Posted: September 13th, 2017

Principles of Marketing

MKTG 301 – Principles of Marketing
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THE AMERICAN UNIVERSITY IN DUBAI MKTG 301 – PRINCIPLES OF MARKETING Group Project Outline Spring 2015
The purpose of this project assignment(10% of final grade) is to provide you with an opportunity for hands-on experience in analyzing and evaluating marketing strategies of a multinational, international, national, or local product or service company.
Choose one of the following companies as your intended analysis, and take note of the
given assumption:
a. Sony UAE (http://www.sony-mea.com/microsite/uae/index.html)
Assuming Sony UAE is to launch a new type of hifi system.
b. Lenovo UAE (http://www.lenovo.com/ae/en/index.html)
Assuming Lenovo is to introduce a mid-range priced 4G smartphone through its own exclusive outlets in various shopping mall in Dubai.
c. Unilever Middle East (http://www.unileverme.com/our-brands/detail/Clear/333477/?WT.contenttype=view%20brands)
Assuming Unilever ME is to develop a new shampoo for senior citizens. It is to market under the Clear brand in Dubai.
d. Uniqlo (http://www.uniqlo.com/us/)
Assuming Uniqlo is to setup a physical store and an online website to market its latest collection of fast fashion.
GROUPS
Students will be allowed to form groups amongst themselves. Project groups will be based on 3 students(max) per group. Because this is a GROUP project, equal participation of each group member is crucial. Individual participation in the group project will be assessed by both the instructor and anonymous group-peer evaluations to be filled out during the later stages of the semester. Negative feedback may adversely impact a student’s final grade.
THE PAPER
? The written report should have enough depth and be clearly written in order to usefully inform the reader as you would strive to do in a report to stockholders, investors, or management. The report must be typed in Times New Roman (12 point) font, line spacing of 1.5 with a minimum of 3000 words(about 15 pages) (excluding appendices , references and tables).
The final paper is due by 12pm(noon) sharp on Apr 15th.
Five minutes late is still late. No excuses. You have been warned!
You must follow the structure provided below.
Submit it to www.turnitin.com (Folder: Submission of Project).
Create an account on turnitin.com with these details:
Class ID: 9261805; Enrollment Password: MKTG301B
One student from the group should submit. Ensure all names are on the submitted paper.
Make sure you INCLUDE your Names & Student ID on the first page of the report.
There is NO need to submit the report as a hardcopy or via an email attachment.
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INFORMATION AND REFERENCES
Groups may use both Library and Internet/Email sources and references for the analysis. It is the group’s responsibility to report the source of the information they use. Please note that Wikipedia is not acceptable for referencing.
The HBR format of referencing is preferred. See the attachment in Blackboard for more explanation on referencing.
MARKING CRITERIA
The criteria to grade the report will be based on a scale of 1 (very poor) to 10 (very good) as shown:
Criteria for Group Project Report
Quality of Analysis includes critical thinking, evaluations, and justifications
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Quality of Content, Explanation and Relevance of theory used
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Quality of the section on The Executive Summary
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Quality of the section on The Industry Analysis
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Quality of the section on Company Background
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Quality of the section on Marketing Strategy
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Quality of the section on Contingency Plan and Evaluation
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Abide the report requirement (including softcopy, report structure and format)
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Appropriateness, Application and Usage of Trade and Academic Journals
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OUTLINE/FORMAT OF YOUR ASSIGNMENT:
The project assignment will have the following Four mandatory sections (1. Executive Summary, 2. Industry Analysis, 3. Company Background, 4. Marketing Strategy) of a typical marketing plan. Therefore, your company selection must consider the project requirements realistically. That is, select a company about which you can learn deeply enough to produce useful and substantive project report sections as described below.
1. THE EXECUTIVE SUMMARY (at least 1.5 pages)
In this section, you are to summarize and highlight the important factors of your entire report. It should be concise and precise. Relevant numbers and percentage should be used to emphasize the important consideration of this plan. This summary sells the plan through its clarity and brevity.
