MIM / MCS / MENT 2019/2020
MSP MODULE ASSESSMENT: INDIVIDUAL MARKETING PLAN
Module leader: Dr Ahmed Shaalan
INTRODUCTION
The assessment of this module is a written marketing plan. Each student is asked to develop a strategic marketing plan for a company, and one of its products in particular, of his or her choice.
· The company should sell to consumers rather than other businesses. It may sell goods, services or both. It can be from any part of the world. It could be a not-for-profit organisation provided it has products that are sold to individuals, e.g. a charity selling goods to raise money for the charity’s work.
· You are encouraged to obtain secondary data on the company, its market and its competition. This can be supplemented by your own examination of its products, target markets, and communications, insofar as you can observe them from outside.
· A template plan is attached. The plan deals with an existing product (or service) of the company, which you can choose.
· The plan should contain no more than 7 pages (plus the title page), with an additional maximum of 2 pages for any appendices, single-spaced, all margins 2.5 cm (1 in). Use 12 point font size. Font size within tables can be reduced to 9 or 10 font but make sure it is readable!
· A reference list must be included. This reference list should show, for example, the source of any secondary data you have used. The reference list does not count towards the page length.
Assessment
The plan will be assessed on the following criteria:
· Use of tools (40%): Appropriate application and plausible interpretation of tools and techniques covered in the module
· Use of data (20%): Informing the plan with secondary data where available or the student’s own observation where possible
· Commercial awareness (20%): Using mature judgement as to what actions will deliver the best commercial returns
· Integration and presentation (20%): Presenting professionally and integrating the sections of the plan so that it makes a coherent and persuasive argument.
Timeline
The project will be introduced during the module. The individual marketing plan should be submitted toTurnitin (link on Blackboard page) by 11.59 pm on Friday 13 March 2020.
TEMPLATE FOR INDIVIDUAL MARKETING PLAN
CRANFIELD UNIVERSITY
CRANFIELD SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT
[STUDENT NUMBER]
Individual Marketing Plan: [Company name]
CRANFIELD SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT
[Course eg. Masters in Management]
Academic year: 2019-20
[Date]1. Mission and Financial Summary (1 page approx – guidelines only)Introduction
Very briefly introduce the company you are planning for, and the current product you are planning for in sections 3 and 4
Mission statement
Make brief statements about the following points. See McDonald & Wilson, Marketing Plans 7e, p529
Role or contribution of the unit:
Definition of the business:
Distinctive competence:
Indications for future direction:
Summary of business performance
Summarise briefly the business’s curr ...
MIM MCS MENT 20192020MSP MODULE ASSESSMENT INDIVIDUAL MAR.docx
1. MIM / MCS / MENT 2019/2020
MSP MODULE ASSESSMENT: INDIVIDUAL MARKETING
PLAN
Module leader: Dr Ahmed Shaalan
INTRODUCTION
The assessment of this module is a written marketing plan. Each
student is asked to develop a strategic marketing plan for a
company, and one of its products in particular, of his or her
choice.
· The company should sell to consumers rather than other
businesses. It may sell goods, services or both. It can be from
any part of the world. It could be a not-for-profit organisation
provided it has products that are sold to individuals, e.g. a
charity selling goods to raise money for the charity’s work.
· You are encouraged to obtain secondary data on the company,
its market and its competition. This can be supplemented by
your own examination of its products, target markets, and
communications, insofar as you can observe them from outside.
· A template plan is attached. The plan deals with an existing
product (or service) of the company, which you can choose.
· The plan should contain no more than 7 pages (plus the title
page), with an additional maximum of 2 pages for any
appendices, single-spaced, all margins 2.5 cm (1 in). Use 12
point font size. Font size within tables can be reduced to 9 or
10 font but make sure it is readable!
· A reference list must be included. This reference list should
show, for example, the source of any secondary data you have
used. The reference list does not count towards the page length.
