CEC 5- Project Guidelines- Marketing Plan – Group Assignment- Submission

Deadline – 15th Jan 2022

Please refer to Guidelines for Completing the Assignment below for details about
the assignment expectations and details.  In particular, note the following:
 Use the Verdana font. Use font size 10 and 1.5 line spacing everywhere except
endnotes (font size 8, single spacing) and exhibits (variable font size and line
spacing).
 You should not spend more than 2-3 pages for each of Situation Analysis, Marketing
Objectives, and Marketing Strategies excluding the exhibits and list of sources at the
end.

 A maximum of 10 pages (excludes cover sheet, endnotes, exhibits, and references)

are allowed. In addition, a maximum of 10 pages of exhibits are permitted. Place
exhibits at the end of the marketing plan report.

 All exhibits must be included in the exhibits sections at the end and given a title and
a short descriptor that includes a reference to all sources used in the exhibit.

Please make sure the first page of your assignment contains the following
information: 
1. Names of Group Members
2. Name of your Selected Company 

3. Name of the Assignment

4. Date of Submission 

Description
The group marketing plan project is utilized to allow students to apply the concepts
and tools from course session to a publicly traded company. Working in a group you
will prepare a marketing plan for a selected existing Indian Origin company and
write a detailed report. Each group may select a publicly traded company that sells a
‘product’ or ‘service’ that is of interest to the group and where there is detailed
information available about both the product/service and the company itself.

The goal in this project is to see how as a group you create a marketing plan. One
key aspect of the project is to give you an existing business and allow you to be
innovative. How would you improve the existing state of this business from the
perspective of marketing? 

Learning Outcomes
This project will not only enable you to learn 'marketing' by doing, but also provide
concrete evidence of your ability to manage the marketing process. This project
provides the opportunity to develop skills to work effectively in a group.
Expectations

The expectation is that students will pay close attention to related tools and
concepts covered in the class and related readings that are applicable to the project.
Please keep in mind that the goal of the project is to see how capable you are in
applying the concepts/tools from the sessions to your analysis in order to improve
the marketing activities of the selected organization rather than identifying what
they are currently doing. 

Criteria for Business Selection

Your assigned group must pick a company within their assigned sector (from the
table below) according to the following criteria: 
 The company must be publicly traded.
 The company must be Indian.

 The company's product or service is agreed upon by the entire group.

 There is sufficient information available to allow you to conduct an analysis.

 Groups must choose different companies. Selections will be made on a 'first come
first served' basis.

 The instructor approves the company. Each group should revert to me latest by 6th
Jan regarding the company that is being chosen.

Assignment Details 
The following list shows the expected components of the assignment
1. Executive Summary
2. Situation Analysis

3. Marketing Objectives

4. Marketing Strategy and Programs

5. Financial Documents

6. Monitors and Controls

Marketing Plan Guidance:

Situation Analysis

Overall Category Analysis:

Here you will review the relevant trends affecting your brand and the category.
These might indicate the category is stagnant or, alternatively, a great opportunity.
You should consider:
 a. market trends (current and future size of the market, overall category
penetration and usage, changes in share, growth rate of population and
sales, etc.);
b. category marketing activity (distribution channels, pricing across channels,
how brands in general are marketed);

c. sales, price, and cost data on products (variable and fixed costs and their
impact on pricing);

d. environmental factors

e. Porters five forces (e.g., new-product entry prospects, rivalry, power of

suppliers and customers, threat of substitutes)

Sales Analysis:

 The sales analysis is an assessment of the brands performance to date an

opportunity to evaluate the company’s historic performance. You should address
questions such as:

a. how well is your brand performing vis a vis other brands in the company
b. sales costs and profit trends for your products; break even analysis

c. how well your distributors are performing (sales, margins, marketing

support)

d. breakdown of performance by segment, product, channel, etc.

Competitors:

By analysing competitors, it is often possible to exploit their weaknesses or

anticipate potential problems (e.g., a merger leads to new resources for a
competitor). For each key competitor, consider:

a. their share, product attributes, financial resources, production capabilities,

marketing programs
b. their strengths and weaknesses relative to your own firm

c. likely future strategies

A table contrasting your and competitive products can be insightful.

