Company Selection and Product Analysis

Context

All aspects of a company’s operations should grow directly from its strategic vision, including the operational aspects of marketing and the elements of the marketing mix. Unlike other functions, though, marketing also bears the responsibility of articulating that vision. Carrying out this responsibility can become particularly challenging in an environment in which strategy must be questioned and re-evaluated on a regular basis.Understanding a product’s market potential requires analytical views from both the inside and the outside. From the inside, that analysis includes an evaluation of the product’s specific strengths and weaknesses in relation to the company’s strategy, resources, and capabilities. From the outside, the analysis requires an evaluation of the opportunities and threats to that product presented in the current and emerging environment. A SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) provides one way to gain this understanding.

Questions to Consider

As you prepare to complete this assessment, you may want to think about other related issues to deepen your understanding or broaden your viewpoint. You are encouraged to consider the questions below and discuss them with a fellow learner, a work associate, an interested friend, or a member of your professional community. Note that these questions are for your own development and exploration and do not need to be completed or submitted as part of your assessment.

• What do you think are the most reliable external indicators that a company is likely to successfully market a particular product in its current markets?
• What do you think might be the most significant risks a company faces when investing in growing the market for a particular product that is outside its current market strengths?
• The present situation in which organizations find themselves is driven by technology and trade agreements that provide companies access to multiple environments. Because of this evolution, the marketing discipline has been forced to evolve and adapt. Companies still need to apply general marketing planning tools and techniques to be successful in their chosen markets, but different approaches are available. Consider variables in international markets that might impact the success of the product you have chosen, both positively and negatively. To what extent would you expect the product you have chosen to require different marketing approaches in different markets? Can you envision an approach that might enable the same basic marketing approach to work globally?

Resources

Suggested Resources

The resources provided here are optional and support the assessment. You may use other resources of your choice to prepare for this assessment; However, you will need to ensure that they are appropriate, credible, and valid. They provide helpful information about the topics in this unit. The MBA-FP6012 – Integrated Global Marketing Library Guide can help direct your research. The Supplemental Resources and Research Resources, both linked from the left navigation menu in your courseroom, provide additional resources to help support you.

Risk Assessment for Marketing Strategies

The resources below provide information about risk assessment for marketing strategies.

• Egorov, V., & Chernova, M. (2015). Method of risk assessment in determining the marketing strategy of a textile company that processes chemical fibers. Fibre Chemistry, 46(6), 392–397.
• Marshall, G. W., & Johnston, M. W. (2015). Marketing management (2nd ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill. Available from the bookstore.
  • Chapter 1, “Marketing in Today’s Business Milieu,” pages 2–23.

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Assessment Instructions

Imagine you are a marketing consultant who has been contacted by a company looking for a new perspective on its use of marketing resources. You have had a brief conversation with the CEO, and have learned that senior executive leadership would look to bring in a consultant to conduct a product marketing analysis that may help them determine how to refocus marketing resources. You have been retained to provide an initial analysis that you hope will position you and your colleagues as professionals who understand the company’s current position and the growth potential of its products.

Preparation

Choose a company that you would like to study as part of this course, and gather information to help you address specific aspects. The company you choose should be publicly traded so you have access to critical information. You may choose to use the company where you are currently employed, or another company with which you have sufficient knowledge. If you choose to use the company where you work, you may wish to change the name of the company to protect its identity.Publicly traded companies have a great deal of information available on their Web sites. You may also wish to search the variety of publicly available sources of business information to better understand how others (analysts, competitors, customers) view the company. In addition, you may also wish to search other professional business databases that you may have access to through your work, the Capella University Library, or your public library. Some examples of publicly available sources are: newspapers; financial, trade, and association journals; databases; government statistics; and so on.

Assessment Requirements

Prepare a 3–5-page report for the executive leadership of the company you have selected. Be sure to include a title page and reference page. Within your report, include the following:

• Company Analysis (approximately one page).
  • Identify the company, the type of business or industry it is associated with, and the location of the company’s headquarters.
  • Explain the company’s strategic vision and how it differentiates itself in the marketplace.
  • Describe the company’s product lines and the markets it serves.
• Product Analysis (2–4 pages).
  • Describe one product offered by the company that has the potential to be marketed in a way that could improve the product’s standing in the global marketplace. This may be a product that you believe has been marketed ineffectively, or is missing an opportunity for greater success. Note: All of the assessments in this course will focus on the product you select.
  • Analyze the internal and external factors that affect the success of the product.
    • This is, essentially, a SWOT analysis. The internal factors (strengths and weaknesses) are the resources and capabilities that currently support the product. The external factors (opportunities and threats) include things such as political, economic, socio-cultural, and technological issues.
  • Evaluate the current marketing strategy.
    • How well does it align with the company’s strategic vision?
    • How well does it represent the product?
    • How effective is it at reaching a broad demographic?

Support your analyses with at least four relevant resources, including the Web site of the company you have chosen.

Additional Requirements

• Include a title page and reference page.
• Length: 3–5 pages, double-spaced, not including title page and reference page.
• Resources: At least 4. Resources must be formatted according to current APA guidelines.
• Font: Times New Roman, 12-point.

Company Selection and Product Analysis Scoring Guide

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