30 Dec In this project

One of the most powerful resources available to organizations is information technology (IT). While most executives recognize their responsibility to ensure that all of the organization’s business processes provide optimal value to the organization, they may find it difficult to ensure that the IT infrastructure is aligned with the organization’s strategic goals. Without this alignment, IT resources may not be used effectively and may not fully contribute to the organization’s business goals. To ensure that an organization’s IT strategy is aligned to the business objectives, one has to understand the business objectives, the legacy systems, and new technologies.

In this project, you will complete an audit of the technology and information systems processes in your organization. Focus on hardware, software, networks, databases, security, and people. You will decide the extent to which business functions are being facilitated by the present information technology infrastructure. In particular, you will assess how well the current IT infrastructure can accommodate your organization’s business strategy.

Conduct this IT audit for your own organization if you can. Depending on the size of your organization and your access to information, auditing your entire organization may be impractical. As an alternative to using your own organization, you can choose a nonprofit organization, an educational institution, a previous employer, or another organization with which you are familiar. Consult your instructor for approval of your choice.

This project will use templates in Microsoft Excel to walk you through steps to evaluate your information systems strategy, to assess gaps in your current system implementation and security, and to recommend emerging technologies to assist your organization in its business objectives. The file Templates_for_Project2_with_Instructions.xlsx contains the required templates and instructions in Appendices A1, A2, B, C, D, E, F, G ,H, I:

Appendices A1, A2: Business Objectives (to be used with Step 1)
Appendix B: Organizational Effectiveness (to be used with Step 1)
Appendix C: Department Effectiveness (to be used with Step 1)
Appendix D: Technology Inventory (to be used with Step 2)
Appendix E: Information Technology Assessment (to be used with Step 2)
Appendix F: Risk Assessment (to be used with Step 3)
Appendix G: Risk Matrix (to be used with Step 3) (for information only)
Appendix H: Emerging Technology Assessment (to be used with Step 4)
Appendix I: Implementation Plan for Emerging Technology (to be used with Step 6)
Each appendix is in a different tab. A link to the Templates_for_Project2_with_Instructions.xlsx file is found in Step 1: “Understand the Business.”

The first step in performing an IT audit that is tied to business strategy is understanding the short-term and long-term goals and objectives of the business. While we expect IT strategies to be aligned to an organization’s business strategies, in practice, this is not easy to achieve. The organization typically has made large investments in legacy systems that have been supporting the current business. The organization must balance the maintenance of current business requirements with the need to support longer term strategies, using emerging technologies to improve the competitiveness of the organization.

Completing this business audit will ensure that you learn a lot about the business of the organization.

To prepare for the audit, readAudits, Internal and Core Competencies. The templates provided for Step 1 will give you a framework for collecting this information. Be sure to ask the following questions:

What are the strategic goals of the organization?
What are the business operational goals?
How do you see your organization in one year, in five years, and beyond?
Download and open theTemplates_for_Project2_with_Instructions.xlsx file. You will be using this file throughout this project. For optional feedback in Steps 1 and 3, use the following naming protocols:

Step 1 -> Lastname_first name_Project 2_Appx_A1_A2_B_C
Steps 2 and 3 -> Lastname_first name_Project 2_Appx_A1_A2_B_C_D_E_F
For the final submission in this project, please use the following naming protocol:

Step 5 -> Lastname_first name_Project 2_Appx_A1_A2_B_C_D_E_F_G_H_I
The templates for business objectives in Appendices A1 and A2 will guide your discovery. You should list a minimum of three business objectives that exist for your organization, which will likely vary from these templates. Existing entries in templates A1 and A2 are for illustration purposes only. You should fill in and submit to the assignment folder two tables: Appendix A1 is for short-term goals (one year) and Appendix A2 is for longer term goals (five or more years). See Goal Setting for more information.

After you understand your organization’s business objectives, you will need to evaluate how well your organization is meeting those objectives. The template in Appendix B will guide you through a quick analysis of overall organizational effectiveness. You may want to ask those in leadership positions how well the organization is performing, but you can also get this information by examining how well the organization is performing according to current operational objectives. Choose a minimum of three organizational effectiveness criteria. Provide a one-sentence description of each measure, along with an overall score on a five-point scale and an explanation of the score you provided. SeeEffectiveness and Efficiency.

