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SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT

 

Primary data collection (to be submitted via eLP and Student Central– deadline: 13/11/17)

Individuals are required to secure five participants to complete the module questionnaire. Further information about the questionnaire will be provided during the course of the module. Hard copies of the completed questionnaires will be submitted individually to Student Central (ground floor, CCE-1). Furthermore, each student will be expected to have coded the data from their five questionnaires into an SPSS document by this date. Failure to collect the data will mean that students will be unable to complete their Marketing Plan and Research Report. This part will count for 10% of the total module mark. NOTE: results from this task will be marked as part of the individual assignment and will not be released prior to the release of the final module mark.

Marketing Plan and Research Report (Word length: 3,000 words (2,200 words for main report, 800 words for reflective statement)

 

Individual students are required to develop a one-year Marketing Plan and Research Report for a food company/brand/product in the North East of England. It is important to note that rather than providing a description of the food company/brand’s current marketing strategy, the plan should outline the student’s suggested strategy for the company/brand over the next year. This part will count for 90% of the total module mark. Submission time for this report should be confirmed with the undergraduate office.

 

The two parts of the assignment will be marked together and will constitute 100% of the total module mark.

Marking Scheme for the Individual Assignment

 

Marks:	Parts:
5	1.           Executive summary (summarise the market situation as well as the plan’s objectives and highlights from the report).
10	2.           Environmental analysis (examines environmental factors affecting the company/brand/product, and its marketing, using the appropriate analytical tools). A.    Macro-environmental factors (how demographics, economic climate, technology, legal and regulatory issues may affect the marketing plan and research report). B.    Micro-environmental factors (how suppliers, channel members, competitors, and customers may affect the marketing plan and research report). C.    Competitive strategy (how the company/brand/product will compete in the market(s)). 3.     Marketing Strategy (discusses overall strategy and objectives). A.    Marketing objectives. B.    Financial and societal objectives (if applicable). C.    Segmentation, positioning, and target market(s)
25	4.              Marketing research (research conducted and needed to support the marketing plan). A.    Present the results of the primary and secondary marketing research you have conducted and describe their implications for your company/brand/product. B.    State the major discovery and see whether your findings can help you to determine the product, pricing, distribution channel and promotion strategy. C.    Illustrate clearly how you have used the primary data you collected to help inform the development of this report.
10	5.           Marketing mix summary (a one page table summarising major elements of the marketing mix). This should be adapted to fit with the strategy implementation. A.    Product. B.    Pricing. C.    Place. D.    Promotion. E.    Service marketing components (if applicable).
20	6.           Detailed strategy for one element of the marketing mix. A.    For one element of the marketing mix (from part 5 above), develop a more detailed description of planned marketing activities and expected outcomes. B.    You will also be expected to draw upon the primary and secondary data collected within the module to support your ideas. More details will be provided in class. C.    The detailed strategy needs to be designed to accomplish previously specified plan objectives.
5	7.           Controls (shows how the plan will be put into action, how the performance will be measured, and adjustments to be made when necessary). A.    Implementation. B.    Metrics. C.    Contingency planning.
15	8.             Reflective statement (Individually write an 800 word reflective statement that includes the following). A description of how you have used feedback from your formative group presentation to improve your marketing plan and research report. B.    A summary of the challenges you faced, related to academic literature on data collection and research method. C.    A description of the things that you would do differently when conducting marketing research like this in future. D.    A list of other methods (alternatives to research methods used in the development of the report) that could have been used to meet the research objectives. E.    A description of how collecting data met the ethical requirements needed when collecting primary research (this could include a description of where the data was stored, who had access to the data, and how it was used).
10	9.              Primary data collection task. (The mark from the primary data collection task will be released together with the mark from the marketing plan and research report). A.  Submission of completed module questionnaires and correctly designed SPSS document.              B.  Correct coding of questionnaire data into SPSS.

 

Group work for formative assessment

 

A fundamental component of this module is to work as groups to research and elicit information about the researched company/brand/product. In the first seminar of semester one, students will be asked to form small groups between four and five people from their seminar class. Students will work in these groups for the presentation. The presentation will provide partial foundation for the individual Marketing Plan and Research Report.

 

Tutorial support

 

Students may also seek advice from the tutors outside of the seminars via email or personal appointment if necessary.  Contact details are provided on blackboard.

 

Procedures for dealing with group problems

 

Occasionally (but in our experience very rarely) there are problems with the group activity. This is usually because one or more people fail to pull their weight, i.e. fail to attend meetings or contribute to the discussion/planning of work. We will not tolerate abuse of the group situation. If a group is having problems it is imperative that the tutors are informed about the situation, so that we can attempt to resolve any issues, and if necessary remove problem individuals from the group. If students do not try to resolve a problem with our help during the course of the semester, complaints afterwards will not be taken into consideration.

