ASSESSMENT TASK 2: Marketing Report Aligned course & subject learning outcomes • SLO 2: identify service product opportunities that are emerging for businesses and the not-for-profit sector; • SLO 3: analyse how functional areas within a business collaborate to service consumer/business markets and sustain a viable business; • CLO A2/SLO 4: demonstrate an awareness of ethical and social responsibility in professional practice / examine the role played by service product marketing elements in adding consumer value to changing markets through a sustainable approach; • CLO K1: demonstrate essential knowledge necessary for a career in business related professions; • CLO S2: Apply critical thinking to address issues in business; • CLO S3: Convey information clearly and fluently, in high quality written form appropriate for their audience Individual Individual report Resources Video recording explaining assessment on LearnJCU; Blog postings and all relevant textbook chapters; report writing document, segmentation variables handout on LearnJCU + 1 additional text/journal references and quality industry websites. Weighting/Length 30%; Length 1500 – 2000 words (Does not include the executive summary or table in the body of the report.) Due date Due Week 10: Monday 26th Septemeber 2016 due by 5pm (Submit online through safe assignment LearnJCU) ASSESSMENT TASK 2: Marketing Report Requirements The marketing report is an analysis and evaluation of the service product ‘live case’ experience in a marketing context and includes a recommendation to the firm that will add value for future customers. The first step in preparing the report is to read a minimum of 10 blog postings in your group blog site on LearnJCU. (If less than 10 blogs are available read all that you have access to.) Refer to section 3 below for further process details and the prior section titled Blog Reflection in the final section of assessment task 1. The report will consist of the following sections and address requirements outlined below: Title page: title of the report (innovative, captures attention & conveys theme of report content), prepared for (your Lecturers name), prepared by (your name & student number), due date, subject name and number. Letter of Transmittal: not required Table of contents: in the appropriate layout as per the Report Writing document in LearnJCU; include Reference List not a Bibliography Executive summary: purpose and scope of report, type of analysis conducted including source of data, significant findings, and recommendation. (length approx 150 to 200 words and not included in word count) Remember, this is not an overview or an introduction. An Executive Summary provides the main outcomes of the report. It must be written as the final part of the report. The Executive Summary must be able to stand-alone from the report if required. 1. Introduction: purpose, scope/context, main data sources, assumptions and limitations, plan/layout of report (concise and focused) (Word length: 100 words) 2. Situation analysis: This section will briefly describe the firm, examines environmental factors influencing the firm’s marketing situation and profiles one target market segment using the target marketing process. (Word length: 350-450 words) 2.1Desсrіption of “live case’ firm: VERY BRIEFLY describe the “live case” environment in a marketing context using features of the servicescape/physical evidence; unique service characteristics (e.g. perishability; inseparability; intangibles etc) (refer Ch 9) Are there features unique to this “live case”. 2.2 Marketing environment: Examine the influence of two (2) specific forces that affects the firm’s ability to serve its customers. (Select two forces/influences from the micro and/or macro environment) What are the marketing implications of each force on the operation of the firm? (refer Ch 3 on LearnJCU site from Armstrong et al 2015) 2.3 Target market, Strategy and Positioning: (1) The “live case” may attract a number of market segments. You are required to profile ONLY one market segment that may be the main target market the firm attracts and delivers the value proposition to. Use appropriate segmentation variables to provide a concise but distinct profile of the market segment. (A table is useful to present data for this activity and then support in writing with a brief desсrіption) (2) Which target marketing strategy is used? and why? (refer Ch 7, p.222) (3) Positioning : Prepare a perceptual map based on two (2) important criteria that locates/positions the firm in relation to key competitors as perceived in the minds of consumers. Justify. Ensure attributes are on a continuum – for example fast speed of service/slow speed of service (Name of competitors to be disguised) (Example of a positioning map on page 229, Figure 7.4 of the text Ch 7)) 3. Reflection on blog postings: Identify the main ‘critical incident’ emerging from the blog entries in the group blog site on LearnJCU. This will require you to analyse the blogs and synthesise the findings into a couple of ‘critical’ issues. (Refer to the prior section titled Blog Reflection in the final section of Assessment Task 1 for hints on an approach to this task.) The array of issues that you uncover from your analysis will relate to a number of criteria/attributes that may not be performing well (or performance could be sound but how can it be improved to ensure the value proposition moves the firm towards a sustainable competitive advantage). If these are perceived to be important then a critical issue arises having a significant influence on the customer’s experience. The importance/performance matrix (Figure 1) will be a useful research tool in this section. Plot the attributes based on the blog analysis and your own observations/perceptions gained from the blog analysis. As an example, two attributes have been labelled in Figure 1, customer greeting and speed of service. Speed of service is located in the “attributes to improve’ box and could become the focus of the remainder of the report. Customer greeting is located in the ‘attribute to maintain” box and requires no attention. Ensure that you briefly explain the Figure in the report and all dots (attributes) are labelled. Menu variety/product Customer greeting