BABS 4 UC 2014 Set1 - Revised - Subject to Approval (2)

Westminster International College

Module Title: Understanding Customers

Programme: BABS

Semester: Four

Academic Year Period: February 2014 – May 2014

Lecturer: Mr Albert Lim

Date of Completion and Submission: 16 April 2014

Submission Method: Online via Turn It In

Assessment Type: Individual assignment

Program: BABSModule Code & Name: BSP260 Understanding CustomersSemester: 7Centre: Westminster International College, MalaysiaLecturer: Albert LimTitle: “Why you buy what you buy?”

ASSIGNMENT OBJECTIVE & PURPOSE:The objective of this assignment is to get you to think about and gain further insights into the following three (3) areas of consumer behaviour as applied to yourself.

i) Internal and external influences of your purchases,ii) Levels of involvement in your purchasing process and iii) The motivation for your purchases.

The purpose of this assignment is for you to better understand, appreciate and empathise with customer needs by experiencing it yourself. This would then in all probability contribute to making you a more effective marketer in the future.

LEARNING OUTCOMESUpon completing this assignment, students should be able to: Understand the importance, scope and economic theory of customer analysis through self-

reflection. Critically analyse the decision making-process as part of customer behaviour theory through

self evaluation of: o Internal and external sources of influence

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o Levels and degree of involvemento Levels and degree of motivation In their own purchase behaviour to better understand that of others.

ASSIGNMENT TASKS:The assignment has four distinct stages:

Task 1: Keep a diary/journal of your all your purchases for 1 week in the template provided.

Task 2: At the end of 1 week, for each purchase, think back and analyse the following:

o Who or what influenced your purchase (internally and/or externally).o How involved were you mentally, emotionally and physically in your purchase.o What was your major motivation(s) for your purchases?o Why you bought a particular brand over another by explaining any advantages or

disadvantages of your choice.o Describe any satisfaction or dissatisfaction of your purchases.

Task 3: In order to help you complete this assignment, you are encouraged to discuss your findings with

your other classmates and the lecturer on how to record and analyse the data.

Task: 4 Write and submit your report.

REPORT PRESENTATION

This assignment is to be submitted in a business report format The total word count will be 2,000 words (+/- 10%) The word count DOES NOT include

o Executive Summary, o Table of Contents, o Graphs, tables, diagrams, charts or figures, o Appendices o Reference list

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REPORT FORMAT

A Cover Page (with relevant details) Executive Summary (of whole report) Table of Contents (with page numbering) Introduction ○ This should be an introduction to the whole report and NOT to any company or brand

that you purchased.○ Specify the objectives, purpose & scope of the report.

Internal & External Influences○ Explain what were the key (what or whom) internal and external influences of your week-

long purchases and why by integrating relevant academic theories/literature in your discussion.

Level of Involvement○ Explain the levels of involvement you experienced in your week-long purchases and why

they were used by integrating relevant academic theories/literature in your discussion.

Motivation○ Explain what were the psychological motivators (using Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs) that

played a significant role in your week-long purchases and why they were used by integrating relevant academic theories/literature in your discussion.

Conclusion○ Summarise the major findings of your week-long purchases in terms of key influences,

levels of involvement and motivators.○ Offer some insights on your own consumer behaviour that you may not have been aware of

before this assignment.

Appendices○ Adequately filled provided template of your week-long purchases.

References○ The Harvard referencing and citation format is required.

ASSIGNMENT SUBMISSION Online via Turn It In at WIC portal with one hard copy to the Examinations Department

NOTES ON PLAGIARISM & HARVARD REFERENCING

PlagiarismPlagiarism is passing off the work of others as your own. This constitutes academic theft and is a serious matter which is penalised in assignment marking.

Plagiarism is the submission of an item of assessment containing elements of work produced by another person(s) in such a way that it could be assumed to be the student’s own work.

Examples of plagiarism are: the verbatim copying of another person’s work without acknowledgement

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the close paraphrasing of another person’s work by simply changing a few words or altering the order of presentation without acknowledgement

the unacknowledged quotation of phrases from another person’s work and/or the presentation of another person’s idea(s) as one’s own.

