Assignment - MKT101 Principles of Marketing

Vietnam National University International School HELP Bachelor of Business (Hons) MKT101 PRINCIPLES OF MARKETING

Assignment Year 1, Semester 1, March 2012 Date of Release: 16 April 2012

Assignment - MKT101 Principles of Marketing

ASSIGNMENT DETAILS Format:! ! Written Report Approximately 3,000 - 3,500 words (Please indicate the word count) 28 May 2012 No extension will be granted 40% of total assessment for this subject

Word Limit:! ! ! ! !

Due Date:! ! ! ! ! !

Value:! !

Assignment Rationale This assignment is designed to expose you to some basic practical applications of marketing concepts that you have learned in class. This will test your understanding of how to conduct a situation analysis and to develop a marketing plan.

Assignment task As an established private publishing house in Vietnam, your company has come up with a magazine line that features articles for a specic group of readers. The Marketing Director is so passionate about the magazine and cannot wait to launch it. However, as a prudent Director, she needs to have a Marketing Plan. She has instructed you to come up with that Marketing Plan.

Tips: Students are encouraged to read Appendix 1 of the prescribed textbook to get a feel of what Marketing Plan is about.

Assignment - MKT101 Principles of Marketing

Suggested Content Page To assist you with the preparation of the plan, a suggested Contents Page for the plan appears hereunder. The analysis herein is not exhaustive. Students are encouraged to put into practice other analysis that they have learned. Please present the information in a report format. Be creative and consistent with information. Executive Summary Table of Contents 1.0! ! ! ! ! ! 2.0 ! ! 3.0 ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 4.0 ! ! ! ! ! Situation Analysis ! ! ! ! ! 1.1.! Market Analysis 1.2.! Competitor Analysis 1.3.! Company Analysis (For competitor and company analysis, students may use SWOT Analysis) 1.4.! Implications of Situations Analysis

Objectives ! 2.1.! Marketing Objectives

Marketing Strategies ! ! ! ! ! ! 3.1.! Market Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning 3.2.! Marketing Mix ! ! ! ! 3.2.1.! Product/Service 3.2.2.! Place (distribution) 3.2.3.! Price 3.2.4.! Promotion

Budgets ! ! ! ! 4.1! ! 4.2! ! Forecast Sales (and market share) and costs (capital, operating, marketing, etc.) Forecast Protability (or break-even analysis) (For budgeting, student may base on assumption but be realistic)
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Assignment - MKT101 Principles of Marketing

5.0 ! ! !

Implementation and Control ! ! 5.1! 5.2! Action program Control

References Appendices Note: 1. Students are advised to skim through the textbook and look at the relevant chapters to have an understanding of the various aspects of the Marketing Plan. 2. Please take note that plagiarism and collusion are serious offenses and students caught committing the offenses will be dealt accordingly. Assessment Criteria The following criteria will form the basis of allocation of marks for the written report

Criteria How well does the plan demonstrate an understanding of the process of preparing a marketing plan? Does this plan cover the major elements of the plan? Could the plan be considered as the basis for launching the product into the market? Logical analysis and integration of theories and practical applications of strategies which are informed by a range of theoretical materials (journal articles and text, etc.) Did the student exhibit an understanding of concepts, issues and develop reasonable solutions? How interesting is the plan to read? How perceptive? How creative? How insightful? Does the analysis have a logical progression (with reasoning evident) that leads to strategic conclusion? Suitable academic style, clear development and organisation of ideas, consistency, correct presentation of bibliographic material, grammar and spelling TOTAL

Marks Allocated 7.5

10

10 5

7.5

40
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Assignment - MKT101 Principles of Marketing

PREPARATION AND SUBMISSION OF REPORT 1.! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Report deadlines must be strictly adhered to. Students should expect marks to be lost for late assignments. Punctuality is a virtue of good managers. At least one copy should be made of the nal draft copy. Keep a copy of your assignment in case the original is lost. The practice of making duplicate copies of submissions is a normal part of organisational life. Introduction The rationale behind assigning reports/essays is that written expression is an important part of organisational life. Report writing is a useful way to test the amount of reading and reading comprehension, students are often required to undertake considerable reading to prepare their report. Answer the question set, keep to the topic and include all relevant issues. Be clear and concise in your expression, paying particular attention to sentence structure. Put yourself in the readers position and ask Is the meaning clear? Go beyond what other people have said on the topic. Express their ideas in your own words but add your own ideas and opinions. To do this you need to analyse and criticise ideas where appropriate and argue your point of view. Support your arguments and opinions with extensive referencing. Use headings for sections of your report where appropriate. (See recent journal articles or your textbook for example.) Include an introduction in your opening paragraph and a conclusion in the nal one. Report should be approximately the suggested length but should be compact. This means that nal drafts should involve cutting back, rather than padding, an earlier draft. Brevity is also a virtue of good managers.

Assignment - MKT101 Principles of Marketing

2. ! Preparation ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 3.! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
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Multi drafts Quality report cannot be written on a one draft only basis. At a minimum, the report writer should: Start with a rough outline of topics that will be covered in the paper. Topics should be arranged in a logical sequence. At this stage the paper will look something like a rough table of contents. Expand each topic into sentences and paragraphs that include all the thoughts the writer can nd or create related to the topic. Pare down this rough draft eliminating unrequited statements, correcting errors in spelling and grammar, and adding the bibliography. In many cases one or more additional redrafts will still be required as new material is found or thoughts are reorganize. Layout Paper A4 size blank white paper should be used for typed reports. Assignments should be word-processed using double spacing. The front cover The front cover of your assignment should include: 1. Your name and student number. 2. Subject, assignment number and topic. 3. Your tutors name and class time.

Assignment - MKT101 Principles of Marketing

! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! The left-hand margin must be at least 5 cm wide to allow for markers comments. Unless you specically request otherwise the marker reserves the right to place ink comments in the margins. Pages All pages <except cover page if there is one> must be numbered. Use only one side of the paper. Number each page. Fasten pages securely in the top left-hand corner with staples, do not use paper clips. Table of contents and precis A table of contents page is optional. Similarly a precis is optional. If a precis is written, however, it should be concise. Margins

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