2. INDUSTRY ANALYSIS (at least 3 pages)
In this section, you will analyze the industry of the company you selected. For example, if your company manufactures detergents, you must provide an analysis of the detergent industry.
The Industry Analysis section, at minimum, must include (1) definition and size of the industry, (2) names and market size of the key competitors in the industry, (3) a discussion of any differential advantages and liabilities of key competitors in terms of product lines and/or marketing strategies as well as other major industry analysis items as described in the text and discussed in the class.
Note that this major section of your project basically corresponds to the uncontrollable and environmental analysis section of a typical marketing plan. Therefore, the section must have a comprehensive and informing coverage of all the relevant macro-environmental issues, market analysis, competitor analysis, and other related material. Trends, opportunities and threats of the industry must be carefully outlined and analyzed in this section.
3. COMPANY BACKGROUND (at least 1.5 pages)
This section will present an assessment of the company being studied. At minimum, you must include a review of the company history, historical sales data, company size, complete description of product lines and brands, etc. This section corresponds to the internal marketing audit section of a typical marketing plan and your presentation must deeply and critically assess the internal strengths and weaknesses of your company.
Many companies have multiple product lines. It is your job to restrict the topic to a workable level. For example, Sony sells over 100,000 items; you must limit your project to a workable level such as a single product line like “TV sets for the household use”.
4. MARKETING STRATEGY (This section have 5 main parts,namely: I, II, III, IV & V)
In this section, you will prepare an analysis of a marketing problem facing the company. An issue that involves strategy or any of the 4P’s in the marketing mix will work – a price issue, a new product introduction, a segmentation or positioning issue, an advertising or promotion strategy, and the like. You must present your analysis using the technical approaches described in the text and in class to describe and demonstrate the marketing strategy or problem.
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Make use of all the data sources that you can access to in identifying your marketing strategy, in elaborating on it, and in developing suggestions or solutions. Your text, various case studies (in your text or elsewhere), business and marketing journals and magazines (local, national, international), trade and industry journals, company visits, the internet, etc. are some of the data sources that might be useful in your inquiry.
I. MARKETING STRATEGY OVERVIEW
A. Marketing Strategy Statement (at least 1 page)
A broad statement of the marketing strategy you wish to pursue. Some possibilities might be:
– Introduction of a product or service targeted to a certain customer group
– Rejuvenating a declining product
o Roll out of a successful local product to national or overseas markets
B. Objectives
o This should be a statement of the goals of your marketing strategy. Goals should be specific and measurable such as sales, market share, profit or customer equity objectives, timetables, growth rate goals, or more strategic goals such as capturing a leading position in an emerging market. Be as specific as possible and lay out as many goals as you feel are appropriate to guide the strategy.
II. STRATEGIC MARKETING COMPONENTS (at least 2 pages)
A. Branding
o What (if any) branding strategy will you pursue?
o How will you develop and enhance brand equity for your product(s)?
B. Image & Positioning
o If appropriate, how do you wish the product or service to be viewed relative to the competition?
C. The Target Market
o Clearly define the target segments you are marketing to in the country chosen. Support this approach considering competitive issues, consumer trends, etc.
o Try to calculate the potential of this target market — that is, if everyone in the target market bought your product, what would sales or customer lifetime value be? What is a reasonable expectation for a market share or customer equity goal?
D. Sustainable Competitive Advantage (SCA)
o Based on your plan, what will be the SCA for your product or service relative to the competition? (Hint: If you can’t come up with one, it’s probably not a great idea!)
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III. MARKETING TACTICS (at least 3.5 pages)
(Note that each of these needs to be mentioned, but some will get more attention than others)
A. Product Issues
o Differentiating points of your product or service (features, packaging, performance, etc.)
o Description of any research & development needed in support of your product strategy
B. Placement / Distribution
o Broad description of the distribution strategy (channel structure, number of intermediaries, etc.)
o Any novel (differentiating) aspects of your distribution strategy? (e.g., selling direct or through the internet when the competition does not)
C. Pricing
o Broad description of pricing strategy (parity, premium, price leader, etc.)
o Any novel (differentiating) features of pricing strategy?
