MKTG801 Assessment: International Marketing Plan

Instructions

Write an international marketing plan (IMP) for an Australia company (preferably SME) seeking to enter an overseas market. [Note: your IMP must be on Semantics]

The marketing plan should benefit the company's managers and/or current or potential owners of the business and pursue social responsibility and ethical values. You will, therefore, need to synthesise and evaluate factors such as:

Different environmental variables (political, economic, social, technological, legal, environmental, and cultural) that affect international marketing – how are these factors dealt with and can you defend your entry strategy?
Opportunities and threats associated with entering an overseas market – judge the value of entering the new market.
Sustainable marketing principles – how has the plan been guided by sustainable marketing principles? I.e. customer-oriented marketing, customer-value marketing, innovative marketing, sense-of-mission marketing, and societal marketing.
Ethical issues faced by the company and/or its industry – how this has been addressed in the marketing plan? Can you convince others that you’ve handled this adequately/effectively?
Cultural considerations – what local values and/or ethical norms have been factored into the plan?
Social care – how the company/product can truly help in the local community?
The long term effects of entry into an overseas market – does it improve people’s future living environment?
Socially responsible marketing practices – has the company developed a code of ethical policies (if it has one) and is this represented? Is the Australian Association of National Advertisers (AANA) Code of Ethics represented?

The IMP should take a report format and be between 7,000 and 8,000 words in length.

The report should have appropriate headings and subheadings. See Appendix A for a guide to the Marketing Plan.

This is an individual effort. Marks will be lost for shared information.

Weighting, Due, Submission & Penalties information: See MKTG801 Unit Guide.

This Assessment Task relates to the following Learning Outcomes:

Apply marketing theories, frameworks and concepts to complex international marketing problems.
Create an international marketing plan that examines and assesses international marketing opportunities for the company entering an overseas market.
Evaluate the impact of ethics and corporate social responsibility on international marketing.

Rubric

No attempt 0% / Fail 40% / Pass 60% / Credit 70% / Distinction 80% / High Distinction 100%
Professional presentation – structure, clarity
(10%) / Not attempted
or
The report is difficult to comprehend and is inappropriately structured. / Report is inadequately formatted, proofread and/or edited (spelling, word choice/use of terminology, grammar, referencing) and/or is not the required length. Unacceptable writing skills which hinders readability and contributes to an ineffective marketing plan. / Report is generally properly formatted, proofread and edited (spelling, word choice/use of terminology, grammar, referencing) and is approximately the required length. It is readable, relatively easy to follow and meets expectations in this area. / Report is mostly properly formatted, proofread and edited (spelling, word choice/use of terminology, grammar, referencing) and is the required length. It is readable, easy to follow and meets expectations in this area. / Report is properly formatted, proofread and edited (spelling, word choice/use of terminology, grammar, referencing) and is the required length. Readability is enhanced by facility in language use, mechanics, and syntactic variety. / Report is excellently formatted and properly proofread and edited (spelling, word choice/use of terminology, grammar, referencing) and is the required length. Readability is enhanced by skilful facility in language use, excellent mechanics, and syntactic variety.
Analysis and synthesis of marketing theories, framework and concepts
(20%) / Not attempted or entirely or significantly plagiarized from other sources. / Report presents information from irrelevant sources and/or does not representing various/diverse points of views/approaches. / Report adequately synthesises information from key relevant sources representing various/diverse points of views/approaches (8+). Oversimplification of the issue(s) minimises the report’s effectiveness. / Report synthesises information from key relevant sources representing various/diverse points of views/approaches (11+) and takes a position that qualifies its claim(s). / Report effectively synthesises information from all relevant sources representing various/diverse points of views/approaches (15+) and effectively takes a position that qualifies its claim(s). / Report effectively synthesises information from all relevant sources representing various/diverse points of views/approaches (20+) and effectively takes a position that qualifies its claim(s).
Assessment and positioning
(25%) / Not attempted or entirely or significantly plagiarized from other sources. / Report does not adequately take up a professional position and/or inadequately supports its opinions. Report does not adequately pursue social responsibility and ethical values or judgement is poorly reasoned. / Report evaluates information in a practical way that delivers informed and critical professional judgements/opinions in a logical manner. Report pursues social responsibility and ethical values and judgements are adequately developed. / Report evaluates all information in a practical way that delivers informed and critical professional judgements/opinions in a convincing manner. Report pursues social responsibility and ethical values and judgements are soundly developed. / Report effectively evaluates all information in a thorough way that delivers informed and critical professional judgements/opinions in a compelling manner. Report effectively pursues social responsibility and ethical values and demonstrates well-reasoned ethical judgement. / Report effectively evaluates all information in a thorough way that delivers informed and critical professional judgements/opinions in a sophisticated manner. Report effectively pursues social responsibility and ethical values and demonstrates excellent well-reasoned ethical judgement.
Evaluation and critique (30%) / Not attempted or entirely or significantly plagiarized from other sources. / Opinions, assumptions, influences, biases, constraints, weaknesses, limitations, implications and/or consequences are insufficiently identified and/or defended (e.g. questioned, evaluated, interpreted). / Opinions, assumptions, influences, biases, constraints, weaknesses, limitations, implications and/or consequences are appropriately identified and defended (e.g. questioned, evaluated, interpreted) to a reasonable extent. / Opinions, assumptions, influences, biases, constraints, weaknesses, limitations, implications and/or consequences are all appropriately identified and defended (e.g. questioned, evaluated, interpreted) to a reasonable critique of the issue / argument. / Opinions, assumptions, influences, biases, constraints, weaknesses, limitations, implications and/or consequences are all appropriately identified and defended (e.g. questioned, evaluated, interpreted) to provide a comprehensive critique of the issue / argument. / Opinions, assumptions, influences, biases, constraints, weaknesses, limitations, implications and/or consequences are all appropriately identified and defended (e.g. questioned, evaluated, interpreted) to provide a comprehensive sophisticated critique of the issue / argument.
Informed professional
recommendation
(15%) / Not attempted or entirely or significantly plagiarized from other sources. / Recommendations do not clearly flow from the report and/or key issues are missed. / Recommendations flow from the report but some issues are missed or the logic may not always be clear. Recommendations reflect awareness of social responsibility and ethical values. / Recommendations are specific action-oriented suggestions, specific to the company / product. Recommendations logically flow from the report and generally reflect informed social responsibility and ethical values, but some recommendations may be incomplete or not adequately developed. / Recommendations are specific action-oriented suggestions, specific to the company / product.
Recommendations logically flow from the report and reflect informed social responsibility and ethical values, but some recommendations may be incomplete or not fully developed. / Recommendations are specific action orientated suggestions specific to the company / product. Recommendations logically flow from the report, are fully developed and reflect informed social responsibility and ethical values.

