BUSI 520
MARKETING MANAGEMENT INDIVIDUAL PROJECT (MMIP): USE INFORMATION
TO DRIVE MARKETING DECISIONS ASSIGNMENT INSTRUCTIONS
OVERVIEW
Each student must complete an individual marketing project. Your first task is to select a project
topic. No two students will work on the same product/service. This must be an existing product,
service, or organization.
INSTRUCTIONS
Each project installment must include a title page that has the name of the project topic in it.
Each of the five questions should be numbered and written out in its entirety in the pages that
follow. The entire document (all five questions, combined, but not counting references) should
be at least 600 words (12-point Times New Roman font, double spaced), and include a separate
references page. All content must show direct application to the topic and exclude definitions of
terms and general explanations of generic marketing topics. The assignment should be submitted
as a Microsoft Word document.
When completing an assignment for a given module, view the entire course textbook (all
chapters) as a resource for the assignment, meaning it may be necessary to locate assignment-
related material in chapters other than those corresponding with the module in which the
assignment is located. While the effort has been made to ensure that all material necessary for
assignment completion is found in the textbook, contact the instructor immediately if
information needed to complete the assignment cannot be located in the textbook. The instructor
will then provide instructions on locating the required material. Quotes must be minimized and
long quotes (40 words or more) avoided. Outside sources to be cited include scholarly marketing
journals (Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Consumer Research,
etc.), practitioner publications, and the course textbook. Assignments must be submitted though
Turnitin.
Questions
Q1. Discuss your use of marketing research to be used to gather information on present or
potential customers. Which forms of marketing research would be best in gathering consumer
information relating to the product/service? (Ch.4)
Q2. Explain several external forces that affect your marketing planning and strategy. (Ch.4)
Q3. Discuss the aspects of your customer relationship management (CRM) program. (Ch.5)
Q4. Explain which consumer characteristics (personal, psychological, cultural, situational,
social) matter most in the purchase decision. (Ch.6)
Q5. Explain how the product/service is positioned in the market. Create a positioning statement
for the product/service and explain its rationale. (Ch.7)
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Marketing Management. Individual Project
Sarah Mubenga
Liberty University
BUSI 520
Debra Powell
July 11, 2021
2
Questions
Q1. Provide a description of the product/service and a brief history of the firm.
Chick-Fil-A is an American fast-food chain that was established in 1964. The
establishment was initially known as Dwarf Grill and Dwarf House before rebranding to the
Current Chick-Fil-A in 1967 (Uttakalla, Walger & Wu, 2017). The primary offerings are
chicken products and poultry dishes. The business offers service of breakfast, lunch and
dinner (David, F., & David, 2017). Chicken is the primary ingredient of the business.
Q2. Explain your current or possible global marketing efforts. (Ch. 3)
The business is working tirelessly to retain the existing customers while also
attracting new customers. Additionally, Chick-Fil-A strategies to expand regionally and
globally (Cardwell, 2013). Another marketing effort is to have a diverse menu that is
affordable to the consumers.
Q3. Explain the organization’s mission. Provide its mission statement or create one if
necessary. (Ch 3)
The mission of Chick-Fil-A is to provide the customers with quick services, high-
quality, and fresh food which is all provided at an affordable cost. Every client who will try
their menu is a happy customer. For Chick-fil-A the mission statement aims at anchoring the
company towards the attainment of goals and objectives.
Q4. Explain your competitive strategy. (Ch.3)
To achieve a market niche, Chick-fil-A has incorporated a consumer-centric strategy.
The strategy is big on great taste, high-quality products and family-friendly values. The
company focuses on customer communication via the Chick-fil-A One app. The app tracks
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down the activity of purchasing and offers feedback. The business interacts with the
customers on multiple channels, including digital technology. For instance, the business
understands that young parent is among their key customers. As such, the business offers a
new delightful service known as “mom’s Valet.” The service enables the parents to have a
convenient and affordable meals with their families. With the new experiences, the customers
can order food through a drive-thru and move inside to a table with the correct chairs to
accommodate everyone (Simko, Farrin, Weiler & Gerardo, 2016). The company has also
innovated their product offerings and offer new items on the menu.