Now that you’ve looked at how well the overall organization is performing, you should evaluate the organization at a lower level. Using the Appendix C template to guide you, assess the general well-being of any two departments in your organization (for example, finance and marketing). Again, provide explanation for any key issues for areas where there are less effective or very effective departments. This information may help you to see areas where opportunities exist to improve your business with technology.

To summarize what you have found during your assessment of the business, prepare a two-page summary of the business objectives and the level of effectiveness in your organization. This business objectives and effectiveness summary should address the following questions:

What are some short-term and long-term business objectives of your organization?
What is your evaluation of overall organizational effectiveness? Departmental level effectiveness?
Post your business assessment worksheets (Appendices A1, A2, B, and C) along with your two-page summary of business objectives and effectiveness to your assignment folder. Your instructor will review your work and inform you of any major weaknesses in your deliverable.

In the next step, you will evaluate the ability of IT to meet the business objectives identified in Step 1. In Step 1, you looked at the state of business. Now in Step 2, you will evaluate the ability of IT to meet business objectives. You should review Technology in Businessand Technology Resources before moving on to Appendix D and E.

Conduct an inventory of the technology being used in your organization. The technology inventory, Appendix D, provides a structured format for identifying various technologies and their business functions. In this step, you are merely identifying the various types of technology that exist in your organization and their purpose in the organization as they relate to business functions.

Next, you will evaluate the technology for its ability to meet current and future business needs. Does your organization use software for customer relationship management (CRM)? For inventory management? For employee training? What have you learned from this assessment? Review Capabilities of IT Systems and Measuring IT Effectiveness before you continue.

Many of the technologies found in organizations are implemented to meet the needs of specific business functions. Often, they are not evaluated for their impact on the organization’s overall strategic business objectives. Use the information technology assessment worksheet, Appendix E, to document the overall state of technology in your organization. Some of the cells in the worksheet are filled in as examples. Please delete the examples before starting your work so that you begin with a blank template. Assess two or three of the most critical business functions as you identify and list the capabilities and problems or gaps that exist, being precise in your description of how each business information system contributes to the overall efficiency or performance of the business function. You will use the following five questions to guide your assessment:

· What technologies are responsible for the operation and success of the organization?

· What is the organizational structure and where does IT reside in this structure?

· Are there obvious areas where existing technology is not meeting the current business needs of your organization?

· Are there inefficiencies or redundant systems?

· Are there potential vulnerabilities in the existing systems that could impact operations in the short term? What about in the long term?

See Identifying Applications of Current and Potential Technologies before continuing.

Next, write a detailed assessment of the ability of technology to support key business functions in the organization. Your two-to-three-page technology assessment write-up will consist of one or two paragraphs to address each of the five questions above at the end of Week 2. Post this along with your technology assessment worksheets (Appendices D and E) to your assignment folder. Your instructor will review your work and inform you of any major weaknesses in your deliverable.

In the next step, you will complete a business process risk assessment for your organization.

In Step 2, you looked at your organization’s business processes and the technology that supports them. Some opportunities for improvement should now be apparent. Every organization has limited resources to invest, and so it is important to prioritize the problem areas that you identified. One way to prioritize issues is by their potential impact to key organizational business processes. You will do this by conducting a risk assessment. A risk assessment can be used as a tool for identifying and quantifying the factors that have the potential to impact critical business goals. See Business Process Risk Assessment.

A risk assessment exercise typically requires several steps: identification of the business risks, assessment of the likelihood and impact of the risk, and the identification of mitigation strategies to control the risks. See Business Risk Mitigation to get more details.

Use the risk assessment worksheet, Appendix F, to list and rate the business risks as to the relative consequences and the likelihood of not meeting business objectives. If there is an existing work-around or mitigation strategy that reduces the seriousness of the risk, please make a note. A mitigation strategy may involve a process work-around, realignment of resources or an investment in IT infrastructure. You might also want to review the risk matrix in Appendix G, for additional information on performing your risk assessment.

You will now use the risk assessment and level of risk you determined through your risk analysis to prioritize the organization’s business risks. The risks that pose realistic and severe threats to the business will typically have the highest priority. However, mitigation efforts should be considered as you make your list of priorities. The organization may not view a risk as a high priority if they have an acceptable mitigation strategy in place. Post the risk assessment (Appendix F) in your assignment folder by the end of Week 2.

