ASSIGNMENT 2 FRONT SHEET

Qualification BTEC Level 4 HND Diploma in Business

Unit number and title Unit 2 Marketing Essentials

Submission date 16/6/2019 Date Received 1st submission

Re-submission Date Date Received 2nd submission

Student Name Vo Thuy My Tran Student ID GBS190005

Class GBS0705_NX Assessor name Dorian Gomez

Student declaration

I certify that the assignment submission is entirely my own work and I fully understand the consequences of plagiarism. I understand that
making a false declaration is a form of malpractice.

Student’s signature

Grading grid

P3 M3
 Summative Feedback:  Resubmission Feedback:

Grade: Assessor Signature: Date:

Internal Verifier’s Comments:

Signature & Date:

Assignment Brief (RQF)

Higher National Certificate/Diploma in Business

Student Name/ID Number:

Unit Number and Title: Unit 2 Marketing Essentials

Academic Year:

Unit Assessor: Nguyen Phuong Tu (Mrs)

Assignment Title: Assignment 2 – Marketing Mix

Issue Date:

Submission Date:

Internal Verifier Name:

Date:

Submission Format:

The submission is in the form of an individual written report. This should be written in a
course, formal business style using 1.5 lines spacing and font size 12. You are required to
make use of headings, paragraphs and subsections as appropriate, and all work must be
supported with research and referenced using the Harvard referencing system. Please also
provide a bibliography using the Harvard referencing system. Any suspicions regarding
plagiarism will lead to failure in results of the assignment. The recommended word limit is
3,000 words, although you will not be penalized for exceeding the total word limit.

Unit Learning Outcomes:

LO2.Compare ways in which organizations use elements of the marketing mix (7Ps) to
achieve overall business objectives

Assignment Brief and Guidance:

You are a new member of Marketing Department of Company X. Your team is about to build
a strategic marketing plan for a new product line, which will be launched in 3 months. To
prepare for this, you have been assigned to conduct a small study in order to review the
various ways in which organizations (especially your company competitors) use the marketing
mix to achieve their overall business objectives.
In this paper, you should be able to:
1. Explain relevant theory/concepts about the extended marketing mix (7Ps)
2. Provide a variety of examples and practices about how different organizations utilize
each elements of the marketing mix
3. Critically analyse and evaluate marketing mix tactics applied by organizations through
practical cases.

Learning Outcomes and Assessment Criteria:

Learning Outcome Pass Merit Distinction
LO2 Compare ways P3 Compare the ways M3 Evaluate different
in which in which different tactics applied by
organisations use organisations apply organisations to
elements of the the marketing mix to demonstrate how
marketing mix (7Ps) the marketing business objectives
to achieve overall planning process to can be achieved
business objectives achieve business
objectives
Introduction
As a new member of Marketing Department of the company, a new product line will be launched in 3
months, my team and I am about to build a strategic marketing plan. And to prepare for this plan, I am
assigned to conduct a small study to review some various ways of using the marketing mix to achieve the
overall business objective.

Marketing is a continually advancing discipline and companies, which are standstill for too long will fine
themselves left behind the competition. Where once there were 4 Ps to clarify the mix, at that time
business were often focus on the product rather customer services, which is the main factor helping brand
development. In the late 70s, marketing mix was updated by added 3 new elements (Physical Evidence,
People, Processes) to the 4 Ps Principle by Boom and Bitner, it redefines key factor that influences the
status of marketing in corporate governance and organizational governance now referred to as the 7Ps.

“Marketing is still an art, and the marketing manager, as head chef, must creatively marshal all his

Marketing activities to advance the short and long term interests of his firm.”

-NEIL H. BORDEN-Harvard Business School-

In this report I will define how to use the marketing mix to achieve the overall business objective.

1. Explain relevant theory/concepts about the extended marketing mix (7Ps)

2. Provide a variety of examples and practices about how different organizations utilize each
elements of the marketing mix
3. Critically analyze and evaluate marketing mix tactics applied by organizations through practical
cases.

Why we use marketing mix?

The elements in marketing mix help the company to identify the needs and wants of the potential buyers.
Your marketing mix should have all the P’s compatible with each other, and it help each other to support
the company. Deploying the full marketing mix helps you attract customers, get them to buy and keep them
coming back to you for more. With the cash from sales rolling-in, your business can grow. You can fund
more R&D, hire more people, open more offices, offer more products or services and repay business loans
or investors.

