Identify and critically discuss the macro and micro environment
The link of given plan:
http://amberbemis.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/business371-marketingplan.pdf
Write a structured professional report in which identify and critically discuss strengths and weaknesses of the plan, by using the headings and structure illustrated in the table below. And the report also have to identify the main areas of improvement and suggest how the plan could be further developed. Make sure you do not merely describe or summarise the content of the marketing plan. The essay, instead, should provide an analysis of the marketing plan that is based on the understanding of the marketing literature.
Similarly, be careful not to spend too much of the assignment simply describing your selected marketing frameworks, models, or concepts.
These are the things need to be included in the report:
- Presentation of the case. Briefly introduce the organisation and its general background (e.g. which is/are the market(s) where the organisation operates?).
- Specific evaluation of the plan. A critical appraisal of the different elements constituting the marketing plan should be performed by discussing all the following:
1) Corporate connection. Is any ‘business mission’ or ‘business vision’ statement clearly provided? Are they appropriate and focused?
2) Marketing audit. Does the plan clearly articulate a systematic examination of the organisation’s marketing environment?
Does it properly analyse the macro- and micro- environment? To address this question, check if the plan provide any PESTLE analysis, overview of the markets, its trends, developments; competition/competitor analysis (nature of actual and potential competitors, with relative strengths and weaknesses).
Does the plan properly consider the internal environment?
Are the portfolio, performances and activities of the organisation assessed against the background of the environmental developments? Is any SWOT analysis evaluating strengths and weaknesses of the organisation against opportunities and threats in the macro environment.
3) Marketing objectives. Does the plan identify clear marketing objectives? Is it possible to identify a hierarchy of objectives? In other words, are there some prevalently strategic/general and, instead, prevalently tactical/specific ones? Are these objectives reasonable and outlined consistently in relation to the marketing audit?
4) Marketing strategies. Is the plan effective in elaborating appropriate strategies to accomplish the marketing objectives outlined? In particular, are targeting and market targets adequately considered in the plan? Are some competitor targets identified? And how is the issue of positioning (i.e. competitive advantage) dealt with? How do you evaluate the differentiation/competitive strategies outlined, if any?
5) Tactical marketing decision and action plan. Does the plan coherently identify any marketing mix decisions in order to accomplish the marketing strategies outlined? Is this done in a consistent way? Which elements of the marketing mix are particularly emphasised? Is a more detailed action plan presenting, for example, promotional or communicational activities to be carried out? And are they in line with the core marketing strategies, targets and competitive strategies?
6) Organisation and implementation. Does the plan elaborate on issues of organisation and implementation?
7) Marketing control. How are the results evaluated? Does the plan identify reasonable mechanisms of control and pay attention to the issue of measurement?
- Holistic evaluation of the plan. Provide a concise and focused evaluation of the overall marketing planning effort illustrated across the plan, by underlining its main merits and inadequacies. Issues of internal consistency and coherence, for example, are particularly important in this respect. Particular emphasis should be put in highlighting the main areas of improvement: you can use bullet points to be even clearer.
- Recommendations: This section requires you to propose how you would improve/integrate the marketing plan. It is important to justify your recommendation by pointing to concepts and tools illustrated and provide adequate references. It is important to clearly relate every recommendation to the specific gaps identified in the previous sections of the report. Avoid the temptation to provide general ‘recipes’ for improvement that do not address the specific weaknesses of the plan.
You can use sub-headings to improve the readability and clarity of this section.
- References: Please use Harvard Referencing.
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