Week 8 Assignment MFC

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Course Schedule

WMBA 6060: Marketing for Competitiveness

This Course Schedule outlines the assignments and due dates for the course. For full assignment details and directions, refer to the corresponding area in the course.

Week 1 What Is Marketing?

Resources Readings

• Document: Week 1 Weekly Briefing (PDF)

• Perreault Jr., W. D., Cannon, J. P., & McCarthy, E. J. (2014). Basic marketing: A marketing strategy planning approach (19th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

o Chapter 1, “Marketing’s Value to Consumers, Firms, and

Society” (pp. 2–29)

o Chapter 2, “Marketing Strategy Planning” (pp. 30–55)

• Comstock, B., Gulati, R., & Liguori, S. (2010). Unleashing the power of marketing. Harvard Business Review, 88(10), 90–98. Retrieved from https://hbsp.harvard.edu/tu/66154da5

Media

• Laureate Education (Producer). (2014). Course infographic

[infographic]. Baltimore, MD: Author.

• Laureate Education (Producer). (2011b). Keith Ferrazzi on marketing [Video]. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Discussion 1 Marketing and Market Share

Post by Day 3 the following:

Week 1 What Is Marketing?

• A brief description of the company you selected, including its products or services and the market or markets it serves.

• Describe two marketing strategies that firms can select for growing their market share domestically.

• Explain which of the two marketing strategies you selected should be adopted by your chosen company to continue its growth in its current domestic market, and explain why this strategy would be effective.

• Explain whether the company should use this same marketing strategy to grow internationally or into other markets or regions or whether it needs to employ a different one.

• Give an example of how the marketing strategy (or strategies) you have selected would apply in the domestic and international context. Provide a rationale to support your conclusions.

Respond by Day 5 to two or more of your colleagues in one or both of the following ways:

• Suggest a change in the strategy chosen by the colleague to

increase your colleague’s company’s domestic market share. Explain why you think your suggestion would improve the anticipated outcomes or effectiveness of the strategy.

• Suggest a change in the strategy chosen by the colleague to increase your colleague’s company’s international market share. Explain why you think your suggestion would improve the anticipated outcomes or effectiveness of the strategy.

Discussion 2 Shared Practice: What Influences the Choice of Products and Services?

Post by Day 5 a list describing two activities that you did over a weekend, along with the following:

• Describe any products or services you used or purchased to

engage in these activities and the brand used or purchased. • For which of these products do you think the brand was the most

important influence in your choice? Explain your position. Respond by Day 7 to two or more of your colleagues in one or more of the following ways:

• Share a key influence related to choosing a brand that a

colleague posted that you may have overlooked in your initial posting. Be specific about why that influence would (or would

Week 1 What Is Marketing?

not) be appropriate for you in choosing a product or service and give examples from your experience that support your observation.

• Using one of your colleagues’ activities, explain how that particular activity would lead to certain choices or products, services, or brands and why.

• Expand on a colleague’s post by offering additional factors that could influence product/service use or selection or brand preference.

Week 2 What Do You Need To Know About Marketing Strategy?

Resources Readings

• Document: Week 2 Weekly Briefing (PDF)

• Perreault Jr., W. D., Cannon, J. P., & McCarthy, E. J. (2014). Basic marketing: A marketing strategy planning approach (19th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

o Chapter 3, “Evaluating Opportunities in the Changing

Market Environment” (pp. 56–85)

o Chapter 4, “Focusing Marketing Strategy with Segmentation and Positioning” (pp. 86–115)

• American Diabetes Association. (n.d.). Type 2 diabetes risk

assessment. Retrieved from http://www.diabetes.org/are-you-at- risk/diabetes-risk-test/

• Galford, R. M., & Maruca, R. F. (2011). Your leadership legacy.

Retrieved from http://www.yourleadershiplegacy.com/assessment/assessment.p hp

• Kellogg School of Management. (n.d.). How creative are you?

Retrieved from http://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/faculty/uzzi/ftp/page176.htm l

• The Nielson Company. (n.d.). Who is My Most Valuable

Consumer? Retrieved from https://segmentationsolutions.nielsen.com/mybestsegments/

Week 2 What Do You Need To Know About Marketing Strategy?

• Strategic Business Insights. (n.d.). The US VALS survey.

Retrieved from http://www.strategicbusinessinsights.com/vals/presurvey.shtml

• U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Investor.gov. (n.d.).

