Due Wed, Sept 11 @ 4pm

/in /by

Assignment 2: Market Position Analysis

 

Throughout this course, you will conduct a strategy audit for a selected company. In Module 1, you selected an organization for your course project activities.

 

In this assignment, you will assess the product portfolio for your selected business unit by analyzing the value proposition, market position, and competitive advantage of its products and services. You will begin your analysis by identifying the business unit and the product(s) and service(s) you will focus on in this paper.

Complete the following:

 

  • Conduct at least three interviews with your selected mid-level or senior managers. Use the interviews to solicit each manager’s understanding of your business unit’s market position, value proposition, and competitive advantage.
  • Provide either full transcripts or annotated summaries of the interviews. Include them in the appendix of your analysis.

In your analysis, be sure to cover the following:

  • Describe the target customer for the product/service in terms of relevant characteristics that impact the marketing strategy, including location (how it is reached) and buying habits.
  • Identify each customer segment’s specific wants and needs. Explain why they buy your company’s product or service, or a competing product or service.
  • Justify how well your product/service satisfies customer wants and needs. Identify any wants and needs that are not met by your product/service.
  • Analyze your product’s position in relation to the competition. Identify 3–5 main competitors. Explain how your product differs in terms features, function, quality, price, availability, brand image, etc. Explain why this differentiation is important to your customers.
  • Describe the source of competitive advantage for your product. Evaluate sustainability of this source of advantage.
  • Assess the long-term sustainability of the source of differentiation and competitive advantage.
  • Apply the five “P’s” of marketing to your product analysis. 
  • Provide a concluding paragraph in your report that recapitulates the findings of your interview.

Click here to download a template to use for comparing your product to that of the competition.

Support your responses giving reasons and examples from scholarly resources. Include the matrix in an appendix and add an extra page for your references.

Write a 3-page paper in Word format and attach the matrix as an appendix. Apply APA standards to citation of sources. Use the following file naming convention: LastnameFirstInitial_M2_A2.doc. For example, if your name is John Smith, your document will be named SmithJ_M2_A2.doc.

 

By Wednesday, September 11, 2013, deliver your assignment to the M2: Assignment 2 Dropbox.

 

Assignment Component
Proficiency
Maximum Points

Described the target customer for the product/service in terms of relevant characteristics that impact the marketing strategy, including location (how reached) and buying habits.

Target customer is clearly and accurately identified. Description includes all relevant characteristics that impact the marketing strategy, including (but not limited to) location and buying habits.
1

Identified each customer segment’s specific wants and needs. Explained why they buy your company’s product or service, or a competing product or service.

Each customer segment’s wants and needs are identified, specific, and appropriate.

Explanation as to why the customer buys the product/service is clear, complete, and provides specific detail to support ideas.
1

Justified how well your product/service satisfies customer wants and needs. Identified any wants and needs that are not met by your product/service.

Justification of how well the product/service satisfies customer wants and needs is clear, complete, and provides sound examples that support stance.

Any wants and needs not met by the product/service are identified and evaluated.
1

Analyzed your product’s position in relation to the competition. Identified the main competitors. Explained how your product differs in terms of features, function, quality, price, availability, brand image, etc. Explained why this differentiation is important to your customers. Explained how the 5 “P’s” of marketing are represented in the analysis.

Analysis of product in relation to competition is clear, complete, and detailed. Where the product resides in the market as a whole is clear and accurate. Main competitors are specified.

Explanation of how product differs from competition is clear and complete. It includes discussion of features, function, quality, price, availability, brand image, and the like.

Explanation of why differentiation is important to customers is clear and supports the justification as to customers’ wants and needs. Explanation links the analysis to the 5 “P’s” of marketing.
1

Described the source of competitive advantage for your product. Evaluated how sustainable this source of advantage is.

Source of competitive advantage for product is clearly and completely described with details to highlight specific ideas.

Evaluation of sustainability of source of advantage is clear and grounded in appropriate examples.
2

Included information from appropriate interviews.

Information from interviews is woven into the assignment and used as support throughout.
2

Wrote using ethical scholarship and proper grammar and mechanics.

Writing is clear, concise, and in an organized manner; demonstrates ethical scholarship in accurate representation and attribution of sources; and displays accurate spelling, grammar, and punctuation.
2
Total:  
20