Developing a Marketing Plan for a Chocolate Confectionary Firm in New Zealand

About The Assessment

This assignment is an introduction to the business world   The assessment is designed to give capable students an opportunity to learn and to demonstrate their learning, in short, a chance to shine. Thousands of students on previous courses successfully (and often brilliantly!) completed the assignment.  We make our assignments as real as we can without actually inserting you in the firm. Furthermore, the assignment is an introduction to the standards of thinking and presentation required in the business world.  To meet the word count you will have to work hard to edit your work and to focus on the most critical elements.  This is a vital skill to have for all your future studies and in the workplace.
 
Give yourself plenty of time to do the assignment.  The difference between an A and a D is time.  We are not expecting many Ds, but we are expecting to see plenty of great work.

As a first step - check out the L’Oréal video. Jean Paul Agon pretty much presents his MARK101 assignment on the cosmetics industry.

Extension

If you cannot complete either of these assignments at the due time because of illness or other serious circumstances, or if you are representing New Zealand in sport, you may request an extension. Extension requests for other reasons e.g. work, workload, holidays, travel, or problems with ex partners, flatmates, computers and so on are usually not accepted.  Only the course coordinator Dr Martyn Gosling [email protected].  can provide extensions.

Penalties

Penalties of 10% per day for every day late will apply.  For example, an assignment that achieves 72% but was submitted one day late will receive a mark of 62%.  After 7 days late assignments will not be marked and a grade of 1 mark provided.   the Challenge

All organisations compete – for customers, for resources, for attention.  They compete through providing and presenting greater value than their rivals.  This takes marketing and it takes leadership.  The ability to scan the changing world and develop viable marketing plans to mitigate threats and grasp opportunities is a vital capability in any leadership role in any organisation.  For this assessment in MARK 101 you are developing a marketing plan comprised of Part A marketing analysis and Part B strategy brief comprised of strategic marketing directions for the next year or so for a real firm operating in the New Zealand chocolate confectionary market.  The firm could be a manufacturer, supplier, distributor, retailer, and so on – it is your choice.  A word of caution…if you choose a market giant like Nestlé or Cadbury, it might be very easy to get data, but very hard to develop new ideas and strategy. Smaller firms such as Whittaker’s, Bohemein, or the Wellington Chocolate Factory may have less data, but better opportunities for meaningful strategy. Again, it’s your choice.

Extension

Part A Instructions

Part A will involve a macro-environmental analysis of global issue affecting the chocolate confectionery industry, micro-environmental analysis of the industry in New Zealand including competitor analysis and customer analysis.  Your report will conclude with a summary of the specific threats and opportunities for your firm.  What follows is a suggested layout and the contents of each section.

Executive Summary:

Your report will begin with an Executive Summary of no more than a page, and probably no more than half a page.  This report will say why the analysis is being undertaken (don’t say its purpose is to get you a grade in   what the report is about, what the two or three most important issues that emerged from your analysis and why they are important, and what the BIG threat or opportunity is and why it is so.  A reader such as a decision-maker (perhaps your boss) should be able to read your executive summary and not need to read further the story is all on the one page.  Do this section  you have written the rest of the report.  The executive summary is  not included in the word count.

 

Table of Contents:  Create a contents page.  If you use Word, or its equivalent, to you can assign a heading style to each of your headings, which will then allow an easy update of your contents page.  A contents page allows the reader to see the flow of investigation and analysis.  The contents page is not included in the word count.  Remember to include page numbers!

 

Introduction: The introduction provides a little background on the firm (who it is, what it does, how big it is, and so on), the analysis undertaken, and the structure of the report.  In essence, it tells the reader what they will find when they read the report.  

 

Analysis: This section summarises your macro, micro, competitor, and customer analysis and concludes with a Problems and Opportunities Statement.  How you structure your analysis section is over to you, but your analysis needs to be logically structured and compelling and based on the strength of your research.  To assist in your analysis structure, here’s some advice:

 

Macro: As in the L’Oréal video, we start with the global big stuff.  Read the Euromonitor articles regarding the chocolate confectionery markets in Canada, Australia, and the UK. The other articles we provide look at the retailing sector for each of the countries.  We provided these articles because whatever happens overseas tends to happen in New Zealand not long after  the virus is a good example, but the same goes for other technological and social trends.  These articles are just to help you get started!  You will be looking for more reports or observations, newspaper articles, and the like, to get some idea of what is happening in the new zealand market. What is big out there, and what are the key trends both good and bad?  You could use the five PESTLE elements as your categorisation framework.  You do not need to have something in each category  focus on what is most important.  You can create a table, or you can summarise in a text format.  Do whatever you want to make your analysis clear to your reader.  Do not use tables as a way to beat the word count!  Your boss would not accept this and neither will we.  Ensure that you also explain how the macro factors you identify are influencing the chocolate confectionery market in New Zealand.  References are your friend here – the better the reference the more powerful your position.  In-text references are included in the word count.

