Assessment 4: Group Situation Analysis & SWOT Written Report
Weighting: 30%
Length: 5,000 words as a guide
PURPOSE: The Situation Analysis is designed to assess students’ professional judgement in applying strategic marketing theory and analysis to the activities of a specific organisation. This task will test students’ capacity to work collaboratively within a team to challenge and develop ideas. A marketing situation analysis presents data on the target market, product, distribution, competition and the macro environment. It is synthesized to identify the major strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) facing the company / product line and to highlight emerging issues. Using an identified opportunity from the SWOT, a segmentation profile is built to identify each segment that might be targeted.
WHAT: Groups of four to five are formed by mutual agreement with teaching staff. Choose a company from a list of the companies provided by your lecturer. It is entirely appropriate to narrow your analysis to a product line where multiple SBU’s/product categories exist.
SUGGESTED OUTLINE AND INSTRUCTIONS:
Title Page: indicating company/product/brand name AND includes names and student numbers of all participating group members.
Executive Summary Weighting: 5%
- Summarize the whole report – all major issues, findings, recommendations and conclusions with the purpose to give the reader an overview of the essential information
Table of Contents (not included in word count)
Introduction Weighting: 7%
- Overviews the purpose of the report, company and SBU under review, outlines the report format and does not include conclusions.
- Briefly analyse the company mission/vision, corporate structure, and identify key capabilities, assets, and resources to enhance background knowledge and enhance effective judgement.
INTERNAL ANALYSIS (STRENGTHS/WEAKNESSES)
Market/Customer Situation Weighting: 15%
- Present information about the target market/s, size and growth. Present relevant customer information for example target market(s) description and relevant consumer behaviour issues.
- Industry and market/product they compete in. Trends in this area. Use industry reports to identify the relevant data and associated trends.
- Target Markets – use S.T.P. theory to discuss the segmentation variables used, and what is the segments size, its growth and attractiveness; identify the marketing strategy & positioning strategy used by the company.
- Consumer behaviour issues – The discussion should include motivation, influencers, buyer decision-making process, consumer behaviour factors that influence the decision-making process.
Marketing Mix Situation Weighting: 15%
- What is the marketing mix, why is it used – theory. Overall describe how their marketing mix provides value (with benefits outweighing the costs).
- Product – 3 levels of a product and product offering (goods, service, experience etc.., what needs/wants/demands are fulfilled
- Price – State the pricing strategy (cost-based, competition-based, value-based etc…; price ceiling/price floor. Elasticity of demand)
- Place – physical locations where sold/distributed; the distribution channels used; is it traditional or a VMN? Outline factors in the supply chain that have trade-offs with the other marketing mix elements
- Promotion – What is the strategy, message & positioning? Does it use traditional communications or an IMC program? What forms/types/methods of promotion are used?
- Process – what are the front stage and back stage processes that moments of truth? High or low level of involvement?
- People – staff interactions with customers (inseparability, variability; level of involvement)
- Physical Evidence – tangibility aspects. Positioning and perceptions.
Competitive Situation Weighting: 15%
- Identify all current and potential competitors. Outline and assess 2 key competitor’s characteristics, strengths, weaknesses, capabilities, and response strategies. This can include size, strategy, market share, marketing mix elements, and other considerations that indicate their intentions and behaviours.
- Evaluate the competitive situation by comparing the key Points of Difference and Points of Parity between the marketing mix, positioning and target markets.
Macro-environment (PESTEL Framework) Weighting: 15%
- Political trends – government policy, political stability or instability in overseas markets, foreign trade policy, tax policy, labour law, environmental law, trade restrictions and so on.
- Economic trends – and its impact on how and what customer spend, and its effect on sales and the company. Factors include economic growth, interest rates, exchange rates, inflation, disposable income of consumers and businesses and so on.
- Socio-Cultural trends – forces that affect how consumers are influenced by society and culture. Population growth, age distribution, health consciousness, career attitudes and so on.
- Technological trends – how fast the technological landscape changes and how this impacts the way we market our products. Technological factors affect marketing and the management in new ways of producing goods and services, distributing goods and services, and communicating with or delivering to target markets.
- Environmental/Natural trends – natural forces/disasters, shortages of raw materials, impact of company on the environment. scarcity of raw materials, pollution targets, doing business as an ethical and sustainable company, carbon footprint
- Legal trends – current laws and regulations such as health and safety, equal opportunities, advertising standards, consumer rights and laws, product labelling and product safety that a company must abide by.
SWOT Analysis (S-O; W-T) & Opportunity Identification Weighting: 15%
- Identify the major marketing issues based on the current situation of the company (analysed in Assignment 1).
- Match and synthesise the company’s internal Strengths relative to the external Opportunities
- Synthesise the potential to convert the company’s internal Weakness to Strengths, and convert relative external Threats to Opportunities.
- Select and prioritise the issues (positive or negative) that the company should address.
- No new information here – it should only be a synthesis of the situation analysis with justification through research or theory.
- Choose one opportunity that is most feasible for the company to pursue and justify. There should be a clear and appropriate recommendation to present to management. This decision may form the basis of your individual marketing plan report.
Conclusion and Recommendations Weighting: 3%
- Reiterate the main aspects of the report. Provide a rationale for the recommendation(s) using theory (i.e. if you are targeting a new market segment – reapply STP concepts; if you are creating a new product, describe the needs, wants, demands, 3 levels of a product and what the new product offering will be.
Reference List in APA format Weighting: 5%
- You will be allocated marks based on correct referencing technique, and variety and quality of information sources used. Only use credible sources of information. It is expected that the information is organised appropriately (not misquoted, taken out of context, or incorrectly paraphrased) to synthesise towards an intended purpose/not fragmented. References will not be included in word count.
Report Format Weighting: 5%
- This includes formal report structure adhered to, logical flow, formatting, writing, language (syntax & mechanics), and word count.
