Business Report: Marketing Mix Analysis
Business Report: Marketing Mix Analysis
Format: Business Report – Inductive (1,200-1,500 words)
In this assessment, you will create another element of a marketing plan, namely a Marketing Mix Analysis.
Although the research you undertook for Assessments 01 and 02 will assist you in preparing this report, you are expected to conduct additional research on the case company, Triumph & Disaster to fulfil the requirements of this report. For this report, you will use information that is publicly available such as the company’s website, competitors’ websites, industry reports, government reports, news articles, etc. Do not contact the company directly. You will also use academic resources (e.g. your course textbook and relevant journal articles) to explain or support the general marketing concepts you discuss. All sources need to be cited correctly using APA 7th formatting for references and in-text citations.
Your report needs to be structured as a Business Report (Inductive). Please follow the structure for an Inductive Business Report as described in the hyperlink listed below. Your report should have a title page which includes the following information: Report Title (that clearly reflects the report’s content), Course Number, Course Name, Instructor Name, Your Name, Your ID number, and Date. You may use the font, paragraph, and formatting style of your choice. Please note that this report will have at a minimum five sections: Introduction, Discussion, Conclusions, Recommendations and References. You may add an Appendix if relevant. Please note that there is no Table of Contents nor Executive Summary in this report. https://owll.massey.ac.nz/assignment-types/business-report.php.
The following pages provide an outline for the report. Given the tight word limit imposed, you will not be able to include every discussion point that you consider to be relevant to the topic. Instead, you need to think carefully about what you consider to be the key issues to address, structure your work accordingly, and be succinct. Although some use of bullet points is acceptable (if used sparingly), over-use of bullet points generally presents as lacking the necessary explanation to be meaningful and is discouraged. The range of between 1200 to 1500 words is inclusive of all the report sections except references and appendices.
The following sections set out the general outline for the report and guides the Marketing Mix Analysis areas of focus to apply for your discussion.
Report Outline
- Introduction:
This section should outline the purpose of the report and briefly introduce the case company’s product category of focus. You should also provide a broad outline of what the report contains. Your introduction should not be too lengthy (1-2 paragraphs or approximately 10% of the report word length).
- Discussion:
The broad aim of a Marketing Mix Analysis is to analyse the likely effect of the firm’s marketing actions in terms of building market-based assets and improving overall brand performance. In this section you need to demonstrate your ability to identify and analyse key strategies/factors relating to the case firm Triumph & Disaster. This report also requires you to demonstrate your knowledge and understanding of the marketing concepts/theories that you link to the firm’s actions. Use examples to illustrate your reasoning and provide evidence to support your analysis by citing appropriate sources. Please refrain from purely descriptive statements and strive to demonstrate your ability to critically analyse your findings.
The discussion section should have sub-headings which align with the areas of focus. All sources of information should be carefully cited within the body of the text and referenced appropriately – the discussion section of your report will present the evidence for your conclusion.
2.1 Marketing Mix Strategies:
In this section, you will identify and critically analyse strategies used by Triumph & Disaster that relate to the following marketing mix elements: product strategies, price strategies, and distribution strategies.
2.11 Product Strategies:
In this section, you will discuss the company’s product attributes in terms of quality, product mix, packaging and labelling. You will also discuss the different branding strategies the company follows. Additionally, please discuss the firm’s brand-extension/co-branding strategies if applicable.
2.12 Pricing Strategies:
In this section, you will discuss the pricing strategy the firm follows, and your analysis will consider if this strategy supports their targeting and positioning strategies.
2.13 Distribution Strategies:
In this section, you will discuss the distribution strategy the firm follows, and your analysis will consider if this strategy supports their targeting and positioning strategies.
2.2 Ethical Considerations:
In this section, you will identify and discuss one area of ethical consideration in which the firm may face criticism for their marketing mix decisions. Outline the area of ethical consideration that you have identified which relates to an aspect of the firm’s marketing mix. Then drawing on ethical theories or frameworks to guide making decisions with an ethical dimension, discuss how the firm might justify or resolve the issue identified.
- Conclusion:
In your conclusion you should summarise the key factors identified in your discussion section.
Do not introduce new material in this section.
- Recommendations:
Based on your analysis, you should provide suggestions on ways the company may be able to further refine their current strategic direction. For example, are there ways they can reinforce their current strategies or alter their current strategies to improve their overall brand performance? Although these are your recommendations (and therefore do not require supporting citations), your suggestions should be based your discussion and conclusions.
- References
You are not an expert from this company. Therefore, all information in your report is sourced from somewhere. You must cite your sources using the correct APA 7th format both in-text and in the references. Think carefully about the quality of citations used to support your discussion. For guidance with evaluating the quality of citations, and referencing technique, refer to Massey’s Online Writing and Learning Link (OWLL), including the site’s APA Interactive link: https://owll.massey.ac.nz/referencing/apa-interactive.php