ANALYZE COMPANY & MARKETING PLAN
The major project for this course is a marketing analysis. Each student will research and analyze the marketing program of an existing publicly owned and traded company. Each student must have their company approved by the instructor and cannot use a company that has already been approved for another student. Company areas to be researched and analyzed include:
• Company history
• Situational analysis:
o External environment
o Internal environment
o SWOT and BCG Matrix analyses
o Critical reward/risk factors
• Objectives & Target market
• Key strategies & tactics
• Marketing resources applied
• Current financials
• Income statement
• Balance sheet
• Others
The company analysis and marketing plan will be done in APA style and will be due in increments as noted in the next section. This marketing analysis will only be as good as the research, logic, creativity, and effort which a student applies to its creation. Competitive intelligence is critical to a thorough and accurate situational analysis. Managerial intuition is important in the creation and selection of the target market and marketing strategies/tactics. The goal is to generate a realistic actionable professional-appearing analysis that could be used by a competitor for marketing decisions.
Creating a successful marketing analysis will require the student to conduct research, analyze the marketing environment, describe objectives, evaluate markets, and determine key marketing strategies and tactics for the "four Ps." A successful marketing analysis will include the following sections:
A. Cover Sheet - due week 2 and as cover for every submission - (1 page maximum), including:
• Student name
• Course number and title (MKT 404: Senior Seminar in Marketing)
• Company name
• (i.e. Situational Analysis)
• Quarter________ (i.e. Summer 2007)
• Week #______
• Date _____/______/07
B. Executive Summary - due week 10 - (2 pages maximum), including:
• Short company description
• Critical environmental issues with strengths/weaknesses and reward/risk factors
• Marketing objective(s)
• Key strategies and tactics
• Resources applied
• Summary of current financials
C. Situational Analysis - due weeks 3/4/5 (approximately 30-40% of the plan pages), including:
• External Environment - due week 3
o Demographics
o Political/Legal Issues
o Social/Cultural Issues
o Competition
o Technology
o General Economy
• Internal environment - due week 4
o Human Resources/Management
o Finances
o Operations/Production
o Image/Reputation
o Research & Development
o Location criteria
• Organization/Competitor/Market Analysis, using the SWOT, and BCG Matrix techniques - due week 5
• Critical issues and/or key reward/risk factors - due week 5
D. Marketing Objective(s) and Target Market(s) - due week 6 - (1 page maximum)
E. Key Strategies and Tactics - due weeks 7/8 - (approximately 30-40% of the plan), including:
Student will describe at least four (4) marketing strategies, one for each of the "Four P,s" as given below. Each strategy will feature at least one, and probably more than one, tactic that the company uses. Strategies and tactics include:
Product strategy - due week 7
Product tactics include a listing of the product mix, including:
• Primary products
• Secondary products
• Assumed products
Pricing Strategy - due week 7
• Skimming vs. penetration
• Pricing tactics: Pricing tactics include a listing of the typical prices, including:
o Product type
o Prices
• Typical distribution channel markups
• Policies for handling dissatisfied customers
Place strategy - due week 8
• Brief description of the distribution channel
• Who controls the channel and how controlled
• Place tactics: How, When, Where
Promotion strategy - due week 8
• Positioning and branding strategies
• Promotion tactics
o What media types typically are used
• What is the current message
o Who is the advertising agency(ies) used?
Remember: strategies describe general approaches. Tactics describe specific means and methods used to accomplish a strategy. Each strategy must feature at least one, and typically many more, tactics. Strategies are always general; tactics are always specific.
F. Current financials - due week 9 - including:
Most recent income statement, balance sheet, and other financial statements that describe the current financial condition of the company.
G. Final report and presentation - due week 10 - including PowerPoint presentation to present your company analysis - (designed to be delivered in no more than 20 minutes).
Final report - All sections of the analysis report must be done in APA style and the full analysis should not be more than 20 printed double-spaced pages, not including cover page, reference page, graphs, tables, spreadsheets, charts, appendices, and/or attachments (if any). Brevity is highly encouraged. Visual summaries (tables, charts, graphs, photos, etc.), when accompanied by appropriate explanatory descriptions are efficient and a recommended means to ensure brevity and to highlight key points.