Homework: Marketing Plan- Introduction to Marketing
Marketing analysis and planning are significant activities for the majority of firms. The purpose of this series of homeworks is for you, to apply the concepts you learn in your coursework to marketing analysis and planning for a real good or service.
Each student chooses one of the consumer goods companies from the list below:
|
Abercrombie & Fitch
|
Coastal Contacts
|
PepsiCo
|
TD Bank
|
|
Air Canada
|
Coca-Cola
|
Research In Motion
|
Telus
|
|
Amazon
|
Electronic Arts
|
Rocky Mountaineer
|
Thisfish
|
|
Apple Inc.
|
Fedex
|
Rogers
|
Tourism Vancouver
|
|
Aritzia
|
Greater Van. Food Bank
|
Shell Canada
|
Toyota Motor
|
|
BCLC
|
Groupon
|
Southwest Airlines
|
Unilever
|
|
Bell
|
Kraft
|
Starbucks
|
WestJet
|
|
Best Buy
|
Lululemon
|
Sun-Rype
|
Zara
|
|
Caffe Artigiano
|
Mars
|
SureFit
|
|
|
Citigroup
|
Mountain Equip. Co-op
|
Target
|
|
|
Club Penguin
|
OpenRoad Auto Group
|
Tata Motors
|
|
Task: Situation Analysis (Marketing Environment) and SWOT
Effective marketing strategies can only be created after a thorough situation analysis of the current and future internal and external conditions under which a company will compete.
Part I: Research and analyze the immediate and macro environments of your chosen company/product. Maximum 2 pages single-spaced, either point-form or brief paragraphs. Cite all sources using in-text citations or footnotes.
1) Customers/Consumers: Who are the current customers? What is the estimated size of the market? How do customers buy and use the product? What factors do they consider when choosing between competitors? How loyal are customers? What products do customers consider to be competitive (direct, indirect, marketplace competitors)? etc.
2) Company & Corporate Partners: Summarize the company's relevant history and background, mission/vision, culture, resources, key success factors, etc. How has the company been successful so far? What types of partners (e.g. suppliers, service providers, consultants, etc.) help it succeed, and what are their strengths/weaknesses? What types of partners is it missing? etc.
3) Competitors: How intense is the competition in this category? Is the category growing or shrinking? Are there many small competitors, or is the industry dominated by several large players? Are there substitutes/indirect competitors? How easy/hard is it for new entrants to start up? etc.
4) CDSTEP: Describe the characteristics of the macroenvironment in which the company competes, using CDSTEP to cover all main points. What cultural, demographic, social, technological, economic, and political-legal factors influence the industry, the company, and consumers?
Part II: Based on your analysis from Part A, summarize in a SWOT table the company's key Strengths and Weaknesses (internal) and the key Opportunities and Threats (external) it faces. You should have at least 6 items listed under each SWOT category in your table. Maximum .5 page single-spaced, either point-form or brief paragraphs.
Part III: Highlight the most important point(s) under each of S, W, O, and T and explain if/how they all relate to each other and should shape the company's marketing strategies. Maximum .5 pages.
Format your homework according to the following formatting requirements:
(1) The answer should be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides.
(2) The response also includes a cover page containing the title of the homework, the student's name, the course title, and the date. The cover page is not included in the required page length.
(3) Also include a reference page. The Citations and references should follow APA format. The reference page is not included in the required page length.