The strategy workbook component commences in the second session.

Students will apply concepts discussed in class to a product/company of their choice. Over the sessions, the Strategy Workbook will help students to identify the areas of marketing strategy that pose critical threats and opportunities to their chosen product/company. At the conclusion of the coursework, students will use the content of their strategy workbook as a starting point for their marketing strategy audit and plan.

Students will participate in the computer-based marketing management and strategy simulation Markstrat Online. It is a sophisticated marketing simulation that provides a challenging decision-making exercise in which complex strategic marketing decisions must be made within a competitive and realistic context. Students will participate in their allocated study group and, as a group, will manage their hypothetical firm in competition with other teams over the course of the program. The objective of this exercise is to place students into a realistic operating environment that requires the integration of complex strategy, marketing research, planning and decision-making. Groups will be evaluated on the basis of their overall strategies and competitive results. Groups are expected to be democratic and self-managing. The decision rules of the game are detailed and extensive. Thus, it is essential that each student has access to a copy of the student manual and makes continual reference to it. The game requires seven decisions to be made simulating seven years of operations. Decisions will be made according to the program in this guide. Decisions must be received by due dates as the simulation closes at the time of the beginning of each lecture. Teams will also be expected to give an informal debrief outlining their initial strategies, where they went right (and wrong), their results and key conclusions.

The Markstrat licences will be supplied by MGSM. The licences and details will be distributed in the first class.

Each company will present in class a briefing to the new team that will take over the management of their firm.

Each company will have a maximum of 20 minutes to verbally present and will also be required to submit an overview report (powerpoint slides will be acceptable) immediately after the presentation. The presentation component is worth 15%.

Mark allocation: The written assignment is worth 15% of your total grade. Marks will be allocated as follows:

Analysis of past performance                                                      

1 marks       

Main strategies pursued                                                              

2 marks

Main adjustments made to changes in the environment

3 marks

Key points learned through past successes and failures

4 marks

Recommendations for the future

3 marks

Delivery/style 

2 marks

Total

15 marks maximum

You will be required to make recommendations for the future marketing strategy for the company/product you have been using as the focus of your strategy workbooks.

The purpose of the assignment is to give you practical experience in strategic marketing planning. For your assignment, you will:

• critically evaluate the current marketing strategy; this is an audit of the current marketing strategy’s strengths and weaknesses, given the overall company business plan and model, and the product/company’s competitors and customers; 
• identify strategic marketing alternatives for the company, over a 1 to 5 year time frame;
• make recommendations for key strategic marketing initiatives based on the theory/practice we have covered in class, plus situational analysis and additional company specific data; 
• recommendations may include changes to the branding or positioning of the company/product, distribution, target segments, and or changes to its product portfolio, service delivery, etc;
• anticipate and document factors influencing the success or failure of the proposed strategy 

Mark allocation: The written assignment is worth 20% of your total grade. Marks will be allocated as follows:

Identification of critical issues

max 5 marks

Quality, clarity and integration of strategic recommendations

max 10 marks

Use of primary and secondary data to support recommendations

max 5 marks

Total:

max 20 marks

Formatting and referencing: You should use normal assignment format: (e.g. one and a half spacing minimum, at least 2.5 cm/one inch margins and 12 point font). In the document, you should pay close attention to acknowledging all sources of data, especially existing internal company documents, plans, market research studies etc. You should also give careful attention to presentation and the use of appropriate essay style and format. In particular, you should cite any references fully and in an acceptable style e.g. following the style of The Journal of Marketing, or the European Journal of Marketing.

The word limit is absolute. Assignments which are longer than the prescribed limit will be penalised up to one grade.

Extra supportive material can be included as an appendix. Any appendices should be clearly numbered and referred to in the body of the report.

Submission: You should submit an electronic copy of your assignment by the indicated due date/time into iLearn. The electronic copy will be submitted to automatic plagiarism software (Turnitin).

You are also expected to submit one hard copy of your assignment by the same due date in the assignment dropbox which is located opposite the café entrance. 

Late assignments will be penalised up to 10% per day unless you have applied for special consideration, and that application is considered acceptable. Applications for extensions must be made before the submission date, and will only be granted in exceptional circumstances. Since most of us suffer from constant pressure of work, it would not be considered an ‘exceptional circumstance’.

Please note that no extension will be given.

You will be given additional information about the suggested content and format of the assignment in our first session.

Duration: 3 hours plus 10 minutes reading time

The exam format will be CLOSED book, and will consist of a case study with a combination of short answer and essay style questions.