In the next step, you will familiarize yourself with emerging technologies in preparation for making recommendations to the CEO.

Now that you have assessed your organization’s current technology inventory and assessed your organization’s risk factors, you are ready to review emerging technologies that may benefit your organization.

In almost every aspect of business, technologies have been transforming the way that we do business, improving the productivity and efficiency of organizations across all sectors. Point-of-sale systems are now used by most major retailers and computers are used to manage sales, inventory, employees, and communication. Technology is evolving and new technologies are being introduced all that time that have the potential to improve the competitiveness of organizations. The following are some of the emerging technologies that you should become familiar with before you make your report to the CEO:

mobile devices
social media
cloud computing
data analytics (big data)
digital tools (3D printing, wearables, internet of things, etc.)
virtual and augmented reality
machine learning and artificial intelligence
You are not limited to the emerging technologies in this list; be sure to consider other technologies you have learned about in your research or from other sources. When you have completed your review of emerging technologies, you are ready continue to the next step, in which you will evaluate these technologies and determine if they might be useful for your organization.

Every organization is unique when it comes to assessing how beneficial the implementation of one technology is over another. Many technologies have failed to live up to the potential benefits that were expected from their implementation, so you will want to look at several factors as you proceed through your analysis. Below are some specific questions to consider when identifying emerging technologies that have the potential to impact critical business functions in your organization.

· Can it lower the cost of maintaining your legacy systems?

· Will it enable your organization to improve business processes?

· Will it improve interoperability of systems?

· Will it simplify or standardize IT interfaces?

· Does it define new computing or communication standards?

· Can this technology be used to reengineer a mission critical business process?

· Will employees see it as a solution to their problem?

· Is the organization prepared to deliver any required training on the new system?

Be sure to read Technology Solution Implementation before you continue with this step.

Indicate which two emerging technologies you would recommend that your organization implement. As you evaluate the new technologies, you will choose two that you believe have great opportunity to add value to your organization and organizational business processes. Replacing or integrating critical legacy information systems can be costly to the organization and may put the organization at risk, therefore you should evaluate these suggestions carefully. Fill out the emerging technology templates (Appendix H and I). These templates will help you capture the pertinent factors regarding implementation of new technologies in your organization. For assistance for estimating costs of new technology see Cost Estimating.

When you have finished evaluating emerging technologies, continue to the next step, in which you will present your complete technology audit report.

Now that you have a full understanding of the gaps and opportunities presented by current and future technologies, prepare an executive-level brief (or technology audit report) of no more than 3,000 words, which communicates the current state of information technology in your organization. Discuss whether or not existing technologies help your organization meet business objectives as well as the impact that these technologies may have on your organization’s business model. Ultimately, if accepted, your recommendations would be documented in a technology plan or technology roadmap. See Technology Roadmap for help on this step.

Description

Week Due

Appendices A1, A2, B, and C
Two-page summary of business in your organization
End of Week 1

Appendices D, E, and F
Two-to-three page Technology Assessment Write-up
End of Week 2

Appendices H and I
Technology Audit Report (no more than 3,000 words; Use the following naming protocol: Lastname_first name_Project 2)
End of Week 3

Before you submit your assignment, review the competencies below, which your instructor will use to evaluate your work. A good practice would be to use each competency as a self-check to confirm you have incorporated all of them in your work.

· 1.1: Organize document or presentation clearly in a manner that promotes understanding and meets the requirements of the assignment.

· 2.1: Identify and clearly explain the issue, question, or problem under critical consideration.

· 2.5: Develop well-reasoned ideas, conclusions or decisions, checking them against relevant criteria and benchmarks.

· 8.1: Evaluate major business/organizational systems and processes and make recommendations for improvement.

· 8.2: Analyze an organization’s current technology capabilities and needs, identifying specific strengths and areas of weakness.

· 11.1: Recommend strategic plan for the use of technology to meet the strategic goals of organization.

· 13.1: Identify and analyze new opportunities.

Submission for Project 2: Conducting a Technology Audit of Your Organization

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Scenario
You are the global marketing vice president at Dyson. You have been asked to attend a meeting with James Dyson, the company’s founder. Dyson’s CEO and the head of Dyson’s New Product Innovation department will also be in attendance.

