Marketing Principles

        ScenarioAs a newly appointed Marketing Executive of the Department of Trade and Industry, you have been requested to produce a report that will help improve the marketing approach of British SME’s as they attempt to internationalise their operations in an increasingly complex international environment. Your report will help members improve their knowledge about the marketing process and orientations businesses need to adopt, environmental factors that influence marketing decisions and the dynamics and impact of the wider marketing mix and its application.Task 1 Write a report which addresses each one of the following:1) Explain the various elements of the marketing process British SME’s can adopt for effective marketing in their chosen markets. (AC1.1)2) Identify a winning orientation British SME’s can adopt when going international and evaluate the benefits and costs of adopting that orientation. (AC 1.2)3) Which micro and macro environmental factors influence the marketing decisions of British SME’s. (AC 2.1) 4) In the case of a British SME, show how and why international marketing differs from domestic      marketing.(AC.4.3)5) Explain how British SME’s can develop products to sustain competitive advantage. (AC. 3.1)6) Explain how distribution needs to be arranged by British SME’s to provide customer convenience. (AC. 3.2)7) Explain how prices of British SME’s are set to reflect the Organisation’s objectives and market conditions. (AC.3.3)8) Illustrate how promotional activities of British SME’s can be integrated to achieve its marketing objectives. (AC.3.4)9) Analyse the additional elements of the extended marketing mix required by members of your Federation when marketing their services rather than products.(AC. 3.5) This provides evidence for AC 1.1, 1.2, 2.1 & 4.3, 3.1, 3.3, 3.2, 3.4, 3.5         Task 2 Two years of crisis: How did it all go wrong for Tesco? By Rachel Richard Straus (adapted) For a long time, Tesco, Britain’s biggest retailer could do no wrong: in just 13 years its profits grew more than four-and-a-half times to £3.4billion in 2010. For years, anyone who had dealings with Tesco would come away with respect for the apparent clinical efficiency of its business model. It boasted an incredible 30.5 per cent share of the grocery market. Fast forward a couple of years and the company is regarded as something of a basket-case. What went wrong at Britain’s biggest and most bullish retailer? The answer is no single thing, but failure on major marketing concepts such as wrong bases of segmentation, inept targeting, a blurred positioning strategy and inability to adapt to changing customer behaviour. Shopping habits have changed dramatically over the past couple of years and Tesco has faced a particularly uphill struggle to adapt; being such a retailing behemoth any change in direction requires time and huge amounts of investment. Time-poor households increasingly ditch their weekly shop in favour of smaller ‘top up’ shops at convenience stores. And as families’ budgets remain under pressure, they are less likely to buy their groceries and throw a new television or barbeque into the trolley as well. The cracks started to show in 2012, as cash-strapped shoppers started to turn in their droves to niche operators and budget supermarkets Aldi and Lidl. Mainstream supermarkets including Tesco, Morrisons and Sainsbury’s suffered as increasingly savvy shoppers shopped around for the best deals: looking for cut-price essentials at either the budget supermarkets or trading up for affordable luxuries at Waitrose and Marks & Spencer. Tesco did not re-position as fast and increasingly found itself in a no man’s land, neither a differentiator nor a niche operator. What Tesco needed at that stage though was a clear re-direction which never materialised. Tesco did throw everything it could at battling the budget supermarkets. It tried to change its focus from offering discounts and special offers to luring shoppers in with the promise of low prices on basics week in week out. But it was a bit late as instead of making the weather, in business terms Tesco was chasing patches of sun that kept receding. The public was falling out of love with their weekly mega-shop, profits continued to fall and market share squeezed again and again.   Scenario As Consultant to the newly appointed Chairman of Tesco, your role is to review Tesco’s marketing and operations so as to bring back its competitiveness and profitability.  Plan a well-researched presentation of a minimum of 12 slides to middle and operational managers of Tesco that cover the marketing issues below. 1) Propose segmentation criteria Tesco can use for products in different markets. (AC 2.2)2) Identify the main targeting strategies organisations use and choose a suitable targeting strategy Tesco can adopt for a selected product. (AC 2.3)3) Demonstrate how buyer behaviour affects marketing activities of Tesco in different buying situations. (AC.2.4)4) Propose a new positioning for a selected product. (AC. 2.5) 5) Plan marketing mixes for two different segments Tesco caters for. (AC.4.1)6) Illustrate differences in marketing products and services to businesses in contrast to consumers. (AC.4.2)This provides evidence for AC AC2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 2.5, 4.1, 4.2