Copying or close paraphrasing with occasional acknowledgement of the source may also be deemed to be plagiarism if the absence of quotation marks implies that the phraseology is the student’s own.

Plagiarised work may belong to another student or be from a published source such as a book, report, journal or material available on the internet.

Harvard ReferencingThe structure of a citation under the Harvard referencing system is the author's surname, year of publication, and page number or range, in parentheses, as illustrated in the Smith example near the top of this article.The page number or page range is omitted if the entire work is cited. The author's surname is omitted if it appears in the text. Thus we may say: "Jones (2001) revolutionized the field of trauma surgery." Two or three authors are cited using "and" or "&": (Deane, Smith, and Jones, 1991) or (Deane,

Smith & Jones, 1991). More than three authors are cited using et al. (Deane et al. 1992). An unknown date is cited as no date (Deane n.d.). A reference to a reprint is cited with the

original publication date in square brackets (Marx [1867] 1967, p. 90). If an author published two books in 2005, the year of the first (in the alphabetic order of the

references) is cited and referenced as 2005a, the second as 2005b. A citation is placed wherever appropriate in or after the sentence. If it is at the end of a

sentence, it is placed before the period, but a citation for an entire block quote immediately follows the period at the end of the block since the citation is not an actual part of the quotation itself.

Complete citations are provided in alphabetical order in a section following the text, usually designated as "Works cited" or "References." The difference between a "works cited" or "references" list and a bibliography is that a bibliography may include works not directly cited in the text.

All citations are in the same font as the main text.

ExamplesExamples of book references are: Smith, J. (2005a). Dutch Citing Practices. The Hague: Holland Research Foundation. Smith, J. (2005b). Harvard Referencing. London: Jolly Good Publishing.

In giving the city of publication, an internationally well-known city (such as London, The Hague, or New York) is referenced as the city alone. If the city is not internationally well known, the country (or state and country if in the U.S.) are given.

An example of a journal reference: Smith, John Maynard. "The origin of altruism," Nature 393, 1998, pp. 639–40.

An example of a newspaper reference:

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Bowcott, Owen. "Street Protest”, The Guardian, October 18, 2005, accessed February 7, 2006.

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INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT MARKING SCHEME/RUBRIC

Subject: BSP260 Understanding Customers (Feb 2014 Sem)Student Name:

Student ID:

CriteriaMarks

Allocated AwardedEXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

5Poor summary of report, no insights gleaned 1Fair summary of report, some insights gleaned 2Good summary of report and insights gleaned 3Excellent summary of report with sound insights gleaned 4 - 5INTRODUCTION 0Poor objective, purpose and scope of report stated 1

5Fair objective, purpose and scope or report stated 2Good objective, purpose and scope or report stated 3Excellent objective, purpose and scope or report stated 4 – 5INTERNAL & EXTERNAL INFLUENCES 0Poor discussion, little links of influences to theory & no/poor citations

1 - 4

20

Fair discussion, some links of influences to theory & some citations

5 – 10

Good discussion and links of influences to theory with good citations

11 – 15

Excellent discussion, strong links of influences to theory & citations

16 - 20

LEVELS OF INVOLVEMENT 0Poor discussion, little links of involvement to theory & no/poor citations

1 - 4

20

Fair discussion, some links of involvement to theory & some citations

5 – 10

Good discussion and links of involvement to theory with good citations

11 – 15

Excellent discussion, strong links of involvement to theory & citations

16 - 20

MOTIVATION 0Poor discussion, little links of motivation to theory & no/poor citations

1 - 4

20

Fair discussion, some links of motivation to theory & some citations

5 – 10

Good discussion and links of motivation to theory with good citations

11 – 15

Excellent discussion, strong links of motivation to theory & citations

16 - 20

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CONCLUSION 0Poor summary of findings, hardly any insights gleaned 1 – 3

10Fair summary of findings with some insights gleaned 4 – 6Good summary of findings with good insights gleaned 7 – 8Excellent summary of findings with strong insights offered 9 – 10OVERALL PRESENTATION 0Poor examples & language but limited critical analysis 1

