SOE11440 Marketing within the Global Economy
Project 2 Assessment
Developing Competitive Advantage
1. Context
You are Marketing Director for any company of your choice.
This project is designed to reflect the practical side of marketing strategy and asks you to convert the academic theory you learn in your lectures and reading into practical direction for your company.
Your company is embarking on a Strategic Planning Process taking a 3-year view. You are responsible for the strategic marketing part of the plan and in particular the area of future competitive advantage.
Wilson, R. M.S., Gilligan, C., and Pearson, D. (1992) describe the first 3 stages of the strategic marketing planning process thus:
• Where are we now?
(Strategic and marketing analysis)
• Where do we want to be?
(Strategic direction and strategy formulation)
• How might we get there?
(Strategic choice)
2. Instruction
You are expected to create a formal paper for your board and your marks will be based on the relevance of this paper to the following:
You will be assessed on your ability to:
a. Critically evaluate the company’s current strategies for sustainable competitive advantage
b. Set out the desired competitive position 3 years from now
c. Offer clear recommendations on what the company needs to do to achieve that position
d. Write a logical, well-presented and accurately referenced piece of work
The length of your paper should be 2,500 words +/- 10%. The word count limit is there to test your skills of conciseness and focus. You are strongly advised to keep your work relevant to the subject matter.
Key sections with suggestions as to word count:
Contents Approximate
Word Count Weighting
1. Brief summary statement of the economic environment your company is likely to be operating in 200 10%
2. Where are we now?
Evaluation of current competitive advantage 650 25%
3. Where do we want to be?
Our competitive position in 3 years’ time 900
30%
4. How do we get there?
Clear recommendations on what the company needs to do to achieve 3. above 750 25%
5. Bibliography (not included in the word count) 10%
You will be awarded marks for each of the above sections from F6-D5 with weightings applied to each.
3. Submission instructions:
You must submit ONE SINGLE FILE written in Arial 12 with one and a half (1 ½ ) spacing and the text should be justified. You should also include a cover page that has the following information:
• Edinburgh Napier University
• SOE11140 Marketing within the Global Economy
• Project 2 - Marketing
• Your own matriculation number (no names, please)
• Your word count
Note: This is a marketing project and not an economics project. Your marketing lectures will cover the theoretical content and higher marks will be awarded for evidence of wider academic reading.