Postgraduate Diploma in Marketing Assignment June 2017 Strategic Marketing Planning (SMP) Examination /Assignment Registration Period 1st to 30th April 2017 Assignment Submission Period 15th to 21st May 2017 Late Submission Period 29th to 31st May 2017 Assignment Acceptance time period Presentation Date Email address to send soft copy Weekend and Weekday from 9.00am to 3.00pm 5th to 7th July smp.pgd@slim.lk GUIDELINES Assignment Submission: You are required to register for examinations / assignments within the above given period. Assignments will not be accepted if you have not registered for the exam/assignment. Assignments should be submitted to SLIM within the Assignment Submission Periods indicated above. Assignments will not be accepted after the late submission period under any circumstances. SLIM will issue an acknowledgement slip upon the submission of your assignment and it must be retained by the student as proof of submitting the assignment. Assignment Cover Page: Attached cover page format should be used, printed in the relevant colour (Stage 1-Blue/Stage 2-Green/ Stage 3-Pink). The Assignment Marking Sheet should be attached after the cover page followed by the Assignment checklist & declaration form. A Soft copy of your assignment should be sent to the above mentioned email address for which you will receive an automated reply of receipt of the assignment. If you have not received the automated reply, please verify with course coordinator. The soft copy is only a reference document that will not be considered as an assignment submission. Page 1 of 9
IMPORTANT NOTES If you have not submitted the assignment your results for the respective subject will appear as Fail in the final grading. In case of absent at the examination, relevant student has to re-do the assignment in order to pass the subject in the next examination. If you are a student of an Accredited Study Center, you can submit the assignment to the accredited study center and presentation date and time will be notified to the accredited center once all assignments received to SLIM Home in parallel to the SLIM web site. Current University students are allowed to submit the assignment without attending lectures since they register as self-study students but they have to attend the individual presentation sessions. Refer Student deliverables indicated below for specific details about assignment submission and presentations. Page 2 of 9
Assignment Topic: Formulating a Strategic Marketing Plan BACKGROUND Select a company where you can obtain internal and external data of its products, markets, competitors, customers etc. It should preferably be a medium scale or a large scale company. Volume of sales should be at least Rs. 24 million per annum. Assume that you are given a consultancy assignment to write a comprehensive marketing plan for one of their products or a category of their products and write a marketing plan for a period of one year in the given format below. The format is only a guideline and the page length of content stated therein could change as per the merits of the case. However, you may not deviate more or less than 20% of the page length given. You are allowed to make assumptions but it should be logical. Your arguments and forecast should be supported by relevant data/information and if possible it should be included to the appendix. Executive summary should be written after completing all other parts of the report and it should describe the whole marketing plan in a nutshell. A special practical session will be held during classes to coach students on how to write an executive summary. Refrain from cutting and pasting information from websites or published reports. Analyze and write in your own words. Report should be written in the third person format (please do not use word our my we when referring to the company) Teaching Methodology: 1. A well formulated format of a generic marketing plan will be given to students on the first day of the programme. 2. Basic knowledge required to formulate the marketing plan would be discussed during class room lectures. 3. Students will be exposed to all the marketing plans that their peers write by way of making their participation mandatory in the presentations. A great deal of learning through this is expected. 4. Participation in the peer presentations will pave the way for the students to develop their knowledge beyond what is available in text books. Further their analytical, presentation, discussion skills will also be developed through this process. Page 3 of 9
FORMAT FOR THE MARKETING PLAN 1. Executive Summary (Maximum 02 pages) a) Summary of Situation Analysis b) Summary of Marketing Objectives c) Summary of Marketing Strategies 2. Situational Analysis (Marketing Audit) 2.1 The Company (Maximum 03 pages) a) The products and services that the company is offering, product life cycle and USP etc. b) Sales (last 05 years) c) Revenue and revenue growth (last 05 years) d) Current market share e) Current distribution systems f) Pricing methods g) Promotional activities in last two years h) Positioning & branding strategies etc. 2.2 Customer Analysis (Maximum One page) a) Description of the characteristics of target customers b) What do they buy? c) Why do they buy? d) When do they buy (are there any special situations/movements to buy)? e) How do they buy? f) Buying decision process 2.3 PESTEEL Analysis (Maximum Two pages) 2.4 Market Analysis (Maximum one page) a) Total sales, revenue & growth (industry) b) Market Trend/s c) Opportunities & Threats etc. 2.5 Competitor Analysis (Maximum 03 pages) a) List of Primary competitors b) List of Secondary competitors c) Possible new competitors d) (Describe following details of top two players in the market or any other competitor that would pose a threat to you or that you would be fighting with in order to enter into the market) e) The products and services that the company/s is offering, product life cycle and USP etc. f) Current market share g) Current distribution system h) Pricing methods i) Promotional activities in last two years j) Positioning strategies Page 4 of 9
