SUMMATIVE ASSIGNMENT – BUSI5B815 Strategic Marketing Management

SUMMATIVE ASSIGNMENT – BUSI5B815 Strategic Marketing Management
Evaluating and implementing marketing strategy.
The purpose of the assessment is to demonstrate an appreciation of the ramifications of
planning and implementing a marketing strategy. Students are required to write a critical
evaluation of a marketing strategy for their choice of organisation, but they should choose
the same brand that they investigated in their formative ‘situational analysis’ assessment. The
brand came from the list below:
 VF Corporation
 Virgin
 Patagonia
 AirBnB
 BP
Students will have already identified the geography of the recommended strategy – either
global or country/region specific. Having identified factors that have the potential to
positively or negatively impact their choice of organisation (in the formative assessment)
students are required to summarise their initial findings, and utilising their choice of strategic
direction (which can be taken from any marketing strategy framework – e.g Porter’s generic
strategies, Ansoff’s Matrix or SPACE analysis) consider the strategic decisions that will need
to be taken in relation to the execution of the strategy. The work should:
 Present the key opportunities or threats derived form the situational analysis,
rationalising the importance of environmental scanning;
 Analyse the strategic options for the organisation, highlighting and rationalising their
chosen strategic direction;
 Evaluate the chosen strategy, in relation to the company’s strategic aims and
academic literature; and
 Recommend and critically evaluate the necessary considerations for the strategy’s
execution, focussing on the practical decision making that will ensure that the
proposed strategic aims are achieved. The recommendations should be integrated
with each other, and demonstrate industry specific factors in the execution of a
marketing strategy, supported by the academic literature.
Students are expected to use references from academic journal articles, trade journals,
company/practitioner reports, or textbooks.
A breakdown of the report structure is identified below (please note these should not be
used as headings):
BUSI5B815
Strategic Marketing Management
Postgraduate Programmes 2020/21
2
Introduction – approximately 250 words – the introduction should introduce the paper not the
company. The idea is that the students should outline everything that can be expected to be
covered in the report.
Summary of the situational analysis and direction – approximately 400 words – the
purpose of this section is not to give a generic background of who the organisation is, but
rather to outline three opportunities and threats that have the potential to influence the
organisation’s competitive position.
Critical discussion of strategic planning options – approximately 600 words – drawing on
academic literature students should focus their attention on those areas that are pertinent to
the situation that their chosen brand is encountering. The discussion should be on the
conceptual considerations, before considering the practicalities of the chosen strategy as they
relate to achieving the strategic aims
Strategic implementation – approximately 1000 words, students should identify marketing
activities which will underpin the strategy execution. They should not include more than three
options, to ensure that they can consider the strengths and limitations of their chosen
approaches, and how the (up to) three areas will(not) combine effectively.
Conclusion – approximately 250 words – A concluding statement discussing the
considerations inherent in the strategic marketing plan’s execution, and the extent to which
their proposed actions will mitigate for or intensify their strategic position.
Overall word limit: 2500
SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS
Your completed assignment must be uploaded to DUO
no later than 11:59am on 9
th January 2021
A penalty will be applied for work uploaded after 11:59am as detailed in the
Programme Handbook. You must leave sufficient time to fully complete the
upload process before the deadline and check that you have received a
receipt. At peak periods, it can take up to 30 minutes for a receipt to be
generated.
BUSI5B815
Strategic Marketing Management
Postgraduate Programmes 2020/21
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Assignments should be typed, using 1.5 spacing and an easy-to-read 12-point font.
Assignments and dissertations/business projects must not exceed the word count
indicated in the module handbook/assessment brief.
The word count should:
 Include all the text, including title, preface, introduction, in-text citations, quotations,
footnotes and any other items not specifically excluded below.
 Exclude diagrams, tables (including tables/lists of contents and figures), equations,
executive summary/abstract, acknowledgements, declaration, bibliography/list of
references and appendices. However, it is not appropriate to use diagrams or
tables merely as a way of circumventing the word limit. If a student uses a table or
figure as a means of presenting his/her own words, then this is included in the word
count.
Examiners will stop reading once the word limit has been reached, and work beyond
this point will not be assessed. Checks of word counts will be carried out on submitted
work, including any assignments or dissertations/business projects that appear to be
clearly over-length. Checks may take place manually and/or with the aid of the word
count provided via an electronic submission. Where a student has intentionally
misrepresented their word count, the School may treat this as an offence under
Section IV of the General Regulations of the University. Extreme cases may be viewed
as dishonest practice under Section IV, 5 (a) (x) of the General Regulations.
Very occasionally it may be appropriate to present, in an appendix, material which
does not properly belong in the main body of the assessment but which some students
wish to provide for the sake of completeness. Any appendices will not have a role in
the assessment – examiners are under no obligation to read appendices and they do
not form part of the word count. Material that students wish to be assessed should
always be included in the main body of the text.
Guidance on referencing can be found in the programme handbook and on DUO.
MARKING GUIDELINES
Performance in the summative assessment for this module is judged against the
following criteria:
 Relevance to question(s)
 Organisation, structure and presentation
 Depth of understanding
 Analysis and discussion
 Use of sources and referencing
 Overall conclusions
BUSI5B815
Strategic Marketing Management
Postgraduate Programmes 2020/21
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The word count should include all the text (plus endnotes and footnotes), but
exclude diagrams, tables, bibliography, references and appendices. Guidance on
referencing can be found in your Assessment handbook under ‘Things you Need to
Know’ on DUO.
PLAGIARISM AND COLLUSION
Students suspected of plagiarism, either of published work or the work of other
students, or of collusion will be dealt with according to School and University
guidelines.
Your assignment will be put through the plagiarism detection service.
END OF ASSESSMENT