Appendix A: Guide to writing a Marketing Plan

Table of Contents / Includes the following
0.0 Executive Summary / Briefly summarize each section of the marketing plan. The executive summary should provide an overview of the marketing plan and should outline and describe key points and issues.
1.0 Introduction / Brief overview of the company, its main products, target country, main target markets, and primary entry strategy
2.0 Research Methodology / What type of research (quantitative and/or qualitative) was used and why?
3.0 Situational Analysis
3.1 Company Analysis
3.2 Market Analysis
3.3 Nature and Extent of Demand
3.4 Product Category Stage of Product Life Cycle
3.5 Competitor Analysis (in country of investment) / Market Analysis should include an analysis on the business environment, including:

Political/Legal/Institutional Environments;
Regulatory Environment (Present and anticipated);
Economic Environment (Conditions and Trends);
Social and Cultural Environment (Factors and Trends);
Demographic Environment (Data and Identification of Trends);
Technological Environment (Factors and Trends);
Physical Environment (Infrastructure Indicators)

Competitor Analysis should address:

Who/where are the competitors?
What/who is the market?
What is your advantage?
Perception of product by consumer
Describe the industry

4.0 SWOT ANALYSIS
4.1 Internal Company Strengths and Weaknesses
4.2 External Market Opportunities and Threats
4.3 Implications of SWOT Analysis / Judge the value of entering the new market.
5.0 OBJECTIVES
5.1 International Objectives
5.2 Market Objectives / Why is the company seeking to expand internationally?
What is its marketing objectives?
How is its market share compared to its competitors?
6.0 RECOMMENDED MARKETING STRATEGY
6.1 Target Markets Identification and Segmentation Strategy
6.2 Market Positioning
6.3 Market Entry Strategy / How does your product or service fit into the market mix? Did you explain each?
How has the plan been guided by sustainable marketing principles i.e. consumer-oriented marketing, customer-value marketing, innovative marketing, sense-of-mission marketing, and societal marketing?
Are their local cultural norms and values recognised?
7.0 MARKETING MIX STRATEGIES AND TACTICS
7.1 Product/Service and Branding Strategy
7.2 Place (Distribution) Strategy
7.3 Price Strategy
7.4 Promotion Strategy (including Promotional Budget) / Which strategy will you use & why?
Is the pricing strategy ethical and at the appropriate level (e.g. it is unethical to set prices above an appropriate level to increase profits beyond the strategic plan or below such a level to drive competitors out of the market.)
Are their local cultural norms and values recognised?
8.0 PLANNING BUDGET
8.1 Planning Assumptions
8.2 Forecast Sales (and Market Share) and Costs (Capital, Operating, Marketing, etc.)
8.3 Forecast Cost
9.0 IMPLEMENTATION AND CONTROL
9.1 Formal Project Plan for Implementation of Recommendations
9.2 Monitoring of Action Plan
10.0 CONCLUSION
11.0 REFERENCES LIST