Assessment
The plan will be assessed on the following criteria:
· Use of tools (40%): Appropriate application and plausible
interpretation of tools and techniques covered in the module
· Use of data (20%): Informing the plan with secondary data
2. where available or the student’s own observation where possible
· Commercial awareness (20%): Using mature judgement as to
what actions will deliver the best commercial returns
· Integration and presentation (20%): Presenting professionally
and integrating the sections of the plan so that it makes a
coherent and persuasive argument.
Timeline
The project will be introduced during the module. The
individual marketing plan should be submitted toTurnitin (link
on Blackboard page) by 11.59 pm on Friday 13 March 2020.
TEMPLATE FOR INDIVIDUAL MARKETING PLAN
CRANFIELD UNIVERSITY
CRANFIELD SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT
[STUDENT NUMBER]
Individual Marketing Plan: [Company name]
CRANFIELD SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT
[Course eg. Masters in Management]
Academic year: 2019-20
[Date]1. Mission and Financial Summary (1 page approx –
guidelines only)Introduction
Very briefly introduce the company you are planning for, and
the current product you are planning for in sections 3 and 4
Mission statement
Make brief statements about the following points. See
McDonald & Wilson, Marketing Plans 7e, p529
3. Role or contribution of the unit:
Definition of the business:
Distinctive competence:
Indications for future direction:
Summary of business performance
Summarise briefly the business’s current performance and why
it is good/bad. A possible template, depending on the data
available, is on McDonald & Wilson p530. Or just write a
sentence or short paragraph.
Summary of financial projections
Summarise your intended financial results over the planning
period (typically 3 years). A possible template is on McDonald
& Wilson p531. Or just write a sentence or short
paragraph.Assumptions
Document any key assumptions on which your plan depends.
Assumptions should be few in number. If the plan can work
irrespective of the assumption, don’t include it.
2. Market Overview (1.5 pages approx)
Explain briefly how the market works. While real plans might
include PESTLE and market maps, for this plan please just
include Porter 5 Forces and segmentation.
Forces affecting industry profitability
Include a Porter 5 forces analysis (Baines et al., chapter 2) with
a brief commentary. Here is a possible template.
Rivalry1.2.3.4.5.
Threat of new entrants1. 2. 3.
4. 5.
4. Bargaining power of suppliers
1.
2.3.4.
5.
Bargaining power of buyers
1.
2.3.4.
5.
Threat of Substitutes1. 2. 3.
4. 5.
Market segmentation
Include a segmentation of the market (McDonald & Wilson p99-
117; a quick method is on p115-117. See also Baines et al., pp
204-244). Briefly justify your chosen segmentation method. If
the firm makes very diverse products, focus on one current
product (see Introduction in section 1 above).3. SWOT and
Portfolio Summary: [product name] (2 pages approx)
For the current product you are focusing on, analyse your
strengths and weaknesses in each segment using Cranfield’s
quantified SWOT analysis (critical success factor analysis). See
McDonald & Wilson p175-184. Add a brief commentary for
each table/graphic on what you conclude. Use these templates or
your own equivalents (e.g. from Excel) as you prefer.
Market attractiveness
MAFs
Weighting
Score per product-market
Fill in the segment names as column headings.
Enter a score out of 10 above the diagonal line, and a weighted
score (score x weight / 100) below it.
6. Total
100
Critical success factors
The table below is for each product-market (segment). You may
wish to summarise strengths and weaknesses in words, and also
list any key opportunities/threats.
CSFs
Weighting
Score/weight
Score out of 10 above the diagonal line. Multiply these by the
weight and divide by 100 below the line
You
Compet. A
Compet. B
Compet. C
1
8. Portfolio summary
Summarise the portfolio using the Directional Policy Matrix.
Add a brief commentary on what you conclude. Example below.
(P1=your product name; S1, 2 etc = segments)
Assumptions, Marketing Objectives and Strategies
Relative business strengthMarket Attractiveness
highlowhighlowP1-S1P1-S4P1-S2P1-S5P1-S3
4. Objectives and Strategies (2 pages approx)
List key objectives and strategies here for the current product
you are focusing on. More guidance is in McDonald & Wilson
chapter 6. Here is a possible template. Optionally, you may
wish to include a future version of the Directional Policy Matrix
showing the impact of your objectives and strategies.
