HND Assignment Brief

Session: September 20/21

Programme title Pearson BTEC HNC in Business (RQF)

Unit number and title 2 Marketing Essentials

Understanding marketing and marketing planning

Assignment number & title 1 of 1
process

Assessor (s) Ghulam Mustafa

Issue Date 25 September 2020

Final assignment submission

12 February 2021
deadline
On completion, assessments should be uploaded before the
submission deadline, through Turnitin, located through the Unit
introduction page on Canvas. You will receive a receipt to
acknowledge your submission of evidence. This ensures that there
is a clear audit trail for submission of assignments.
Submission instruction
Any extension or deferral requests must be submitted in advance of
the assessment deadline and agreed, in writing with the unit leader.

Where a submission is submitted later than the agreed deadline

without an application for an extension or deferral being approved
that submission will be capped at a ‘Pass’
Resubmission deadline TBA

 The work you submit must be in your own words. If you use
a quote or an illustration from somewhere you must give
General Guidelines the source.
 Include a list of references at the end of your document.
You must give all your sources of information.
 Make sure your work is clearly presented and that you use
readily understandable English.
 Wherever possible use a word processor and its “spell-
checker”.
 The work you submit must be in your own words.
 Include a list of references at the end of your document.
You must give all your sources of information (this must be
in accordance with the Harvard referencing system).
 Make sure your work is clearly presented in chronological
order and has a logical flow.
 English presented within the body of your assignment must
show academic proficiency and comply with academic
requirements. If an individual has additional learning needs
these should be appropriately assessed and met.
Feedback
In-class feedback will be available from draft submissions on a task-
by-task basis in the form of formative feedback and also for initial
submission (formative feedback will not include any indication of final
grades, the process will focus upon supporting development).
Summative feedback will be provided within 3-4 weeks of the
assignment submission however; final grades will be released in
accordance with organisational policies and procedures. Please note
you will be required to authenticate receiving your summative
feedback.

Internal verifier Adeel Sarim

Signature (IV of the brief) A Sarim Date 25.09.2020

Aim
This unit is designed to introduce students to the principles of marketing, enabling them to
develop a basic marketing plan and to employ elements of the marketing mix to achieve
results. While they will learn the underpinning theories and frameworks, they will also be
able to relate these to real-world examples, including products/services that they encounter
in their own daily lives. Organisations such as Apple, Google, VISA, Burberry, Zara,
Cadbury, Nestle, Unilever, Coca-Cola, Unicef, BP and small local businesses all have at
least one thing in common: they all use marketing to influence us to engage with their
products and/or services. Whether it is becoming a loyal customer buying a product and
service or donating to a charity, organisations use a range of marketing techniques and tools
to inform and influence us.

The knowledge, understanding and skill sets that students will gain on successfully
completing this unit will enhance their career opportunities; whether setting up their own
business or being employed by an organisation.

Learning outcomes and criteria covered by this assignment:

 All pass criteria

 All merit descriptors
 All distinction descriptors

Edexcel Grading Criteria

This assignment/portfolio will be assessed according to the following grading criteria:
 To attain a ‘PASS‘ grade, students need to achieve all the ‘PASS‘ criteria.
 To attain a ‘MERIT‘ grade, students need to achieve all the ‘MERIT‘ criteria, along
with all the ‘PASS’ criteria.
 To attain a ‘DISTINCTION‘ grade, students need to achieve all the ‘DISTINCTION’
criteria, along with all the ‘MERIT’ and PASS criteria.
*NB: It is not accepted practice to submit assignments that present the grades, pass, merit
and distinction as separate entities. A holistic integrated approach must be used whereby
the criterion appears seamless within the body of the text.

Plagiarism and collusion

Any act of plagiarism and collusion will be seriously dealt with according to the City College
Limited regulations. In this context the definition and scope of plagiarism are presented
below:

 Using the work of others without acknowledging the source of information or

inspiration. Even if the words are changed or sentences are put in a different order,
the result is still plagiarism (Cortell 2003).
  Collusion is described as the submission of work produced as a result of the
collaboration between two or more parties. Additionally, collaboration entails the
sharing of one person‘s work with others who submit either all or part of their
coursework ―as their own.
 Contract Cheating – the Use of Third-Party Services and Essay Mills The purchasing
of essays from a third party and passing them off as a student’s original work is taken
very seriously by both the College, by De Montfort University, and by Pearson
Edexcel. The teaching practices, delivery methods and generally smaller class sizes
within the College allow our staff to become more familiar with a student’s academic
style and capabilities making them more able to detect fraudulent submissions that
may nor otherwise be detected through Turnitin software. 

Learning outcomes and assessment criteria:

Learning outcomes Assessment criteria Assessment Assessment

for Pass criteria for Merit criteria for
On successful Distinction
completion of this unit
a student will:

LO1 Explain the role of P1 Explain the key roles M1 Analyse the D1 Critically
marketing and how it and responsibilities of roles and analyse and
interrelates with other the marketing function. responsibilities of evaluate the key
functional units of an marketing in the elements of the
organisation P2 Explain how roles context of the marketing
and responsibilities of marketing function and how
marketing relate to the environment. they interrelate
wider organisational with other
context. M2 Analyse the functional units
significance of of an
interrelationships organisation.
between
marketing and
other functional
units

LO2 Compare ways in P3 Compare the ways M3 Evaluate LO2 & 3

which organisations in which different different tactics D2 Design a
use elements of the organisations apply the applied by strategic
marketing mix (7Ps) to marketing mix to the organisations to marketing plan
achieve overall marketing planning demonstrate how that tactically
business objectives process to achieve business applies the use
business objectives. objectives can of the 7Ps to
be achieved. achieve overall
marketing
objectives.
LO3 Develop and P4 Produce and M4 Produce a
evaluate a basic evaluate a basic detailed,
marketing plan marketing plan for an coherent
organisation. evidence-based
marketing plan
for an
organisation.
In order to achieve all learning outcomes within this unit, you will be required to complete all
the given tasks. Your work can be presented in a range of formats, either a type written
report, a hand written report or a recorded, formal verbal report. Whichever option you
choose, you should remain within the designated word count and give all due consideration
to form and structure. The format chosen will not impact on your final grade.

