Marketing Paper Overview

OBJECTIVE:

The objective of this paper is to give students the opportunity to demonstrate their understanding of the key concepts, research and applications involved as companies make decisions regarding international expansion of their product, brand, or corporation. This project will also provide students with “hands-on” experience in developing the skills necessary to understand and make better decisions when working with companies in the international marketplace.

For this paper, you will take an existing company and/or product and explore the viability of expanding their company/product into a market outside of the United States which the company/product does not currently serve. Recommendations regarding target market, positioning, pricing, promotion, and distribution of the product within that market must be made. Governmental, legal/political, economic, and cultural factors must also be considered to determine whether the country being explored is a good fit for your corporation and to be prepared for the issues your company will face when deciding whether to expand into this new market. You will not only “launch” this marketing campaign, but also design an advertisement of your choice, in the form of a print advertisement, coupon, video, billboard, or web banner [whichever medium would most likely be utilized in your country of choice].

INDUSTRY/COMPANY AND COUNTRY SELECTION:

You must select both a company and a country for this project. When picking a company, you want to select one that excites you and that you are interested in. Please keep in mind that some of the world’s multi-national corporations have such an expansive global presence that it would be hard to identify a country in which the company/product is NOT already available (i.e., Coke, McDonald’s, Ford). Your goal is to find a company that has room for continued international expansion and identify a new prospective location for that to occur.

Your company should also follow the parameters below:

· The company should have a minimum of $1 million in annual sales.

· The company should be publicly held and listed on the stock exchange.

· The company should have a minimum of 100 employees.

· The company should be easy to research and gather information on for your project.

Students who struggle with this project generally do so because of an inappropriate company/project choice. Don’t put yourself in this position because once your project proposal is submitted, you are locked in and can’t change your choice of company. Several similar considerations apply to your choice of country. Do enough research to verify that you can find governmental, legal/political, financial, economic, and cultural information on the country. It may be difficult to find adequate information on a small, emerging economies (i.e., Cambodia, Chad, Myanmar, Niger). It would likely also be difficult to justify expansion into this type of country. Alternately, many of the world’s developed economies may already have been entered by your company and would also have increased levels of competitions and greater difficulty in establishing a market presence for your company/product.

NOTE: A simple Google search is the easiest way to determine whether your company/product is already available in any given country. [Example: Is McDonald’s available in Niger?] The answer is ‘NO’.

IMPORTANT:

Points Possible: 100

This paper is designed to be a professional evaluation of research on your topic suitable to be presented to a Corporate Board of Directors. As such, the paper will be evaluated on content, structure, logic, quality of information as well as overall look (presentation), capitalization, punctuation, grammar, and typos.

Outline Of Required Paper

A. Title Page

B. Table of Contents

C. Introduction

a. Background of the Situation: briefly explain the nature of the project.

b. Company History: provide an overview of your company, the industry in which the company competes, and some historical background.

c. Country: short summation of why this country is being considered for potential corporate expansion.

D. Country SWOT for marketing strategies.

NOTE: ALL companies have weaknesses, but your company should have sufficient strengths to justify a potential international expansion.

E. Political System

a. Assess the political system in your selected country for whether it favors a new product or not.

b. Analyze the rules and regulations governing marketing in your specific market. For example, are there any regulations regarding the time when certain products can be advertised? Are there certain media on which your product cannot be advertised?

c. Analyze the law and regulations governing the specific product you are launching in the market. Are there any restrictions? Regulations that can prevent the launch? For example, medical equipment and products face particular restrictions.

F. Economic Environment

Markets require not only people but also purchasing power. Total purchasing power can be evaluated by such factors as:

a. current income levels, especially discretionary income

b. inflation

c. prices

d. savings

e. unemployment rates

f. credit availability

G. Culture

Can include but is not limited to the items below. Cultural effects which could impact your company/product should be discussed in some detail.

a. Language

b. Holidays

c. Customs

d. Symbols

e. Norms

f. Values

g. Marriage and Family

h. Religion

i. Clothing

j. Rituals

k. Art

l. Society

H. Target Market and Segmentation

· Justify why your product is correctly customized to the market you are selling in.

· Be sure to include your logo image and describe any changes you made to it for the international expansion [NOTE: artwork required here].

· Also, justify how your product is appropriately priced for the intended target market group and your product placement strategy (positioning) within the specific international market.

Some items which can help support your targeting position:

a. Consumer/industrial product

b. Age distribution

c. Income level

d. Urban/rural

e. Education

f. Lifestyle

g. Social class

I. Marketing Mix Strategies (4 P’s)

a. Product strategy.

