International Marketing and Sales

Summative Assessment Briefing

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Background to the brief

Task One: You are an international marketing consultant

who has been appointed by a client company(ALDI),
which has decided to launch its products internationally
(in italy)and you have been asked by the client to put
together a detailed marketing plan explaining the process
of implementation.
You should assume that you are undertaking this work to
be submitted to the Board of Directors as part of the
justification process for international expansion. This
International Marketing Plan will be in the form of a
written report for the Board of Directors.

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Background to the brief

Task Two: The same client has also asked you to provide
a 500 word report on both the theory behind and the
practical application of the Uppsala model, in particular
they want you to advise on the firms choice of market
and form of entry using the conceptual rational behind the
model.

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Timed Case Study Release

You will be advised of both the client, and the country

they have chosen, in week 9 of the module, which will
provide you with sufficient time to write the plan. The
plan needs to be tactical in nature and not strategic i.e. it
needs to be based around the Marketing Mix and to cover
the first 12 month period, as the tactical activity will be
reviewed at the end of that period.

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Your Brief

Task One: You are required to complete a well thought out

and justified Tactical International Marketing Plan, which
focusses on the practical implementation issues facing the
organisation rather than on repeating the course material
and theory. However, theory should be a foundation which
supports and explains why you propose a particular action.
You should remember that this is an advanced (Masters)
course and your plan should reflect that through your high
standards of detailed content and the quality of your
recommended actions.
Task Two: A 500 word report on the Uppsala marketing
model

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The Client The country

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 Reports suggest the discounter is
looking to make up ground on its
German rival Lidl and local player
Eurospin
Aldi's absence in Italy is well noted. Its major rival
Lidl already has more than 500 stores there, while
Verona-based Eurospin is the market leader with
around 950. Italian consumer spending power has
taken a major hit over the past decade, so it's clear
there's some real potential for discounters to offer
the market something different. Expect to see Aldi
arrive in the Belpaese before long.

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Typical contents of the marketing plan

The contents of the plan will provide details of the following vis:
Situation Analysis
Marketing Objectives
Target Audience and Targeting Strategy
Product Positioning
Marketing Tactics, both Traditional and Digital
Action plan
Budgets and Financials
Ethics and Sustainability
Controls, Measurement, Review, Risks and Contingencies

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Task 1.1.: Set and justify Marketing
Objectives (10 marks)
A key issue when setting objectives is to remember that
they are relevant to achieving the corporate vision, vision
and corporate objectives. Objectives should cascade
down through an organisational structure, effectively
forming a framework around which detailed planning can
take place.
You will be given the organisations corporate objectives
and vision upon release of the case study your task is
to provide detailed marketing objectives, which are
SMART, are consistent with the organisations corporate
objectives, and which are fully justified.

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Retailing in Italy

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Corporate Objectives and vision

The corporate
objective is to achieve
a turnover of 500m
within the next 4 years
To open 500 stores
within the same
timescale

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Situation Analysis

SWOT and discussion

about the key issues
facing the organisation
Have you clearly identified
what the key potential
challenges and barriers to
success for the
organisation

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Task 1.2: Identify and justify your Target
Audience (10 marks)
Once an organisation has decided where and how to
compete in broad terms, there needs to be a focus on
the market and submarkets that they are going to serve.
Markets can be segmented in a variety of different ways
and a clear explanation, and reasoning, of your chosen
target market needs to be provided, along with a
conceptual justification.
As part of this explanation, you are also expected to
advise on a Targeting Strategy, as targeting strategy
involves segmenting the market, choosing which
segments of the market are appropriate and then
determining the products that will be offered in each
segment.
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Task 1.2: Identify and justify your Target
Audience (10 marks)

An overview of the market place and how it is broken down.

Have you clearly demonstrated an understanding of the
segmentation variables which are relevant to the industry i.e. have
developed clear Segment profiles of your target audience(s) and
submarket(s)
Are they clearly identified and described in sufficient detail? Have
you clearly identified a clear understanding of their needs and
wants? Have you identified a clear consumer Value Proposition?
Discuss key competitors and explain their approach to STP
Recommend a targeting strategy

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Task 1.3: Positioning Strategy (10 marks)

Positioning can be defined as designing an

organisations offering and image in order to occupy a
distinctive place in the minds of the target audience
(Trout 1983).
Your next task is therefore to look at how to Position the
organisation in order to compete in your designated
target markets, techniques such as perceptual mapping
can help with this task your positioning strategy will be
achieved by appropriate use of your marketing mix.

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Task 1.3: Positioning Strategy (10 marks)

Discuss the Positioning strategy for the key competitive

retailers
Present justified recommendations regarding positioning
of the organisations brand in relation to the main
competitors and have you supported this with the
inclusion of appropriate concepts and theory?
Have you defined your source of competitive
Advantage?
Have you defined the products Brand Personality?
.

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Task 1.4: Marketing Tactics, both Traditional
and Digital (30 marks)

Tactics are the operational marketing mix activities that

companies use to achieve their strategic objectives. The
traditional 4Ps marketing mix has been supplemented by
the additional 3Ps and more recently with Partnerships,
making 8Ps in total. The task is to provide detailed tactics,
to an appropriate depth, which clearly explain exactly how
the marketing strategy will be implemented.