Unit 2 Assignment

Scenario:

You are working as a Marketing Executive for retail shop which you are familiar with or have
previously worked for and have noticed poor cross functional communication and a lack of
marketing orientation throughout the organisation. To accomplish business objectives, the
organisation has taken help from different business functions e.g. finance, human resource
management, production and marketing. The importance of an active marketing department
is being realised by the business management and it is expected that it will help the
organisation in selling as well as promoting its services and businesses to accomplish
competitiveness over its competitors. The Director has asked you to prepare a report which
highlights the role of marketing, how it interrelates with other functional units of the business
and contributes to achieve overall business objectives of growing the business nationwide.
Also, you are required to carry out a comparison by applying the marketing mix with one of
your competitors. The last part of the report must have a coherent evidence-based
marketing plan to achieve overall marketing objectives and helps in dealing with market
competitors.

Your report will be expected to include:

LO1 Explain the role of marketing and how it interrelates with other functional units of
an organisation
LO2 Compare ways in which organisations use elements of the marketing mix (7Ps) to
achieve overall business objectives.
LO3 Develop and evaluate a basic marketing plan

Task 1:

1.1 An introduction of your chosen organisation with a brief situational analysis.

1.2 A critical analysis and evaluation of the key elements of the marketing function and how
they interrelate with other functional units of an organisation.

Task 2

2.1 Evaluate and compare ways in which your selected organisation along with one of its
competitors apply elements of the marketing mix (7Ps) to achieve overall business
objectives.

2.2 Design a strategic marketing plan for your organisation that tactically applies the use of
the 7Ps to achieve overall marketing objectives of your selected business.
Your report should conform to the following:

Prepare a report of not more than 10 A4 size pages with an approximate word count of 3000
words at least. Your research should be referenced using the Harvard referencing system.
Use Ariel font size 12, line spacing 1.5 and justified alignment.

You should include a bibliography using the Harvard referencing system.

Each unit will be graded as a Pass, Merit or Distinction. A Pass is awarded for the
achievement of all outcomes against the specified assessment criteria based mostly on
DESCRIPTIVE content. Merit and Distinction grades are awarded for higher-level
achievement which includes degrees of CRITICAL THINKING, ANALYSIS & EVALUATION
– these are higher level skills that you should work on over the period of your programme.

If your submission fails to meet all Pass criteria, it will be referred. The second attempt
will then be capped at a Pass, as per the Pearson Edexcel regulations.

Please access HN Global for additional resources support and reading for this unit.
For further guidance and support on report writing please refer to the Study Skills
Unit on HN Global.

For support with this assignment please contact your tutor on 0121 4557964 or via email
info@city-college.co.uk

Submission Instructions
Please submit your work soft copy digitally on Box and send a copy via email to your course
tutor on the set dates and notify via email to info@city-college.co.uk. Request a receiving
receipt in the form of a reply email which you should keep safe.
All marked work is expected to be returned to students within 4 weeks of submission.

Glossary:

Analyse: Break an issue or topic into smaller parts by looking in depth at each part. Support
each part with arguments and evidence for and against (pros and cons).

Critically Evaluate/Analyse: When you critically evaluate you look at the arguments for
and against an issue. You look at the strengths and weaknesses of the arguments. This
could be from an article you read in a journal or from a text book.

Discuss: When you discuss you look at both sides of a discussion. You look at both sides of
the arguments. Then you look at the reason why it is important (for) then you look at the
reason why it is important (against).

Explain: When you explain you must say why it is important or not important.

Evaluate: When you evaluate you look at the arguments for and against an issue.

Identify: When you identify you look at the most important points.
Recommended Resources
BRASSINGTON, F. and PETTITT, S. (2012) Essentials of Marketing. 3rd Ed. Harlow:
Pearson.
GROUCUTT, J. and HOPKINS, C. (2015) Marketing (Business Briefings). London:
Palgrave Macmillan.
JOBBER, D. and CHADWICK, F. (2012) Principles and Practice of Marketing. 7th Ed.
Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill.
KOTLER, P. and ARMSTRONG, G. (2013) Principles of Marketing. London: Prentice
Hall.
MCDONALD, M. and WILSON, H. (2011) Marketing Plans: How to Prepare Them,
How to Use Them. 7th Ed. Chichester: John Riley and Sons.

Journals
Journal of Marketing
Harvard Business Review

Websites
American Marketing Association www.ama.org
Chartered Institute of Marketing (UK) www.cim.co.uk

Links
This unit links to the following related units:
Unit 1: Business and the Business Environment
Unit 22: Product and Service Development
Unit 23: Integrated Marketing Communications
Unit 37: Consumer Behaviour and Insight
Unit 40: International Marketing

Wider reading is available via our MOODLE website with guidance given within the Unit 2
folder and also links are available giving remote access to the e-library resources including
e-books, journals & databases. You are encouraged to use these to develop your
assignment. Let your college administrator know if you need any help with ATHENS login.