1/ Explain relevant theory/concepts about the extended marketing mix (7Ps)

The image above is a simple diagram of the elements that are included in a marketing mix. It has been said
many times in business that if you don't know your target market well enough and figured out what they
exactly want, you'll commit entrepreneurial suicide and the business will inevitably fails. On the other
hand, you can be sure to gain a lot of profits when you have a deep understanding of these concepts.
Understand this fully and you will know exactly how to maximize profits on your own sustainable
business or help become a valuable asset within your company.

The marketing mix is about to put a right product or combination in the right place and at the right time.
The marketing mix is predominately associated with the 4P’s of marketing, the 7P’s of service marketing,
and the 4 Cs theories developed in the 1990s.

The original 4Ps

Marketing mix is a term coined by Neil Borden in 1953, are the ingredients that combine to capture and
promote a brand or product’s unique selling points, those that differentiate it from its competitors. Then, in
1960, a famous marketer named E. Jerome McCarthy offered to classify Marketing mix into 4P, which is
widely used today. Mixed marketing is a set of controllable variables that companies can use to influence
buyers reactions. In the 4P model, the variables mentioned include four elements that begin with the letter
P: product (price), price (place), place (distribution channel) and promotion (promotion).
 (Source: marketingmix.co.uk)

 Product
The first ‘P’ of 4P is ‘product’, a product is an item that is built or produced to satisfy the needs or wants
of a certain group of people. The product can be intangible or tangible, material or non-material as it can
be in the form of services or goods. A product is considered successful when solving customer problems,
or satisfying their needs in order to sell products. You must ensure to have the right type of product that is
in demand for your market so that the customers are satisfied with the demand for products such as
product enhancements, outstanding, utilities. Marketer must plan for different stages because all products
follow a reasonable product life. The key factor is marketer should identify and understood potential
buyers of the product.

Example: Examples of goods would include electronic devices, food, and clothing. Goods can be divided
into business goods (commercial or industrial) or consumer goods. Examples of services would be hotels,
hair salons, airlines, and engineering and accounting firms. Creating a product strategy involves
choosing a brand name, packaging, colors, a warranty, accessories, and a service program. Marketers view
products in a much larger context than is often thought. They include not only the item itself but also the
brand name and the company image. The names Chanel and Gucci, for instance, create extra value for
everything from cosmetics to clothes. That is, products with those names sell at higher prices than
identical products without the names. Consumers buy things not only for what they do, but also for what
they mean.

 Price
The second element is ‘Price’, the price of the product is basically the amount that a customer pays for to
enjoy it. Price is a very important component of the marketing mix. Price decisions have a direct impact
on revenue, profit, supply, demand and competitiveness of products. In addition to the basic valuation,
businesses should also consider building their own pricing strategies for each period and circumstances
accordingly. Adjusting the price of the product has a big impact on the entire marketing strategy as well as
greatly affecting the sales and demand of the product. Understand the market by understand the medium
income of target group of consumers therefore you can have the right pricing strategy for your customers
and balanced with your competitors. Examples of pricing strategies are discount and promotion.

Example: For some types of specialty products, a high price is expected, such as prices for designer
clothes or luxury cars. Even costume jewelry is often marked up more than 1000 percent over the cost to
produce it because of the image factor of a higher price. But Sometimes an introductory price is used to
get people to try a new product. Some firms enter the market with low prices and keep them low, such
as Toyota and Suzuki cars. Others enter a market with very high prices and then lower them over time,
such as producers of high-definition televisions and personal computers, mobile phone, etc.

 Places
The third element is ‘place’, refers to the product distribution channel and to the market availability of
bringing the product to the right place at the right time and the right quantity. You have to position and
distribute the product in a place that is accessible to potential buyers. To direct sales to consumers,
businesses can distribute through intermediary distributors such as wholesalers, retailers, agents, brokers,
etc. The distribution channel determines whether the product can be reached with consumers or not. The
company will show to the customer about the place of production, warehouse, warranty branch system,
etc. to convince the customer about the original product.

Example: Cosmetics, for instance, are distributed in many different ways. Avon has a sales force of
several hundred thousand representatives who call directly on consumers. Clinique and Estée Lauder are
distributed through selected department stores. Cover Girl and Maybelline New York use mostly chain
drugstores and other mass merchandisers. Revlon uses several of these distribution channels.