Customers: An analysis of customers is perhaps the most important aspect of the

marketing plan. One might learn of impending problems such as a shift of sales to
the web or opportunities such as new features. Things to consider in your analysis
of customers include:

a. who are the customers?

 b. do they differ? can they be segmented by their needs or purchase behaviors?
how do the segments differ?

c. why do customers need the product?

d. how do they choose?

e. are they aware of the brand, how do they perceive it, have they tried it, and
are they loyal?

f. where and when do they buy?

g. who influences the buyer?

h. what is the channel buying process?

i. summarize the customer analysis

Company:  An analysis of an organization’s ability to market products can also help
in assessing the factors impeding or abetting a products success. For example, a
company may have no distribution network or may market products that overlap.
Things to consider include:

a. marketing organizational design and responsibilities (optional)

b. fit of existing and planned products and services to manufacturing
capabilities, managerial expertise, distribution channels, marketing
capabilities, etc.

c. portfolio analyses if applicable

d. cost structure for brands

e. financial resources

Planning Assumptions This section formalizes assumptions that you need to make

for purposes of writing the subsequent sections of the marketing plan (e.g., a
certain market segment is projected to grow). If the strategy is highly sensitive to
these assumptions, then your plan may include more market research.

Summary It is important to note that it is not sufficient to merely restate the key
situational factors affecting your brands (although that is important). Rather, you
need to flush out the implications (this trend could hurt product x) and the
opportunities that arise (e.g., a new formulation could be introduced). What was
learned from the situation analysis? Which factors have the greatest impact and
why?

Objectives

The situation analysis and summary should highlight a number of planning

objectives. These will include i) quantity (sales, share, and profit by segment), ii)
direction (e.g., increase/decrease), iii) time frame, and iv) rationale. The objectives
should be specific and measurable (e.g., increase share from 25% to 30% within one
year). Your performance will, in part, be measured by these objectives. One note of
"real world" caution: if objectives are too ambitious, you will fail to meet them and
will not make bonus, or worse. In contrast, if objectives look too unambitious, it is
unlikely any resources will be forthcoming. This, too, can hurt your performance.

Strategy

Given the objectives, the marketing strategy outlines how the objectives will be
achieved. For example, sales might be increased by increasing the awareness (which
was found in the situation analysis to be exceedingly low relative to competitors).
Another strategy to increase sales might be targeting a new segment that has not
yet been captured, or stealing a certain competitors share. The section outlines the
rationale for selecting these strategies.

Marketing Programs

It is imperative that the marketing programs (the 4Ps) be consistent with the
objectives and the ensuing strategy along two dimensions. First, if one’s strategy is
to increase awareness, it is not clear how a price cut will accomplish this. Thus, the
marketing program for this strategy should center around promotion. Second, if
ones goal is to increase share from 10% to 20%, the marketing program should
provide some sense of how this level of share increase will be achieved. The
marketing program discussion could include:

a. pricing (MRP, discounts)

b. advertising (media expenditures, message, agency)

c. promotion (trade v. consumer, allowances, etc.)

d. distribution (channels to target, use of wholesalers)

e. salesforce (budget, allocation)

f. product (add products, delete products, change products)

g. service and support

h. market research

i. affordability of these programs

j. organizational design necessary to implement new strategies (optional)

k. likely competitive reaction

Financial Documents
The financial section of the document is generally of the greatest interest to senior
management and also reflects your "performance contract" with the firm. Be sure of
the analysis it will come back to haunt you if things do not work according to plan.
But meeting the financial commitments year after year will have you quickly
ascending the corporate ladder as a proven winner. In the end, it is all about the
stock price of the firm, and that is directly reflected by the sum of the contributions
of the various marketing managers in the firm. Some interpretation of these figures
is also desirable (e.g., what especially will help or hurt earnings). income statements

Monitors, Controls, and Contingencies

a. sales information
b. market share

c. net income, etc