Topic 18 - An Organisation's Marketing Strategy & its Effectiveness

Thank u a lot Trephena. I'll check it again in the OBU pack.

Please help me to find an organisation to study. I am considering to choose my employer..a financial institution..Is it ok?

@naisonm - no problem with the choice. The emphasis here would be on being objective and applying the 7 Ps of marketing really well. If it is the company you are employed in try to ascertain whether they target a type of specific customer or have a broad range of products so that they appeal to different groups e.g. pension products (for companies and/or individuals), investors, and particular age groups for some products (the over 50s like Saga). Students tend to fail T18 because they trot out generalisations and don't put enough focus on the actual strategies relevant to their organisation and fail to consider things like market penetration, product differentiation, market segmentation.

thank you trephena

Hello Trephena, I have finally passed in my second attempt. Many many thanks to you and everyone in the OBU forum. It was indeed a great help from all of you regarding the advices, prompt responses, in fact everthing).. Thanks a lot.

Hi Trephena, I'm thinking about doing the RAP on some organisation in which I was assigned as an Internal Auditor from my firm. In my review, i gained quite a lot of information about the marketing processes which I think would give material for a good report. However, there were few positives identified in the company and a lot of negatives. So would it be okay to criticise the marketing strategy in the whole of my report while praising the aspects they are doing okay. Its an NGO and a relatively new one. Also with regards to the referencing, my primary source of Info will be my audit review and there's nothing much on the internet to quote. So how would that look like in the report. I have a backup company in mind if this doesnt work out, but I just wanted to get your opinion before continuing, as it would be much easier to work on and there wouldnt be much need of research as I already have done enough in my Internal Audit. Thanks

@Ali - I think your main problem here might possibly be that you MUST show original analysis and it seems that you want to use the work that was carried out for some other purpose as the basis of your RAP. This is a type of plagiarism if you depend too much on it. The summary of the rules in the Information Pack state "All assessments are intended to determine the skills, abilities, understanding and knowledge of each of the individual students undertaking the assessment.... Cheating is defined as obtaining or attempting to obtain an unfair academic advantage." The information in the pack is mainly addressed at students on campus based courses so although it states "Duplication – submitting work for assessment that is the same as, or broadly similar to, work submitted earlier for academic credit, without acknowledgement of the previous submission" this would be interpreted in the context of the RAP as submitting work for assessment that is broadly similar to work carried out as a work project or for some other purpose and not primarily for the RAP. Do not assume that the markers won't notice if you 'overlook' the origins of the work report. Many RAPs follow a common sequence, thread and approach and anything that deviates from 'the norm' (as your undoubtably would if you were to hide the true nature of it) are subject to greater scrutiny and even investigated by the ACO to establish whether they are original Although you can use the report for part of your research you must acknowledge where this has come from (i.e. a work project) and this cannot form most of your work. You must also demonstrate adequate use of a variety of sources (see Assessment Criteria 6) otherwise the research will be deemed insufficient to fulfil the information gathering criteria so that is again maybe another problem. If you bear these limitations in mind and take steps to rectify them, then you could use the report but you must supplement it so that if does not form, I would estimate, more than about 15-20% of the material you are relying on.

I was passed on Self Reflection (point 8) but failed on Communication Skills inc Presentation (point 9) because my presentation needs changing with assessor comments being "Your Presentation has the basics of being successful but needs to be up dated when you have re-focused your work as at the moment it does not fulfill the requirements for Topic 18". The overall SLS assessment, therefore, was a Fail. Now my mentor says that I don't need to submit a new SLS as I passed on Self Reflection and they only failed me because of presentation, but I'm not so sure about because the overall is an F. Please tell me if there's any need to submit a new SLS. Also, they recommended me to shift focus to the competing company, as it might be easier for me, which I have done. Would this affect the areas previously passed in the assessor feedback? Thank You

You do not have to rewrite your statement. It sounds as though there were a few issues with your presentation -possibly it was too generic and it did not accurately reflect the key findings in sufficient detail? If you do not change topic or company sections passed are carried forward

Thanks for your reply... The thing is that as per my mentor's guidance, I performed a little bit comparison with regards to marketing mix and sales growth, between company A and B in Topic 18. In their feedback, the marker says that I didn't need to do that and doing so has made my findings interesting but narrow. In my RAP, the focus was on Company A but now they recommend that I can shift my focus to Company B if it is easier for me. I have shifted my focus solely on Company B without any comparison this time. So would this be counted as changing the company? Now reading the articles on this website, I understand that T18 does not required a comparison. My mentor's approach was such because they failed his mentee on the bais that he didnt analyse the organisation against any benchmark company.

