Table of Figures shown after the Table of Contents. It’s usually easier to take this approach rather than try and format them manually when the assignment is finished
• Correct page numbering (g., the Cover Page is not numbered, the number format for the Executive Summary and the Table of Contents is i, ii, etc. The body of the report starting with the Introduction is numbered 1, 2, 3, etc.)
• Do not write in the first or second person (I, we, our)—write in the third person only
• Proof-read before submission for spelling, grammatical and logic errors
• Fonts should be plain and easy to read (g., Tahoma, Arial, Times New Roman)
• Font size is typically between 10 and 12 for the body of the assignment
• Paragraphs are to be fully justified
• Paragraph spacing typically uses one space before and after a paragraph
• Line spacing should be set to single
• Any tables and diagrams used should be labelled (they do not form part of the word count)
• APA referencing style to be used (information on this can be found at the following link: http://federation.edu.au/current-students/learning-and-study/online-help-with/referencing)

Turnitin

You are required to submit your report via the Turnitin tab in the course’s Moodle shell. Turnitin is an electronic text matching system that compares text in a student assignment against a database of sources. The database contains copies of the electronic text on the Internet, in published works, on commercial databases, and in assignments previously submitted to Turnitin by students in universities all over the world, including assignments obtained from Internet sites that sell student papers. This will help you identify where your referencing requires attention so that you can minimise plagiarism occurrences.

Group Assignment: Marketing Report (20 Marks) & Presentation (10 Marks)—Total (30 Marks)

Assessment Task Two: Report (20 Marks)

Assignment Instructions

Students are to use the following format for the marketing report:

Title Page

Executive Summary

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. Company Introduction
3. Brief Industry Overview
4. SWOT Analysis
5. Segmentation, Targeting & Positioning
1. Segmentation
2. Targeting
3. Positioning
6. Marketing Mix
1. Product
2. Price
3. Place
4. Promotion
7. Conclusion

References

Appendices (if applicable)

To reiterate, the purpose of this assignment is for you to demonstrate your understanding of marketing theory and its application in practice. This assignment requires you to integrate marketing theory and company activity to demonstrate an understanding of key marketing concepts.

After the group has chosen a business, students will briefly introduce their chosen company and briefly explain some key features of the industry it operated within. A SWOT Analysis will then be conducted, which will help to shed some light as to what a suitable new product might be. The remainder of the assignment is designed to explain how the new product is going to be sold. Using marketing theory, academic research and industry research among others, the students will identify how the market will be segmented, and how the product will be both targeted and positioned to the target market. Following this, the product will be explained in the context of the 4 Ps (product, price place, and promotion) also using marketing theory and research to justify the suggestions being made. For an assignment of this size, we would expect to see a minimum of 20 original references used.

Assessment Task Two: Presentation (10 Marks)

The aim of the presentation component of this assessment is for students to share, in a professionally-styled delivery, their assignments with their peers. The presentation should follow a similar structure to the report, with students focusing on the key information from their assignments, adequately explaining the research behind the assignment and justifying the suggestions being made. Imagine you are part of a Marketing team actually pitching your research and strategies for the new product. All students should have an equal part in developing and delivering the presentation.

BUMKT5902 Group Assignment: Report Marking Criteria

BUMKT5902 Assignment 2: Presentation Marking Criteria

Extra Assessment Task Resources

Below is a range of resources that will assist you throughout your degree. As you are seeking to enhance your problem solving skills and demonstrate an “advanced and integrated understanding of a complex body of knowledge” (AQF Level 9 – Masters http://www.aqf.edu.au/aqf/in-detail/aqf-levels/). It is critical that you can demonstrate a structured approach to your thinking.

Your assessment is graded based on you meeting the AQF Level 9 requirements. There is an expectation that you are using the resources below or the resources available to you in the assignment folder to assist in achieving this.

Logic

If you want to improve the strength of your argument/writing it strongly recommended that you read:

The Case Study Handbook: How to Read, Discuss, and Write Persuasively About Cases by William Ellet. This book is an excellent resource in any degree where creating a logical, coherent argument in support of a recommendation or key insight is the primary focus (e.g. a business degree). http://www.amazon.com/Case-Study-Handbook-Discuss-Persuasively-ebook/dp/B0106P71RS/ref=mt_kindle?_encoding=UTF8&me=

Key Business Solutions: Essential problem-solving tools and techniques that every manager needs to know (Financial Times Series) 1st Edition by Antonio E. Weiss . This book has an excellent approach to problem solving as well as providing a description of all the main tools of business analysis.  http://www.amazon.com/Key-Business-Solutions-problem-solving-techniques-ebook/dp/B00A8EZL7A/ref=mt_kindle?_encoding=UTF8&me=

Think Smarter: Critical Thinking to Improve Problem-Solving and Decision-Making Skills by Michael Kallet. Simple and yet detailed book on how to approach problem solving. http://www.amazon.com/Think-Smarter-Critical-Problem-Solving-Decision-Making-ebook/dp/B00JOIGXP0/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1445814846&sr=8-1

Writing

If you are not familiar with writing in a business context it is strongly recommended you read: HBR Guide to Better Business Writing by Bryan A. Garner.  http://www.amazon.com/Guide-Better-Business-Writing-Series-ebook/dp/B00B0YPJ0G

Presenting

If you are not familiar with presenting in a business context it is strongly recommended you read: HBR Guide to Persuasive Presentations by Nancy Durate. She teaches Harvard students how to present. You will find some excellent presentations by her on Youtube. http://www.amazon.com/HBR-Guide-Persuasive-Presentations-Series-ebook/dp/B009G1W9JO/ref=pd_sim_351_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=1DHZJH3QV7CE72ME7M7K 

Presentation Zen by Garr Reynolds. Fantastic book if you want to break free on boring and unengaging presentations. http://www.amazon.com/Presentation-Zen-Simple-Delivery-Edition/dp/0321811984