Sophia Miles - Marketing research

Homework 5 (Individual and Team components) The New Meaning of Corporate Social Responsibility

Learning Goal:

• Understanding sustainable (in multiple senses) competitive advantage • Why do this? Because your client's value proposition and source of competitive

advantage should be front and center as you head in to your focus group and developing your questionnaire.

Issues we have covered so far with past homework:

1. Business problem vs. research problem (what's the decision) 2. Why not just focus on profit (Friedman) 3. Researching the value proposition (Responsible Company) 4. Current sustainability trends (example of situation analysis)

Low-Stakes (Individual, due on Canvas Oct 16 before class starts): Read the following essay, then answer the following question (~ 1 page). Drucker, "The New Meaning of Corporate Social Responsibility." (link on Canvas).

• What does Drucker mean that to do well business must do good? Include a current example (besides Patagonia) to illustrate you answer.

Low-Stakes (Team, in-class on Thursday, due on Canvas Oct 16 when class ends): As a team, discuss your current individual assignments, and then create a PowerPoint deck that integrates your individual work with the following information:

• What does Drucker mean that to do well business must do good? • List 2 or 3 current examples (besides Patagonia) of companies you think are doing good

as Drucker intends, and why. Now focus on your client

• Describe your client's value proposition as best you understand it. They likely do not have one, so this will be mostly to entirely guesswork and assumptions.

• Does your client's value proposition fit within Drucker's meaning? Why or why not? • What do you think is your client's source of competitive advantage (points of

differentiation)? Again, guesswork. For teams working with campus or government organizations, think about what is similarly competing for "customer" time.

• Can these points be maintained (are they sustainable) for the next few years, or not? • You should find most of these questions related to your client difficult to near impossible

to answer. What would you like to clarify with either your upcoming focus group or survey?

Value proposition template: • For... the target market • Who seek... the benefit that addresses their problem • We provide... the solution features that provide the benefit • Unlike competitors... the point(s) of differentiation • You can believe this because... evidence supporting the claims

Evaluation (Descriptive) Score 3 2 1 0 Individual Clear and thoughtful

explanation of Drucker's intent as well as a current example

General understanding and explanation of Drucker's intent as well as a current example

Incomplete or poor and explanation of Drucker's intent with poor or no current example

Not turned in on time

Score 5-6 3-4 1-2 0 Team Good integration of

individual work on Drucker. Good work describing what you think is your client's value proposition and points of differentiation, and fine to lean heavily on explicit assumptions and guesswork.

Basic integration of individual work on Drucker. Basic work describing what you think is your client's value proposition and points of differentiation. Some assumptions and guesswork remain implicit.

Incomplete or poor integration of individual work on Drucker. Poor work describing what you think is your client's value proposition and points of differentiation. Most assumptions and guesswork remain implicit.

Not turned in on time, or absent