Marketing planning

Marketing planning – Case study: You are required to produce a case study showing evidence of application of marketing planning to analyse the marketing planning of any company of your choice

Case study: You are required to produce a case study showing evidence of application of marketing planning to analyse the marketing planning of any company of your choice. You may choose the case of a prominent business (Asda, McDonalds, Barclays, HSBC, etc.) operating under the recent economic environment.

Discuss the current Marketing planning to determine why the company has been successful or a failure in the current Competitive Business Environment

LO1 Be able to compile marketing audits
Changing perspectives: changing perspectives in marketing planning; market- led strategic change
Assessment of capability: evaluate issues relating to aspects of competing for the future and balancing strategic intent and strategic reality
Organisational auditing: evaluating and coming to terms with organisational capability; balancing strategic intent and strategic reality; the determinants of capability e.g. managerial, financial, operational, human resource and intangible (brand) capability; approaches to leveraging capability; aspects of competitive advantage
External factors: approaches to analysing external factors that influence marketing planning; the identification and evaluation of key external forces using analytical tools e.g. PEST (Political, Economic, Social, Technological), PESTLE (Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal, Ethical), STEEPLE (Social, Technological, Economic, Environmental, Political, Legal, Ethical); the implications of different external factors for marketing planning; Porter’s five forces analysis; identifying the organisation’s competitive position and relating this to the principal opportunities and threats; market, product and brand lifecycles

1.1 review changing perspectives in marketing planning
1.2 evaluate an organisation’s capability for planning its future marketing activity
1.3 Examine techniques for organisational auditing and for analysing external factors that affect marketing planning
1.4 carry out organisational auditing and analysis of external factors that affect marketing planning in a given situation
LO2 Understand the main barriers to marketing planning
Barriers: objective/strategy/tactics confusion; isolation of marketing function; organisational barriers (organisational culture, change management, ethical issues, behavioural, cognitive, systems and procedures, resources); competitor strategy and activity; customer expectation
2.1 assess the main barriers to marketing planning
2.2 examine how organisations may overcome barriers to marketing planning
LO3 Be able to formulate a marketing plan for a product or service
The role of marketing planning in the strategic planning process: the relationship between corporate objectives, business objectives and marketing objectives at operational level; the planning gap and its impact on operational decisions
The strategic alternatives for new product development: an overview of the marketing planning process; SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats); objectives in differing markets, products and services; product modification through to innovation; evaluation of product and market match; use of Ansoff’s matrix; product failure rates and implications for screening ideas against company capabilities and the market; product testing; test marketing; organisational arrangements for managing new product development; costs and pricing; encouraging an entrepreneurial environment; the importance of learning from failure
Pricing policy: price taking versus price making; the dimensions of price; approaches to adding value; pricing techniques (price leadership, market skimming, market penetration pricing, competitive market-based pricing, cost- based versus market-oriented pricing); the significance of cash flow; the interrelationships between price and the other elements of the marketing mix; taking price out of the competitive equation
Distribution: distribution methods; transport methods; hub locations, break- bulk and distribution centres; choice of distribution to point-of-sale; distribution and competitive advantage
Communication mix: evaluation of promotional mix to influence purchasing behaviour; media planning and cost; advertising and promotional campaigns; changes to advertising and promotional campaigns over the product lifecycle (PLC); sales planning
Implementation: factors affecting the effective implementation of marketing plans; barriers to implementation and how to overcome them; timing; performance measures (financial, non-financial, quantitative, qualitative); determining marketing budgets for marketing mix decisions included in the marketing plan; methods of evaluating and controlling the marketing plan; how marketing plans and activities vary in organisations that operate in a virtual marketplace

3.1 write a marketing plan for a product or a service
3.2 explain why marketing planning is essential in the strategic planning process for an organisation
3.3 examine techniques for new product development
3.4 justify recommendations for pricing policy, distribution and communication mix
3.5 explain how factors affecting the effective implementation of the marketing plan have been taken into account
LO4 Understand ethical issues in marketing
Ethical issues in marketing: ethics and the development of the competitive stance; different perspectives on ethics in the global marketplace; ethical trade- offs; ethics and managerial cultures
Ethics of the marketing mix: management of the individual elements of the marketing mix
Product: gathering market research on products; identification of product problems and levels of customer communication; product safety and product recall
Price: price fixing; predatory pricing; use of loss leaders; deceptive pricing; price discrimination
Promotion: media message impact; sales promotion; personal selling; hidden persuaders; corporate sponsorship
Distribution: abuse of power e.g. restriction of supply; unreasonable conditions set by distributors
Counterfeiting: imitation (fakes, knock-offs); pirate and bootleg copies; prior registration and false use of trade names, brand names and domain names
Consumer ethics: false insurance claims; warranty deception; misredemption of vouchers; returns of merchandise; illegal downloads, copying and distribution (music, videos, film, software)

4.1 explain how ethical issues influence marketing planning
4.2 analyse examples of how organisations respond to ethical issues
4.3 analyse examples of consumer ethics and the effect it has on marketing planning.

Conclusion and recommendations
You should write a conclusion about the findings and communicate appropriate recommendations to the board of directors
In writing your recommendation you should demonstrate
convergent/lateral/creative thinking

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