Oh well in that case to gain peace of mind introduce any new self-reflection and edit your original statement and submit it along with the rest of your work as yes you have changed company. Normally a comparator is not required for topic 18 but some commentary comparing and contrasting on how rival companies address marketing strategies might strengthen the analysis. I doubt the other student failed merely on 'not having benchmark analysis' - I suspect there were other inherent weaknesses...

Hi Trephena Can you please advise if it's ok to use a private company or I can use a public company for T18 submission?

There must be some publicly available information (e.g. some information that comes up on a Google search) as the marker needs to know you are not making the whole thing up (and yes my marker friend says that the ACO has discovered that some people invent a fictitious entity). If there us no evidence that the organisation exists your project is likely be subject to investigation. However no problem with high profile private organisations.

Hi there, Similar to the person above (Asda query), I am struggling to source financial data regarding the brand I am looking at. I am looking at a couple of possible brands/marketing strategies but both belong to HUGE parent companies. The brand companies are not separated in their financial statements and the consolidated accounts are so huge so as to render any inference of the parent companies data to my chosen brand ridiculously inaccurate. Also I was very worried that I would focus on the marketing strategy too much, I was under the impression that this project needed to be a financial analysis primarily and secondarily a discussion of the effectiveness of the financial data in fulfilling the original aims, obviously encompassing non financial factors (public perception, brand recognition etc). From the above thread, though, it sounds like the project is largely a discussion with only small reference to financial data. Is this the case? Also, if I am unable to find published financial data from the company, how can I trust figures from other websites/sources? It seems without the numbers being verified or audited somehow, they may be complete nonsense. I have come across websites that say "they have doubled their marketing spend..." and "they have increased sales by x%". So I assume that there must be raw data somewhere....? So basically my queries are: 1) Is there likely to be a breakdown of the data I need (regarding the brand within the plc) 2) If there's not, how important is it that I have significant financial analysis i.e. will a few ratios be sufficient 3)How can I verify data from alternate sources (or can I just use it's unreliability as a discussion point in the project) Thanks anyone for their help with this. Cheers Will

This topic is primarily about how a company positions itself in various markets in relation to its portfolio of products. The financial data is used to demonstrate that marketing costs have been effective in generating sales. If you focus mainly on irrelevant ratios you will fail as the marker will be looking to see that you understand and can apply marketing concepts in the context of your chosen organisation and can identify its various strategies. Brand would only be a small part of the project. In answering your specific queries: 1) no 2) yes but they need to be relevant: marketing costs to sales; market share analysis 3) depends on the organisation but most companies set out the figures for you to be able to do / discuss marketing to sales and market share I suggest you read up on marketing so that you are clear about the marketing mix and market segmentation as these concepts at the very least will need to be covered in your application.

Hi Trephena, Many thanks for your speedy response. To clarify, I really wasn't suggesting doing some erroneous ratios as part of my project. Quite the contrary. I really meant, how can I create meaningful financial analysis of a company when it has over 200 brands, each one running it's own marketing strategy, quite independently of each other, with no breakdown of the sales of each product and no breakdown of the expenditure on marketing of each product. Surely looking at the PLC's expenditure and sales as a whole, across these 200 brands, is a seriously flawed approach? Thanks for the advice regarding market segmentation and marketing mix, I haven't yet studied my P3 so, although I have briefly read around them, I do need to be more familiar with these. Do you think it would be better (easier to create meaningful analysis) if I tried to source a potential company with a smaller product range, or perhaps a retail brand? Many thanks for your continued help! Will

@kernowkid - you comment "Surely looking at the PLC’s expenditure and sales as a whole, across these 200 brands, is a seriously flawed approach?" might be correct if you were a PhD student doing your doctorate thesis but you are doing a Research and Analysis project for a first degree. Again you are quite right that each major brand in the portfolio would have its own marketing manager and team who might be pursuing different strategies. They would be closely monitoring their brand's individual performance (at least quarterly - possibly even - monthly) because they have the detailed information to do so which unless you work in marketing in the company you do not. You have to make the best of what you can with the information available. There are other dimensions /approaches you could consider e.g. if selecting brands from the 200 you might first look at the Boston Consulting Group matrix and select them according to this (don't focus just on the Stars and Cash Cows, look what happened to the Dogs and consider what is being done about the Question Marks). You could also consider Ansoff's theory in relation to product rejuvenation - however this is possibly not applicable in your organisation as it has 200 brands. It usually applies more to the higher priced goods or technical sector e.g. how car models are updated or TVs or phones have new features added. However it might apply to well know product brands in the basic consumer market e.g. Lucazade - see this link for this and read the short but fascinating history of this product and note how it was once the main earner for Beecham's and was totally revamped in the 1980s to become a major revenue earner again https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucozade The above may influence your course of action in relation to your question. The marker will want to see you understand and can apply marketing theory and concepts and do some relevant basic financial analysis in relation to the company and it is how well you do that which influence your grade