Assessing your risk tolerance. Retrieved from https://investor.gov/investing-basics/guiding- principles/assessing-your-risk-tolerance#.UwZ3d4VFqro

• Porter, M. E. (2008). The five competitive forces that shape

strategy. Harvard Business Review, 86(1), 78–93. Retrieved from hhttps://hbsp.harvard.edu/tu/f931ecab

Media

• Laureate Education (Producer). (2013b). David Nash: Marketing strategy and analysis [Video]. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Discussion Shared Practice: Strategic Market Segmentation

Post by Day 3 the following:

• A description of the assessment (name, sponsoring organization, intention of the results) you took.

• A description of the market segment classifications the assessment revealed (your own classification and the primary classifications (i.e., segments) indicated). Please do not reveal any confidential results.

• An explanation of a strategy a marketer might use with this segmentation classification to influence this segments’ buyer behavior.

• Provide an insight from your own experience in completing the assessment and reflecting on your results. How does this experience shape your future buying behavior or your insights into market segmentation?

Respond by Day 5 to two or more of your colleagues in one or both of the following ways:

• Suggest another way that a marketer might use the

segmentation classification described to influence the segment’s buyer behavior and explain why you think that your suggestion would be effective.

• Suggest another way the colleague’s strategy to influence buyer

Week 2 What Do You Need To Know About Marketing Strategy?

behavior might be perceived by that segment and what the marketer might do about that.

Assignment Application: Porter’s Five Competitive Forces Submit by Day 7 a PowerPoint presentation (9–12 slides excluding title and reference slides, consistent with APA guidelines) that examines the competitive advantage of your chosen organization. Include the following:

• Describe the target market and apparent marketing mix of your

chosen organization. • Conduct a five forces analysis for the selected organization. • Choose a competitor for the selected organization and conduct a

five forces analysis for the chosen competitor. • Finally, evaluate which of the two organizations has the

competitive advantage using your five forces analyses. Be sure to identify any leverage or advantages that your organization has in relation to the chosen competitor. Use facts from the two analyses to support your conclusion.

Be sure to use the Notes view in PowerPoint to provide your analysis, assessment, evidence or examples relevant to each slide.

Week 3 What Motivates Customers To Buy?

Resources Readings

• Document: Week 3 Weekly Briefing (PDF)

• Perreault Jr., W. D., Cannon, J. P., & McCarthy, E. J. (2014). Basic marketing: A marketing strategy planning approach (19th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

o Chapter 5, “Final Consumers and Their Buying Behavior”

(pp. 116–141)

o Chapter 6, “Business and Organizational Customers and Their Buying Behavior” (pp. 142–167)

o Chapter 7, “Improving Decisions with Marketing

Information” (pp. 168–195)

• Davenport, T. H., Mule, L. D., & Lucker, J. (2011). Know what

Week 3 What Motivates Customers To Buy?

your customers want before they do. Harvard Business Review, 89(12), 84–92.

Discussion Marketing in a Complex Environment: Who Needs To Be in the Buying Center?

Post by Day 3 the scenario you chose and your response to the following:

• Identify the scenario you selected. • Provide a list of stakeholders (e.g., person, department

representative) who have influence on buying center decision making and why. Explain the types of influence each person (e.g., person acting individually) might have on the decision and why.

• As the marketing manager for the company hoping to win the business, how would you advise reaching the decision makers to promote your product or service? What obstacles might you encounter and what marketing strategies might work to ensure that you best position a product or service in the minds of the decision makers and buying center?

Respond by Day 5 to two or more of your colleagues in one of the following ways:

• Expand on your colleague’s explanation of why an individual,

department representative or consultant needs to be involved in the buying center. Suggest other entities that might need to be involved in the buying center and explain why.

• Suggest another reason a person or representative mentioned by a colleague needs to be involved in the buying center.

• Offer your observations of another obstacle (or other obstacles) that might be encountered when trying to reach decision makers for a product or service.

• Respond to a colleague who chose another scenario and offer another strategy that might be useful in positioning a product or service.

Assignment Application: Current Challenges and Problems in the Field of Marketing

Submit by Day 7 a paper that includes the following:

• A description of the challenge or problem (e.g., Why is it a

problem? How long has it been going on? What may have

Week 3 What Motivates Customers To Buy?

caused the problem?) • The stakeholders that are affected by this challenge or problem

as well as how they are affected and why it matters • The obstacles that may prevent the challenge from being

resolved or that may make it difficult to resolve or mitigate • The risks and consequences if the challenge or problem is not

resolved or mitigated • The effect of emerging trends on the marketing challenge or

problem • Innovative or current techniques in the field of marketing that

could resolve or mitigate the challenge you have identified with a discussion of why those could be of benefit

• Two solutions that will resolve or mitigate the marketing challenge, with an explanation of why these solutions would be effective

Week 4 What Is a Product and What Is a Service? How Can They Continue

To Be Relevant?

