You are a senior marketing consultant working for Ashanti Marketing Solutions (AMS) Limited. A company that wants to enter a suitable country with a new product or service has just commissioned you

Module code and title:

MG624 Strategic Marketing

Module leader:

Assignment No. and type:

Individual Management Report

Assessment weighting:

60%

Submission time and date:

13/05/2021

Target feedback time and date:

June 21

Assignment task

You are a senior marketing consultant working for Ashanti Marketing Solutions (AMS) Limited. A company that wants to enter a suitable country with a new product or service has just commissioned you. The problem is that, they do not know the kind of product or service to offer within the country you will be recommending. Your task is to produce a report on their behalf answering the following questions:

1. Recommend a product or service and a country and provide a macro-environmental analysis (PESTEL) explaining the possible opportunities as well as threats your client could face within the market of your recommended country and provide possible solutions. (30%) – pick 3 countries and do a preliminary screening/assessment
2. Critically assess three modes of market-entry that could be suitable to your client. Out the three options, make a recommendation with justification as to the most appropriate one. (20%)
3. Applying the concepts of market segmentation and targeting critically evaluate the potential target market of your client. (20%)
4. Applying Porter’s generic strategy, explain how your client could gain competitive advantage by adopting one of the generic strategies in your recommended market (20%)

The remaining 10% of marks will be given for overall structure, presentation, synthesis and general use of wider references

Recommended structure of report

Executive summary

General summary of nature of report, Key findings and recommendations and should NOT be more than a page.

Introduction

Main aim(s) and objectives of the report. Also introduce and orientate the reader as to the content and what the report will cover.

PESTEL

This is a country specific analysis of all the factors. Also cover the major opportunities and threats that the company could face in your chosen country as well as possible solutions to such threats.

Market-Entry options

You will need to critically explain the main market entry modes including but not restricted to Strategic Alliances, Mergers and Acquisitions, FDIs etc. Then choose one option you deem to be most suitable to your client with justification of choice.

Market Segmentation

You will need to critically explain the meaning of Market segmentation and Targeting in general terms and show how your client could target its customers effectively. Also explain the potential target customers with justification.

Porter’s generic strategy 

First of all, explain Porter’s generic strategies. Choose one of the generic strategies and critically analyse why it will be the best suited strategy for your client to pursue within the chosen market compared to the other generic strategies. 

Conclusion

Summarise the key points you have covered. You do not need to introduce anything new

References

Appendices (if any)

You are required to produce a 3000 word REPORT

You are allowed a 10% plus or Minus dispensation of the word limit

The word count excludes the executive summary, conclusion, introduction, References and Appendices

Students are to use wider range of resources from peer reviewed academic journals as well as books and other academic databases such as Mintel, EBSCohost, ProQuest etc.

This assignment has been designed to provide you with an opportunity to demonstrate your achievement of the following module learning outcomes:

LO 1

Understand how to analyse an organisation’s current and future internal and external environment

LO 2

Develop a strategic marketing plan to realise organisational objectives

LO 3

Manage resources to deliver the strategic marketing plan

Task requirements

• Use Times New Roman font size 11 with 1.5 line spacing.
• Insert page numbers at the bottom of each page
• You must have a cover sheet with your student ID, Name and word count

Referencing and research requirements

Please reference your work according to the Harvard referencing style as defined in Cite Them Right Online (http://www.citethemrightonline.com). This information is also available in book form: Pears, R. and Shields, G. (2019) Cite them right: the essential reference guide. 10^th edn. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Copies are available via the university library.

There are also documents on Harvard referencing on Blackboard which students can read.

Students must use acceptable academic sources including peer-reviewed journal articles, Books, Company websites etc.

How your work will be assessed

Your work will be assessed on the extent to which it demonstrates your achievement of the stated learning outcomes for this assignment (see above) and against other key criteria, as defined in the University’s institutional grading descriptors. If it is appropriate to the format of your assignment and your subject area, a proportion of your marks will also depend upon your use of academic referencing conventions.

This assignment will be marked according to the grading descriptors for Level 6

The marking grid at the bottom has details of how your work will be assessed

Submission details

Marking Grid