 

It is up to all group members to manage the learning experience and to take responsibility for completing the research (both individual and group) that will be needed for the formative assessments.

 

Late submission of work

 

Where coursework is submitted without approval, after the published hand-in deadline, the following penalties will apply.

 

For coursework submitted up to 1 working day (24 hours) after the published hand-in deadline without approval, 10% of the total marks available for the assessment (i.e.100%) shall be deducted from the assessment mark.

 

For clarity: a late piece of work that would have scored 65%, 55% or 45% had it been handed in on time will be awarded 55%, 45% or 35% respectively as 10% of the total available marks will have been deducted.

 

The Penalty does not apply to Pass/Fail Modules, i.e. there will be no penalty for late submission if assessments on Pass/Fail are submitted up to 1 working day (24 hours) after the published hand-in deadline.

 

Coursework submitted more than 1 working day (24 hours) after the published hand-in deadline without approval will be regarded as not having been completed. A mark of zero will be awarded for the assessment and the module will be failed, irrespective of the overall module mark.

 

For clarity: if the original hand-in time on working day A is 12 noon the 24 hour late submission allowance will end at 12 noon on working day B.

 

These provisions apply to all assessments, including those assessed on a Pass/Fail basis.

 

Word limits and penalties

 

If the assignment is within +10% of the stated word limit no penalty will apply.

 

The word count is to be declared on the front page of your assignment and the assignment cover sheet.  The word count does not include:

 

·     Title and Contents page	·     Reference list	·     Appendices	·     Appropriate tables, figures and illustrations
·     Glossary	·     Bibliography	·     Quotes from interviews and focus groups.

 

Please note, in text citations [e.g. (Smith, 2011)] and direct secondary quotations [e.g. “dib-dab nonsense analysis” (Smith, 2011 p.123)] are INCLUDED in the word count.

 

If this word count is falsified, students are reminded that under ARNA page 30 Section 3.4 this will be regarded as academic misconduct.

 

If the word limit of the full assignment exceeds the +10% limit, 10% of the mark provisionally awarded to the assignment will be deducted.  For example: if the assignment is worth 70 marks but is above the word limit by more than 10%, a penalty of 7 marks will be imposed, giving a final mark of 63.

 

Students must retain an electronic copy of this assignment (including ALL appendices) and it must be made available within 24hours of them requesting it be submitted.

 

Note:    For those assessments or partial assessments based on calculation, multiple choice etc., marks will be gained on an accumulative basis.  In these cases, marks allocated to each section will be made clear.

 

Although tables are exempt from the word count, they should not be used to house large amounts of texts in an attempt to circumvent the word limit. Such attempts will be penalized by mark deductions, proportionate to the level of word limit circumvention.

 

Time limits and penalties for presentations

 

The time allocated for the presentation must be adhered to.  At the end of this time, the presentation will be stopped and will be marked based on what has been delivered within the time limit.

 

Submission of Assessment:

 

All assignments must be submitted online via TurnItIn (with the exception of hard copies of questionnaires, which are to be submitted via Student Central). For the latter, each assignment must be accompanied by an Assessed Work Form which must be completed in full. The assignment will not be accepted by Student Central unless the form is completed correctly.

 

Marked assignments will be made available to students in electronic format.  It is advisable to retain a copy of your assignment for you own records.  Your mark will be returned via EMA.

 

Referencing your work:

 

The APA method of referencing uses the author’s name and the date of the publication. In-text citations give brief details of the work you are referring to in your text. References are listed at the end of the text in alphabetical order by the author’s name.  The general format of an electronic journal reference in the APA style is shown below:

 

Coutu, D. (2009). Why Teams Don’t Work. Harvard Business Review, 87(5), 98-105. Retrieved 29^th April 2012 from EBSCO https://search.ebscohost.com/

 

Author/s name and initials are listed first, followed by year of publication in brackets.  Then there is the title of article and the journal where the article appears, which is in italics.  Then state the volume and issue number (in brackets) along with the pages where article can be located. Finally add the date the article was retrieved and then the name of the database, followed by the web address. Wherever possible use the homepage URL rather than the full and extended web address.

 

For further information on why it is important to reference accurately go to the Referencing and Plagiarism topic in Skills Plus available from the Library website:

 

www.northumbria.ac.uk/skillsplus

 

You will find other useful help guides on Skills Plus to help you with the skills involved in writing your assessments and preparing for exams.

 

For further information on the APA style of referencing see the Concise Rules of the APA Style and the APA website http://www.apastyle.org/

 

 

Academic Misconduct:

 

The Assessment Regulations for Northumbria Awards (ARNA) contain the Regulations and procedures applying to cheating, plagiarism and other forms of academic misconduct.

