Individual Assignment II Seminar_DLE

International Marketing

Individual

Assignment II


Individual assignment

• The assignment involves the development of an

international marketing plan for an existing company,

Burts Potato Chips (http://www.burtschips.com/).

• 5000 words (not including title page, table of contents,

executive summary, references and appendices. There

is a flexibility of no more than +/- 10% on this).

• There is most likely not going to be a lecture by the

export manager of Burts. Information will be posted on

the DLE website.


• Select a flavour (e.g. Spicy Chorizo, Sea Salt etc.) of Burts Potato Chips and a country from the following list:

Colombia Brazil South KoreaSingapore

• Devise a marketing plan to internationalize the consumer product to the chosen country.

• Business-to-consumer (B2C) marketing



• A good understanding of the selected product and country

is essential. Secondary research is key to the success of

this project. You are expected to use numerous data

sources in compiling your assignment such as government

(country) and non-government sources (UN, EU, IMF,

World bank, WTO, etc.), internal company records, trade

statistics, embassy resources, country-specific internet

sites, etc.

• You may use the numerical data of Mintel/Key Note market

reports in your own assignment (referenced) but DO NOT

reproduce/copy any of the written commentary whether

referenced or not. Do not just copy data from Mintel/Key

Note.



• The complete report should be written in a

business report format. You should keep

sentences short and business-like, and make use

of section numbering, headings and paragraphs.

• Do not write essays. You do not need to explain

the theory in great depth, but make sure it is

clear that what you did/propose to do is based on

appropriate application of the theory, ensuring

you provide evidence and give sufficient

reasoning to justify your actions/proposals.



• The deadline for submission of the coursework is

12.00 (noon) on Monday, 18th January 2016.

• All coursework must be submitted digitally as an e-submission through the DLE.

• Formative assessment opportunities will be provided with the deadline at

9AM on Monday, 11th January 2016.

• Individual and group feedback as well as chance to ask questions.



• Plagiarism: While working on your assignment you can submit a draft via Moodle to Turnitin to check its originality and thus, enhance the assignment.

• Harvard Referencing System.



• Executive summary

• Internal audit, international country selection and

SWOT analysis (25%)

• Marketing plan objectives, and segmentation,

targeting and positioning (15%)

• Entry mode strategy (10%)

• Marketing mix (40%)

• Presentation of report (10%)



Executive summary

• An executive summary is a document that

summarises a report/presentation. It must be short

and to the point.

• It should include a brief statement of the issue or

the proposal covered in the presentation (selected

flavour and country), background information,

marketing plan objectives, target market,

summary of the marketing plan and main

conclusions.

Source: Wikipedia (2014)


Internal audit, international country

selection and SWOT analysis

• Internal audit: Analysis of the company and the product

(sales/international sales, market share, profits, competitive

advantage, etc.).

• International country selection:

Rationale for selecting the country

External audit:

Macro environment: PESTLE.

The market: Market definition, market size,

market/sales trends, consumer characteristics, etc.

Competition: Who they are, market share and size of

competitors, their strengths and weaknesses, etc.

• SWOT analysis


Internal audit

Analysis of the company and the

product:

• sales/international sales

• market share

• profits

• competitive advantage

• Etc.

• The actors and forces outside marketing that affect marketing management’s ability to develop and maintain successful transactions with target customers.

• The marketing manager needs to constantly monitor the total marketing environment to keep abreast of changes that can impact on company marketing objectives.

External audit:

International country selection

Forces

Political forces

Economic forces

Social forces

Technological forces

Environmental forces

Legal forces

The macro-environment consists of a number of forces that affect not only the company but also other actors and are largely uncontrollable.

MACROENVIRONMENT - PESTEL

Task 1

• Work with you neighbour and brainstorm which forces could affect international marketing decisions in the four different potential markets.

Colombia

Brazil

South Korea

Singapore


External audit

PESTLE: It should be clearly linked to the company/product.

Relevant issues.

• Why is the switch from traditional restaurant dining to fast

food dining relevant to your company?

• Why is the child poverty rate relevant to your company?

MISTAKES

Environmental issues that are not relevant.

Political and legal section that does not pay attention to trade

barriers, and legal issues that could have an impact on

packaging/labelling decisions, media selection, etc.

Reference to trade agreements that are not applicable to the

selected market.

Reference to your marketing plan.


SWOT

• Prepare it once you have the data from

the internal and the external audits.

• Use the internal audit to identify strengths

(S) and weaknesses (W). S&W refer to

internal factors, internal capabilities

(controllable).

• Use the external audit to identify

opportunities (O) and threats (T). O&T

refer to external factors (uncontrollable).

Source: Wood (2013)


SWOT

MISTAKES

• SWOT analysis is included before the external audit section.

• To categorise opportunities as strengths and/or vice versa

(e.g. government support classified as a strength).

• To classify weaknesses as threats and/or vice versa.

• SWOT analysis that is not consistent with the PESTLE

analysis.

Source: Wood (2013)


Marketing plan objectives in target market

• Financial objectives (e.g. sales, profit, etc.),

marketing objectives (e.g. awareness, loyalty, etc.)

