marketing operations fundamentals

Your report should be no more than 3 pages and not to exceed 1,500 words (excluding cover page, exhibits and list of references). Points will be taken off if you exceed this limit.

USE THE TEMPLATE TITLED “Company Strategy Team Paper Template” (at the end of this document) as a starting point for your report. You should know that your paper is not really an Essay. It is more like a report. You need to include all Section titles (the numbered headings in the template) and all the Sub-section headings (the underlined parts in each section of the template) in your write-up, just as they are shown in the template.

As part of this assignment, you will discuss the following:

1. Company Overview –Provide a brief description of your company (not just your product). [no more than 150 words]

· Include the following:

· A general statement of the “business” the company is in.

· Indicate if public or privately held. Provide a brief analysis of their financial position (note whether they are in a strong or weak position). Are they growing, declining or stagnant?

· Is the industry (category) growing or declining? (provide growth figures). What is your company’s market share? Who are the main competitors?

· Satisfaction ratings for both employees and consumers.

· Provide a brief summary statement of the company’s SWOT analysis, and provide a copy of the SWOT analysis in the appendix.

2. Company’s vision, mission- Identify and critically evaluate the company’s: [no more than 200 words]

· Vision - Futurist outlook of the organization—where the company is going in the long-term.

· Mission - The primary purpose of the organization—what the organization currently does.

To do this, go to your company’s website and find their mission and vision statements or the closest information that resembles these concepts; not all companies will list those clearly so do your best here. If you find specific statements, include them in quotes in your document and clearly identify which is which. Evaluate your company’s mission/vision statement critically. Are these statements clear and accurate or feel exaggerated? Do they describe adequately and precisely what the vision and mission are for your product? If your company does not have clear statements for their mission & vision, then create what you think will be good statements for them; be brief.

3. Value Proposition - Unique value provided to customers from your product

Provide a description of all the products (goods/services) the company provides and the specific product your team is researching.  Be sure to include the tangible (goods) and intangible (services) aspects of the product. For your product, discuss the following:

· Describe the ideal customers that the good/service is intended for.

· What wants/needs does the product (good/service/experience) fulfill? What are the key features of the product?  What make customers choose this company’s product/service rather than its competitors?

4. Core Competency(ies) - Distinctive/core competency(ies) of the company.  [no more than 300 words]

What resources (tangible and intangible) and capabilities does your company utilize in order to deliver the value identified in part 3)? In other words, what does your company excel at -with respect to your product-that allows it to provide customers with the value you identified? To answer this, begin with the Strengths part of the SWOT analysis and also the company’s 10K report, and then expand by searching for articles relating to strategy, strengths, and capabilities [for example, Brand name recognition may be a strength mentioned in the SWOT analysis; what resources do they need to maintain that? As another example, the company may have strong logistics/supply chain capabilities; what resources do the need for that? ].

5. Overall Strategy - Competitive Priorities & Porter’s Framework [no more than 300 words]

· Include in quotes Part 1, Item 1 (General statement) from your company’s 10K report (sometimes this general statement in part 1 describes or hints at the company’s strategy). (If it’s too long, put in Appendix). What other information from the 10K report have you found that relates to strategy?

· Discuss your product's strategy according to Porter's framework (cost vs. differentiation; see strategy lecture notes) .

· Identify the key competitive priorities (cost, speed, quality, location, flexibility, value added service, sustainability) for your product and provide your reasoning for each priority. (Choose these only from the list of competitive priorities presented in strategy lecture notes.) How do these competitive priorities relate to the value proposition you stated in Part 3?

6. Summary [no more than 200 words]

· Provide a concise but complete summary statement synthesizing all the information you discussed in all prior parts about your company’s strategy and the competitive position of your product.

7. References

Please cite all your sources appropriately throughout the paper and reference them in this section.

Below are databases to consider for your research (in addition to resources that the Library guide provides):

Companies in an Industry:

1.       Business Insights Essentials

2.       LexisNexis Academic

3. IBISWorld Industry Market Research

SWOT Analyses:

1.       Business Insights Essentials

2.       Business Source Complete – MarketLine Reports 

Brand Share:

1.       Mintel Reports

2.       Euromonitor Passport

Customer Satisfaction: