Applied Consulting Project Assessment Project 2

Project 2 – Marketing

Individual Consultancy Project:

The specific aim of this project is for yourselves (as ‘The Consultancy Firm’) to develop a marketing strategy and evaluate the opportunities that can create brand image for Dexiotis Security Solutions.

• Objective 1: To conduct Market Analysis
• Objective 2: Evaluate the existing company marketing strategy and approach as well as its’ suitability
• Objective 3: Develop a new strategy to help the company to grow
• Objective 4: Evaluate Implementation Plan and Cost Estimations

Suggested structure:

The emphasis is on secondary research and not academic sources. Use competitor reports, consultant reports articles and marketing reports.

• Introduction - context i.e. nature of the problem/objectives (SMART) and summarise strengths and the weakness of the company

Objective 1 Market Analysis/Environmental Analysis - (Conduct an environmental audit and assess the competitiveness in the markets)

• From the list of countries of interest, choose one EU/EEA country and one country from either the Middle East or North Africa.
• Undertake an environmental analysis for the two countries - Identify, analyse and discuss key external factors in each of the countries that could impact the company in either a positive or negative way – the impact of each factor should be linked to either an opportunity or threat.
• Undertake a market analysis for each of the countries - Porters Five Forces should be applied to assess industry attractiveness (each force should be discussed and assessed as High, Moderate or Low and industry attractiveness should be assessed having those forces in mind).

Rationale- Objective 1: Country focus

The students will provide a comparison of two different potential destination markets from the areas of declared high and medium interest to Dexiotis, i.e., EU/EEA and Middle East / North Africa, focusing on the market and environmental suitability

Objective 2: Company strategy and suitability (Evaluate the existing company’s marketing strategy and approach as well as its’ suitability)

• Analyse and discuss the internal environment of the organisation using Mckinsey 7S or Porters Value chain
• Evaluate and critically discuss the company’s marketing mix strategy using the 7Ps
• Based on the environmental and market analysis, and assessment of the company’s internal environment and marketing strategy, critically discuss the suitability of the company’s strategy and approach for each country.
• Recommend the best country for the company to consider entering, providing a supporting rationale for your choice.

Rationale – Objective 2: Company focus

 The student needs to have an understanding of the company’s current position, their objectives with an analysis of the external and industry environments that it operates in

Objective 3 and 4: Market strategy (Develop a new marketing strategy to help the company to grow, increase the brand value, social media performance and how to gain market share.)

Implementation plan and cost estimations (provide an implementation plan and robust final costing for their strategic recommendations in line with the company’s resources.)

• Develop a detailed marketing plan for the recommended country which must consider the earlier environmental and market analysis factors (opportunities and threats) and include:
• Mode of entry strategy (Whole subsidiary, Joint venture, Licensing etc)
• Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning strategy
• Marketing mix (7Ps) strategy
• Integrated Marketing communications plan, implementation and budget costs:
  • Include both traditional and digital methods of communication
  • A detailed timeline of key activities to be implemented
  • Discussion of the relevant implementation issues
  • Outlined budget breakdown to implement the marketing communications plan - Bear in mind that costs and timeframes suggested are expected to be pragmatic estimations based on your research
• Recommended methods of evaluation and control (include KPIs linked to objectives)

 Conclusion

• Overall conclusion of key findings

Rationale- Objective 3 and 4 – Strategic planning and implementation focus

Pulling it all together but with an emphasis on the specific country chosen by the student focusing on marketing implementation plan

Note: A Consultancy report should always be professionally designed and should include visuals to accompany the ideas that have been discussed