Segment
Objective(s)
Strategies One or more for each segment where you are making
changes
1. Improve [CSF name] from x to y by...[what you will do]
2. …
LINK BACK TO THE STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES (one
paragraph max.)
9. Provide a brief statement about how the objectives and
strategies that you have set for this product will support the
organisation’s overall mission.
MARKETING PLANNING PROCESS (one paragraph max.)
Marketing planning is a cross-functional activity. Reflect on the
process of preparing the marketing plan. Who in the
organisation needs to be involved at the stage of analysis? Who
needs to be involved in agreeing the strategy? Who needs to
implement the plan? And who needs to monitor it? Explain how
you intend to get these various departments involved.
CONCLUSION – ‘THE ELEVATOR PITCH’ (50 words max.)
Imagine you have just bumped into the CEO of your company
while travelling in the lift of your building. Suddenly you have
the opportunity to convince the most powerful person in your
company that your plan is a good one. Write a brief 50 word
statement of the benefit of your plan to your organisation.
Make sure you take into account the analysis and objectives
you’ve set in this document. This chance meeting may have a
profound impact on whether your plan wins financial support –
but remember he/she is a busy person and won’t have more than
30 seconds to listen to you!
Rivalry
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
10. Threat of new entrants
1. 2. 3.
4. 5.
Bargaining power of suppliers
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Bargaining power of buyers
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Threat of Substitutes
1. 2. 3.
4. 5.
Assumptions, Marketing Objectives and Strategies
Relative business strength
12. with your consulting company to determine the estimate of
mean number of production workers. Construct a 95%
confidence interval for the population mean number of
production workers. What is the point estimate? How much is
the margin of error in the estimate?
2. Suppose the average number of employees per industry group
in the manufacturing database is believed to be less than 150
(1000s). Test this belief as the alternative hypothesis by using
the 140 SIC Code industries given in the database as the
sample. Let α = .10. Assume that the number of employees per
industry group are normally distributed in the population.
3. You are also required to determine whether there is a
significant difference between mean Value Added by the
Manufacturer and the mean Cost of Materials in manufacturing
using alpha of 0.01.
4. You are requested to determine whether there is a
significantly greater variance among values of Cost of Materials
than of End-of-Year Inventories.
Option 2: Hospital Database
1. As a consultant, you need to use the Hospital database and
construct a 90% confidence interval to estimate the average
census for hospitals. Change the level of confidence to 99%.
What happened to the interval? Did the point estimate change?
2. Determine the sample proportion of the Hospital database
under the variable “service” that are “general medical”
(category 1). From this statistic, construct a 95% confidence
interval to estimate the population proportion of hospitals that
are “general medical.” What is the point estimate? How much
error is there in the interval?
3. Suppose you want to “prove” that the average hospital in the
United States averages more than 700 births per year. Use the
13. hospital database as your sample and test this hypothesis. Let
alpha be 0.01.
4. On average, do hospitals in the United States employ fewer
than 900 personnel? Use the hospital database as your sample
and an alpha of 0.10 to test this figure as the alternative
hypothesis. Assume that the number of births and number of
employees in the hospitals are normally distributed in the
population.
Option 3: Consumer Food
1. Suppose you want to test to determine if the average annual
food spending for a household in the Midwest region of the U.S.
is more than $8,000. Use the Midwest region data and a 1%
level of significance to test this hypothesis. Assume that annual
food spending is normally distributed in the population.
2. Test to determine if there is a significant difference between
households in a metro area and households outside metro areas
in annual food spending. Let α = 0.01.
3. The Consumer Food database contains data on Annual Food
Spending, Annual Household Income, and Non-Mortgage
Household Debt broken down by Region and Location. Using
Region as an independent variable with four classification
levels (four regions of the U.S.), perform three different one-
way ANOVA's—one for each of the three dependent variables
(Annual Food Spending, Annual Household Income, Non-
Mortgage Household Debt). Did you find any significant
differences by region?
Option 4: Financial Database
1. Use this database as a sample and estimate the earnings per
share for all corporations from these data. Select several levels
of confidence and compare the results.