Penalties

 

 

Micro:  Identify and describe the influence of customers, competitor manufacturers, and retail networks on the chocolate confectionery market in New Zealand.  You can use the information we gave you as a guide but wise students will find out more, such as from StatsNZ.govt.nz or NZIER.org and in company and industry association annual or special reports, to help explain the key market trends in New Zealand, the size of the market (quantify in dollar value, number of firms, size of firms, the potential numbers of consumers and so on), changes that have taken place in the market, changes that are predicted to take place, and buying patterns within the market.

 

Don’t just present data.  Tell us what it all means in the context of this industry and the challenges and opportunities companies face.

Next, you need to think about who else is in the market.  

 

Who are the competitors for the firm you have chosen?

 

 Think of the value of their brand?

 

 What are the strengths of those competitors taken from a customer perspective?

 

You might want to seek out reviews of their products.  How do these competitors compare against the firm you have chosen?  

 

What is the value of your brand?

 

 What do customers think of you?  

 

 What could threats hurt your firm the most?

 

 What strengths does your firm have that could counter those threats?

 

 What weaknesses  especially those seen by customers leave it exposed to danger?

 

What strengths does it have to grasp those opportunities you can identify?

 

 What strengths does it need?  

 

Used wisely a TOWS or SWOT analysis is a powerful tool that pretty much provides a “to do list” for your firm. 

Problems and Opportunities Statement:  This is your concluding paragraph.  The statement, based on all your research and analysis, details the key market opportunity your firm will grasp, or the key market threat your firm must mitigate, and why this threat or opportunity is so important. Indeed, you are saying the problem or opportunity is so important the firm must focus all its resources towards it. It is possible for an issue to be a threat and an opportunity, so choose which you will focus on.   The word count ends at this point.

In Text References

In all your work you must use in-text citations and a reference list that conforms to APA 6th standards.  You can use the library databases and the APA reference guides on our Blackboard to help you write your references in the required way.  Your reference list must include ALL materials you used in your report that were not your own creation.  Your citations in-text should reflect the references listed at the end of the assignment and vice versa.  You must reference ONLY the materials you used.  Do not include any references of any work that does not appear in the text.  Your word count includes the in-text references, but not the reference list.

The Challenge

Submit

Submit your assignment via Turnitin, by 5pm on Monday 31 August.  This is the Monday that classes resume after the mid-term break. See the instructions loaded onto the Assignment tab on Blackboard.  Turnitin requires you to UPLOAD and then Submit Make sure you take BOTH steps.  Make sure you receive a Turnitin receipt by email, as this is your proof that you have submitted your work.

Grading

When your grade comes up on Grade Centre always check the feedback. The marking rubric has three functions.  The first (and primary) is to help you understand what it takes to get a great grade – read what it says in each box while you are undertaking the project.  The second is to help markers critically, fairly, and objectively assess your work.  The third is to provide you with feedback that you can apply to the second part of the assessment.

 

You will see the rubric is divided into two parts.  The section in boxes will be highlighted in yellow where your work was assessed and a mark given  this is the summative section.  The comments provided by the marker are the formative section.  This is where your marker is giving their advice  perhaps where you could have gained a better grade.  Your tutors are all A+ students  they know what top papers look like and they know how to get great grades, so heed their advice.

Part B Instructions

Closely examine your Part A and the feedback you received.  You can revise all or any of your thinking from Part A.  You can even change company if you wish.  You may need to do more research.

 

In Part B you will develop a product development, or a market development, or a diversification, strategy for your firm to grasp the opportunity you identified, or mitigate the threat you identified, in Part A.  Do not attempt a market penetration strategy.  To enact the strategy you will provide specific and viable recommendations pertaining to positioning, segmentation and targeting.  In other words, what consumers will you focus on, what value proposition will you prepare for them (think about the marketing mix), and how will you engage with those customers in a way they find attractive (again think about the marketing mix).  You are essentially saying what you will compete with and where and how you will compete and WHY this is the way you will compete.  Remember, marketing is about what we will do and why in order to compete, and we compete by creating, delivering and communicating superior value. 

 

First of all watch the L’Oréal video again.  Look at how Jean Paul Agon first examines his business world and note what he does in terms of segmentation, targeting and positioning to compete and demonstrate value.  Look at how he describes a strategy of product development in his traditional markets and diversification for emerging markets.  Look at how L’Oréal enacts the strategy.  You will take a very similar approach.

What follows is a suggested layout and the contents of each section.

 

Executive Summary:  Your report will begin with an Executive Summary of no more than a page, and probably no more than half a page.  This report will say why the analysis was undertaken, the problem or opportunity you identified, the strategy you have developed, the key aspects of the strategy highlighting any super great ideas you have developed, and the objectives you expect to achieve.  In other words, what should your firm do over the next year or so to grasp the opportunity or mitigate the threat and why this plan is the right one. Remember, decision-makers should be able to read your executive summary and at that point will probably decide whether or not to proceed with your plan.  The story is all on the one page.  Do this section after you have written the rest of the report.  The executive summary is NOT included in the word count.

 

Table of Contents:  Create a contents page.  If you use Word, or its equivalent, to you can assign a heading style to each of your headings, which will then allow an easy update of your contents page.  A contents page allows the reader to see the flow of investigation and analysis.  The contents page is not included in the word count.  Include page numbers!