Hi Trephena, Many thanks for your above comments. I think maybe I am being too exacting about this. I will check out the theories you mentioned above to see if they can give me some more direction. I think, frankly, as you said it is only a first degree, to make it easier I think I will select a company that allows easier analysis then the ones I am looking at (i.e. smaller). In any case, thank you very much for your candor, it is very much appreciated. Kin regards Will

thanks.

The short answer is I think you would be better off choosing a different company with a higher public profile for Topic 18. Possibly if this is your one and only time attempt you need to consider a different topic - think not just what interests you but what will provide the best opportunity to fulfil the assessment criteria (Appendix 1 of the Info Pack). For Topic 18 you would need to read around the topic and understand the terminology and concepts. You should also invest in a decent mentor. Some of the OBU marking team apparently do mentor a few students at around GBP 500. I don't think they normally advertise but if you ask the ACCA BSc Office they may provide you with the names to look for on the OBU mentor list. No-one can guarantee a pass - not even having an OBU marker will be a 100% guarantee as for ethical reasons and integrity purposes the work would be marked anonymously by another marker, however as they know the assessment criteria inside out, if you follow their advice you are mostly likely to pass. Good luck! :-D

@accastudentofoman said: I would like to know which criteria help us determine whether an organisation is suitable for this topic or not. Let me start guessing some, you can add or eliminate as necessary. 1. Interesting: Obviously, company should be interesting. This applies for all topics. AGREED 2. Primary information: You should have permission to access confidential, internal information. ALWAYS 3. Secondary information: There should be lot of stuff written about the company in newspapers, business journals and analyst reports. YES. THIS DOES NOT ALWAYS HAVE TO BE ARTICLES - FROM YOUR OWN OBSERVATION YOU CAN DEDUCE PROMOTION AND PRODUCT RANGE AND TO A LIMITED EXTENT THEIR TARGET MARKET (FOR EXAMPLE WHO BUYS [SOCIAL CLASS] THE NEWSPAPER/ MAGAZINE) 4. Size: It should be preferably large (??) WELL KNOWN 5. Business Model: Retail, selling of products more than services(??) NO DISTINCTION -SERVICES STILL NEED TO BE MARKETED AND HAVE DISTINCT MARKETS (THINK: AIRLINES, HOTELS, MOVIES ETC) -THE ONLY DIFFERENCE IS THEY HAVE A LESS TANGIBLE PRODUCT 6. Marketing department: They MUST have this dept (??) USUALLY, HOWEVER THEY MAY OUTSOURCE SOME MARKETING ACTIVITIES (NOTE MOST COMPANIES OUTSOURCE SOME OF THEIR PR (PUBLIC RELATIONS) AS THIS IS A SPECIALIST AREA OF MARKETING AND EXTERNAL PR COMPANIES USED PARTICULARLY TO COMBAT NEGATIVE PUBLICITY SITUATIONS 7. Advertising budget: They should spend sufficiently on advertising, promotions, etc. YES 8. Word of mouth advertising ? marketing THIS IS JUST ONE ASPECT OF ADVERTISING /PROMOTION 9. Marketing models should be easily applied upon the org. CONSIDER ANSOFF, THE BOSTON MATRIX AS WELL AS THE 4/ 7 Ps 10. Company should have been in business for atleast 5 years(??) NO HARD AND FAST RULE BUT NORMALLY THERE WE WOULD BE INSUFFICIENT INFORMATION UNLESS IS WAS WELL KNOWN 11. We need comparator (competitors) in order to judge how effective the marketing strategy in comparison with industry and competitors. A COMPARATOR CAN BE USEFUL IN PLACES BUT IS NOT MANDATORY 12. The more forms of marketing the better (??) for eg. using web, social media, billboards, etc? NOT NECESSARILY BUT IT MAY AID DISCUSSION IN THE PROMOTION SECTION OF THE REPORT 13. Company should cater to a large market and not a niche market. (??) NOT NECESSARILY -THINK LUXURY PRODUCTS, PRODUCTS WITH A CULT FOLLOWING (HARLEY DAVIDSON v HONDA) 14. Products should be preferably tangible (??) ANSWERED ABOVE IN SERVICES 15. What else? I've chosen a business software solutions company known as DataMation. They have around 400 clients. https://datamation.lk/ It's local, not international. I'm confused whether to move forward with this company or choose another, mainly because secondary information is not much. THE MARKERS NEED TO BE ABLE TO SUBSTANTIATE MOST OF THE CLAIMS MADE Please guide me. I have only ONE chance at the Degree. My 10 years time is up! IN THIS CASE I WOULD SUGGEST THAT YOU CHOOSE A DIFFERENT COMPANY OR A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT TOPIC AS A SMALL, LOW PROFILE COMPANY WOULD DIMINISH YOUR CHANCE OF SUCCESS. ALTHOUGH NOONE CAN GUARANTEE SUCCESS I WOULD SUGGEST IN YOUR CASE YOU ACTUALLY SEEK OUT ONE OF THE OBU MARKERS (SOME WILL MENTOR FOR ABOUT GBP 500). YOU COULD CONTACT THE ACCA BSc OFFICE AND SPECIFICALLY ASK FOR A LIST OF SUCH MENTORS. NOTE EVEN THEY WILL NOT GUARANTEE YOU A PASS AS YOUR WIRK WOULD BE MARKED BY A TOTALLY DIFFERENT MARKER FOR ETHICAL REASONS BUT AS A MENTOR WHO IS A MARKER THEY WILL BE 100% FAMILIAR WITH THE ASSESSMENT CRITERIA SO YOU WOULD BE GETTING THE BEST ADVICE AND THEREFORE LIKELY TO PASS