Q5. Conduct a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis for the
organization. (Ch.3)
Strengths.
Quality service
The business has impeccable customer service making it different from the existing
competition.
Face-to-face transaction.
The business understands the critical aspect of treating customers well. The customers can
interact directly with the employees.
Employee satisfaction.
The business pays the employees well as compared to the industry standards. The workers are
also given opportunities for career advancements. A well-motivated workforce is more
efficient and productive, offering better services to the customers.
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Ingredient choice. Chick-fil-A uses chicken as the primary ingredient. Given the trend of
shifting from red meat to white meat, the consumers prefer the business sandwich compared
to unhealthy red meat burgers.
Weakness.
Small geographical coverage. Most of the operations of the company are in the United States.
Unlike KFC, which has global operations, Chick-fil-A is primarily concentrated in the US,
missing big on the international market.
Less Innovative.
The absence of operations in the international market has limited the ability of the company
to innovate.
Opportunities.
Healthy fast food.
The consumer is becoming aware of the need to eat healthy food. Chick-fil-A has already
attracted more health-conscious customers (Radwan, 2018). The company can focus on its
offerings to attract more customers.
Threats
Competition.
The fast-food industry is vast, with many players, including McDonald's, Burger King and
KFC. As such, Chick-fil-A faces stiff competition from already established multinationals.
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Chicken scandal
There has been a circulating notion that fast-food businesses using chicken as a primary
ingredient offer inferior quality products. The scandal has resulted in the consumers avoiding
such established, therefore affecting the operations of Chick-fil-A.
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Reference
Cardwell, J. (2013). An In-Depth Comparison of Three Fast Food Industry Giants: How
Chick-Fil-A Differs from Mcdonald’s and Wendy’s in the Growth from Humble
Beginnings to Become Multi-Billion Dollar Companies (Doctoral dissertation, The
University of Mississippi).
David, F. R., & David, M. E. (2017). Strategic management: concepts and cases: A
competitive advantage approach. Pearson.
Radwan, M. (2018). Strategic Marketing Case Study Chick-Fil-A. GRIN Verlag.
Simko, P. J., Farris, P., Weiler, V., & Gerardo, P. (2016). Chick-Fil-A: A Bird of a Different
Feather. Darden Case No. UVA-G-0632.
Uttakalla, S., Walger, I., & Wu, C. H. K. (2017). Case Study: Chick-fil-A Team 7-The
Bootstrappers: Alicia Fowler Christopher Mead.
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Sarah Mubenga
Liberty University
BUSI 520
Debra Powell
July 18, 2021
2
Q1. Discuss your use of marketing research to be used to gather information on present or
potential customers. Which forms of marketing research would be best in gathering
consumer information relating to the product/service? (Ch.4)
Marketing research was conducted to collect information about customer satisfaction,
customer churn, competition, and business expansion forecasts. The best form of market research
used to gather consumer information concerning Chick-Fil-A’s products or services was primary
market research in which consumer data was collected by directly interacting with the consumers.
The one-on-one interview method was used to personally interact in the form of an interview
(Petrescu & Lauer, 2017). A series of open-ended questions were asked from respondents to get
facilitated responses. The information obtained from the market research aided the restaurant to
tailor its advertising and marketing strategies to align them with the consumers’ priorities and
demands.
Q2. Explain several external forces that affect your marketing planning and strategy. (Ch.4)
External forces (PESTEL) mentioned below could influence Chick-Fil-A’s marketing
planning and strategy while expanding domestically or globally.
Political: The government regulations and deregulations, democracy, size of government,
and the likelihood to enter into an armed conflict could influence its marketing planning.
The restaurant should consider economic factors like GDP, growth rate, inflation rate,
business freedom, and employment rate.
