Business 120 – Introduction to Marketing

Business 120 – Introduction to Marketing
Term Project Assignment
FALL 2017
Deliverables: Business Report and 10 minute presentation
YOU NEED TO READ THE TERM PROJECT GUIDELINES FOR DETAILED INSTRUCTIONS ON WHAT IS TO BE DONE.
DUE DATE: Last week of classes
Students are to form groups of no more than four students.  Each group must select a team captain and send me an email advising the Instructor of the team captain.  You are also required to select a company would like to be the focus of your term project.  The company should be a company one of the team members is currently working for or is a family business.  Please select ONE of the question below to be applied to your company.  Once you have your company and question selected, your team needs to get approval from the Instructor before proceeding.
When preparing your term project, you are to assume that your group is made up of members from the marketing department of your company.  The Vice President of Marketing has asked you to prepare a business report on only ONE of the following topics:
Questions to Answer

1. Perform a situational analysis for the poorest performing product being offered by your company and then determine a repositioning (same as positioning) strategy for the product. Your analysis must include all relevant tools.
2. Document the company’s current brand management strategy(s) and make recommendations as to how it could be improved when compared to competing product brands (2 competitor products at minimum).
3. Identify opportunities for improved efficiency or effectiveness of the marketing department by introducing new MIS technology solutions such as Customer Relation Management software (CRM) and consumer focused research.
4. Examine the company’s current integration of traditional selling and ecommerce. Identify the role each plays in the selling processes and make recommendations as to how the two could be managed more effectively.

5. Examine the current supply chain and distribution channel for your firm. Identify where value is added and any service roadblocks.  Then make recommendations as to how the supply chain could be improved to generate more profit and/or deliver better customer service.

DO NOT be seduced into believing this is a slam dunk assignment by the brief nature of the questions. They are intentionally broad and vague.  To do a good job you will have to canvass the material covered in the textbook to identify which concepts are relevant to the question and then address all the issues in your report (Hint: look the topic up in the index section of the textbook).
You will also need to read the Business Report Construction Guidelines to determine what your report should look like in content and appendices.  Failure to submit your written report in accordance with the Business Report Guidelines with be penalized as follows:
Poor page formatting (5 % deduction in report grade)
Poor technical writing skills (10% deduction in report grade)
Poor appendices developing and formatting skills (10% deduction in report grade)
Students are strongly encouraged to visit me with their draft work one week before assignment is due for guidance on how things might be improved.  If you leave your visit to the day before assignment is due, I cannot guarantee there will be a time slot during scheduled office hours for your visit or that I will have time to review your entire document.