Marketing
The “body” of your paper (not including title page, reference list, tables, or illustrations) will be 5 to 8 pages in length, double-spaced in 12-point Times New Roman font. Header, footer, and margins will be 1 inch, left-justified. Your paper will conform to the APA Style® include no fewer than 3 and no more than 6 references. An MSWord template for this assignment will be posted in Canvas to speed the process. A guide for research article characteristics is also available in Canvas.
Please be sure to cite others’ ideas and not to claim others’ work as your own through lack of citation. Please ensure that your essay is free of misspellings, typographical, and major grammatical errors. You will lose points for these mistakes.
The Situation Provide – a brief introduction and description of the organization and the present situation or conditions.
Analysis of the Situation Present an analysis of the organization, the situation, contributing factors, and other variables.
Alternative Solutions – Presents the alternative solution(s) developed for consideration to solve any identified or potential problems.
Recommendations and Conclusions – Identify the selected alternative solutions to be implemented and describe a course of action and order or sequence for their adoption.
This case analysis will demonstrate your ability to synthesize information from the case and various other sources. Throughout the case analysis, you will demonstrate your ability to apply strategic marketing principles, as well as a comprehensive understanding of marketing management theory and practice.
Outline –
The Situation (10 points)
This section is used to provide a brief introduction and description of the organization and the present situation or conditions. The information for this section will come from the case in the text. The purpose is to allow the reader to gain an insight or understanding of how the person(s) presenting the case perceives the organization and the situation. Throughout the case analysis, make sure to limit yourself to only the information provided in the case or information provided by online sources listed in the case.
This section is limited to one page, single-spaced, with one-inch margins. Any direct quotes, unique terms, or sources of original information should be followed with identification of the source and page where the material may be found.
Analysis of the Situation and Problem Statement (25 points)
This section presents the analysis of the organization, the situation and contributing factors and other variables. In doing the analysis, one should consider the five functions that exist in every organization: management; technology; marketing; finance; and human resources. The strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats should be identified along with an explanation as to the basis for the respective classification. Other types of analyses to be used include Porter’s five competitive forces, critical success factors, cash flow and financial performance, and the life cycle stage of the business.
Not every situation or case will reflect an organization with an immediate problem. If the organization is experiencing success, then one should consider a longer time-frame or perspective to address how to extend success into the future, realizing that businesses, like people and nature, experience cycles of growth, maturity, and decline.
This section should also contain a statement or set of statements that describes the proposed decision problem(s) or issue(s) that the organization is facing based on the information in the case. If there are multiple issues or problems, make sure to prioritize them.
Alternative Solutions (25 points)
This section presents the alternative solutions developed for consideration to solve any identified or potential problems. Each problem should be followed with an explanation of possible threats or alternative outcomes, and any advantages or disadvantages (or risks) associated with the use of the respective alternative course of action.
Recommendations and Conclusion (20 points)
The final section of the report identifies the selected solutions to be implemented and describes the courses of action and order or sequence for their adoption. Make sure to provide a rationale for adopting your preferred recommendation and discarding alternative ones. Your rationale could be based on any combinations or all of the following;
Strengths and weaknesses of the firm.
Organizational constraints and characteristics.
Competitive landscape.
Sustainable advantage.
Organizational objectives
Also ensure you present your recommendations in precise enough terms for a manager to make a decision if the case situation were real.
This section is concluded with an overall summary of the perceived position of the organization and the future potential for the products and services provided.
