mkslp1

In this Session Long Project, you will work as a marketing

consultant to develop a feasible marketing plan for your client. You

will conduct secondary research in SLPs 1 and 2 and primary

research in SLP 3 to glean the necessary information for your

marketing plan in SLPs 4 and 5. When conducting primary research

in SLP 3, collect only qualitative data (i.e., personal in -depth

interviews with at least three target customers) for this study.

It is important to conduct quality market research on your focal

product/company in order to develop realistic and workable

marketing plans. Generally speaking, there are two types of

research. One is secondary research, which refers to information

search and data collection using existing sources, and the other is

primary research, which is your own data collection for the specific

study at hand. The purpose of market research is to collect usable

information to make more informed decisions on the business

problem, thus increasing the chance of business success in the

marketplace.

Please check the outline of the marketing plan, which provides

information on:

• The final format for this cumulative Session Long Project

• A list of topics for the whole project

• The continuity and connections among SLPs 1-5

In this module's SLP, identify a company and a task (a business

problem) for this marketing research project, and conduct situation

analysis related to the business problem. This is the first step of the

cumulative research project. You need to review all five SLPs first in

order to better understand the requirements for this project.

Product Statement

In this section, describe the company and the product that is going

to be the focus of interest for your marketing plan. For example, if

your client is Apple, provide brief background information on the

organization (e.g., what it is, what it does, history, success in what it

is doing, etc.). If the task is to market a new product (such as iPad

4), describe succinctly what iPad is, how long it has been around,

how successful it has been, and who the target audience is. Be

specific and detail-oriented, and do not assume that the reader is

familiar with the company and product.

Identify a company and a task for your research project at the very

beginning, based on the detailed requirements for this cumulative

Session Long Project. The task could be a real business problem

you are facing at your institution or a hypothetical business problem,

which should be based on one of the company’s existing brands or

products. It is also better to identify a task for existing public firms so

that you can find adequate information for your project. For

example, you may pick one of the following tasks.

• Apple needs to increase the market share of Apple Watch 2.

• Samsung wants to introduce a tablet called Galaxy MiniS.

• Microsoft intends to increase sales of Xbox One S 10TB console.

• Fitbit plans a successful release of Charge 3 wristband.

• Google wants to increase brand awareness of Home in Thailand.

Do not choose the product that is the basis of Case 1. It is best to

check with your instructor regarding the company and the task you

choose to analyze for this project. In choosing your company and

the task, keep in mind that in order to effectively conduct your

market research, you must have access to relevant information.

Also note that your task for this research project is what you are

going to do with a brand or product, rather than just the

brand/product. In other words, your task is to solve a business

problem faced by your client. So you need to state the business

problem and your task clearly at the beginning since it would guide

the following steps of this research project.

Situation Analysis

A situation analysis may also be known as an environmental

analysis. Conduct an environmental analysis including the external

environment, customer environment, and internal organizational

environment.

A. External Environment Analysis

In this section, identify/describe all external forces for change that

might affect the company, its future, and the future of its industry.

Identify the external realities upon which your plan will be based.

What are the competitive, technological, economic,

political/legal/regulatory, societal/lifestyle/cultural, market, buyer

behavior, channel of distribution, and other industry trends that

translate into external opportunities and threats? Explicitly state how

each of these forces can impact your company, your task, and the

outcomes you wish to accomplish. That is, do not just list these

forces; relate them to the task at hand. Keep in mind that tables and

figures cannot stand alone in any marketing plan. In other words, if

you want to use tables and figures, use them as support tools to

illustrate the points you are trying to make in your written text.

1. Industry Analysis: What is the current situation in the industry? This description includes the

size of the particular industry, trends in the industry, the industry outlook (expanding, stagnant,

or contracting), success factors and failures of the industry, and so forth. Are these trends and

developments likely to affect your task? How?

2. Competitive Analysis: There are three major types of competitive forces. Brand competitors

offer similar products with similar benefits and prices (e.g., monetary cost, time, effort, etc.), and

serve/target the same customers. Product competitors offer products that compete in the same

product class, but have different features, benefits, and price. Generic competitors offer

products that satisfy the same need or solve the problem, but in a different way.

For example, assume that the brand in question is Apple iPad 4, and your task is to come up

with a marketing plan of how to promote the iPad 4. In your Product Statement you will have

already talked about the iPad. Brand competitors in this case would be Samsung Galaxy,

Motorola Xoom, Toshiba Excite, Lenovo IdeaPad, and so on. Product competitors could include

Hewlett-Packard, Sony, and Dell computers. Generic competitors of iPad could include Regal

Theatres, Cox Cable and so on, which satisfy consumers’ entertainment needs.