Resources Readings

• Document: Week 4 Weekly Briefing (PDF)

• Perreault Jr., W. D., Cannon, J. P., & McCarthy, E. J. (2014). Basic marketing: A marketing strategy planning approach (19th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

o Chapter 8, “Elements of Product Planning for Goods and

Services” (pp. 196–223)

o Chapter 9, “Product Management and New-Product Development” (pp. 224–251)

• Kvesic, D. Z. (2008). Product lifecycle management: Marketing

strategies for the pharmaceutical industry. Journal of Medical Marketing, 8(4), 293–301.

Media

• Laureate Education (Producer). (2011a). David Nash: Marketing

and new technologies [Video]. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Week 4 What Is a Product and What Is a Service? How Can They Continue To Be Relevant?

Discussion 1 Marketing Services Versus Products

Post by Day 3 the following:

• Referring to your course text, identify three similarities among the marketing of services and products and suggest why you think these similarities exist.

• Identify two differences between the marketing of products and services.

• Compare how easy or difficult it is to customize products and services.

• For a particular service you use, explain how it is standardized for all purchasers or customized for individuals and why this standardization (or customization) is important.

Read your colleagues’ postings.

Respond by Day 5 to two or more colleagues’ posts in one or more of the following ways:

• Provide an example that supports your colleague’s comparison

of the marketing of services and products and explain why you think the example is appropriate.

• Expand on your colleague’s post by offering additional similarities and differences and assess how these similarities and differences impact the customization of products and services.

• Offer an alternative perspective on the importance of the standardization (or customization) of the service your colleague identified. Support your position.

Discussion 2

Shared Practice: Product and Brand Life Cycle Management

Post by Day 5 the following:

• Identify one product or brand that you think is in the growth stage of the PLC. Describe the product industry and provide support for your position.

• Identify a product or brand that you think is in a mature or decline stage or beyond. Describe the product industry and provide support for your position.

Week 4 What Is a Product and What Is a Service? How Can They Continue To Be Relevant?

• Describe the impact of the product or brand’s life cycle on the role of marketing mix variables (product, price, promotion and place/distribution). In other words, how do these variables change over the product or brand’s life cycle?

Be sure to support your analysis with information you can find online and in the Walden Library.

Read the initial posts of others in your class.

Respond by Day 7 to two or more colleagues’ posts in one or more of the following ways:

• Expand on your colleague’s post by offering additional support

for your colleague’s assessment of a PLC, using your experience combined with resources from the classroom or other credible resources.

• Select a colleague who identified a product or brand in the growth stage that you think is in a different stage, and explain why you hold that position. Provide support from the Walden Library or other credible sources that refute your colleague’s assessment or supports your position.

• Select a colleague who identified a product or brand that has been identified as being in the decline stage. Evaluate whether it could be possible to segment the remaining buyer market, consolidate competitors and turn the market into a smaller growth or mature buyer market. If this is not possible, explain why. Be sure to support your position.

Week 5 Why Are Technological Innovations in Product and Service

Distribution Important?

Resources Readings

• Document: Week 5 Weekly Briefing (PDF)

• Perreault Jr., W. D., Cannon, J. P., & McCarthy, E. J. (2014). Basic marketing: A marketing strategy planning approach (19th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

o Chapter 10, “Place and Development of Channel

Systems” (pp. 252–277)

Week 5 Why Are Technological Innovations in Product and Service Distribution Important?

o Chapter 11, “Distribution Customer Service and Logistics”

(pp. 278–299)

o Chapter 12, “Retailers, Wholesalers, and Their Strategy Planning” (pp. 300–327)

• Chopra, S. (2013, May 13). Cases: The future of same-day

delivery: Same as the past? Watertown, MA: Harvard Business Publishing. Retrieved from https://hbsp.harvard.edu/tu/a24ffd35

• Lam, K. C. J., & Postle, R. (2006). Textile and apparel supply

chain management in Hong Kong. International Journal of Clothing Science and Technology, 18(4), 265–277.

