- This topic has 215 replies, 42 voices, and was last updated 2 years ago by
.
- Posts
Primary data is neither required nor would be suitable for this company (who would you ask and what would you ask?) and T18 can be done quite well with secondary data if researched adequately.
You should consider the application of the 4 / 7 Ps of marketing and also how SQ segregates its markets i.e. how does it differentiate its service to customers in the different levels of service (economy, business and first class) and how does it promote and compete in these markets with its main competitors?
It may be useful to make some comparisons with the former e.g. Emirates on some of these issues (particularly when it comes to First and business class). Some comparative statistics may be good e.g. the market shares (although of course their routes are not quite identical and therefore this may be one of the limitations in interpreting this and other data).
Dear Trephena,
Would like to know i should include BCG or Ansoff matrix for airline industry if i only have 2 business model used?
is it too much of information? I’m competing with time now.
Neither of these models really fits an airline well.
You should however instead ensure that you have applied the 7 Ps well and talk about how the ‘product’ is diversified for the different classes of passenger as I have mentioned above.
You could bring in how it has to keep upgrading the premium levels of service to compete with rival airlines when it comes to business and first class giving some examples e.g. does it offer home / hotel pick-up ? Does it have a totally separate airport lounge for 1st class ? Are the first class seats inarranged in separate cabins ? And when were such changes implemented and were they to stay ahead or to bring it up to the level of rivals?
It is not the number of models that is important it is how well you have analysed the market and ‘product’
Dear trephena,
Thanks for the advice. =D as for the financial analysis, is it sufficient if only calculation of profitability ratios used to compare with a benchmark. or do i need to do the rest?
The brief is the effectiveness of the organisation’s marketing strategies and therefore it is not just general profitability but the relationship of marketing costs to profitability and market share analysis
Hi Everyone, what companies are you doing your RAP’s on? Any tips on deciding on what company to choose?
Julia – I always think it’s a good idea to choose a company that interests you or one from a sector that interests you e.g. a cosmetic company or a car manufacturer, fashion retailer or tech company (Apple, Samsung). Perhaps you are interested in airlines like the student above ?
The important thing at this stage is to familiarise yourself with marketing concepts and then you may be able to figure out the company from your shortist that would best fit the various concepts and allow you to do a good analysis. For example a high class cosmetic company probably doesn’t segment its customers in the same way as a car company or airline (basic model/service, more luxury model/ service and top of the range model / service), however it may segment by products e.g. make-up, perfume or by acquiring a subsidiary for an ancillary product (like up market hair care company)
Hi! This thread is fantastic. So much useful information, I’m so glad I found it before getting my teeth into the report.
My main concern is that I have chosen a small business….I was going to look into their strategy of targeting younger clients (an accountancy practice) in line with the digital future and with ‘making tax digital’ coming in, and I have access to data such as where the clients have come from (internet search/walk in/referral etc.) each month for the last 10 years, costs of marketing and turnover info, and reach reports from facebook campaigns etc. But! reading this thread makes me think this company is too small and perhaps I should look at a much larger business to research instead? Unfortunately November is my final submission period due to starting a family since finishing my ACCA exams 🙁 so I am under even more pressure to get it right first time. Due to my ACCA overall grades, if I score A,B or C I should get an upper second, so my aim is literally just to pass regardless of grade.
Any advice is welcome!
Cheers, LauraSo glad you have found the Open Tuition Forum helpful Laura 😀
I think this could work using your small company. If using confidential information (I am assuming that you work or have worked for this company, or know someone who does?) you will have to get a letter signed by a senor manager on the official letterhead to certify that you have been authorised to access any to the data.
The other thing to bear in mind is that you need to analyse and evaluate the results not just state them (I don’t think this will be an issue) however you need to appreciate that it is a Research and ANALYSIS project.
It is unfortunate that you only have one attempt – however don’t let this intimidate you as you have plenty of time to do a good project for P37.
As you may have read, there is further guidance on ensuring you comply with the Assessment Criteria requirements that is available if you email me at opentuition.com (I can’t put the full email address in the post otherwise it is picked up my electronic robot scanners than then spam me but put Trephena@ in front of this). You must include your student number and full name
So glad you are finding the Open Tuition Forum useful Laura 😀
I think it could work using your small company (Do you work or have worked there or know someone who does?) You will have to get a letter signed by someone senior on official letterhead authorising you to use any confidential information (which I assume some of this data may be?)
The other thing to remember is that you have to evaluate not just state results. However it is a common error just to produce facts without thorough analysis and considering the implication of these and this can often lead to a fail
It is unfortunate you only have one attempt, especially as you only need a C for an Upper second – however don’t let this intimidate you as T18 has a reasonable pass rate – and you are allowing plenty of time to do your work
There is some further guidance on how to achieve the Assessment Criteria for this topic but as it is copyright so I cannot put it on here. However it is available on an individual basis if you put email me at Opentuition.com using my name Trephena@
(I can’t reproduce the actual address here otherwise electronic robot scanners used by spammers pick it up – but put the two components together)UPDATE: I am sorry but the originator of this extra guidance has now withdrawn permission for us to circulate it and therefore it is no longer available
Thank you so much! That’s a huge weight off my mind.
I had planned my approach and had my first meeting with a mentor, then panicked when seeing others looking at PLCs and much larger businesses, thinking I’d have to start again….didn’t get much sleep last night!
Yes it’s the business that I work for, and my employer is willing to let me have as much information as needed (there are investment opportunities for me in the future, so it’s of added interest).
I was concerned that I wouldn’t be able to research market share and segmentation as much with it being a small business, however 7Ps, SWOT, trend analysis over 10 years and external research on trends, research into digital marketing and of course costs vs income for each area of marketing is possible. Hopefully I will be able to make some recommendations at the end of the research project (which may benefit the company and other franchisees).