“Thanks for meeting with me today,” James says. “Market intelligence has shown that our major competitors—Hoover, Shark, and Bissell—are all developing new cordless vacuum cleaners with a longer battery life than what’s currently available.”

James Dyson looks to you: “I need you to participate in a new cross-functional product development team that will research the feasibility of creating a cordless vacuum cleaner that works for one hour on a single charge. We also need to know if there’s even a market for this type of vacuum,” he says.

“We envision that this new vacuum will be used primarily in the home, but keep in mind, we want to be able to adapt it easily and cheaply for light commercial use. One way of doing this is by using swappable battery packs.”

“Have an actionable marketing plan ready for me in three weeks,” James says.

You know that to give the CEO the most thorough report, you’ll need to conduct an internal analysis of Dyson and an environmental scan for the new vacuum cleaner. You’ll need to have a detailed plan for identifying marketing opportunities, and you’ll need to research the home and commercial vacuum cleaner industry, market trends, and Dyson’s major global competition.

Introduction

As you have read above, this project asks you to put together a marketing plan for your CEO. The marketing plan will be for a consumer product with the potential to expand into light commercial use. The product will have a new swappable battery with longer life than the competition.

You have a total of three weeks to finish and should complete these eight steps by the end of Week 6. If you have any questions, ask your instructor.

When you submit your project, your work will be evaluated using the competencies listed below. You can use the list below to self-check your work before submission.

One of the most important functional areas in business is marketing. Companies such as Google, Boeing, Airbus, Apple, McDonald’s, and Toyota have a passion for understanding their consumers and satisfying consumer needs in “well-defined target markets” (Kotler & Armstrong, 2014, p. 4). Basically, marketing is a managerial and social function through which companies and consumers create and exchange value. Kotler and Armstrong define marketing as the “process by which companies create value for consumers and build strong consumer relationships in order to capture value from consumers in return” (p.5).

The marketing process involves the following five steps (Kotler & Armstrong, 2014, p. 5):

1. Understanding the marketplace and consumer needs and wants.

2. Designing a consumer-driven marketing strategy.

3. Constructing an integrated marketing program that delivers superior value.

4. Building profitable relationships and creating consumer satisfaction.

5. Capturing value from consumers to create profits and consumer equity.

There are five major consumer value themes (Kotler & Armstrong, 2014, p. XVI):

1. Creating value for the consumer in order to capture value from them in return.

2. Creating and managing strong local and global value-creating brands.

3. Capitalizing on new marketing technologies such as the Internet and social media (eMarketing).

4. Assessing and managing the return on marketing investment.

5. Sustainable global marketing.

Selecting a product (or a service) to develop is a serious process in which cross-functional teams contribute to researching, selecting, developing, and launching the new product. In addition, the company needs to evaluate the attractiveness of a new business. Sometimes a company will seek external help to develop a new product as the company may lack the necessary technical expertise, market knowledge, or resources. The company may also simply want to spread the financial risk involved i.e., strategic alliances.

To carry out this assignment, you need to understand consumers, how to acquire market knowledge (through primary and secondary research), and how to turn that knowledge into products that are needed and wanted by a group of consumers. You must also be able to invent market offerings that not only create value for the consumer but also create profitability for the organization. A company should strive to do all of this while being socially responsible and engaging in ethical behavior.

There are two types of market research: primary and secondary research. Both types of research are required, and each of them has its pros and cons.

There are differences between a product and a service. A product is more than just a physical good—it can be a service attached to a physical product, a “pure” service, an idea, a place, an organization, and even a person, such as a celebrity.

References

Kotler, P. & Armstrong, G. (2014). Marketing management (15th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

You will need to develop a marketing plan, which is a written document that outlines the marketing program for the new Dyson vacuum cleaner. As part of your marketing plan, include the promotional budget allocation for the entire planning period. In other words, your marketing plan details what is needed to implement your marketing program and achieve its goals. Read about vision and mission statements, and then find Dyson’s vision and mission statements online.

It is important to note that a marketing plan is notthe same as a business plan. While the marketing plan is part of the business plan, business plans typically also include additional information on financial strategies, operations, risk management, and human resources.

To standardize this process, you will use thismarketing plan template.