Discussion 1 Case Study: Innovations in Distribution Strategy Post by Day 3 your answers to the following questions, making sure your response is cohesive and well-reasoned:

• What are the characteristics of businesses that can succeed

with same-day delivery? • What are the potential trade-offs when companies consider this

type of service to offer to their customers? • What factors related to innovation would increase the likelihood

of success and why? In formulating your response, consider the following along with any other factors that you think are important:

o Does home delivery reduce any costs? o Is the location of warehousing facilities important? o Can multiple customer orders be bundled together (urban

versus rural market)? o Is the inventory mix important (e.g., simple or complex)? o Are there transportation or technology advances

available? Read a selection of your colleagues’ postings.

Respond by Day 5 to two or more colleagues’ posts in one or more of the following ways:

Week 5 Why Are Technological Innovations in Product and Service Distribution Important?

• Offer an example of a business that already does or that could support your colleague’s response, providing your analysis of why you think the example is appropriate and how it informs the analysis offered by your colleague.

• Offer an explanation of why an example would not work based upon your colleague’s analysis, and explain what you think the example teaches you about offering unique services, such as same-day delivery.

• Suggest factors or issues your colleague may have overlooked that you think would strengthen his or her argument or may weaken his or her position on the future of unique services such as same-day delivery. Explain your position.

Discussion 2 Shared Practice: How Can Technology Innovations Affect Marketing Strategies?

Post by Day 5 the following, drawing on your own personal and professional experience if possible:

• A description of three organizations and/or companies you

identified in your research that, in your experience, effectively integrate innovative technologies into their prospective marketing strategies, and explain why these innovative technologies are effective.

• An explanation of how these innovative technologies are affecting the market share of each of the companies you identified.

• An explanation of how these technologies are changing the way consumers evaluate the company’s offerings and the purchase decision.

Respond by Day 7 to two or more colleagues’ posts in one or more of the following ways:

• If you have had experience with the same organization your

colleague presented, describe your experience. Was it similar to that of your colleague? What could be done to improve the experience?

• Compare your initial post to a colleague’s. What similarities and differences exist between these two services? Explain why you think those exist.

• Offer suggestions for other technologies that you think would benefit one or more of the companies your colleague identified,

Week 5 Why Are Technological Innovations in Product and Service Distribution Important?

and explain why you chose these technologies.

Week 6 How Do Buyers Learn About Your Product? Why Should They Care?

Resources Readings

• Document: Week 6 Weekly Briefing (PDF)

• Perreault Jr., W. D., Cannon, J. P., & McCarthy, E. J. (2014). Basic marketing: A marketing strategy planning approach (19th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

o Chapter 13, “Promotion—Introduction to Integrated

Marketing Communications” (pp. 328–355)

o Chapter 14, “Personal Selling and Customer Service” (pp. 356–383)

o Chapter 15, “Advertising, Publicity, and Sales Promotion”

(pp. 384–417)

• Spenner, P., & Freeman, K. (2012). To keep your customers, keep it simple. Harvard Business Review, 90(5), 108–114. Retrieved from https://hbsp.harvard.edu/tu/f322bb3c

• Blueocean Intelligence. (2014, Feb. 13). Blueocean Market

Intelligence releases 2014 predictions for top social media trends in the retail industry. (2014). Wireless News.

• Frost & Sullivan. (2013, Nov 18). Frost & Sullivan: Top six digital

media predictions for 2014. PR Newswire. Retrieved from http://www.frost.com/prod/servlet/press- release.pag?docid=287978873

• Vara, V. (2014, Feb. 20). The Facebook of the future [Web log].

Retrieved from http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/currency/2014/02/the- facebook-of-the-future.html

• Vincenzini, A. (2013, Dec. 3). 14 social media trends for 2014

[Web log]. Retrieved from http://adamvincenzini.com/2013/12/14- social-media-trends-for- 2014-full-presentation.html

Week 6 How Do Buyers Learn About Your Product? Why Should They Care?

Media

• Laureate Education (Producer). (2013a). Daryl Travis: Positioning statements and branding [Video]. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Discussion Shared Practice: Promotion Plans and Blends

Post by Day 3 the following:

• A brief description of the product or service brand you chose. • A description of the target market for the product or service you

have selected. Explain the impact of defining the target market on the promotion plan.

• An examination of the concept of promotion blends. Does the brand you chose make use of promotion blends? If so, describe the promotional blends used. If not, propose your ideas for how promotional blends could be used successfully to promote the brand and why. Use examples to support your assessment.