• Development of SMART objectives:

specific

measurable

achievable

realistic

timetabled


Marketing plan objectives

Marketing plan objectives:

- FINANCIAL OBJECTIVES: Targets for achieving financial results

through marketing strategies and programmes. Examples:

- Increasing sales by geographic market/customer

segment/product/channel.

- Achieving profitability levels.

- Achieving return on investment levels.

- MARKETING OBJECTIVES: Targets for achievements in

marketing relationships and activities, which in turn directly

support the achievement of financial objectives. Examples:

- Building brand awareness and preference.

- Stimulating product trial.

- Enhancing brand, product, company image.

- Increasing customer satisfaction.

Source: Wood (2013)



• Marketing plan objectives are short-term targets and should be

SMART.

• To be effective, your marketing plan objectives should be:

• Specific and measurable: Objectives should indicate, in

quantitative terms, what the marketing plan is being developed

to achieve. Simply calling for ‘growth’ is not enough. Vague

terms will not help you determine what you need to accomplish

and how. Example: To increase market share by 10 % per year

in each appliance category.

• Achievable: The organisation should have the means to

achieve the set objectives.

• Realistic. Marketing objectives should be realistic to provide

purpose for marketing and relevant to the chosen direction and

higher-level strategies and goals of the company.

Source: Wood (2013)



• Time defined: What is the deadline for achieving the objective?

Setting an open-ended objective is like setting no objective at all.

Example: To become the UK’s top-selling bottled water within

two years.

• Consistent: Is the objective consistent with the organisation’s

mission, goals, strengths, core competencies and interpretation

of external opportunities an threats? Are the objectives

consistent with each other?

MISTAKES

Objectives that refer to the marketing mix.

Two objectives in one.

Objectives that are not SMART

Source: Wood (2013)

Task 2

• Work with you neighbour and develop two objectives for Burts Potato Chips that are

specific

measurable

achievable

realistic

timetabled


Segmentation, targeting, positioning

SEGMENTATION

- Select and apply segmentation variables (e.g. demographic,

geographic, psychographic, behavioural, etc.).

- Evaluate and select segment(s) for targeting.

TARGETING STRATEGY

- Consider the market coverage approach you wish to apply:

undifferentiated, differentiated, concentrated, individualised.

POSITIONING

- Create a competitively distinctive position for your product in the minds

of your targeted customers.

Source: Wood (2013)



TARGETING STRATEGIES

Source: Wood (2013, p.78)



MISTAKES - SEGMENTATION

It does not specify the variables used to segment the market.

No clear explanations of how the segmentations variables are

applied to identify the relevant segments.

It discusses the geographic variables to segment the market

however, based on the target market, it should also have covered

age and income as variables used to segment the market.

It references geographic and behavioural variables however, then it

aims to target groups that are defined by age groups (adults aged

between 25 and 34 years of age and children under 12 years old).



MISTAKES - TARGETING

The target market and the targeting strategy are not clearly

indicated in the segmentation and targeting section.

The assignment requests to launch a consumer product (A

consumer product is “a product bought by final consumers for

personal consumption” (Kotler and Armstrong, 2014, p.674)) thus,

rather than targeting business customers (e.g. luxury hotels and

restaurants), final consumers should be targeted.


Entry mode strategy

• Factors affecting the choice of entry mode.

• Rationale for selecting the entry mode.

• Why is your choice of entry mode a better option

to adopt than other entry modes?


Entry mode strategy


Factors influencing entry mode strategy


Entry mode

• Factors affecting the choice of entry mode.

• Rationale for selecting the entry mode.

• Why is your choice of entry mode a better option

to adopt than other entry modes?

MISTAKES

- The selected entry mode is an indirect export mode but then in the

distribution section it is stated that the company sells directly to the

distributor.


Marketing mix (4P)

Strategies and tactics for each element of the marketing

mix:

- Product: core component, packaging component, etc.

- Price: pricing strategy, costs, final price (consumer

pays), etc.

- Place/distribution:

o From origin to destination: port selection,

transportation mode, etc.

o Channels of distribution: wholesale, retailers, etc.

(consumer channels).

- Promotion: communication tool(s), message

decisions, media, etc.


Presentation of report

• Conclusion of report

• Layout

• Grammar, spelling

• Logical flow

• Full and complete referencing (following Harvard

Referencing System)

• Appropriate length (5000 words. +/- 10%)

• Inclusion of the Turnitin report.

Check for further details on how to present the report in

the module handbook



MISTAKES

Executive summary presented before the table of contents.

References do not follow the Harvard Referencing System.

Poor and lack of logical flow to the information.

Table and figures that are not numbered. A title for each of them is

not included

Sources of information are not included.

Use of contractions (e.g. it’s).



MISTAKES

Grammatical mistakes.

The appendix section includes key details clearly requested in the

module handbook (market share, competitive advantages, full

PESTLE analysis) rather than additional information.

Word count not specified.

Layout indicated in module handbook is not followed.

Individual Assignment II Seminar_DLE

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