Module 1 - SLPSTP, PRODUCT MANAGEMENT & SITUATION ANALYSISHere is the brief overview of this cumulative Session Long Project
(SLP). In this research project, you would work as a marketing
consultant to develop a feasible marketing plan for your client. You
would conduct secondary research in SLP1 and SLP2 to glean the necessary
information for your marketing plan in SLP3 and SLP4.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 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 1-4.In this module SLP1, identify a company and a charge (or task) for
this marketing research project and conduct situation analysis related
to your charge. This is the first step of this cumulative research
project. You need to review all four SLPs first in order to better
understand the requirements for this project.Product StatementIn 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 background information on the organization
(e.g., what it is, what it does, history, success in what it is doing,
etc.). If the charge is to market a new product (such as iPad 6),
describe 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 charge for your research project at the
very beginning, based on the detailed requirements for this cumulative
Session Long Project. The new charge is a hypothetical task, which
should be based on one of the company’s existing brands or products. It
is also better to identify a new product charge for existing public
firms so that you can find enough information for your task. For
example, you may pick one of the following companies and charges.Apple needs to increase its market share for iPhone 8.Microsoft intends to increase sales of Xbox One S 10TB console.Fitbit plans a successful release of Charge 3 wristband.Ford needs to have a successful introduction of the 2018 Fusion.Amazon wants to increase brand awareness for Echo digital media streamer in Japan. 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 charge you choose to analyze for this project. In
choosing your company and the charge, keep in mind that in order to
effectively conduct your market research, you must have access to
relevant information. Also note that your charge or task for this
research project is what you are going to do with a brand, rather than
just the brand. In other words, your charge or task is to solve a
business problem faced by your client. So you need to state the
business problem and your charge clearly at the beginning since it would
guide the following steps of this research project.Situation AnalysisA 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 AnalysisIn 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 charge, 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 charge? 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 charge 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 will 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 charge? 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 charge of the
marketing plan. Are these trends and developments likely to affect your
charge? How?5. Political Trends, Legal Trends, and Regulatory Forces: This
section examines how governmental regulations may affect the company
and its charge. 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 charge, 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 charge?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), 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 charge? How?B. Customer Environment AnalysisThis 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. Make sure you
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 charge 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?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 AnalysisThis 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 are required to create a table 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. Also generate a histogram or a chart to show these
financial numbers. Your written analysis in this subsection should be
consistent with the table and histogram/chart.SLP Assignment ExpectationsUse 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.Product Statement (2 pages maximum)Describe the company/organization.Provide brief background of the organization.Describe the business problem and charge you have for this marketing plan.Provide a brief overview of what issue you are studying, and how a marketing perspective can help address the issue.Situation Analysis (3-6 pages)Note: Only include sections
that are relevant to your charge. The relevance of each section of
analysis should be clear to the reader.External Environment Analysis
Context Analysis
Industry forces that might impact success of any actions taken
Competitor AnalysisAny organization or message that may prevent any actions taken from being successfulTechnological and Economical Situation AnalysisPolitical, Legal, and Cultural Analysis
Customer Environment AnalysisCustomer AnalysisCollaborator AnalysisInternal Environment AnalysisCompany 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. No matter which format you adopt for your marketing plan,
make it consistent throughout the plan.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.htmEmerald Group Publishing. (n.d.). Developing critical thinking. Retrieved from http://www.emeraldinsight.com/learning/study_skills/skills/critical_thinking.htmGuidelines 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.). Is it plagiarism yet? Retrieved from https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/589/02/Your paper consists of arguments in favor of your opinions or
positions on the issues addressed by the guidelines; therefore, avoid
the following logical fallacies:Purdue Online Writing Lab. (n.d.). Logic in argumentative writing. Retrieved from https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/659/01/Your SLP should not simply be a list of facts. Take the facts you
find about the company, the charge, and the environments that the
company faces, and explain how you think those facts will affect the
financial future of the product or brand in your charge. The emphasis in
grading your paper will be on the breadth and depth of your discussion
of each topic, critical thinking, the clarity of your discussion, and
the proper organization of the paper.