• An explanation of how technology or digital media may be utilized to develop an effective message to the target group you have identified in a blended promotion plan. Explain why the technology or digital media made the message about the chosen product or service brand more effective.

Read your colleagues’ postings.

Respond by Day 5 to two or more colleagues’ posts in one or more of the following ways:

• Elaborate on your colleague’s assessment of promotion blend

usage for the brand. • Evaluate other ways technology can be utilized in message

targeting for this brand. • Evaluate the colleague’s target market description in terms of

whether it can be better developed and therefore more effectively reached by the marketer.

Assignment Application: Promotion and Digital Media Submit by Day 7 a paper using APA style that addresses the following.

Week 6 How Do Buyers Learn About Your Product? Why Should They Care?

• Explain how these organizations make use of digital media to

represent their products/services to specific segments of the market. Describe the symbols each of these organizations employs.

• Provide an explanation of the intended messages the symbols convey to potential buyers. Use specific, direct evidence and examples to support the assessment.

• Explain how the symbols being used in the digital media attract or align with the targeted segments. Your analysis may find that the symbols do not align with the targeted segment; if so, be sure to explain why.

Week 7 Price and Profit: How Can Marketers Impact Them?

Resources Readings

• Document: Week 7 Weekly Briefing (PDF)

• Perreault Jr., W. D., Cannon, J. P., & McCarthy, E. J. (2014). Basic marketing: A marketing strategy planning approach (19th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

o Chapter 16, “Pricing Objectives and Policies” (pp. 418–

445)

o Chapter 17, “Price Setting in the Business World” (pp. 446–473)

• Ofek, E., & Avery, J. (2012, September 21). J.C. Penney's “fair

and square” pricing strategy. Watertown, MA: Harvard Business School. Retrieved from https://hbsp.harvard.edu/tu/aae5e086

• Star, S. H., Heskett, J. L., & Levitt, T. (1974). Note on marketing

arithmetic and related marketing terms. HBS Case. Retrieved from https://hbsp.harvard.edu/tu/47059d55

• Document: Marketing Arithmetic Calculations (Excel spreadsheet)

Week 7 Price and Profit: How Can Marketers Impact Them?

Discussion The J.C. Penney Case Post by Day 3 your response to the following questions:

• Describe the components of the J.C. Penney new business

model. • Then, evaluate the business model’s overall effectiveness in the

following ways: o How did all of the components work together? o What components, if any, are missing?

• Explain the relationship between J.C. Penney’s marketing/business model and its pricing strategy. Offer lessons learned about the relationship between marketing/business models and an organization’s pricing strategy.

• Explain whether J.C. Penney’s brand is similar to other retail brands (e.g. Target and Apple) where Johnson has had success in terms of its marketing/business model and its pricing strategy. Explain why or why not.

Read your colleagues’ postings.

Respond by Day 5 to two or more colleagues’ posts in one or more of the following ways:

• Suggest issues or components your colleague might further

consider (Hint: What might your colleague have missed related to the customers or competition?).

• Referring back to resources in previous weeks of the course, are there other issues or factors that J.C. Penney should have considered that your colleague missed? Explain what you think the impact of those would be.

• Recommend what J.C. Penney could do to be successful moving forward.

Assignment Application: Financial Analyses

Submit by Day 7 the completed Marketing Arithmetic Exercise Calculations spreadsheet. In addition, submit a separate Word document in which you answer the following questions:

• If the retail price is fixed at $1.00, what effect does increasing the

retail and wholesale margins have on the manufacturer's selling

Week 7 Price and Profit: How Can Marketers Impact Them?

price? Explain why this is the case. • Define unit contribution in your own words. Is a high or low unit

contribution preferable for profitability? Justify your answer. • How do increases in the retail and wholesale margins (again,

with a fixed retail price) affect the unit contribution? Be sure to explain why.

• If you increase any of the fixed cost factors, what happens to 1) the number of units the company needs to sell to break even and 2) the market share necessary to break even? If fixed costs rise, is this good, bad, or of no importance? Explain your answer.

• What change (increase or decrease) to the following factors increases the profit impact and why?

o Retail margin/unit o Brand market share o Advertising budget

• Many marketing decisions have multiple implications. For example, while increasing price improves profit per unit, too large a price increase may decrease unit sales, ultimately decreasing profits overall. Keeping this kind of tradeoff in mind, explain how changes to the three factors mentioned in the prior question could potentially conflict with one another in terms of strategy for increasing the profit impact.