For services, place often becomes synonymous with both physical location (and attributes of that location
such as atmospherics) and online presence. Place strategy for services also includes such items as supply
chain management. An example would be that an engineering firm would develop offices with lush
interiors (to denote success) and would also have to manage the supplies for ongoing operations such as
the purchase of computers for computer-aided drafting.
  Promotion
The last ‘P’ in 4Ps is ‘Promotion’, this is a most important factor as it can boost brand recognition and
sales. If your company has a good product with reasonable price but not many people know, it will not be
beneficial. Businesses need to broaden their forms of marketing, for example, expanding public relations,
create sales promotions for new and old customers, showing up in consumer habits (music, social
networks, personal interests, movies), coverage on streaming media like television and radio, acquiring the
reputation of the influential people to publicize your brand.

Example: Sales promotion directly stimulates sales. It includes trade shows, catalogs, contests, games,
premiums, coupons, and special offers. It is a direct incentive for the customer to purchase the product
immediately. It takes many forms and must adhere to strict laws and regulation. McDonald’s discount
coupons and contests offering money and food prizes are examples of sales promotions.

Social media is a major element of the promotion mix in today’s world. Most businesses have a corporate
website, as well as pages on different social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Social
media is more powerful as a channel for getting the company’s message out to the target market (or
general public) than traditional advertising, especially for some target markets. Companies (and even
individuals) can use social media to create instant branding
The extended 7Ps
In the late 70’s it was widely acknowledged by Marketers that the Marketing Mix should be updated. This
led to the creation of the Extended Marketing Mix in 1981 by Booms & Bitter which added 3 new
elements to the 4 Ps Principle. Three additional elements are: people (people), process (process) and
physical evidence (real experience)

 People
The “people” element in 7P includes: employees, brand representatives, customer care department, etc.
All companies are reliant on the people who run them from front line Sales staff to the Managing Director.
Having the right people is essential because they are as much a part of your business offering as the
products/services you are offering. From there, customers stick with your brand and especially spread
your brand in their relationships. Because they simply love your brand and the attitude of service is one of
the factors determining how much the brand is favorite. Without people, all these other Ps will not
complete a successful marketing formula.

 Physical evidence
This is including packaging, display shelves and product display areas, store furniture. Physical evidence
pertains also to how a business and it's products are perceived in the marketplace. All the presence that
customers see directly related to the product need to do to create sympathy, impress customers. It is the
physical evidence of a business' presence and establishment. A concept of this is branding. For example,
when you think of “fast food”, you think of McDonalds.

 Process
The “ process” element refers to the processes of how service is delivery. The systems and processes of
the organization affect the execution of the service. It could be your entire sales funnel, a pay system,
distribution system and other systematic procedures and steps to ensure a working business that is running
effectively. For example, the store is very crowded if you do not build a parking process, the queuing
rules, customers are going crazy and people easily give up buying your products.

3. Critically analyze and evaluate marketing mix tactics applied by organizations

through practical cases.

Example application on marketing mix 7Ps

About McDonald

McDonald’s is a first-class restaurant chain business founded by the brothers Richard and Maurice
McDonald in 1940. McDonalds restaurant is operated by either a franchise, an affiliate, or the corporation
itself. According to McDonald’s, 2017, the company invests £40million every year for training and
develop employee. The foundation of McDonalds successful development is thanking to Ray Kroc bought
it from the McDonald’s brothers and developed it into one of the world’s most successful “restaurant
business project”

History of McDonald

Started in 1937 as barbeque drive in restaurant by two brothers Dick & Mac McDonald in California. Ray
Kroc was a salesman, supplying milkshakes to a food store serving drivers and passersby of brothers Dick
and Mac McDonald. He has been curious to know why the McDonalds’ business has been so successful.
He visited this “ fast-services” store and was amazed at the speed of service here: 15 seconds for a 15-cent
burger with potatoes and milkshakes. Seeing the potential of this business, Kroc decided to join. The
McDonald brothers agreed with Kroc’s proposal to buy the restaurant’s copyrights that the brothers would
still receive 1% of the sales from the stores. On April 15, 1955, Kroc opened the McDonald’s store to
serve the first fast food in Des Plaines, a suburb north of Chicago.