Societal factors include societal norms, demographic trends, power structure, and
education level.
Technological empowerment of supply chain partners, technology disruption, e-
commerce, infrastructure, and research and development.
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Environmental factors include climate change, national carbon emission, per capita, CSR
culture, and consumer activism concerning environmental concerns, etc.
Chick-Fil-A should ensure protected intellectual property, compliance with data protection
laws, securities laws, and transparency in processes and judiciary system (Radwan, 2017).
Q3. Discuss the aspects of your customer relationship management (CRM) program. (Ch.5)
Customer relationship management (CRM) is a technology to manage the restaurant’s
interactions with existing and potential customers. The basic aim of the steady CRM program is
to grow more consumers’ loyalty, improve business relationships, streamline processes, stay
connected to consumers, and enhance profitability. Through CRM, the restaurant stores
information concerning sales opportunities, existing and potential customers’ contact information,
marketing campaigns, and customer service issues. Chick-Fil-A has introduced an A-List program
to enhance consumers’ loyalty and make them feel special. The program offers membership cards
to the best customers. Through its One-app and personalization through email, the restaurant made
brand loyalty a priority and share its information concerning limited-time offers, best practices, or
closing information for renovation (Lentin, 2018).
Q4. Explain which consumer characteristics (personal, psychological, cultural, situational,
social) matter most in the purchase decision. (Ch.6)
All the consumer characteristics are important for purchase decisions. Middle to upper
social classes related to different cultures, races, and ethnicities purchase from Chick-fil-A because
it treats every customer specially and offers a culture of integrity, friendliness, and comfort.
Personal aspects include who is responsible for making purchase decisions. Mostly in families,
moms make decisions for family meals. The restaurant has launched a Mom’s Valent to let the
mothers order the food (Radwan, 2017). Social factors are social groups, families, and social roles.
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The restaurant offers family-friendly sports activities and middle and upper-class teenagers and
families are the big customers’ base. The restaurant is embedded into communities due to its
sponsoring of local events, fundraisers, donations, and charity. Psychological factors include
personality, perception, motive, attitudes, ability, and knowledge. Customers having a good
perception of comfort, responsibility, genuine, satisfaction, quality, and knowledge of Chick-fil-
A’s food, are most likely to spend their disposable income on regular meals.
Q5. Explain how the product/service is positioned in the market. Create a positioning
statement for the product/service and explain its rationale. (Ch.7)
Chick-Fil-A has positioned its brand in the market to maximize future profits by creating
strong consumers awareness and managing marketing strategy. The positioning statement is
“Chick-Fil-A has designed its products and services and image to have a unique place in the minds
of the target audience”. The restaurant reinforced its brand position by eliciting consumers’
emotional responses through social consciousness and charity programs. Consumers’ base
perceives the restaurant as socially responsible, genuine, and authentic. The restaurant has built
the brand’s image as a healthier, friendlier, and socially responsible selection. The restaurant offers
customer-centric dining experience, healthier alternative to hamburgers, and charge high premium
than competitors to maximize customers’ interactions by providing customer appreciation events
and attentive services. A positive brand image is translated into business expansion, high profits,
and loyal customers (Stevens, 2014).
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References
Lentini, N. (2018 December, 10). Chick-fil-A: Caring for Customers Personally through Email.
Media Post. https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/329087/caring-for-
customers-personally-through-email.html
Radwan, M. M. (2017). Strategic Marketing Case Study Chick-Fil-A. Munich, GRIN Verlag,
https://www.grin.com/document/424088
Petrescu, M., & Lauer, B. (2017 September). Qualitative Marketing Research: The State of
Journal Publications. The Qualitative Report, 22(9), 2248-2287.
Stevens, J. (2014 March, 13). Successful Brand Positioning: Chick-fil-A. Crises Management
Solutions. https://crisismanagementsolutions.wordpress.com/2014/03/13/successful-
brand-positioning-chick-fil-a/