Dyson relies on quantitative and qualitative information from its industry and from markets to make important decisions, including go/kill decisions for its new product developments (Cooper, 2011). Several tools are available to Dyson; these include the following:

· PESTEL analysis (sometimes called PEST analysis): A PESTEL analysis enables Dyson to identify, analyze, and monitor the political, economic, social, technology, legal (including regulatory), and environmental factors that may impact its operations (Frue, 2017).

· Porter’s five forces analysis: Porter’s five forces analysis is a framework that helps Dyson understand the competitive forces at play in its industry, and how these forces may impact the way economic value is divided among its competitors in the industry (Porter, 2008).

· SWOT analysis: A SWOT analysis is a planning and brainstorming tool that helps Dyson evaluate its projects and formulate its business plans. SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Dyson uses this tool to identify and analyze its internal strengths and weaknesses, as well as its external opportunities and threats. The results of this analysis may help Dyson improve its business, or forecast how a new product will perform (Harmon, 2016).

Research the vacuum cleaner industry (home and commercial, domestic and international). Include the following items in your analysis: market trends, market opportunities, threats, and Dyson’s major global competition.

Go to the UMUC Library>Research Guides and select the following two research guides: Business and Management and Marketing. Read these research guides. Find and print the articles that will help you complete your assignments. It is easier if you conduct a separate search for each section of your marketing plan. Also, use industry or company databases, such as ABI/INFORM Complete, Business Insights: Essentials, Business Source Complete, Factiva, Hoover’s, and Mergent Online, to research the vacuum cleaner industry. Make sure that you have a solid mix of scholarly (peer-reviewed articles) and reliable nonscholarly sources (e.g., Reuters, Bloomberg, Money, Fortune, Forbes, or practitioner sources such as Harvard Business Review).

Milestone 1: Conduct the following three analyses for Dyson: PESTEL analysis, SWOT analysis, and Porter’s five forces analysis. Present your results in a four-page report (excluding cover page, reference list, tables, graphs, and/or exhibits). Be sure to support your work with the required readings, scholarly sources, and reliable nonscholarly sources using UMUC’s library search engine. You will combine the work you have completed in this milestone with the other milestones and submit all work together in the final step.

REFERENCES
Cooper, R. G. (2011). Winning at new products (4th ed.). New York, NY: Basic Books

Frue, K. (2017). Why do PEST analysis for your business? Retrieved from http://pestleanalysis.com/

Harmon, A. (2016). SWOT analysis. Salem Press Encyclopedia [online]. Retrieved from Research Starters, Ipswich, MA. Accessed February 24, 2017.

Porter, M. E. (2008). The five competitive forces that shape strategy. Harvard Business Review, 86(1), 78-93.

Now that the environmental scan has been completed, the new product development group needs to conduct an analysis of consumer buying behavior in this industry. Outline how the team would conduct this analysis, while considering both current and potential product users. Your analysis should address how you would determine the following:

What needs are being met by the product purchase? What are the benefits to the consumers? Make sure that you differentiate between features and benefits; go beyond manifest motives and consider latent motives.
Who is involved in the purchase process? Who are influencers, buyers, and users?
Where are the products sold (distribution channel)?
How often are the products purchased? Is there seasonality to sales?
Milestone 2: Present your results in a three-page report (net, excluding cover page, reference list, tables, graphs, and/or exhibits). Be sure to support your work with the required readings, scholarly sources, and reliable nonscholarly sources (such as Bloomberg, Yahoo! Finance, Money, Forbes, Fortune, and Harvard Business Review) using UMUC’s library search engine. You will combine the work you have completed in this milestone with the other milestones and submit all work together in the final step.

The first step in developing a marketing strategy involves segmenting, targeting and positioning (STP).

Segmentation is breaking down the market into homogenous groups; targetingis selecting the consumer groups on which you will focus your marketing efforts. The appropriate segmentation variable is dependent on the needs and wants of the consumers. These decisions require extensive marketing research on the consumers and are directly tied to your value proposition. Once the segmentation variables are determined and the target markets selected, you need to develop a positioning strategy. Positioning refers to the image of the product that you want the consumer to have relative to the competition.

Describe the market research you would conduct to analyze and segment the market for the new vacuum cleaner. Explain how you would select a target market or markets for the product offering. These can be domestic markets, international markets, or both. In addition, explain the process of positioning the new Dyson vacuum cleaner relative to the competition.

