Individual

Assignment II

International Marketing

Individual assignment
The assignment involves the development of an
international marketing plan for an existing company,
Burts Potato Chips (http://www.burtschips.com/).
5000 words (not including title page, table of contents,
executive summary, references and appendices. There
is a flexibility of no more than +/- 10% on this).
There is most likely not going to be a lecture by the
export manager of Burts. Information will be posted on
the DLE website.

International Marketing

Individual assignment

Select a flavour (e.g. Spicy Chorizo, Sea Salt etc.) of

Burts Potato Chips and a country from the following
list:
Colombia
Brazil
South Korea
Singapore

Devise a marketing plan to internationalize the

consumer product to the chosen country.

Business-to-consumer (B2C) marketing

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Individual assignment
A good understanding of the selected product and country
is essential. Secondary research is key to the success of
this project. You are expected to use numerous data
sources in compiling your assignment such as government
(country) and non-government sources (UN, EU, IMF,
World bank, WTO, etc.), internal company records, trade
statistics, embassy resources, country-specific internet
sites, etc.
You may use the numerical data of Mintel/Key Note market
reports in your own assignment (referenced) but DO NOT
reproduce/copy any of the written commentary whether
referenced or not. Do not just copy data from Mintel/Key
Note.
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Individual assignment
The complete report should be written in a
business report format. You should keep
sentences short and business-like, and make use
of section numbering, headings and paragraphs.

Do not write essays. You do not need to explain

the theory in great depth, but make sure it is
clear that what you did/propose to do is based on
appropriate application of the theory, ensuring
you provide evidence and give sufficient
reasoning to justify your actions/proposals.

International Marketing

Individual assignment
The deadline for submission of the coursework is
12.00 (noon) on Monday, 18th January 2016.

All coursework must be submitted digitally as an esubmission through the DLE.

Formative assessment opportunities will be provided
with the deadline at
9AM on Monday, 11th January 2016.

Individual and group feedback as well as chance to ask

questions.
International Marketing

Individual assignment
Plagiarism: While working on your
assignment you can submit a draft via
Moodle to Turnitin to check its originality
and thus, enhance the assignment.
Harvard Referencing System.

International Marketing

Individual assignment
Executive summary
Internal audit, international country selection and

SWOT analysis (25%)

Marketing plan objectives, and segmentation,

targeting and positioning (15%)

Entry mode strategy (10%)
Marketing mix (40%)
Presentation of report (10%)
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Executive summary
An executive summary is a document that
summarises a report/presentation. It must be short
and to the point.
It should include a brief statement of the issue or
the proposal covered in the presentation (selected
flavour and country), background information,
marketing plan objectives, target market,
summary of the marketing plan and main
conclusions.

Source: Wikipedia (2014)

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Internal audit, international country

selection and SWOT analysis
Internal audit: Analysis of the company and the product
(sales/international sales, market share, profits, competitive
advantage, etc.).

International country selection:

Rationale for selecting the country
External audit:
Macro environment: PESTLE.
The market: Market definition, market size,
market/sales trends, consumer characteristics, etc.
Competition: Who they are, market share and size of
competitors, their strengths and weaknesses, etc.
SWOT analysis

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Internal audit
Analysis of the company and the
product:

sales/international sales
market share
profits
competitive advantage
Etc.

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External audit:
The actors and forces outside marketing that
affect marketing managements ability to
develop and maintain successful transactions
with target customers.
The marketing manager needs to constantly
monitor the total marketing environment to
keep abreast of changes that can impact on
company marketing objectives.

International country selection

MACROENVIRONMENT - PESTEL
The macro-environment consists of a number of forces that affect not only the
company but also other actors and are largely uncontrollable.
Forces
Political forces
Economic forces
Social forces
Technological forces
Environmental forces
Legal forces

Task 1
Work with you neighbour and brainstorm
which forces could affect international
marketing decisions in the four different
potential markets.
Colombia
Brazil
South Korea
Singapore

External audit
PESTLE: It should be clearly linked to the company/product.
Relevant issues.
Why is the switch from traditional restaurant dining to fast
food dining relevant to your company?
Why is the child poverty rate relevant to your company?
MISTAKES
Environmental issues that are not relevant.
Political and legal section that does not pay attention to trade
barriers, and legal issues that could have an impact on
packaging/labelling decisions, media selection, etc.
Reference to trade agreements that are not applicable to the
selected market.
Reference to your marketing plan.
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SWOT
Prepare it once you have the data from
the internal and the external audits.
Use the internal audit to identify strengths
(S) and weaknesses (W). S&W refer to
internal factors, internal capabilities
(controllable).
Use the external audit to identify
opportunities (O) and threats (T). O&T
refer to external factors (uncontrollable).

Source: Wood (2013)

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SWOT
MISTAKES
SWOT analysis is included before the external audit section.
To categorise opportunities as strengths and/or vice versa
(e.g. government support classified as a strength).
To classify weaknesses as threats and/or vice versa.
SWOT analysis that is not consistent with the PESTLE
analysis.

Source: Wood (2013)

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Marketing plan objectives in target market

Financial objectives (e.g. sales, profit, etc.),
marketing objectives (e.g. awareness, loyalty, etc.)

