Part 1, Task1: Report [no more than 2,000 words] Dibb et al. (2012) define a marketing audit as the ‘systematicexamination of the marketing function’s objectives, strategies, programs, organization and performance’ (p. 690). In this TMA you are required to collect and report information thatwillassist in the development of a marketing audit for your organisation (or one you know well). You willneed to prepare a report to present to the board. As part of your audience is not familiarwith marketing, your report shouldprovide a briefexplanation about the type of analysis/items thatyou are using. a. Your report shouldcontain aspects indicated in Table 1 (as applicable) to present to the board. Table 1:External and internal audit information Information about the external marketing environment / External audit Identifyexternalfactorsthatmay affect the company’sperformance/sales, thatis, features and trends thatcreateopportunities for, and threats to, the organisation. Thesemayinclude: i. Macroenvironmentalforces: the political/legal, economic, socio-cultural and technological aspects of the externalenvironment, ethics and the natural or ‘ecological’ environment. ii. Microenvironmentalforces:customers/markets, competitors, suppliers, distributors, the media and the general public. Information about the internal marketing environment / Internal audit Identifyinternalfactorsthatmay affect the company’s performance/sales. Thesemayinclude: i. Sales (total, split by geography, industry, customer, product) ii. Marketshare(s) iii. Profit margins iv. Costs v. Marketing research information vi. Effectiveness of the ‘marketing mix’, i.e. Product – whatproducts are youselling?Whatistheirmarketposition?What are the competingproducts? Place – where are youcurrentlysellingyourproduct(s)? How doesthis compare to the competition? Price – whatpricingpolicy do youhave? Do youdiscount? How doesthis compare to the competition? Promotion – how do youpromoteyourproducts/communicatewithyourtargetmarket(s)? People – what types of guidelines/activitiesexist to enhancequality, recruitment, training (particularly if youwork for a service organisation)? Note: i.Youmay not have access to detailed information and figures. If thatis the case, youmay use approximate values. ii.Where possible itwillbeuseful to indicate trends in the data, e.g. sales in a particularmarket. iii.Inthis part of the task the intention is to practisewriting a practitioner or executive style report. Such reports do not usuallycontainacademicreferences. Henceyou do not have to include academic sources in thistask – but if you do use them, they must befully and properlyreferenced. However, all sources of the data/information youinclude must beacknowledged. iv.Particularly for larger organisations, itmaybenecessary to restrict the scope of youranalysis. This canbediscussedwithyourtutor. b.Reflecting on the information collected for Task 1a, criticallyassess the effectiveness of the current marketing mix. Suggest how the ‘mix’ may have to change so as to maintain/improveyourorganisation’s performance and why. Part 1, Task2:Essay [no more than 1,500 words] Based on the information collected for the previoustask, select one or twocustomer groups (or one individualcustomer) and write a short essayaddressing the followingtopic: Criticallyassess how well one particular marketing management concept, framework or model (as described in Sections 3.1 or 3.2 of Book 4) could help your organisation to improvecustomer satisfaction and develop a long-termrelationshipwiththatparticularcustomer or group(s) of customers. In this part of TMA you are required to make use of academic sources. Pleasemake sure youfollow the guidelines for academicreferencing whenreferencing sources. It isrecommendedthatyouconsult the Assessment Guidance for more information on appropriatereferencing. Note: Section 1.4 of Book 4 alsoincludes essential information for thistask. Guidelines Tasks 1 and 2 of Part 1 of TMA 04 requireyou to applysome of the concepts, models and frameworksdiscussed in Unit 4 to yourown organisation and itscustomers. Alternatively, if you are not linked to any organisation at this point in time, youmay use one thatyou are familiarwith and have access to their information. In developingthis TMA you must demonstrateyourunderstanding of the main forces in the environmentthat affect the marketing activity, and yourunderstanding of the marketing variables that affect marketing processes and decisions. The ideaisthatyou are able to understand the process of collecting relevant marketing information and how suchevidenceshouldassist marketing decisionmaking. Task 1 Task 1 entails the development of a report thatincludes: gathering relevant internal and external marketing information writing a reflection on the marketing position of the company. The aim of Task 1a is to gather relevant internal and external marketing information. You should focus on: i. Identifying relevant externalfactors and trends in the environmentthat affect the company’s performance/sales. In thisendeavourmake sure you use the macro and micro environmental forces, as explained in Unit 4. ii. Identifyinginternalfactorsthat affect the company’s performance/sales. In this part of youransweryoushouldinclude aspects related to the marketing activity (e.g. the marketing mix) and otherfunctions (e.g. finance, HR). The overallpurposeis to demonstrateyourunderstanding of the variables thatmay affect, or are affected by the marketing function. You are not required to refer to all the items listed in Table 1. However, you must choose the onesthat are most relevant to yourorganisation’s audit. Make sure youexplain the reasons for yourchoice of items. Becauseyou are required to write a report to non-marketing people in the organisation, youshouldprovide a briefexplanation about the type of analysis/items thatyou are using. You should use charts and tables to present part of the information. For Task 1b, you are required to write a reflection on the marketing position of the organisation and how itcouldbeimproved (or maintained). Suggestions for improvementshould focus on one or two key areas to a maximum of 100 words.Yourreflectionneeds to beinformed by the information thatyougathered in Task 1a. Make sure youranswerpresents an appraisal/assessment of the marketing situation and of the marketing position of the organisation (in comparison to competitors). Overall, the appraisalneeds to show consistency and coherencewith the information/evidencepresented in Task 1a. Task 2 Task 2 of the TMA asksyou to focus on groups of customers. If the organisation thatyou are basingyouranswer on operates in the B2C market, itmaybeeasy to focus on one or two groups of consumers. However, if the organisation operates in the B2B market, itmaybe more appropriate to focus on specificindividualorganisationalcustomers. This task relates to the future and how youcould use the concepts, models and frameworks in Book 4 to improve the level of customer satisfaction. You are required to choose one concept, model or framework. Besidesexplaining the concept/model/frameworkyoualsoneed to applyit in a criticalmanner, presenting the positive aspects, challenges, and itsusefulness. Make sure youprovideevidence for your arguments by using information gathered in Task 1. The concept of customer satisfaction and itsrelationship to loyaltyisaddressed in Chapter 1, Section 4 of Book 4. Relevant concepts, models and frameworks are discussed in Sections 3.1 and 3.2. You might, for example, choose to examine how modelssuch as the loyaltyladder or the service-profit chaincouldbeused to improvecustomer satisfaction, aimed at developing long-termrelationships.