Product Analysis

Required Resources

The following resources are required to complete the assessment.

Capella Resources

Click the links provided to view the following resources:

· Product Lifecycle Worksheet.

Suggested Resources

The following optional resources are provided to support you in completing the assessment or to provide a helpful context. For additional resources, refer to the Research Resources and Supplemental Resources in the left navigation menu of your courseroom.

Capella Resources

Click the links provided to view the following resources:

· Assessment 4 Context.

Library Resources

The following e-books or articles from the Capella University Library are linked directly in this course.

· Ruskin-Brown, I. (2006).  Mastering marketing  (2nd ed.). London, GBR: Thorogood Publishing.

· McDonald, M., & Wilson, H. (2011).  Marketing plans: How to prepare them, how to use them  (7th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

· Kermally, S. (2004).  Gurus on marketing . London, GBR: Thorogood Publishing.

Course Library Guide

A Capella University library guide has been created specifically for your use in this course. You are encouraged to refer to the resources in the BUS-FP3030 – Fundamentals of Marketing and Sales Library Guide to help direct your research.

Internet Resources

Access the following resources by clicking the links provided. Please note that URLs change frequently. Permissions for the following links have been either granted or deemed appropriate for educational use at the time of course publication.

· Marketing Power, Inc. (2013).  American Marketing Association . Retrieved from http://www.marketingpower.com/Pages/default.aspx

· Hoover's, Inc. (2013).  Hoovers . Retrieved from http://www.hoovers.com

· The Ad Age Group. (2014).  AdvertisingAge . Retrieved from http://adage.com

· Direct Marketing Association. (2013).  DMA: Advancing and protecting responsible data-driven marketing . Retrieved from http://thedma.org

· Concept Marketing Group Inc. (2013).  Concept Marketing Group . Retrieved from http://www.marketingsource.com

· Strategic Business Insights . (2013). Retrieved from http://www.strategicbusinessinsights.com

· Strategic Business Insights. (2013). The VALS survey. Retrieved from http://www.strategicbusinessinsights.com/vals/presurvey.shtml 

. You are encouraged to complete the VALS Survey, then address the Questions to Consider.

Books

· Lamb, C. W., Hair, J. F., & McDaniel, C. (2019). MKTG 12 (12th ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning. Available in the courseroom via the VitalSource Bookshelf link. 

· Ries, A., & Trout, J. (1994). The 22 immutable laws of marketing. New York, NY: Harper Business. Available in the courseroom via the VitalSource Bookshelf link. 

Instructions

For this assessment, consider that you work as a marketing analyst for a consulting firm and that your manager asked you to develop an analysis white paper that will be used for marketing purposes to showcase the firm’s consulting capabilities.

Choose a product or service made by an organization that is large enough to generate primary as well as secondary research resources. Research the product or service and write an analysis of your findings. In your analysis:

· Describe the company and relate the product or service to the mission or values of the company.

· Assess how well a company's product or service meets customer requirements related to a product or service.

· Analyze the company's competition in relation to its product or service.

· Explain how product positioning strategies contribute to competitive advantage in the marketplace, and assess strengths or weaknesses of the strategies used.

· Explain how the company's product strategy attempts to carve out a niche or maintain market share leadership. Consider branding, design, product positioning, and other relevant product-related elements.

Based on your executive audience, your case study should be well organized and written in clear, succinct language. Follow APA rules for attributing sources that support your analysis and conclusions.

Academic Integrity and APA Formatting

As a reminder related to using APA rules to ensure academic honesty:

1. When using a direct quote (using exact or nearly exact wording), you must enclose the quoted wording in quotation marks, immediately followed by an in-text citation. The source must then be listed in your references page.

2. When paraphrasing (using your own words to describe a non-original idea), the paraphrased idea must be immediately followed by an in-text citation and the source must be listed in your references page.