                                                                   

The full policy is available at: http://www.northumbria.ac.uk/sd/central/ar/qualitysupport/asspolicies/

 

You are reminded that plagiarism, collusion and other forms of academic misconduct as referred to in the Academic Misconduct procedure of the assessment regulations are taken very seriously by Newcastle Business School.  Assignments in which evidence of plagiarism or other forms of academic misconduct is found may receive a mark of zero.

 

Mapping to Programme Goals and Objectives:

 

This assessment will contribute directly to the following Undergraduate programme goals and objectives. 

 

1. Knowledgeable about the theory and practice of international business and management

Objectives:

Students will be able to:          

 

X	1.	Acquire knowledge of functional areas of business and management.
X	2.	Acquire knowledge of specialist areas of business.
X	3.	Apply their knowledge to business and management contexts.
X	4.	Conduct contemporary research into business and management.

 

2. Skilful in the use of professional and managerial techniques and processes

Objectives:

Students will be able to:

 

X	1.	Provide evidence of self reflection as a means of informing personal development planning.
X	2.	Demonstrate effective interpersonal communication skills and the ability to work in a team.
X	3.	Demonstrate critical thinking skills.
X	4.	Demonstrate problem solving skills.

 

3. Aware of ethical issues impacting on business and professional practice

Objectives:

Students will be able to:

 

	1.	Identify an ethical dilemma in a business situation
	2.	Suggest ethical solutions to this dilemma

 

 

 

 

4. Employable as graduates

Objectives:

Students will be able to:

 

X

1.

In the context of securing graduate employment demonstrate the skills of self-presentation.

 

Module Specific Assessment Criteria

 

Mark	General Criteria	Module Assessment Criteria
First (80 – 100)	Excellent knowledge and appreciation for subject.  Fastidious eye for detail.  Assured ability to challenge received wisdom and to sustain argument or logical reasoning under these terms.	The work will display detailed research and demonstrate a thorough understanding of the concepts and theories. These will be applied to the company/brand/product in such a way that the analysis and marketing plan and research report will be produced to a flawless professional standard. At this level students will also demonstrate how they are able to draw upon the primary data collected within this module to support their ideas.
First (70 – 79)	Impressive knowledge and understanding.  Clearly demonstrates critical appreciation.  Theory and evidence are invariably related.  Argument or logical reasoning is always relevant and well sustained.	The marketing plan and research report will be expertly presented and all tasks will be completed to an exemplary standard. There will be evidence of scholarship in the extensive use of research and references, and the concepts and theories will be applied in a very professional manner.
Upper Second (60 – 69)	A maturing ability to relate theory and evidence, concepts and ideas is displayed.  Critical appreciation is evident.  Content is always relevant, generally well focused and organised.	All tasks will be completed to a high standard and the work will be based on thorough research. The application of the concepts and theories to the company/brand/product will demonstrate a very good understanding of how theory underpins practice and the work will be presented to a near professional standard.
Lower Second (50 – 59)	Knowledge base is generally sound and some critical appreciation shown.  Analysis usually clear but can lack some clarity of focus.	Tasks will be completed to a good standard and there will be evidence of research underpinning the discussion. Presentation will be of a good standard and there will be evidence that some understanding of how theory underpins practice.
Third (40 – 49)	Legitimate content but relies heavily on the descriptive.  Analysis may be unsophisticated.  Work may contain some use of concepts, but is poorly set out and needs an appropriate focus.	The marketing plan and research report will be presented in an acceptable manner, though may lack the finesse of a professional document. There will be some evidence of research and understanding of how theory and practice are linked should be demonstrated in at least some of the tasks. The work may lack development/depth and will not be of a professional standard.
(30 – 39)	Performance shows elements of legitimate content, but is more often than not inappropriate.	The marketing plan and research report may be presented poorly i.e. would not be acceptable as a business document. It will demonstrate limited research and the application of this research to the company/brand/product may be inconsistent. Some or all tasks will fail to meet the module objectives.
(0 – 29)	Majority of work is neither relevant nor accurate.  Often inarticulate and can be incomprehensible	The work will fail to meet the objectives. It will be under researched and the application of the theory to the company/brand/product will be poor. Analysis and recommendations may be developed without justification from the research. The presentation standard will not be appropriate for a business document

 

Note:    For those assessments or partial assessments based on calculation, multiple choice etc.  Marks will be gained on an accumulative basis.  In these cases, marks allocated to each section will be made clear.

 

            Students must retain an electronic copy of this assignment and it must be made available within 24 hours of them requesting it be submitted.