With a rapid pace of development, the system of McDonald’s stores sold more than 100 million
hamburgers within the first 3 years and the 100th McDonald’s store was opened 4 years later. By 1961,
Kroc paid US $ 2.7 million to buy the whole thing from the McDonald brothers. Not only popular in the
US, McDonald’s also quickly gained success in other international markets such as Canada, Japan,
Australia or Germany. The first McDonald's store opened overseas was in 1967, in Canada and
Puerto Rico. Up to now, McDonald’s has about 31,000 restaurants in 119 countries.

 Product
As one of the world’s leading fast food restaurants, it primarily
products are breakfast chicken & sandwiches, burgers, fries
& coke. For example, Double Cheeseburger, Bacon
Double Burger, Big Mac – a signature burger, and for chicken
they have Chicken Nuggets, Premium Chicken McWrap,
Premium chicken sandwiches, Grilled Chicken Deluxe, etc.
Many type of sauces are included with the food like Signature
Sauce, Spicy Buffalo, Creamy Ranch Sauce, Honey Mustard
Sauce, Sweet & Sour Sauce, Ketchup, and Mustard

They also released various extra product line that to meet the needs of many different type of customers
such as vegetarian menu, non-vegetarian menu, beverages, frozen desserts, etc. They care about
customer’s sentiments towards religion and culture. And for each country, the company establishes menu
internationally to suit regional tastes and also has been revamping its menu from time to time to meet
changing customer needs and tastes.

The menu in India has numerous unique items, all of which contain neither beef nor pork such as
Maharaja Mac – Chicken - like a Big Mac, but with two pressed spiced chicken patties instead of beef,
served with a mustard sauce. In additionally, they also have the Big Mac version for vegetarian,
containing patties made of potato, corn, peas, and cheese – breaded potato patty with onion and tomato on
a plain bun.

Also they have a “McCafé” to serve different type of drink, dessert, etc. With these various types of
product, it help McDonald to increase its margin, reach to more customers.

 Price
McDonald’s follows cost leadership business strategy and accordingly, its foods and drinks are offered for
competitive prices. The fast food chain offers customers the possibility to dine for a fraction of costs that
are charged by the majority of other restaurants. Depending on each market McDonald will have a quite
affordable product for that market. Also they operated many promotions like “Happy price Menu”,
“Happy hour combo”, “Holliday combo”.
In Vietnam, McDonald’s itself is a famous global brand, so it has implemented a high price strategy.
McDonald’s focuses on the target group of middle-class customers with a household income of about
500USD - 1000USD per month and company quality standards had increase the cost of dishes because
90% of ingredients are imported from abroad. According to some reviews, the price of McDonald’s
products in Vietnam is lower than the price of a similar product in the US but higher than the price of
some other countries in the region such as Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore.

 Place
McDonald are usually located in prime locations (Malls, Shopping Complex's) with easily
accessible drive-in & drive through. It aims to open almost in all big cities, covering many residential
areas, in urban, as well as, in rural areas. A large number of the McDonald’s restaurants are open 24 hours
a day. As for 24/7 sales services, McDonald’s is open 24 hours a day and 7 days a week to serve
customers’ needs regardless of the time period. This is a special advantage for McDonald’s when the
nightlife in Ho Chi Minh City is growing stronger, bars, club beer, pubs, ... grow up a lot and get the
positive response from young Saigon. Having a place to eat and drink in the past at night in Ho Chi Minh
City is quite a difficult thing. Therefore, McDonald’s has become an ideal destination for guests during
this night period.

Currently, in the first step of entering Vietnam market, McDonald has all 3 stores evenly distributed
throughout Ho Chi Minh City. The reason for choosing the market Ho Chi Minh City is the starting place
because this is a target market with high-income
customers so that McDonald can implement its
sensory strategy appropriately. Entering the
Vietnamese market as a big guy in fast food,
McDonald’s selects a business model that is
completely different from the brands already on the
market. Two of McDonald’s first three stores are
located outside the city center. McDonald’s wisely
separated from the crowd when not choosing the
centralized stores. This is a bold move but feasible
step for McDonald when the market in the city is
narrow with hundreds of other fast food brands
available on every street corner.

