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Marketing Strategy: Decision-Focused Approach

Getting Started

Understanding Step Two in PBL

Step Two in our PBL process is where you determine your team’s knowledge deficiencies and work to fill in the gaps. In this step, you must use your understanding of the problem (from Step One) to determine what you need to learn in order to find a solution. You are not yet exploring or suggesting solutions – it is not time yet! By working on your team’s knowledge deficiencies, you are creating a foundation for those solutions, so do not get ahead of yourselves.

Researching the Problem

Now that you have analyzed your industry, in PBL Steps 2, 3, 4 and 5, your focus will transition to an organization analysis in order to prepare a marketing consulting report for your selected organization in your assigned industry. Finally, in PBL Step 6, you self-assess and reflect on what you learned in this course.

For this step, you will continue to investigate the problem/opportunity, from a marketing perspective, about how an industry/organization best creates value for its stakeholders, its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, and its target market. For the deliverable in this step, examine your PBL team’s knowledge base to help develop a problem research report.

Resources

Course textbook: Marketing Strategy: A Decision-Focused Approach, 8th edition.

• Chapter 6: Target Attractive Market Segments
• Chapter 7: Differentiation and Brand Positioning

Value Creation

• Gummerus, J. (2013). Value creation processes and value outcomes in marketing theory: Strangers or siblings? Marketing Theory, 13(1), 19–46. https://doi.org/10.1177/1470593112467267
• Barringer, B. R., & Harrison, J. S. (2000). Walking a Tightrope: Creating Value Through Interorganizational Relationships. Journal of Management, 26(3), 367–403. https://doi.org/10.1177/014920630002600302

File: Marketing Consultant Report Annotated Outline

Instructions for Deliverable

In PBL Step 2, the PBL team’s deliverable is a Problem Research Report of their assigned industry and selected organization.

Review the rubric to make sure you understand the criteria for earning your grade.

Prior to working on your Problem Research Report be sure to read and review all articles and readings listed in the Resources section.

There are four sections for this assignment:

• Knowledge deficiencies
• Creating Value
• SWOT Analysis
• The Organization’s Target Market.

Knowledge Deficiencies:

• In the first section explain on one (1) page, what are your team’s knowledge deficiencies? For example, what don’t you know about the industry and/or organization and value creation? The organization’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats? The organization’s key customer segments which make up the organization’s target market?
• Clearly indicate team members’ contributions

Creating Value:

1. In the second section of this assignment, you will research and review 15 credible sources, excluding the sources provided in this course, which provide information about value creation and stakeholder perspective in the industry and organization your team will research.  Carefully plan so each team member is responsible to search and identify for an equitable number of sources.
2. After each source, you will include one paragraph to fully explain,
3. How is the article linked to value creation?
4. How does the article help address your knowledge deficiencies?
5. What stakeholder’s perspective does the article represent?
6. The format of this section is very similar to an Annotated Bibliography in APA format where the reference to a source is listed and a synopsis of the source follows below the reference of the source. In this assignment, the synopsis of each source will include your responses to the above three questions. An example of an APA Annotated Bibliography from IWU’s OCLS is here: APA Annotated Bibliography.
7. Clearly indicate team members’ contributions.

SWOT Analysis:

1. This analysis is based on your review of the organization’s website, research sources with information about the organization, social media sites, which may include customer reviews of the organization, as well as your insights from your industry research. For each component, the SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) identify four to five factors, for example, four to five strengths of the organization.
2. Use applicable research sources to support your analysis. Be sure to include in-text citations to indicate the source of the information supporting your analysis. In addition, subsection headings are required: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.
3. Clearly indicate team members’ contributions.

The Organization’s Target Market:

• In the third section of this assignment, you will research and provide a detailed overview of the key customer segments which make up the organization’s target market. The course textbook can be used as a source in this section of the paper. Use the name of each segment as subsection headings in this section.
• Use applicable research sources to support your analysis.
• Clearly indicate team members’ contributions.

1. Edit your paper. Verify that the content per the instructions is included and that all direct quotes and/or paraphrases have been properly cited and referenced. Review the entire paper for APA formatting and English grammar standards.
2. Retain a copy of the completed Problem Research Report for your records and one person from the team must submit the deliverable to the assignment submission page.

APA 7th edition.