D. Advertising & Promotions
You should discuss your use of any of the following you plan to utilize:
o Advertising
o Direct (Personal) selling
o Direct marketing
o Sales promotions
o Publicity
o Electronic Commerce / Online website
F. Service Elements
o Are there any unique elements to the service associated with your product that will help you generate a competitive advantage?
IV. IMPLEMENTATION (at least 2 pages)
A. Resources Required
o What human resources, funds ($, DHS or L.E.), corporate assets, training and anything else will be required to make your strategy work (be as specific as possible).
B. Time Line
o Develop a step-by-step plan to roll out your plan (this might be done as a month-by-month plan, for example)
V. Contingency Plan & Evaluation (at least 1 page)
o For this section, you are required to suggest some alternatives strategies if your marketing plan failed. For example: How will you reposition your product if your target market did not accept your product? What will you do with your pricing strategy if it was poorly received by consumers? Will you change your location if there is poor foot traffic to your store? What are additional promotion efforts to be taken if your current marketing campaign failed?
You should reflect on what you have learned in class to implement a back-up plan.
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GENERAL WRITING TIPS AND FORMAT GUIDELINES FOR PAPERS
? Keep your audience and your purpose in mind. Your goal should be to “express,” not “impress.” Therefore, when choosing words and constructing sentences and paragraphs, keep it clear, keep it simple, and keep it moving.
? All pages must be numbered.
? Use 1.5cm top, bottom, and side margins.
? Use 12 point font.
? 1.5 space lines throughout.
? All tables, figures, and exhibits must be labeled and titled. If tables, figures, etc., show data from some other published source, the source must be noted.
? Appendices, tables, figures, etc., must be referenced in the body of the paper, and must be written such that the reader need not read the appendix in order to grasp your key points.
? Proofread your paper carefully and correct all errors. I simply hate sloppy work both on presentations and reports. I will take off points for papers that don’t fit this format. Students may be asked to edit and resubmit a paper due to errors in spelling, grammatical, format, etc.
A WORD ABOUT PLAGIARISM
As with any term paper, the fundamental issue of plagiarism must be outline up-front to avoid any serious consequences in later stages. Plagiarism, in any form, is absolutely unacceptable.
PLAGIARISM – A DEFINITION
Plagiarism is the act of using another person’s words, ideas, or solutions without acknowledging the source and includes the unacknowledged (undocumented) use of someone else’s idea, even if it isn’t their exact words (May and May, 1996).
The simplest form of plagiarism is the use of small portions of the written work of another (either word for word or paraphrased). More complex and severe instances include the use of the outline and bibliography of another person’s paper, copying significant portions of another person’s work (e.g., entire sentences, paragraphs, or sections), and the misrepresentation of an entire paper as your own work (e.g., the purchase of a paper or the use of an entire paper from a previous semester). Plagiarism can also apply to non-textual material (e.g., graphs and figures).
Wilhoit (1994, p. 161-164 ) lists the following as types of plagiarism:
? Buying a paper from a research service or a term paper mill
? Turning in another student’s work without that student’s knowledge
? Turning in a paper a peer has written for the student
? Copying a paper from a source text without proper acknowledgment
? Copying materials from a source text, supplying proper documentation, but leaving out quotation marks
? Paraphrasing materials from a source text without appropriate documentation
? Turning in a paper from a “free term paper” website
Plagiarism also includes looking at former students’ work, using unacknowledged Internet solutions, and any other act that represents others’ thoughts or work as your own.
WHAT TO DO?
Term projects and research papers are normally completed using information from other sources. This is appropriate as long as the material you include in your assignment is properly cited and referenced. Kindly adopt the HBR format for referencing.