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Task 1.4: Marketing Tactics, both Traditional
and Digital (30 marks)

Digital media and technology provides many new

opportunities for the marketer to vary the application of
the marketing mix, develop new routes to deliver
competitive advantage, to build and to service
relationships in increasingly innovative ways, so the
expectation is that a digital mix will also be provided.

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Task 1.4: Marketing Tactics, both Traditional
and Digital (30 marks)

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Marketing Tactics - Product

Apply the total Product Concept i.e. what are the Core, Actual and
Augmented products?
How do consumers buy products within the target market?
What are likely to be the stages in your consumers of adoption of
this new product?
What are likely to be the product factors that affect the rate of
adoption?
What is your approach to branding and packaging e.g. individual
brands or family brands? Generic brands or store brands?
Is the organisation likely to adopt a standardised approach or an
adapted approach to its product range?
..

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Marketing Tactics - Distribution:

How is the organisation going to distribute its products?

What distribution channels are going to be used?
What are the functions of the chosen distribution channels?
What is the organisation's distribution strategy?
How was the logistics and supply chain going to work?
Distribution objectives?
How is inventory going to be controlled?
How is the supply chain going to work?
..

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Marketing Tactics -
Promotion/communication
What are likely to be the organisation's communication
objectives?
What elements of the traditional communication mix will be
recommended and why?
What elements of the digital promotional/communication mix
will be recommended and why?
What is likely to be the organisations approach to advertising?
What is likely to be the media schedule?
Is the organisation likely to adopt a standardised approach to
communications or adapt?

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Marketing Tactics - People, Physical
Evidence and Process:

What levels of service going to be provided

i.e. how is quality service going to be
provided?
What physical evidence will be provided to
support the organisation's value proposition
What systems will be put in place in order to
deliver that quality service?
.

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Action Plan
Have you provided a detailed Gantt chart showing what
happens when?
Have you provided an overall budget for the marketing plan?
Have you considered the estimated financials e.g. Payback,
ROMI and Breakeven?
.

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Ethics and sustainability (CSR)

All marketing planners face the challenge of managing their

business in a way that is ethical and sustainable. Marketing
ethics refers to the principles and standards that define
acceptable conduct in marketing as determined by various
stakeholders, including the public, government regulators,
private-interest groups, industry and the organisation itself.
As part of your plan you are required to critically assess the
potential ethical challenges facing the organisation as part of
their expansion and make recommendations for dealing with
those challenges.

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Ethics and sustainability (CSR)

Have you considered any likely challenges

associated with ethics and sustainability?
What are the major issues associated with ethics
and sustainability?
Have you made appropriate and justified
recommendations with regard to what activities the
retailer should undertake and engaging?
..

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Controls and measurements

Monitoring and control is essential if the marketing plan is to be

successfully executed, with the need to monitor to ensure things go
according to plan. Marketers are increasingly under pressure by
senior management to become more accountable for their activities
for their activities and expenditure, expected to monitor, control and
evaluate activities.
o Identifying Critical Success Factors
o Setting Key Performance Indicators
o Agreeing Marketing Metrics
o Monitoring Performance
o Risks and Contingencies

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Controls and measurements

Have you included a comprehensive amount of

detail regarding controls, which includes
appropriate critical success factors, KPIs and
metrics?
Your recommended measures should enable your
selected organisation to be able to monitor its
recommended marketing mix.
Have you given due consideration of possible risks
and contingencies?

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Key Performance Indicators

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Risk Management

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Critical success Factors

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 Some Key Marketing Metrics

Profit/ Sales:
profitability value/volume

Distribution/ Gross
availability margin

Customer MARKETING
satisfaction METRICS Awareness

Customer Market share:

dissatisfaction value: volume

Relative Number of
price new products

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Task Two: The 500 word report on the Uppsala
marketing model (20%)

The Uppsala model is related to behavioural theory of the

firm. This theory explains how companies gradually
increase their activities in foreign markets. (Like POM
model).
The points of this theory are that first company gains
experience from the domestic market before they enter
and start to foreign markets and then the company starts
their relationship with foreign operations with culturally and
geographically close countries and then slowly moves to
culturally and geographically distant countries.

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Task Two: The 500 word report on the Uppsala
marketing model (20%)

It was noted that y had noted, first of all, that

companies appeared to begin their operations abroad
in markets that were fairly close geographically and
only gradually penetrated more far-flung markets.
Second, it appeared that companies entered new
markets through exports. It was very rare for
companies to enter new markets with sales
organizations or manufacturing subsidiaries of their
own. Wholly-owned or majority-owned operations were
established only after several years of exports to the
same mark

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The Upsalla Model

You are asked to critically assess the validity of the

model and to consider its application in the context of
the client organisation

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 Pay attention the command words

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 Pay attention to the Marking Guide

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 Word count guidelines

For coursework, the submission word limit is 3,500

words, excluding references and appendices. You must
comply with the word count guidelines, otherwise you
will lose marks
Tables, diagrams and headings are NOT included within
word count calculations. You must specify total word
count on the front page of your report
For coursework, please use font size 12 for body text
and the typeface (font) should be Arial or Calibri with 1.5
spacing. For headers and titles, please use font size 14.
Your submission must have standard margins and page
numbers. Avoid using Times New Roman!

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 And finally

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