Marketing Strategy and Performance Evaluation: Critical Issues, Objectives, and Recommendations

Part 1: Critical Evaluation and Recommendations of Marketing Strategy

Based on your choice,

(i) critically evaluate the associated marketing strategy of the brand in relation to its business performance in the specified sector, and then

(ii) propose marketing objective(s) and recommendations of marketing strategy to the brand.

Your research of the brand’s marketing strategy resulting in its business performance should be as close to as but prior to 31 December 2019. Do not take the COVID-19 situation into account. In other words, your marketing objective(s) and recommendations should assume that COVID-19 were non-existent. Your evaluation should identify one or more critical marketing issue(s) for the brand, and your marketing objective(s) and recommendations should focus on solving the critical issue(s).

Your evaluation and recommendations can focus on either the worldwide market or a specific country (or regional) market, but you need to demonstrate that your choice of focus has a strategic impact to its marketing (business) performance Your recommendations may concentrate on one or a combination of the marketing elements discussed in the module. But your decision of which element(s) to concentrate on should link with your evaluation and proposed marketing objective(s).

Your discussion should demonstrate your strategic insight for marketing, rather than merely reporting the brand using a framework introduced in the module or from your independent research. In other words, you should NOT be solely based on a framework (e.g., 4P) to structure your work. Your discussion should demonstrate clear empirical evidence and theoretical insight. You should also back up your arguments with credible references where possible. You are expected to use at least four references from academic journal articles, in addition to the references you might draw from trade journals, company/practitioner reports, lecture notes, or textbooks.     

Part 2 (40% of the mark, maximum word count: 1,000 words)

Choose one of the marketing elements you proposed in Part 1 (ii) and critically discuss its importance in marketing strategies of the industry in which your chosen brand in Part 1 is situated. The discussion is expected to engage academic debate of the importance of your chosen marketing element, focusing on what the marketing element can help a brand achieve in the industry and its limitations. Your discussion should focus on the industry, not the brand, and you are expected to use examples from multiple brands in the industry to substantiate your discussion.

The discussion in Part 2 is independent of Part 1 (ii). Whilst Part 2 is related to Part 1 (ii) in terms of the marketing element you choose to discuss, the discussion in Part 2 is not related to Part 1, using an independent structure (see below, the recommended structure).

The marketing element you choose does not need to be the most important marketing element in your proposal. You are free to choose any one marketing element from Part 1 (ii). The examples of the marketing elements you can choose include the specific positioning (e.g., functional positioning strategy), product (e.g., new product development), pricing (e.g., low pricing), promotion (e.g., TV advertising), and place (e.g., online distribution) strategy you propose in Part 1 (ii). Choose only one marketing element to focus in this Part, and choose it from Part 1 (ii).

Your discussion should demonstrate clear empirical evidence and theoretical insight. You should also back up your arguments with credible references where possible. You are expected to use at least six references from academic journal articles, in addition to the references you might draw from trade journals, company/practitioner reports, lecture notes, or textbooks.