Trephena - I have used upper case to answer most of your questions above

Thank you Trephena! It's really stimulated my thought process. I learnt something new from each of your replies. (Something for my SLS) Some of them are the Marketing models Intangibles/services Deducing from secondary information Outsourcing of marketing dept Company should be well known, so that we have enough quantifiable evidence A question which I asked earlier, but which I ask again: Is secondary information sufficient to do this topic, if in the case I don't get access to primary information? I have some basic knowledge of marketing from P3 studies. Regarding reading around the topic, what books or websites do you suggest? Regarding OBU markers as mentors I'll send an email to OBU and get their info.

Hi there! Sorry for delayed reply (a) have been busy with the day job and (b) the long post was actually written before the shorter answer but for some reason wouldn't post at that time# First back to some of your questions from a few days ago: 1 Most (if not all) of the information will derive from secondary sources. 2. Primary data may be used if appropriate e.g a survey of customers but it is NOT mandatory as it would depend on what other (secondary) info is available 3. For those with only one remaining attempt to submit and pass we recommend absolute mentoring. The mentor, a former senior marker for the OBU Research & Analisys Project itself is probably in the best person to help direct and guide you towards a pass as she understands every aspect of the Assessment Criteria -contact via absolutementoring.uk (note NO co dot) 4. The Chartered institute of Marketing website could be useful but as a non-member access may be limited. Kottler was the marketing guru so any of his books /articles (use Google Scholar aas the search engine and look for off access to any on the right hand side of the screen

Hi Trephena! I completely understand your situation and heartily appreciate you taking the time out of such a busy schedule. I've suffered with long posts as well. I've managed to overcome this by posting many smaller parts. Thanks for clarifying the importance of primary & secondary information. Noted points regarding OBU markers. My current mentor is not too bad. I do use Google. Thanks to you I can fine tune by using Google scholar. I'll spend more time with Kottler. I'm more inclined to choose a well known company, with enough secondary information.

Virtual mentor: Is the name Masood Ahmad Qureshi? ?

Probably a good idea to avoid primary data (students rarely frame questions well and understand how sample properly) - it really isn't necessary if you cover the topic well. Read up on the 4 /7 Ps of marketing and different marketing strategies:'niche pricing, market skimming, segmentation to familiarise yourself with some of the basic concepts. Marketing can be a very interesting topic, a lot of it is common sense and can come in useful in other areas such as self-promotion or if you ever go into business on your own. (I even used it to help a friend understand with her internet dating profile a good photo was absolutely vital as it was a primary way to get someone to read her profile, and that her profile must stand out from the crowd. After I rewrote her profile her contact rate increased dramatically and I conversely warned her off any guy who described himself as 'an ordinary guy' - anyone who used that adjective to sell himself must be boring, unimaginative and possibly suffering from low self-esteem! Cruel I know but why waste time on someone dull if there is someone more exciting on offer? In life start always with high standards and aim high!)