Week 8 How Does Marketing Fit into the Organization?

Resources Readings

• Document: Week 8 Weekly Briefing (PDF)

• Perreault Jr., W. D., Cannon, J. P., & McCarthy, E. J. (2014). Basic marketing: A marketing strategy planning approach (19th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

o Chapter 18, “Implementing and Controlling Marketing

Plans: Evolution and Revolution” (pp. 474–499)

o Chapter 19, “Managing Marketing’s Link with Other Functional Areas” (pp. 500–523)

o Chapter 20, “Ethical Marketing in a Consumer-Oriented

World: Appraisal and Challenges” (pp. 524–547)

• Labrecque, L. I., Markos, E., & Milne, G. R. (2011). Online

Week 8 How Does Marketing Fit into the Organization?

personal branding: Processes, challenges, and implications. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 25(1), 37–50.

• Achrol, R. S., & Kotler, P. (2012). Frontiers of the marketing

paradigm in the third millennium. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 40(1), 35–52.

Assignment Individual Reflection: Blueprint for Professional and Personal Growth: Your Future as a Manager, with Executive Summary of Class and Collaboration Skills

Submit by Day 4 all of the following components as one document:

• Executive Summary: Write an executive summary of the course

(2–3 paragraphs) that addresses the following questions: o Which content and assignments in this course improved

your understanding of marketing for competiveness within your organization (or one with which you are familiar)?

o What impact has your improved understanding had or do you anticipate it will have on the value you will bring to your role within an organization?

o How have the content and assignments changed the way you think of the role of marketing within the organization?

o How can the knowledge you gained in this course enable you to make a positive difference?

o In what ways do you think the knowledge and skills covered in this course can influence positive social change within an organization, community, or more broadly?

o How have the content and assignments shaped your goals now, and how do you anticipate they will shape your goals in the future?

• Personal Brand: In this course, we have considered the four key components of marketing (4 P’s). Now it is time for you to apply one the concepts—promotion—to yourself. In this week’s resources, you have read about how important it is to have a personal brand, especially considering your online presence. Within the promotion component, you examined branding, and now it is time to establish a personal branding goal.

o Describe what you want your personal brand to be. In the next step, you develop an action plan for creating or enhancing your personal brand. Provide at least one clear example of an experience in this course that has helped, or may help, you move toward embodying the personal

Week 8 How Does Marketing Fit into the Organization?

brand desired. o How do your values and ethics integrate with your

personal brand? o In what ways or to what extent do you think your personal

brand will allow others to see you as an agent for positive change within your organization, your community, or more broadly?

• Action Plan: Write a detailed action plan for one new goal for

professional and personal development. (You will continue to build on the list of goals you started in your previous course). Include the following in your action plan:

o Your specific goal for professional and personal development with an explanation as to why you selected the goal. Be sure to provide concrete and specific examples of why the goal is important, the extent to which this goal enables you to be an agent for positive social change, the personal or professional value you expect from achieving each goal, and how the goal relates to the resources you reviewed in the course.

o At least two objectives for the goal you have identified. Provide a rationale that explains how your objectives support the goal. Then develop your action plan/goal to relate to your personal brand.

Discussion Linking Marketing to Other Functional Areas Post by Day 5 a cohesive response to the following questions:

• Explain the impact of marketing on other functional areas of the

organization by addressing the following questions: o What types of human resource issues should

management be aware of and sensitive to when making this change in distribution methods?

o Should your employer make the decision to eliminate the existing sales force? Why or why not?

o Beyond human resources, what other functional areas should be involved in the implementation plan for the change in distribution strategy?

• Based on the sales force decision you support, what ethical issues need to be considered? Thinking more broadly, what does this tell you about the connection of ethics to strategic marketing?

Week 8 How Does Marketing Fit into the Organization?

Respond by Day 7 to two or more colleagues’ posts in one or more of the following ways:

• Recommend actions that the organization can take to mitigate

potential impacts on other functional areas of altered strategies mentioned by the colleague.

• Expand on other human resource issues mentioned by the colleague that could exist, and suggest alternative means to address those.

• Identify other areas within the organization that might be affected, and describe the potential impact.

• Provide a synthesis of what you have learned about the role and impact of marketing decisions on the organization that provides insight to a colleague’s post.

Course Evaluation

Complete your Course Evaluation by Day 7.