Milestone 3: Your research results should be presented in a three-page paper (excluding cover page, reference list, tables, graphs, and/or exhibits). Be sure to support your work with the required readings, scholarly sources, and reliable nonscholarly sources (such as Bloomberg, Yahoo! Finance, Money, Forbes, Fortune, and Harvard Business Review) using UMUC’s library search engine. You will combine the work you have completed in this milestone with the other milestones and submit all work together in the final step.

Dyson’s new product innovation process involves both incremental and radical innovation. Radicalness is the combination of the degree of differentness and newness. This includes innovations that are new to the world, the industry, or to Dyson. Most radical innovations are new to the world (e.g., digital photography), and are very different from existing processes and products. On the other hand, incremental innovations lie at the other end of the spectrum; they are not exceptional or particularly new, they may currently exist in the industry, and may involve minor tweaks, adjustments, or changes from existing products. A radical innovation may become an incremental innovation over time as its underlying technology becomes more common (Schilling, 2013).

Once your idea is developed, write a value proposition for your new product.

Milestone 4: Present the results of your activities in a two-page report identifying your new product idea, explaining the procedure you used to develop the process, and state your value proposition. Be sure to support your work with the required readings, scholarly sources, and reliable nonscholarly sources (such as Bloomberg, Yahoo! Finance, Money, Forbes, Fortune, and Harvard Business Review) using UMUC’s library search engine. You will combine the work you have completed in this milestone with the other milestones and submit all work together in the final step.

REFERENCES
Schilling, M. (2013). Strategic management of technological innovation (4th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw Hill.

In the 1960s, the 4Ps of marketing (product, price, promotion, and place or distribution) were developed. The 4Ps are also referred to as the marketing mix. Any change to one of these components was thought to have a profound effect on the other three components. The concept of marketing mix still exists, but today we think about it in a more sophisticated way. The product is now defined in the context of the company’s overall offering, which may include a bundle of products and/or services under strong branding. Marketers today are “more focused on solutions than products” (Marshall & Johnston, 2011, p. 12). Placehas shifted to include the notion that sophisticated integrated supply chains are crucial to a business’ success. Today, price is widely regarded in terms of value. Finally, the Internet and high-tech advanced digital promotional tools have totally changed the concept, scope, and the outreach of promotion (Marshall & Johnston, 2011).

Describe how you would develop the marketing strategy for the new Dyson vacuum cleaner. Given your target market (or markets) and positioning strategy, what factors would you consider when deciding on the marketing strategy for the initial introduction of the new vacuum cleaner? Creating a marketing strategy involves a series of interrelated decisions. See the marketing plan template for a sequence that is used by many organizations.

First, you’ll need to consider product or brand strategy. Keep in mind the needs/wants of your target and how you’ve decided to position your product relative to the competition. Make a plan to develop a detailed product description, that includes all attributes and features of the product. The description should also include the product’s brand name, intended packaging, logo, and supplemental products. As you make these branding strategy decisions, it is imperative that you stay focused on the consumer. Remember that Dyson’s consumers do not buy features; they buy benefits, both tangible and intangible. It is also critical to understand the consumer: Who makes the purchase? Who influences that decision?

Next, you’ll want to think about pricing strategy. Pricing is very strategic as it is the only marketing mix variable that generates income for Dyson. As vice president of marketing, you need to decide on your price objectives and strategies; consider pricing tactics like discounts, bundling, and incentives. When developing a new product, you need to decide whether your initial pricing strategy should be one of skimming, premium, or market penetration. Take into consideration the nature of the vacuum cleaner industry, your competition, and your product. Profit margins and a breakeven analysis will also need to be considered; as well as the perceived value of the product as you determine your final price point. Describe how you would go about making these decisions, and the major issues involved.

Then you’ll need to consider distribution and supply chain strategy. These strategic decisions all deal with how consumers acquire your product. Will you market directly to consumers, or have a number of intermediaries? What channels and intermediaries will you use? Will you use exclusive, selective, or intensive distribution? Are you going to promote and sell the vacuum cleaners online? Distribution decisions focus on marketing channels as well as the physical distribution of the vacuum cleaner. Explain the criteria you would use to make these distribution and supply chain strategy decisions.

