Assignments To be allotted during the course Project Guidelines Objective: To provide an opportunity for participants to apply theoretical frameworks

ks and models of marketing strategy learned in the course. To help develop Marketing case study and writing skills

Project In this course, participants are required to understand the current marketing situation of their selected company. This is a group assignment with 5 to 6 participants in each group. They are required to find out a real-life business issue/decision point. The issue has to be in a real-life marketing strategy situation of a real company. It is in the similar format of the cases that we would discuss in the class. The length of the case to be a 15 to 20 pages including exhibits. Each case would have a separate document containing the analysis including pros and cons of the issues and alternatives. You are also required to take a written permission in the specified format (to be supplied) from the company will conduct the project. The company permission to be issued on company letterhead signed by authorized representative/the protagonist of the case. This is required to facilitate the publication of the case in case it is found suitable after necessary modification/editing and rewriting by the instructor. The case and analysis document need to be submitted on or before the deadline. The submission need to be a soft copy (.doc) document not exceeding 20 pages in single line, 12 point typeface (Times New Roman). The document cover page must specify the title of the case and company name along with names and roll # of all the group members. Participants are expected to collect as much relevant information as possible from primary and secondary sources to analyze the current situation to propose a business solution. Participants are encouraged to take interview of the protagonist and other stakeholders of the company, video record them, and submit it with the case. Evaluation of the project will be done based on the following criteria: 1. Uniqueness of the issue addressed.
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2. Clarity of the issues and sub-issues. 3. Breadth and depth of information provided to address the issue. Please note that relevant information will be considered during evaluation. 4. Number of marketing strategy topics covered in the case. It is expected that the group will, at least 3 to 4 topics in the case. For instance, if the decision point of the cases whether a company should launch a new variant of a product, the marketing topics expected to cover in such situation is (1) market orientation, (2) customer value analysis; (3) new-product development (4) competition analysis (5) consumer behaviour etc.; 5. Depth and breadth of the analysis of the questions that his post in the case document. The analysis document expected to be 13 to 14 pages long. However if the team wants to include more detailed analysis of the issues covered in the case, and if the instructor feels that such an analysis is required, a longer analysis document is permitted. Selection of Brand-Product/ Company: You may form groups of a maximum size of six. Based on the group interest, information availability, public information on company plans, the group has to select a brand/product/company (preferably Indian or a multinational working in India). You need to make two submissions: (1) An one page write-up illustrating the name of the company, the issue to be addressed, strategic marketing topics to be covered, learning objective of the project and suggested topics of analysis. This document is to be submitted before the last session of the course. (2) Case study analysis document and company release document to be submitted one week before the examination. The video files to be copied in a CD and to be sent to the instructor. All other documents are to be uploaded on blackboard in both document format. Quick guidelines for case study project are: A case research project is more than just a business story. You need to check that your case research project has explicit and implicit strategic marketing issues (or decision)? Is the issue important and relevant to the learning objectives of the course you are studying? The issue should not be too obvious, but also not impossible to solve. Make sure the case (that is part A) has the data to tackle the problem not too much, not too little. Have you presented a balanced perspective, including contrast and comparisons? You should take a neutral stand in the case document and then given your observation and analysis, recommendation in the analysis document.
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 Can the case and the analysis be used to provide currently useful generalizations? A good case research project brings the protagonists in the foreground. Have you spent enough time developing the characters in your write-up and integrated him with all the decision issues of the case? In essence, you will study companies marketing plans and functions thoroughly on the issue that you are handling in the case research project. You will then identify what information is required to address the issue in hand and accordingly narrate them in the case document. Case analysis document: Does the case allow deal with 3 to 4 key learning points? Which ones? Are they important and relevant to the course you are studying? Do they cover some of the topics from your course? Have you provided possible advantages and disadvantages for all the alternatives that might be considered in the case? Have you provided all possible analysis that would come out from the case in the required depth? Have you given your recommendation by drying inference from the analysis that you have provided? Permission from the company Have you received permission from the company in the required format signed by the protagonist or authorized signatory on company letterhead. Submission Deadline: Selection of the Brand/ Product/ Company and submission of one page abstract should be made by third day session. Final submission to be made within ten days from the date of the final examination of the course. Evaluation of group project The evaluation of the project will be based on the three documents submitted.

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