Development of SMART objectives:

specific
measurable
achievable
realistic
timetabled

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Marketing plan objectives

Marketing plan objectives:
- FINANCIAL OBJECTIVES: Targets for achieving financial results
through marketing strategies and programmes. Examples:
- Increasing sales by geographic market/customer
segment/product/channel.
- Achieving profitability levels.
- Achieving return on investment levels.
-

MARKETING OBJECTIVES: Targets for achievements in

marketing relationships and activities, which in turn directly
support the achievement of financial objectives. Examples:
- Building brand awareness and preference.
- Stimulating product trial.
- Enhancing brand, product, company image.
- Increasing customer satisfaction.

Source: Wood (2013)

International Marketing

Marketing plan objectives

Marketing plan objectives are short-term targets and should be

SMART.
To be effective, your marketing plan objectives should be:

Specific and measurable: Objectives should indicate, in

quantitative terms, what the marketing plan is being developed
to achieve. Simply calling for growth is not enough. Vague
terms will not help you determine what you need to accomplish
and how. Example: To increase market share by 10 % per year
in each appliance category.

Achievable: The organisation should have the means to

achieve the set objectives.

Realistic. Marketing objectives should be realistic to provide

purpose for marketing and relevant to the chosen direction and
higher-level strategies and goals of the company.

Source: Wood (2013)

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Marketing plan objectives

Time defined: What is the deadline for achieving the objective?

Setting an open-ended objective is like setting no objective at all.
Example: To become the UKs top-selling bottled water within
two years.

Consistent: Is the objective consistent with the organisations

mission, goals, strengths, core competencies and interpretation
of external opportunities an threats? Are the objectives
consistent with each other?

MISTAKES

Objectives that refer to the marketing mix.

Two objectives in one.
Objectives that are not SMART
Source: Wood (2013)

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Task 2
Work with you neighbour and develop two
objectives for Burts Potato Chips that are
specific
measurable
achievable
realistic
timetabled

Segmentation, targeting, positioning

SEGMENTATION
- Select and apply segmentation variables (e.g. demographic,
geographic, psychographic, behavioural, etc.).
- Evaluate and select segment(s) for targeting.

TARGETING STRATEGY
- Consider the market coverage approach you wish to apply:
undifferentiated, differentiated, concentrated, individualised.

POSITIONING
- Create a competitively distinctive position for your product in the minds
of your targeted customers.
Source: Wood (2013)

International Marketing

Segmentation, targeting, positioning

TARGETING STRATEGIES

Source: Wood (2013, p.78)

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Segmentation, targeting, positioning

MISTAKES - SEGMENTATION
It does not specify the variables used to segment the market.
No clear explanations of how the segmentations variables are
applied to identify the relevant segments.
It discusses the geographic variables to segment the market
however, based on the target market, it should also have covered
age and income as variables used to segment the market.
It references geographic and behavioural variables however, then it
aims to target groups that are defined by age groups (adults aged
between 25 and 34 years of age and children under 12 years old).

International Marketing

Segmentation, targeting, positioning

MISTAKES - TARGETING
The target market and the targeting strategy are not clearly
indicated in the segmentation and targeting section.
The assignment requests to launch a consumer product (A
consumer product is a product bought by final consumers for
personal consumption (Kotler and Armstrong, 2014, p.674)) thus,
rather than targeting business customers (e.g. luxury hotels and
restaurants), final consumers should be targeted.

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Entry mode strategy

Factors affecting the choice of entry mode.
Rationale for selecting the entry mode.
Why is your choice of entry mode a better option
to adopt than other entry modes?

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Entry mode strategy

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Factors influencing entry mode strategy

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Entry mode
Factors affecting the choice of entry mode.
Rationale for selecting the entry mode.
Why is your choice of entry mode a better option
to adopt than other entry modes?
MISTAKES

- The selected entry mode is an indirect export mode but then in the
distribution section it is stated that the company sells directly to the
distributor.

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Marketing mix (4P)

Strategies and tactics for each element of the marketing
mix:

Product: core component, packaging component, etc.

Price: pricing strategy, costs, final price (consumer
pays), etc.
Place/distribution:
o From origin to destination: port selection,
transportation mode, etc.
o Channels of distribution: wholesale, retailers, etc.
(consumer channels).
Promotion: communication tool(s), message
decisions, media, etc.

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Presentation of report
Conclusion of report
Layout
Grammar, spelling
Logical flow

Full and complete referencing (following Harvard

Referencing System)
Appropriate length (5000 words. +/- 10%)
Inclusion of the Turnitin report.
Check for further details on how to present the report in

the module handbook

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Presentation of report
MISTAKES

Executive summary presented before the table of contents.

References do not follow the Harvard Referencing System.
Poor and lack of logical flow to the information.
Table and figures that are not numbered. A title for each of them is
not included
Sources of information are not included.
Use of contractions (e.g. its).

International Marketing

Presentation of report
MISTAKES

Grammatical mistakes.
The appendix section includes key details clearly requested in the
module handbook (market share, competitive advantages, full
PESTLE analysis) rather than additional information.
Word count not specified.
Layout indicated in module handbook is not followed.

International Marketing