5Fair examples & language with some critical analysis 2Good examples & language with application of theory 3Excellent examples & language with integrated critical analysis 4 - 5APPENDICES 0Poor log of purchases, template not completely filled 1 – 3

10Fair log of purchases & template appropriately filled 4 – 6Good log of purchase & template well filled 7 – 8Excellent log of purchases & template very well filled 9 – 10REFERENCES 0Poor, insufficient & inconsistent Harvard referencing & citation used

5

Fair, sufficient & consistent Harvard referencing & citation usedGood, sufficient & consistent Harvard referencing & citation usedExcellent, sufficient & consistent Harvard referencing & citation used

TOTAL 100INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT MARKING SCHEM/RUBRIC (cont’d)

Comments:

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Examiner’s Name & Signature:

Date:

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LEGEND FOR TERMS USED IN MARKING:

Terms General Description of Work Presented

Excellent Relevant issues consistently identified/discussed/analyzed to a very high standard with very clear explanations/rationale/justification.

Very strong evidence of wider reading with relevant citations used providing very strong insights into the topic of discussion.

Critical analysis very well developed with strong identifications of pros and cons and the impact/implications of both to the issue at hand.

Very professionally and creatively presented quality of work that is very neat and tidy with very coherent flows of arguments.

Good/Strong/Clear / Significant

Relevant issues consistently identified/discussed/analyzed to a high standard with clear explanations/rationale/justification.

Strong evidence of wider reading with relevant citations used providing strong insights into the topic of discussion.

Critical analysis well developed with good identifications of pros and cons and the impact/implications of both to the issue at hand.

Some professionalism and creativity shown in the quality of presentation with work that is neat and tidy with coherent flows of arguments.

Some / Fair / Moderate / Somewhat

Relevant issues consistently identified/discussed/analyzed to a satisfactory standard with good explanations/rationale/justification. Some inconsistencies.

Some evidence of wider reading with relevant citations used providing good insights into the topic of discussion.

Critical analysis somewhat developed with some identifications of pros and cons and the impact/implications of both to the issue at hand.

Some professionalism and creativity shown in the quality of presentation with work that is somewhat neat and tidy with some coherent flows of arguments.

Poor / Little / Partial

Relevant issues consistently identified/discussed/analyzed to a inconsistent standard with poor explanations/rationale/justification. Many inconsistencies detected.

Little evidence of wider reading with relevant citations used providing little insights into the topic of discussion.

Critical analysis poorly developed with little or no identifications of pros and cons and the impact/implications of both to the issue at hand.

Little professionalism and creativity shown in the quality of presentation with work that is NOT neat and tidy with incoherent flows of arguments.

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TEMPLATE FOR WEEK-LONG PURCHASES

Note: You should cut and paste this template for each purchase you made in one week and include it in your Appendices in your report. This will form the basis of your discussion in your report.

Example

DateItems Hair cutPrice RM 29.00Purchased from XYZ, Subang JayaTime spent on making the decision

Immediate decision as I am a regular customer over the last year.

Effort put into decision making process

Low involvement

Other products that were considered/available

There are a significant number of salons in Subang Jaya but this is only the third salon I have visited in 8 years.

Factors that led to the choice I made

I have been a client of this salon for about 12 months. I previously had my haircut at a salon about 6 doors down the road, but became dissatisfied at a perceived lack of professionalism from the staff. I walked past and saw a sign in the window at XYZ for a discounted haircut with a particular stylist, and I was happy with her work and became a client from then on. That particular stylist left the salon recently, and quite suddenly, so when I called for an appointment I asked who else could cut my hair. I was recommended a man named Sean. He is very stylish but intensely focused and professional, which I value.

Maslow’s hierarchy of Needs:I was satisfied with the basic services (needs) offered which were convenient location, affordable, value-for-money and competitive pricing. The friendly environment also gave me a sense of belonging (associative needs) On top of that I was very satisfied with the professionalism shown and a hair cut that suit my style which did my self-esteem a lot of good.

~ End of Document ~

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BABS 4 UC 2014 Set1 - Revised - Subject to Approval (2)

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