CASE STUDY MKTG1065 - Copyright ©2015 RMIT University. 1 MKTG1065 – B2B Marketing – S1 2017 Major Project – Individual Person - v1.2 – (40%) Report Due 11.59pm Monday 15th May (Week 11) This assignment requires you to develop a B2B marketing strategy and solution for a company. This project is designed for you to gain experience in a real life analysis for a B2B company and in developing a feasible and relevant marketing solution. It is a project involving all the phases of a typical marketing program, from research of the industry and customers, analysis of the client’s core competencies, to the presentation of results, findings and the solution. This project is an opportunity to develop skills in researching and analysing market information for use in a B2B strategy. It is also an opportunity to apply high quality business report writing skills. Extensive research and analysis is required. You are being graded on the quality of your analysis and on your ability to apply the theoretical concepts from this course. There are three components to this project: Part 1: Your research, and analysis. Part 2: Your development of objectives, strategies and tactics (Business Marketing Mix); followed by the implementation plans for these tactics. Part 3: A professional business report. Your Customer Each class will have a guest presenter from a company present their brief in week 5. In this assignment, your group is a marketing consulting firm and the company is considered to be your customer. The Marketing Challenge. As part of the client’s brief, they will provide a particular marketing challenge that they would like you to provide a solution to.CASE STUDY MKTG1065 - Copyright ©2015 RMIT University. 2 Report Format The report is to be submitted in • Microsoft Word. • Use a clear font like Arial, or Calibri 11 point font, single line spacing. • We recommend using tables to present the detail of your analysis and implementation plans. Tables are a professional way of presenting data. • Tables can use fonts size down to 8 points. • For tables that are more than a page in length, please repeat the headings of the table on each page. • Diagrams must directly relate to the content of the report. They must show your analysis. Copied diagrams add no value or marks to your work. • Tables and diagrams must be in the body of the report. • All pages are to be numbered in the bottom right hand corner • Information on each required section is listed in Table 1 - below. • Report Length: 2000 words (+ or – 10%) o This word-count does not include: Tables or diagrams, the title page, executive summary, contents page, appendices, or the reference list. • Please note that reports that do not meet the word limit will be penalised by 10% per 500 words. • The use of appendices is highly recommended to show support material or examples of your marketing collateral, but you are limited to 5 appendices. • All sources of information must be clearly referenced and cited. As a guide, you should expect to use 5- 10 academic references and 15-20 business references for this project. Use of Images • Please note that images of text pasted into the report are not permitted. • Students who use images of text will be required to provide the original text and discuss this in a meeting with the course coordinator. Submission • An electronic copy of the report (in Microsoft Word) is to be submitted on Blackboard / TurnItIn. • Multiple Turnitin submissions will be allowed per report. • Please be aware that group members are collectively responsible for the group assignment. You therefore should ensure that you have had an opportunity to view the final assignment, as well as the Turnitin report, prior to the final submission. • Please note that Turnitin automatically scans assignments for plagiarism. • Any report with a Turnitin similarity index of over 15% will be reviewed by the course coordinator. • Please see the RMIT guidelines on plagiarism.CASE STUDY MKTG1065 - Copyright ©2015 RMIT University. 3 Table 1 - Major Project Report - Guidelines The required sections for your report, along with their requirements, are as follows: Section Description Title page This presents your report and establishes the professionalism of your work. The key components are the report title and the authors’ names. The course code should be listed below the author’s names. Executive Summary (5%) ½ page. An executive summary is often read by management first. It should clearly and precisely tell the reader what the report is about, the key findings and the key recommendations or solutions based on your findings. Contents page Clear, easy to read and with page numbers. It must list each section of the report by heading including any appendices. A contents page tells your manager all the areas you have covered and researched in a quick and easy to find manner. Introduction (2.5%) ½ page. Who is the client, what do they do and what is the Marketing Challenge you will cover? How will you present the analysis and information in your report? Industry / Market Analysis (16.67%) Analysis of the target market including the size, projected growth segments. Please also do a PESTLE analysis. • What opportunities or threats have you found? Analysis of one competitor. Analyse their strategy, value proposition, network and their marketing performance. • What opportunities or threats have you found? Customer Analysis (16.67%) Analysis of one customer segment. The customer segment can be either current or potential. Inside the segment you can look at either current or potential customers. Please analyse their buying behaviours, buying criteria, relationship needs and preferences, along with their supply chain needs. • What opportunities or threats have you found? Company Analysis (16.66%) Here you are required to do analysis of the company using relevant theory from chapters 4, 5, 6, 7, and the Kanter article on core competencies. In this section you must identify the strategy, unique value proposition, supply or delivery performance, network capabilities, current marketing activities and how well they meet customer needs? What are the company’s strengths (core competencies) and weaknesses?CASE STUDY MKTG1065 - Copyright ©2015 RMIT University. 4 Section Description Marketing Objectives and Strategy (10%) 1 page. Present a SWOT summary from your analysis in the first three sections of your report showing the key findings only. Here you are combining the findings of the individual research. Present your proposed objectives (meeting the SMART criteria) and strategy which will address the Marketing Challenge and is based on the findings in the SWOT. This section should be short, precise and use the information from your SWOT to show how this strategy is the best option. The strategy must be clear and relevant to the organization and solve the marketing challenge. Implementation plans (25%) How will you implement your marketing strategy using an updated Business Marketing Mix. Please explain your recommendations for any changes in the company’s current business marketing mix. Please note: if you use the 4Ps or the 6Ps you will receive ‘0’ for this section. This section is critical. Your group must develop and present detailed and specific information on your recommendations and how to implement the recommendations. Please include: The proposed timeline showing the priority and order of actions (Gantt Chart). A detailed budget. Your recommendations for evaluating performance (benchmarks). Conclusion (2.5%) ½ page. Here you need to remind the reader of the Marketing Challenge, your solution to the Marketing Challenge and why your plan will achieve this solution. Report presentation (5%) Report presentation. The report is to be presented in a professional manner. Appendices The support information used to develop your solutions or examples of marketing collateral should be presented in the appendices with clear headings. For example, tables of growth in an industry that you used to calculate future trends can be presented here. Copies of material from the textbook or websites are not acceptable. You may use information from a website if it is to show prices or layout examples. Maximum 5 Appendices. References All your sources must be correctly cited in the report using the Harvard system. All the cited references must be listed in your references in full using the Harvard layout. As a guide, you should have 5-10 academic references and 15 to 20 business references to produce a good quality report. Marking guide. In each of the sections of the report, the following marks may be given. 0% - If not attempted. 15% - A very poor effort. 35% - A poor effort. 55% - A fair effort. 65% - Good work. 75% - Very good work. 90% - Excellent work.