Academic Poster Requirements

• You are required to develop an Academic poster(800 words absolute maximum) on the marketing challenges faced by an actual organisation.

• In order you find the Marketing Challenges, you are expected to conduct a PEST analysis(i.e. we are interested in those challenges that come from a company’s macro-environment)

• The poster should include marketing recommendationsthat would enable the organisation to overcome the challenges you identified.

Academic Posters are:

• ways of communicating work visually and concisely to interested viewers

An effective Academic poster is:

• self-explanatory, visually attractive, articulates proposed ideas clearly and succinctly and is organized in a logical flow.

Therefore…

• viewers are able to understand your ideas even without speaking to you

• You are expected to use theory and secondary sources of information to identify some of the main challenges for your chosen company.

• You take the role of consultants that will suggest, based on your analysis, how the organisation can overcome challenges.

• Your audience is your seminar tutor who takes the role of the Managing Director of the organisation you have selected.

• You don’t have to deliver an oral presentation!

Format:

• A3 size, Landscape orientation. You should not exceed 800 words (with in text citations)

References

• You are expected to include a bibliography on a separate page using the Harvard system of referencing (guidelines on the Harvard referencing system are included in myUniHub)

Your reference list will appear on the second page. 

• You can choose any company you like for your academic poster BUT

• If the company operates in a diverse range of industries (e.g. Apple is in the phone, computer industries etc), it is strongly recommended that you focus on one line of business (e.g. phone).

– This will allow you to provide a more coherent and well-balanced poster by narrowing down their research on political, economic, socio-cultural and technological factors that impact the company.

• When conducting a PEST analysis, it is strongly advisable that you focus on one country (the UK) as it will be too difficult to provide a wider scope within the word limit

• Plan ahead and allow yourself plenty of time to prepare and design your poster

• Think creatively how to use the poster’s dimensions and graphs to your advantage and ensure your work is presented in a clear, concise and unique way

• In essence you need to conduct a PEST analysis, identify key challenges based on your analysis and suggest ways to overcome them

• You are not required to conduct a competitor analysis or an internal analysis

• You are not required to discuss the 4Ps or SWOT

• The more information you include that is not required, the more the chances that you will not provide the depth of analysis on what is actually required

• More tips can be found in the module handbook