Assignment- International Marketing Strategy

This assessment task it designed to develop skills and capability in the process of developing International Marketing Strategy. You are required to form a group of two to three people for this task. It requires you to draw on the key principles of the courseand international marketing in general.

It also requires you to apply your international market intelligence and research skills to develop a robust and well-supported International Marketing Strategy for an assigned/agreed company.

The task again is a mix of both theory and practice.

Key Components

Base Conditions

- In the early stages of the teaching period you will be required to nominate a company upon which you will develop an associated International Marketing Strategy

- This will typically be from a prepared list provided by your lecturer - with you having access to some base information on the company or a strategic business unit of a larger company

- The base information may be in the form of a case study, investment adviser report, annual report or other public domain material

- You are to agree - with your lecturer - an overseas market to assess i.e. for the International Marketing Strategy. This may be from a listing of countries or negotiated between yourself and the lecturer

- However, the choice of country MUST be SIGNIFICANTLY different from the firm's home country market.

There may be an opportunity to select a company not on the list - but this MUST be approved by your lecturer.

Tasks

There are in effect three key inter-related components to this task - with Part 1 and Part 2 providing key inputs into Part 3.

1. Company Understanding - Base

Using the material provided and other RELEVANT material you are to provide an overview of the firm.

This should be from the perspective of its current situation/challenges and its need/requirement to develop an International Marketing Strategy for the nominated overseas market.

Equally you should use this task to develop your ideas on the company's relative capacity and resource base - again with regard to international marketing.

This collective understanding will be a major factor in shaping the final International Marketing Strategy

2. Overseas Market Understanding

Clearly in order develop an International Marketing Strategy there is a need to develop a highly relevant and strong understanding of the agreed overseas market.

You are therefore required to undertake an analysis of the overseas market.

You might wish to draw on the A Country Notebook framework which is on Moodle.

Key aspects that should be considered include:

- Culture
- Social and Demographics
- Political/Legal/Regulatory
- Economic
- Competitors/Competitive Environment

Remember this task is not just a mix of data you have been able to access via the range of usual sources.

It requires you to prioritise the type of data you believe will be important to allow you to develop an appropriate International Marketing Strategy.

This task should help you identify some of the markets:

- Key success factors and
- Key risk factors

and to assess the underlying attractiveness of the market for the nominated for firm.

You are required to prepare a brief summary in bullet point style to share the key market characteristics of your nominated country in class in either week 2 and 3 (no more than 3 minutes). Your lecturer will schedule your oral report and this presentation is worth 5 marks. So start your preparation early.

3. International Marketing Strategy - Proposed/Recommended

Using the material generated from the above two sections you are required to develop an International Marketing Strategy.

This strategy should consider factors like:

- Entry Mode
- Adaptations Required e.g. Price/Place/Product/Promotion
- Risk Management Regimes

You should prepare this as a report to the Executive Management team of the designated firm - outlining your well-developed proposed International Marketing Strategy.

As such it does not require you to go into tactical detail - but present the Executive Management team with good information on the nominated overseas market and a highly relevant suggested "moving forward strategy".

It is appropriate - though not essential - that the report could be presented in a well-developed point form with much of the material provided as Appendices.

However, it is essential that the report is appropriately referenced and shows overall logic and feasibility.

Hints

It is CRITICAL that you are able to draw out KEY IMPLICATIONS for Part 1 and Part 2 as they impact the firm and the resultant International Marketing Strategy.

Getting the facts and figures is only PART of the two task areas.

Again - as a business report it should include an Executive Summary, a Table of Contents, References and Appendices.

Supporting material can be included as Appendices.

Source material should be correctly identified and referenced. If you are unsure about the format please ask your lecturer for advice and guidance.

As there is considerable secondary research needed for this assignment - start researching now!

A written report of 2,500 - 3,000 words.