Reality Check 9 Jul 04

Reality Check: The Vocational Assignment Peter Erdélyi Lecturer in Business Studies 9 July 2004

BA (Hons) Business Studies University of Essex

Business and Management South East Essex College 1

BA (Hons) Business Studies

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B253 Marketing Planning Purpose of the module • to develop an understanding of the planning procedures used by managers to harmonise the objectives and resources of organisations with the needs and opportunities of the market place.

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B253 Marketing Planning Learning Outcomes • Identify information requirements for marketing management, planning and control • Analyse and appraise the marketing environment • Apply appropriate market research techniques to obtain the required information and evaluate findings • Apply appropriate analytical models and techniques in order to formulate corporate plans • Formulate short and medium term marketing plans with reference to practical case studies and critically evaluate alternative market plans in the context of potential effectiveness 4

B253 Marketing Planning Assessment: • Group case study and individual report (30%) • Individual case study and presentation (30%) • Examination (40%)

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Coachbuild Quality Project The partners at Coachbuild Quality are keen to expand the business and have already identified two main avenues for new market development: 1.

to target public services that use mobile units such as the NHS (breast screening, blood donor and dental units), the Police, and local councils. 2. to promote the existing portfolio nationally and recruit new customers throughout the United Kingdom.

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Learning Outcomes Allocation Assignment 1 - Group case study and individual report (30%) • Identify information requirements for marketing management, planning and control • Analyse and appraise the marketing environment • Apply appropriate market research techniques to obtain the required information and evaluate findings 9

Learning Outcomes Allocation Assignment 2 - Individual case study and presentation (30%) • Apply appropriate analytical models and techniques in order to formulate corporate plans • Formulate short and medium term marketing plans with reference to practical case studies and critically evaluate alternative market plans in the context of potential effectiveness 10

Assignment 1 - Tasks You are required to form a group of 5 students for the purpose of: • identifying information needs for the marketing planning process • designing a research plan (for all segments in the entire UK) • collecting information (for Essex or one segment nationally) • analysing the marketing environment 11

Assignment 2 - Tasks Task 1 Apply appropriate analytical models and techniques to the marketing research information collected during the team project to support subsequent formulation of marketing plans. Task 2 You are required to formulate one short-term (1year) marketing plan and one medium-term (3year) marketing plan for your chosen market (the Essex region or a national market segment). 12

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Project Focus: the NHS • Working as a team, the students carried out an in-depth investigation into the National Health Service as a potential market for custom-built vehicles. This had involved contacting hospitals, NHS Trusts and their suppliers as well as interviewing senior hospital management. 14

Project Results • Over a hundred pages of industry information and competitive intelligence had been generated in the research phase. • Working individually, students formulated detailed marketing plans to take advantage of opportunities identified in the research. • The research results and marketing plans were eventually presented to the two business owners on 27 April 2004 15

Employer Feedback “We were amazed how much information the students had acquired in such a short amount of time. All the presentations were professional and unique to the individual students. We hope they enjoyed the project as much as we enjoyed watching all the presentations... [We] have learned so much from the students and will try to apply their theories into practice in the coming year.” Paul Dyson & Ian Priestly, Coachbuild Quality, 28 April 2004

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Key Success Factors • Close tutorial involvement in managing group work – Work allocation and monitoring – Setting key milestones

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Small group size Flexible assignment design Easy access to management Luck 17

Potential Pitfalls • Large class size would complicate supervision of the project – Mismanagement of time – Free riders

• The project could prove to be too difficult for the given level • Student findings may be of substandard quality 18

Mutual Benefits - Coachbuild Quality • Free marketing consulting project resulting in concrete research findings and detailed marketing plans • Free publicity: – – – –

SEEC Staff Bulletin SEEBIZ University of Essex Teaching and Learning Week Students’ job interviews

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Mutual Benefits - Coachbuild Quality Link with academic institution provides opportunities for: • Recruiting students or graduates in the future • Further consulting projects with lecturer

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Mutual Benefits - Students • • • •

Learning rooted in real-world project Enriching curriculum vitae Obtaining employer references Example of consulting portfolio

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Mutual Benefits - College • • • •

Employee development Employer link for graduate placement Positive publicity Student success and satisfaction

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Mutual Benefits • Social and economic benefits for: – The Essex region – The United Kingdom – Etc.

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Starting a Knowledge Transfer Partnership The Process 1. Check the feasibility of your idea 2. Forming a Knowledge Transfer Partnership 3. Completing a Grant Application and Proposal Form 4. Submitting the Proposal 5. Consideration of Proposals 6. Issue of a grant offer letter 7. Recruitment of a KTP Associate 24