Reference no: EM132227855

Assignment: Social, Ethical, and Legal Implications

Purpose of Assignment: Use( NIKE) IF YOU CAN

The purpose of this assignment is to help students think through the importance of social, legal, and ethical issues that may arise with their product or service and the implications of decisions made within those frameworks. It is designed to help the learners understand ethical and legal issues related to marketing practices. This knowledge helps to prevent such issues when developing the marketing strategies in their marketing plan. The executive overview of the marketing plan is not a summary and conclusion, but an overview of what the plan entails and what it does not address.

Assignment Steps

Note: the Social, Ethical, and Legal Implications assignment is part of the total marketing plan as outlined in the grading guide. It is not a separate paper.

Producing and marketing a product without regard to ethical, legal, and social considerations is detrimental to the overall success of any company.

Assess in a min of 700 words the ethical, legal, and social issues affecting your product or service in two markets: the United States and one international market. Domestic market generally means the market where the company headquarters are located. If you choose a domestic market that is not the U.S., then your other market is required to be the U.S. marketplace. This will be added to the Target Market section of your Marketing Plan.

Include the following:

• Develop a process to monitor and control marketing performance. This process could be a flowchart but a flowchart is not required (flowcharts do not count towards your word count requirement).

Formulate a min 350-wordexecutive summary including at a minimum the following elements to include in your marketing plan:

1. Required executive summary elements:

• Strategic Objectives

• Products or Services

2. Optional executive summary elements:

• Resources Needed

• Projected Outcomes

Integrate the previous weeks' sections, social, ethical, and legal implications, and executive summary into the marketing plan. Incorporate corrections and suggestions from the instructor's weekly feedback. The marketing plan should be a minimum of 3,850 words and include the following:

• Incorporate Understanding Target Markets (Week 2)

• Incorporate Promotion and the Product Life Cycle (Week 3)

• Incorporate Price and Channel Strategy (Week 4)

• Incorporate Marketing Communication and Brand Strategy (Week 5)

• Incorporate Executive Summary, Legal, Social and Ethical Considerations (Week 6)

Cite a minimum of three peer-reviewed references.

Include all peer-reviewed references from the previous weeks' individual assignments in your marketing plan.

Format your assignment consistent with APA guidelines.

Marketing Plan Outline and Timeline

Marketing Plan

You are expected to develop a marketing plan, according to the outline below, for a product or service of your choosing. The product or service must be identified by the end of Week 1. The product or service you select is used to develop the assignments for Weeks 2 through Week 6. References must be included for each section.

There are no defined standards for the length of the marketing plan; however, your plan must disclose complete marketing strategies and provide reliable and valid references and data supporting the strategies to convince the target audience. The plan must be written in plain language that would be easily understood by stakeholders.

Marketing Plan Outline

Your final marketing plan must consist of the following sections. Refer to the timeline for due dates for each section and subsection. Assignments may include modifications to these lists. Please use lists provided in assignments only.

1. Executive Summary:

• Strategic Objectives

• Products or Services

• Resources Needed

• Projected Outcomes

2. Situational Analysis:

• Vision, Mission, Strategic objectives, Values

• Internal Analysis

• Strengths/Weaknesses

• Capability/Capacity

• Competitor's Strengths/Weaknesses

• Technological Competency

• Product or Service Analysis

• Market Segments

3. Research

• Primary Research

• Secondary Research

• Consumer Analysis

• Customer Profile

• Continuous Consumer Monitoring & Research

• Environmental Scanning

• Identify Market, Economic, Technological, Regulatory, Legal, Social, and Ecological Forces

• Current Opportunities

• Potential Future Opportunities

• Current Threats

• Potential Future Threat

4. Target Market(s):

• Demographics

• Psychographics

• Ethical Issues

• Legal Issues

• Social Issues

5. Product, Place/Distribution, Promotion, and Price Strategies:

• Product Descriptions and Product/Service Mix Strategies

• Product/Service Determinants

• Creating a Brand Image

• Maintaining Brand Image

• Branding Concerns

• Distribution Strategies

• Channels, Mass, Selective, Exclusive

• Promotion/Integrated Marketing Communication

• Advertising Strategy/Objectives

• Push and Pull

• Media Strategy

• Advertising Execution

• Sales Promotion

• Direct Marketing

• Public Relations/Strategies

• Positioning

• Dynamic/Static Pricing Strategies

Marketing Plan Timeline

Week 1: Marketing Plan Topic

• Consider your company and product or service selection in Week 1. You may select an existing type of product or service or a new product or service but it must be global or multi-regional. Once you have selected your product or service, you must define the size and type of company that provides the product or service (available from annual reports). This need not be elaborate but must include total number of employees, production volume, distribution methods, and so forth. Company and product or service selection is a critical part of this project. You must ensure your proposed company can implement the marketing methods discussed in the text.

• Key to creating an effective marketing plan is the ability to analyze the environment in which the product or service will be offered. The Week 1 assignment allows you to begin to understand various reports and how they can be used in your marketing plan.

Week 2: Understanding Target Markets

• To develop effective relationship marketing, a company must first understand its targeted consumers' buying influences and behaviors. In Week 2, create the Research section of your plan. In addition, create the first two parts of the Target Market section, which includes performing the demographics and psychographics analysis.

Week 3: Promotion and the product life cycle

• All products/services go through a life cycle of NPI (new product introduction), growth, maturity and decline. These various stages affect the marketing strategy and promotional efforts. In Week 3, you will incorporate a promotion strategy that addresses at least three areas of the product life cycle.

Week 4: Price and Channel Strategy

• How one goes to market and the influences of the channel (channel power, strength of channel, speed of channel, etc.) affects the pricing strategy of the product or service. In Week 4 your pricing and distribution strategy will be incorporated into the marketing plan.

Week 5: Marketing Communication and Brand Strategy

• Brand strategy and the communication of the brand is essential to understanding the various phases of a product or service (viz a viz the life cycle). Brand recognition is based in the marketing communication efforts of the firm. When you hear or see the word Coke, you immediately know it is Coca Cola. When you see five interlocking rings of different colors you know that is the symbol for the Olympics. In Week 5, you will develop a brand and communication strategy for your product.

Week 6: Executive Summary, Legal, Social and Ethical Issues, Final Plan

• Review your final plan. Does the plan effectively analyze market strategies? Are the social, ethical, and legal considerations valid and accounted for? What is the relationship among quality, price, satisfaction, and perceived value within the plan?