Same, modified, differentiated? Name? Labels? Colors? Packaging? Sizing?

a. Needs satisfied

b. Need government permission to enter market?

c. Competitive advantage

b. Pricing

a. Planned pricing. Provide exact pricing for your product both in U.S. dollars (USD) and the foreign currency of the company you’ve selected. The prices should reflect current pricing options in the specific international market.

b. Rate of inflation?

c. What is the current currency exchange rate?

d. Are there any pricing controls mandated by the government?

c. Distribution

a. Location(s). Points of final delivery.

b. If a product, method of transportation.

c. Infrastructure issues?

d. Is a license required by government to establish a presence in the country?

e. Do you plan to use an agent/broker?

d. Promotion

a. Message

b. Delivery (media). Provide justification for your selected platform(s):i.

a. Media marketing

b. Social media

c. Print

c. Language/translation

d. Legal restrictions? (Media is frequently regulated in countries).

e. REQUIRED: Advertisement Design: Create one advertisement using your market-specific strategy, choosing from the following: video, billboard, web banner, or brochure. Justify WHY this design should be effective in your selected market.

e. Competition

a. Identify the top two competitors in your country. Evaluate your company/product performance relative to these two competitors in terms of the marketing mix variables (4 Ps).

b. Branding: Analyze competitors’ brands for how they have adapted their product to your specific market.

c. Analyze the competitors’ brand products and whether the product had to be customized to fit your specific international market. Explain the rationale behind the brand product strategy.

J. Conclusions

a. Determine the overall impact of the product launch on your company. For example, how will this launch impact your other products on the market? How will this launch impact your overall net income?

b. Appraise the value of the product launch opportunity in the international market based on the marketing techniques you have employed. Should you pursue this marketing opportunity? GO/NO GO DECISION. Support your answer.

c. Provide possible suggestions for future product launches. For example, would other product(s) from your selected company succeed in this market? Support your suggestions with evidence.

K. Bibliography/References

You need a MINIMUM of 20 legitimate sources for full credit. APA format. You should cite EVERYTHING that you include from an outside source that would not be considered “common knowledge”.

PAPER REQUIREMENTS

1) Your paper must be 12-15 pages in length. Points will be deducted for going under/over page restrictions.

2) Paper must be double-spaced.

3) Paper must use APA formatting for paper, citations, and references.

4) Paper must be typed, using a 12-point font. Times Roman, CG Times, Courier or similar styles are acceptable. HANDWRITTEN PAPERS ARE NOT ALLOWED – NO EXCEPTIONS.

5) Use standard 1-inch margins on all sides, double-spaced, and include page numbers at the bottom of each page. PLEASE NUMBER YOUR PAGES.

6) Paper must include a minimum of 20 scholarly references. References should use APA formatting and NOT consist of one website link. Remove hyperlinks from paper. Any content/information contained within the paper that contains numbers, factual information, or specific data not considered ‘common knowledge’ should include an in-paper citation.

7) Use headings that are all caps, bolded, and centered. Subsections within a heading should be bolded and flushed to the left margin

8) The cover page, table of contents, executive summary, appendices, and bibliography are not included in the page requirements for any given assignment and thus should not have page numbers.

9) Proof-read your work! Not just on the screen while you write it, but the hard copy after it is printed. Fix the errors before submitting. These errors include word usage issues (e.g., they’re, their, there); absent or inconsistent paragraph structure; and illogical and conflicting font and margin changes.

10) Be aware of who is talking: you or the group. Professional reports should be written in third party context. [For example, do not write: “I think this is a cool country to open a Dunkin’ Donuts!”. Instead, write: It is the recommendation of this committee that (name of country) would be a profitable expansion for the DD corporation.] For any and all factual information included in your report, provide a citation. Evidence…Evidence…Evidence

11) Use spell checker to eliminate spelling errors.

12) Use grammar-checking to avoid common grammatical errors such as run-on sentences and sentence fragments.

13) All facts, sources, tables, data, etc., MUST be properly footnoted. If they are not inserted in the text, all tables and the like should be placed in an appendix and referenced in the text (i.e., “see Appendix A”). Standards of academic honesty (as outlined in the undergraduate catalog) apply; plagiarism, falsification of facts, etc., constitute grounds for failing the course. In addition, your project will be evaluated electronically (TurnItIn) for plagiarized content.

14) If you are going to include exhibits (particularly numbers) in your report, you will need to refer to them within the body of your report, not just tack them on at the end! This reference should be in the form of supporting conclusions that you are making in your analysis. The reader should not have to guess why particular exhibits have been included, nor what they mean. If you do not plan to refer to them, then leave them out.

15) Write in a formal manner suitable for scholarly work, rather than a letter to a friend. Avoid slang/colloquialism.

16) Murphy’s Law says that your computer will not be functioning in the twelve hours prior to your deadline for submission. Plan for it!