k) Branding strategies l) Mind & hart share for the competitor s products m) Technological leadership 3. SWOT Analysis (One A4 page) 4. Marketing Objectives (Setting SMART Objectives/ Ex- Market share, Positioning/ Profitability/ NPD/ Awareness, others) 5. Marketing Strategies (Maximum 20 pages) 5.1 Target Marketing Strategies 5.2 Positioning Strategies 5.3 Overall Marketing Strategies (Growth strategies, Overall Competitive strategies etc.) 5.4 Marketing Mix Strategies (7ps) 6. Marketing Activities & Budgeting (Maximum 05 pages) 6.1 Action plans to achieve marketing mix strategies 6.2 Sales forecasting 6.3 Setting Marketing Budget 7. Monitoring and Evaluation (Maximum 02 pages) Graphical illustration plus a detailed explanation should be given and maximum of 2 A 4 pages can be used. 8. Appendix (Relevant data, research questionnaire, rate cards or any other material that would substantiate your arguments or information in the assignment) The body of the Marketing Plan other than the appendixes would contain about 20-30 A 4 pages or in other words around 5000-6000 words) GENERAL FORMAT TO BE USED All pages should be A4 sheets printed on one side Text font to be Times New Roman Font size of the text should be 12 pt. Main Headings 14 pt. ( Bold) Sub headings 12 pt. Line spacing should be 1.5 lines Margins on Top and Bottom 1 inch Margins on right 1 inch Margins on left 1.25 inch Text justified Beginning of each Para 4 spaces indented All reports should be spiral bound and should be handed over to SLIM before the deadline (Please read the Program Handbook for general guidelines in writing assignments) Page 5 of 9
BACKGROUND OF COMPETITOR Company x i. Company and its size/type Company x ii. Market share Company x iii. Sales force and their expertise Company x iv. Financial strength Company x v. Technology used Company x vi. Any Other IMPORTANT: Please refrain from copying-and-pasting information from the Internet or another source and make sure to reference your work according to the Harvard referencing format. Word Allocation for each task (Content Weightage) Task Content Weightage Task one 100% Total ( word count 5000 to 6000) Note: Please refer the given assignment marking scheme for marks allocation. Page 6 of 9
Assignment checklist & declaration This document is intended as a guide to check and improve your assignment. Review your assignment together with the specific guidelines and criteria (marking schedule) that are mentioned in the programme handbook given to you. You are expected to confirm that your assignment fulfils the below requirements. Please tick ( ) in the cages as necessary. Student Name Registration No ( As per registration book ) Cover page with relevant colour code of the stage Stage 1 Blue Stage 2 Green Stage 3 Pink Assignment checklist & declaration form ( This sheet) Assignment marking scheme is attached Assignment sheet is attached Table of contents Body of the assignment References Course fee paid in full (coaching/registration/exam and membership) Exam registration completed Assignment emailed to relevant email address (You will receive an automated reply of receipt for the assignment. If you have not received the automated reply, please verify with course coordinator. The soft copy is only a reference document that will not be considered as an assignment submission) I m fully aware that any misleading information provided in the above checklist will lead to the rejection of my assignment. I, the undersigned, confirm that I have read and understood the statement about plagiarism which is outlined in the students handbook. I confirm that the work that I have submitted accompanying this report is wholly my own, and that any quotations or sections of text taken from the published or unpublished work of any other person is duly and fully acknowledged therein. Signature: Date: Page 7 of 9
Assignment Marking Scheme June 2017 Subject Student Registration Number Strategic Marketing Planning (SMP) Criteria Allocated Aligning to the purpose of the assignment 20 Some of the answer addresses to the purpose of the question 1-5 This has addressed the purpose of the assignment 6-10 Has addressed the purpose of the assignment coherently 11-15 This has addressed the purpose of assignment comprehensively 16-20 Clarity of expression 20 An attempt to organize in a logical manner 1-5 Satisfactory showing of logical manner and organization 6-10 Shows higher level of Carefully and logically organized 11-15 Shows coherent structure with clearly expressed ideas 16-20 Using examples/evidences 20 Shows a little use of examples 1-5 Some use of examples. Some evaluation attempted 6-10 Some use of examples. Well evaluated 11-15 Shows appropriate examples are fully and reliably evaluated 16-20 Critical analysis of concepts, theories, conclusions 20 Demonstrates limited evidence of critical analysis 1-5 Demonstrates some critical analysis of relevant theory 6-10 Demonstrates application of theory through critical analysis 11-15 Demonstrates application of critical analysis well integrated 16-20 Following assignment guidelines 20 Limited follow-up of assignment guidelines 1-5 Some level of follow-up of assignment guidelines 6-10 Good display of adherence to assignment guidelines 11-15 Excellent adherence to assignment guidelines 16-20 Marks Awarded Special Remarks Total 100 Signature of the Examiner Page 8 of 9
Strategic Marketing Planning (SMP) Assignment Topic Student Name Reg. No. June 2017 Examination Postgraduate Diploma in Marketing Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing Page 9 of 9