Would I need to include a copy of the financial statements to show where my figures came from?Hi Trephena,
I’m having trouble to find marketing cost for a company. There’s no detailed financial statements. It’s all lumped into “Selling General and Administrative” expenses. My question is: is it ok to use this expense instead of marketing cost to sales?
Thank you!
Hi there
In the absence of specific marketing cost figures, this is usable (but state the limitations – i.e. possibly not all of these costs are sales related). Perhaps you can look at the trends over several years too?
The topic brief is about the effectiveness of the organisation’s marketing strategies and therefore see if you can find some information relating to market share. You may have to look beyond the annual reports as trade journals often contain this sort of datta and make comparisons between companies. Also search online business pages as market analysts and business editors produce some informative articles about company performance that are related to sales growth and commentary on promotional activities. You are expected to had use a broad range of sources so this will demonstrate that.
Thank you @trephena!
So I can refer to the data from journals or business articles? do I need to validate the data? or it’s ok to rely on it? The company I’m considering just recently got listed in New York, so the company’s website only has 2018’s financial statement available. But if it’s ok to use data from other sources like business journals, that will be very helpful!Dear Trephena
If i choose Marks Spencer as my company for topic 18 which models will you suggest me to use?
Thank you in advance.
Linda
Well for a start you need to use the 4 / 7 Ps and then I would probably look at the Boston Matrix (BCG Matrix). You could try to put the product types in the various categories e.g. food and drink probably is the cash cow but your need to look at sales figures over the last few years to confirm this (the main categories may possibly be women’s wear, menswear, children’s wear and food). Or you may be able to break down departments within womenswear for example, Per una, lingerie, Autograph, everyday wear i.e. the rest of women’s wear depending on what information is provided in the annual report.
Dear Trephena
Thank you for your reply.
Regarding to the calculation part for T18 which aspects are you suggest me to look at?
In turns of sufficient information can be obtained to discuss T18 do you think M&S is a good choice? To be honest the pass is enough for me.Many thanks
Linda
I think the difficulty here is that you are choosing a retail store that sells quite diverse goods whereas it may be easier to use one that has a more restricted range.
In the UK for example I think Hotel Chocolat would be a good choice (and being chocolate is dear to my heart!) or perhaps something like Molton Brown (known for its high class toiletries which it sells online, through shops but also has some tie ups with quality hotels providing guest size toiletries). Although HC has diversified a little (it does cocoa flavoured gin and has a hotel in the Caribbean) its core is chocolate. It focuses on that with special campaigns – not just for Christmas and Easter (the usual big events in chocolate sales) but Valentines, Mother’s day / Father’s day and even Halloween.
Applying the 4/7Ps to M & S isn’t the problem but using the Boston Matrix or Ansoff model would probably be a lot harder than for one of these (or a similar mid-size retailer).
The main issue with MB is that I think it is a private Ltd however you might be able to contact them and ask for help with historic turnover figures
However Hotel Chocolat is a plc I believe.
Another alternative might be Fevertree (soft drinks and mixers) which has grown its market hugely since it was first set up and really stolen ground from its rivals such as Schweppes
Alternatively many students have chosen Apple in the past so if you are not in the UK either choose something along the lines of MB, HC or FT in your own country or if you are into technology perhaps apple would be appropriate.
I am not saying you won’t be successful with M & S just it may be more challenging in some areas.
Hope that helps
Hello please I chose Samsung and when writing about their product segmentation,targeting and positioning what exactly I’m I expected to write about?
Additionally if a draw a graph about the trends of marketing cost to sales of Samsung over a few years due I need to reference the graph too?
Your report should focus on Samsung however can make some comparisons with rivals such as Apple when it comes to innovative product features, different promotions and levels of customer for example.
Segmentation may not necessarily apply to all products and services, it is how a basic product or service may be enhanced to appeall to high end or possibly business customers, or perhaps the opposite when a product/service is pared down so it can be sold cheaply to appeal to the mass market.
Targeting often relates to attracting a particular group of customers – possibly this again is not so prevalent anymore but might be where bright coloured phones were used to appeal to the youthful market or pink ones aimed at women.
Positioning is often about product image and is subtle -something that Apple has excelled at in creating the Apple brand – possibly Samsung has been less successful at this. It is used to make customers think they are buying into some sort of exclusive club and means they are prepared to pay a premium price for a product.
You should show the source of the Information that has gone into your graph
Dear Trephena
Thank you so much for you reply.
Your advice is really helpful.
I did roughly research on Hotel Chocolate, Molton Brown and Apple. Apple seems easier to obtain information.1. When I apply the model of 4Ps to Apple products I don,t need to go through every product right? Could i just pick up one or two key products and mention that due to the word limitation so only keys products are analysed in this assignment something like this?
2. Is the model of BCG matrix suitable in the case of Apple?
3. In terms of calculation(spreadsheet part) which are the aspect I can look into?
Thank you so much for your advice.
Linda
1. No because for some things like Place and People obviously their range of products is going to be available in the same locations e.g. in their stores, on the internet etc (although the full range may not be available from mobile phone service providers who basically are trying to sell you a service contract and limit you to different models according to how much you are going to pay for the contract). However when dealing with Promotion you will need to refer to different marketing campaigns and these are often specifically aimed at promoting specific products.
Don’t forget general brand advertising – Apple does a lot of this. This is where the company name, logo and image is promoted rather than anything tangible.
.
2. Possibly it is a case of deciding which products are Stars and Cash cows and whether any products are dogs and question marks.3. Sales turnover for the last few years, market share analysis, comparisons with its rivals on some of these
You might find that it is easier to use the Ansoff matrix rather than the BCG matrix – so take a look at it – it depends what you find out from your research
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.