Finally, you should consider your integrated marketing communications and promotion strategy. The marketing communications and promotion strategy is often the most visible element of a marketing strategy. Dyson’s communication strategy involves developing an integrative mix of a number of different tools at your disposal, while keeping in mind the needs and characteristics of the target market(s). The Internet and social media play a crucial role in many product categories and with many consumers. But, you should not fail to consider traditional communication elements such as advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, and publicity/public relations. It is essential that your promotion objectives are clearly defined, and that a holistic and integrated marketing communication approach is used.

Milestone 5: Submit a four-page report outlining how you would develop your marketing mix strategy. Be sure to support your work with the required readings, scholarly sources, and reliable nonscholarly sources (such as Bloomberg, Yahoo! Finance, Money, Forbes, Fortune, and Harvard Business Review) using UMUC’s library search engine. You will combine the work you have completed in this milestone with the other milestones and submit all work together in the final step.

References

Marshall, G.W., & Johnston, M.W. (2011). Essentials of marketing management. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

Your financial analysis should include average unit cost, average unit price, number of units per batch, any outsourcing costs, a breakeven analysis, a sales forecast, and an expense forecast (including marketing and sales expenses). In addition, explain your schedule for implementation, the controls you intend to put in place, and how you intend to proceed (i.e., contingency plans) when your benchmarks are not met.

Milestone 6: Submit a one-page report explaining your financial analysis and implementation. Be sure to support your work with the required readings, scholarly sources, and reliable nonscholarly sources (such as Bloomberg, Yahoo! Finance, Money, Forbes, Fortune, and Harvard Business Review) using UMUC’s library search engine. You will combine the work you have completed in this milestone with the other milestones and submit all work together in the final step.

You should now be ready to combine all the previous milestones into a single report.

Final Graded Deliverable: Combine your consumer marketing plan analysis into one complete paper using the marketing plan template. Edit the document to ensure that there is a clear flow of ideas from one section to the other. In addition, prepare a one-page executive summary (part of the page count) that highlights the most important aspects of your marketing plan. Please use the APA style to format your text citations and reference list.

The paper should be 16-18 pages (net), not including the cover page, table of contents, appendices, and references. Your paper should be double-spaced with one inch-margins and size 12 font. Upload the marketing plan to your assignment folder below.

Milestones

Due Date

1 and 2

End of Week 4 (recommended)

3 and 4

End of Week 5 (recommended)

5 and 6

Early in Week 6 (recommended)

Final graded deliverable

End of Week 6; please follow this file naming protocol:
lastname_firstname_Project3

Before you submit your assignment, review the competencies below, which your instructor will use to evaluate your work. A good practice would be to use each competency as a self-check to confirm you have incorporated all of them in your work.

1.1: Organize document or presentation clearly in a manner that promotes understanding and meets the requirements of the assignment.
1.2: Develop coherent paragraphs or points so that each is internally unified and so that each functions as part of the whole document or presentation.
1.3: Provide sufficient, correctly cited support that substantiates the writer’s ideas.
1.4: Tailor communications to the audience.
1.5: Use sentence structure appropriate to the task, message and audience.
1.6: Follow conventions of Standard Written English.
1.7: Create neat and professional looking documents appropriate for the project or presentation.
2.1: Identify and clearly explain the issue, question, or problem under critical consideration.
2.2: Locate and access sufficient information to investigate the issue or problem.
2.5: Develop well-reasoned ideas, conclusions or decisions, checking them against relevant criteria and benchmarks.
3.1: Identify numerical or mathematical information that is relevant in a problem or situation.
6.1: Identify the general (external) environment in which an organization operates and discuss the implications for enterprise success.
6.2: Evaluate strategic implications for domestic and international markets of an organization’s industry.
6.3: Analyze an organization’s internal strengths and weaknesses for strategic value.
6.4: Develop and recommend strategies for an organization’s sustainable competitive advantage.
8.1: Evaluate major business/organizational systems and processes and make recommendations for improvement.
12.1: Assess market risk and opportunity.
12.2: Analyze marketing information.
12.3: Prepare marketing plan for a new product/service.
13.2: Create and implement new initiative or enterprise.
Submission for Project 3: Developing a Marketing Strategy for a New Consumer Product
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