Business Magazines

The task is divided into two parts (Part 1 & Part 2) and candidates are expected to address both.
Your task is to identify an organisation (producer and/or brand owner), that is involved in the marketing of laptops e.g. Dell, HP etc and then analyse, evaluate and prepare an individual report of 3,500 words (+/- 10%) addressing the following issues.
Part 1:
Using appropriate sources undertake a full marketing audit of your chosen organisation. Include an evaluation of the organisation’s current marketing strategy and position in the market.
Provide a critical evaluation of the organisation’s competitive edge (USP) with comparison to the main competitor brands in the marketplace. Demonstrate the organisation’s effectiveness by providing an evaluation of their current market performance in relation to their competitor’s. This should include relevant market performance data to underpin your evaluation, for example market growth, sales trends, profitability etc.
[Weighting – 50%]

Part 2:
Based on your Part 1 analysis you should now choose a brand from the organisations portfolio and:
• Select customer segment/s for the brand, explaining your choice.
• Identify some key marketing objectives to increase brand awareness, market share, and growth in sales volume and/or profitability.
• Recommend marketing strategies, based on the application of the marketing mix to your chosen brand.

Benchmarking against other successful organisations or companies preferably from different industry sectors could also be used to further develop your analysis.
[Weighting – 50%]
Your arguments, findings and recommendations should be supported by theories, facts and figures published within academic books, journal articles, recognised business magazines and market intelligence reports.