 Promotion
They have much advertisement through TV, Internet, social media,
cinema, etc. Targeting children promotion “Happy Meals” the meal
includes main meal, a side dish, a small toy. For example, if you buy
six cups of tea/coffee and collect sticker, you will get a free
tea/coffee. For certain low sale products, they usually offer discount
coupons and freebies to attract customers. In additional, McDonald’s
has used outdoor advertising facilities such as signs, light boxes and
printing product such as menus, glasses, hats, shirts with company
logos to give customers and make customers become promo free ads
make the company’s image more popular.

Typically, on March 28, the first McDonalds store at Vietnam launched a special “ McPork special event!
No kidding!” on Facebook media. Specifically, with 10,000 likes for articles about that event on fanpage,
McDonald Da Kao in Ho Chi Minh City will donate 1,000 free McPork cakes to customers on April 1st.
This event has attracted nearly 12,000 likes, therefore the influence of McDonald to the customer is not
small.

Besides, McDonald do not miss any holidays in Vietnam, such as: Vietnamese Women’s Day,
International Children’s Day, Valentine, Halloween, etc. McDonalds has unique decoration for stores and
at the time provide a lot of special offers for products such as discounted meals, free game play, and
souvenirs promotion.

 People
The company invests £40million every year for training and develop employee. McDonald has standard
uniform for employs for equality service treatment with a philosophy of quality, services, cleanliness and
value is the guiding force behind its service. The services of McDonald priority fast and friendly. Delivery
crew members carry basic operation of a restaurant and must ensure customer satisfaction at the
restaurants. McDonald care about the needs and wants of both employees and customers because
employee is more likely to deliver poor customer service if they are sad.

 Physical evidence
McDonald’s interiors are attractive and the restaurant maintains clean and hygienic interiors of its outlets.
McDonald’s packaging whether it is at a restaurant either take-away always shows the professionalism
and convenience they want to bring to customers. The burger packaging has the shape of a paper box,
designed with a combination of bold letters and illustrations showing components and quality of products.
The packaging for fries is designed to be a flat, vertical cylinder. McDonald's packaging in addition
to containing food, creating convenience and increasing excitement when eating, it is also an effective
form of communication for McDonald with eye-catching design and clear brand identity. Besides that, all
of these packaging is environmentally friendly because they are made from recycled paper. The packaging
operations are very easy and quickly bring McDonald effective customer service performance.

 Process
To deliver products to customers, McDonald take a
lot of steps and activities. For instance, the food
producing at McDonald’s is completely transparent
to consumers, allows customer to enter the area
where the process takes place to have a clear view
of what they are consuming. In that way, McDonald
can archive many customers trust.
Drive Thru is a special process of McDonald because it is advertised set up in just 2 minutes. Accordingly,
the car will run from the main gate into the Drive Thru area, go to the counter via the LCD screen, after
confirming the dish, the customer moves to the checkout counter and then to the counter and leaves with
the reserved way separate for this service.

Conclusion
In conclusion, to be able successful combining and utilize the 7 P’s of marketing (Product, Pricing, Place,
Promotion, Packaging, Positioning, People), marketing manager has to recognize what difficulties that
your product or business may come across in your desired market, identify customer’s characteristics and
buying habit. Understand the essence of marketing will help your business to success and delivery satisfy
to customer at the same time. As a new member of marketing department I will try to apply the knowledge
needed for the new project to be as successful as possible.

Reference
- Mcdonalds.com.hk. (2019). How Do We Process Our Food? : McDonald’s Hong Kong. Available
at: https://www.mcdonalds.com.hk/en/food/learn-more-about-mcdonalds-food/how- much-do-you-
know-about-our-food/how-do-we-process-our-food.html (Accessed 20 Feb. 2019).
- Kotler, P., & Armstrong, G. (2015). Principles of Marketing-Global Edition. Pearson.
- Corporate.mcdonalds.com. (2019). Our Values | McDonald’s. Available at:
https://corporate.mcdonalds.com/corpmcd/about-us/our-values.html (Accessed 25 Feb. 2019).
- Corporate.mcdonalds.com. (2019). History | McDonald’s. Available at:
https://corporate.mcdonalds.com/corpmcd/about-us/history.html (Accessed 25 Feb. 2019).
- Jobber, D., & Ellis-Chadwick, F. (2012). Principles and practice of marketing (No. 7th). McGraw-
Hill Higher Education.
- Goi, C. L. (2009). A review of marketing mix: 4Ps or More?. International journal of marketing
studies, 1(1), 2.