When discussing the competitive forces, focus on the brand and product competitors, and

describe these competitors in more detail. How big are they? What is their market share (in

comparison to that of your company)? What is their income? How is the income derived? How

do they spend their moneys? What are their strengths and weaknesses? How do they pose a

threat to your company? What attracts consumers to their products? A detailed description of

these competitors will aid your future SWOT and Issues analyses, and give you ideas about

target market and implementation.

3. Technology not only refers to the new types of products such as computers and digital

products, but also means the processes by which tasks are accomplished. This section

examines how changes in technology impact customers’ lives and needs and how marketers

respond to their needs. Are these trends and developments likely to affect your task? How?

4. The Economic Situation looks at the stability and growth of the market in which the firm

operates, for example: country, region, state, or local area. This section may examine inflation,

employment, and income levels; taxes; and consumer confidence, as they impact the company

and the task of the marketing plan. Are these trends and developments likely to affect your

task? How?

5. Political Trends, Legal Trends, and Regulatory Forces: This section examines how

governmental regulations may affect the company and your task. It also looks at the company’s

relationships with elected officials. Is the current administration, Congress, state legislature,

county or city government likely to sponsor laws or regulatory changes that will affect the

company and the task, either favorably or negatively? Do recent court decisions have an impact

on the operating environment? Do they impact how you will have to carry out your task?

6. Cultural Trends may have a profound impact on how customers respond to the company’s

offering. Examples of lifestyle trends include less leisure time; cocooning; focus on health,

exercise and nutrition; and less concern with cleanliness. Demographic trends include aging

baby boomers, new boomers (Generation Y and Generation Z), a rise in single-person and

single-parent households, more women who work, and increasing population diversity. Some

changes in cultural values include less conspicuous consumption, value orientation

(quality/price), environmental concern, less tolerance of public smoking, more tolerance of

varying lifestyles, and giving back to the community. Are these trends and developments likely

to affect your task? How?

B. Customer Environment Analysis

This section should examine the current situation in respect to the

needs of the target market, expected changes in those needs, and

how the firm presently meets those needs. Answer all of the

following questions. Keep in mind that this section focuses on the

current target market of the company, not the market you propose to

target with this marketing plan. At this point, you are still examining

the status quo, which should aid your decision-making in the

remainder of the marketing plan. For example, if the company in

question is Apple, and the task is to promote the iPad 4, the focus in

this section of the marketing plan would be on the existing target

markets served by Apple and what can be learned from those

targets. Consider the following issues for your analysis:

• Who? Who are current and potential customers of the same customer group? What are the

demographics, psychographics, and geographics? Is the buyer the user? Who influences the

purchasing decision?

• How many? How many customers does the company serve? How many does it have the

capacity to serve?

• Where? Where are products purchased? Where do customers buy the products? What are the

types of intermediaries? What is the influence of electronic commerce? Where are customers

doing non-store buying—Home Shopping Network, catalogs, Internet?

• When? When are the products bought? What is the frequency of purchasing? Do promotional

events affect purchase? How do differences in physical or social environment, time demands,

or purchase task affect buying?

• How and What? What are the basic need-satisfying benefits? Does a competitor’s product fit a

need this product/service does not provide? What are changes in customers’ needs? How do

the customers pay—cash, credit or mobile app?

• Why Are There Non-Customers? Needs not met? Bad fit for lifestyle/image? Price? High

switching costs? Competition’s product is better? Poor distribution? They do not know about the

product?

C. Internal Environment Analysis

This section should identify/describe relevant internal aspects of the

company that will help identify strengths and weaknesses in your

SWOT analysis in the Module 2 SLP. This requires the identification

and analysis of the organization’s past financial performance (sales,

market share, profitability, etc.); marketing strategies (target market

and positioning/image); marketing goals, objectives, and past

performance; and marketing programs (advertising/promotion

effectiveness, product/service offers, distribution effectiveness and

channel programs, pricing, sales force effectiveness, sales strategy

and programs, public relations/publicity, marketing

research/intelligence gathering efforts, etc.). Additionally, the report

may need to examine items such as production capacity, technical

capabilities, management/leadership, organizational structure and

culture, level of available resources and skills, financial stability, the

product life cycle (i.e., is the product in introduction, growth,

maturity, or decline stage?), and other relevant characteristics of the

company that help develop a complete list of strengths and

weaknesses in your SWOT analysis. It is important to focus on how

the company is perceived by the market and its own customers as

the main determinant of market-relevant strengths. You may have a

table/chart/graph to show the company’s financial performance such

as its sales revenues, the profits, profit margin, market share, stock

price, market cap, return on assets, operating cash flow, and so on.