You've highlighted the improper way in which students go about collecting primary information. More over, getting the information is a hassle. You need permission + the other person should give their time. My mentor stressed that primary information scores more marks as it shows that the student has done bit of work rather than just taking the 'lazy' approach of using secondary information. I feel that just copying/describing secondary information is the 'lazy'approach which won't score marks but evaluating & analyzing is the hard part which is mandatory. Even beautifully collected primary information is not going to help you if you don't do proper evaluation. So, either primary or secondary information, we need to collect sufficient of them, analyze (why & how) and maybe get corroborating evidence from the other. Some topics demand primary information. Hopefully this topic is not one of them. Thanks for elaborating how marketing applies in many aspects of our life. We don't actually think we are marketing but the core elements of a seller, a buyer and a product (it maybe even selling yourself) are there. This makes it more interesting and pushes to think creatively. The PowerPoint presentation is another way of 'marketing' your RAP! This can help me in SLS when I justify choosing marketing as a topic. That was a wonderful example of a dating site. I feel the 'ordinary' guy is catering to a niche market ? when everyone else is promoting themselves. Maybe he should make it clear, how 'ordinary' he is in comparison with the other 'ordinary'. Talk about 'extraordinary'! ? My mind is getting stimulated and filled with creativity by these wonderful discussions with you. I want this kind of motivation and engagement when I'm going through articles/theories. Some are so massive that you get overwhelmed by the loads of information. Some are so boring, filled with technical terms and with barely little real life examples, that it just tires us out. Also reading excessively strains the eyes. I try to overcome this issue by summarizing, putting things in a nutshell and having the big picture approach. You feel less nervous and have a better grasp of what is being said. Anyway learning how to learn is vital, otherwise you lose out on the joy of learning. Let me get back after making some solid progress. Cheers till then!

"Dear Yahya, Thank you for your emails. I am afraid that in the interests of fairness we are unable to provide names of mentors who are also markers. To name them individually would demonstrate favoritism and that would not be fair to our other Mentors. " That's what OBU said. So, how do I reach them? OBU won't tell. Markers themselves won't advertise. Hmmm.

Great glad you feel stimulated by the topic and hopefully the work you produce reflections your enthusiasm and this in turn communicates itself to the marker. My friend on the marking team tells me that it would be great if all students tried to 'thrill rather than kill' the marker (with boredom of reading the same-old, same-old) :-( Regarding primary data - your mentor is only partially right - for my own Masters I did no primary data collection but I still got a distinction :-) - however no one is likely to get a PhD on the basis of secondary data alone. According to my dealings with the OBU Marking team many RAPs fail because of primary data - badly worded questionnaires, unscientific approach, using flimsy (if not fabricated data -yes it happens a lot) to 'prove' the unprovable.... whereas if the student had done better secondary research and focused on better quality sources to underpin their work instead they might well have passed. So seriously I implore you to argue this one out with your mentor and ask serious questions -what is his pass rate for T18 and how many used primary data? (I suspect he mostly mentors T8s as most students go for that - boring! Boring!) Much as I respect MAQ/ HAQ Trust me on this one you do NOT, repeat NOT have to do primary data for T18 when there are better alternatives Got it? :-D

{P.I = primary information, S.I = secondary information} Thanks for clarifying once again about P.I and S.I. P.I needs appointments, lot of patience and approvals. Additionally, we will have to choose a company we have access to (friends/relatives). S.I is available in newspapers, journals, magazines, and websites which are accessible through internet + good library. Well done S.I is better than messed up P.I , in short. There was another suggestion by the CEO of DataMation when we realised that they are not a suitable organisation for 'marketing strategy'. They are engaged in finding business software solutions for over 400 clients. Topic 9 "Implementation of IT system" seems apt. But of course, implementation of ERP is done at the client's place. If I select one well known clients, then I can get the information about the implementation from Datamation itself and maybe can also arrange meetings with relevant personnel of the respective client. But Topic 9 is quite technical. I'll choose one well known client of DataMation, get some basic ideas of the implementation and see whether it is interesting enough to go on. Otherwise, I'll put my trust in S.I, select a well known company and go ahead with marketing strategy. If I can gain access and get some corroborating P.I, well and good, otherwise proper evaluation should get me through. I appreciate what you are doing. With due respect my mentor, I'm able to get quicker and more detailed guidance from you. Hats off! Keep up the good work! (All the more reason for me to donate to OT once I start earning)