DIRECTIONS:
You may select a new product idea for a new small business; a new product idea for an existing operation; or an existing product that you would like to market to a new segment or in a new way. Select carefully, as you will use your chosen firm or idea to complete all assignments. As you consider your selection, evaluate the amount of information available for the product and market segment that you intend to address. Industries containing public companies, or with a high profile at this time, will typically have more information readily available regarding firms, products, or brands. Also, choose an area in which you have an interest and some knowledge about the specific product you will select.
Each assignment contains components that you must build and each of these components relate directly to major concepts in the text chapters covered to those respective points in the course. You must apply those course concepts to the specific business, product, or service that you have selected as the basis for work in an appropriate manner.
These assignments require that you research, analyze, and evaluate information for your industry segment. You can access industry information from a huge number of sites; the best way to find it search on specific topics, but you can use portals such as brint, Hoovers and Dun and Bradstreet, the department of commerce, and government census information. The ACCIS library also contains a database of publications in marketing-related fields.
You are required to complete the following tasks:
Q1. Identify and define your idea for which you will prepare a marketing plan. Identify the target market to whom the product will be sold and the benefits the product would provide to the target market.
Q2. Briefly outline a strategy to show how your product will establish and sustain competitive advantage and provide superior value to your intended customers. Identify one of the three Tracy and Wiersema strategies you will pursue. Identify the key capabilities and resources - marketing and otherwise - necessary to do so.
Q3. Use the Internet and other available secondary resources to conduct a market and industry analysis. Your analysis should include a macro trend analysis encompassing all relevant macro trend categories, and should uncover quantitative data that provides evidence of the size and growth rate of the overall market as well as the segment you will target. Draw a summary conclusion about the attractiveness of the overall market and the segment you will initially target, identify the critical success factors for your industry, and use five forces analysis to assess industry attractiveness, include your overall judgment as to how attractive the industry is today and is likely to be in the future.