The written analysis in this subsection should be consistent with the

table/chart/graph.

SLP Assignment Expectations

Use the following outline to organize your paper. Note that the

letters “a, b, c…” and the numbers “i, ii, iii, iv…” and “1, 2, 3, 4…”

below are used to show the major issues you need to include in

your paper, but should not be used to format your paper.

I. Product Statement (2 pages maximum)

a. Describe the company/organization.

b. Provide brief background of the product/brand.

c. Describe the business problem and task you have for this marketing plan.

d. Provide a brief overview of what issue you are studying, and how a marketing perspective can help

address the issue.

II. Situation Analysis (3-6 pages)

Note: Only include sections that are relevant to your task. The relevance of each section

of analysis should be clear to the reader.

a. External Environment Analysis

i. Context Analysis

1. Industry forces that might impact success of any actions taken

ii. Competitor Analysis

1. Any organization or message that may prevent any actions taken f rom being successful

iii. Technological and Economical Situation Analysis

iv. Political, Legal, and Cultural Analysis

b. Customer Environment Analysis

i. Customer Analysis

ii. Collaborator Analysis

c. Internal Environment Analysis

i. Company Analysis (include the table and histogram/chart in the appendix)

Note: Use double-spaced, black Verdana or Times Roman font in

12 pt. type size. Include a title page and references. Explain clearly

and logically the facts about your company and charge, and use the

required reading to support your positions on the issues. Do not

repeat or quote definitions. Your use of the required reading to

support your opinions (that is, contentions or positions) should

demonstrate that you understand the concepts presented.

Paraphrase the facts using your own words and ideas, employing

quotes sparingly. Quotes, if absolutely necessary, should rarely

exceed five words.

Academic papers at the master’s level should include citations and

references. Look at different sources, especially credible and

reputable ones such as The New York Times, The Wall Street

Journal, Businessweek, and The Economist, to find the information

for your paper. Also use Trident University’s online library databases

such as ProQuest and EBSCO to find information for your project.

Your discussion on each topic should be a synthesis of the different

sources. Taking shortcuts on the number and quality of your

sources will result in a poor-quality marketing plan that will be of no

use to your client.

It is also important that you reference your sources throughout the

text of your marketing plan. Take the following paragraph as an

example:

“As a result, telephone interviewers often do not even get a chance

to explain that they are conducting a survey (Council for Marketing

and Opinion Research, 2003), and response rates have steadily

declined (Keeter et al., 2000) to reported lows of 7% (Council for

Marketing and Opinion Research, 2003). This decrease presents a

problem because not only does it increase the cost of conducting

telephone surveys, but it also leads to questions concerning the

generalizability of the results (Struebbe, Kernan & Grogan, 1986;

Tuckel & O’Neill, 2002).”

There are different citation and reference formats such as APA,

MLA, or Chicago. You need to use APA citation and reference

format for this course. The marketing plan should use third person

business writing. Avoid “we,” “our,” and “you.” Do not use

contractions in business writing.

Here are some guidelines on how to conduct information search and

build critical thinking skills.

Emerald Group Publishing. (n.d.). Searching for Information.

Retrieved from

http://www.emeraldinsight.com/learning/study_skills/skills/searching.htm

Emerald Group Publishing. (n.d.). Developing Critical Thinking.

Retrieved from

http://www.emeraldinsight.com/learning/study_skills/skills/critical_thinkin

g.htm

Guidelines for handling quoted and paraphrased material are found

at:

Purdue Online Writing Lab. (n.d.). Academic Writing. Retrieved from

https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/section/1/2/

Purdue Online Writing Lab. (n.d.). Quoting, Paraphrasing, and

Summarizing. Retrieved from

https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/563/1/

Purdue Online Writing Lab. (n.d.). Avoiding Plagiarism. Retrieved

from http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/589/1/

Your paper consists of arguments in favor of your opinions or

positions on the issues addressed by the guidelines; therefore,

avoid the logical fallacies found in the following reference:

Purdue Online Writing Lab. (n.d.).Logic in Argumentative Writing.

Retrieved from

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/659/03/