Executive project development casestudy
In today’s business environment, business executives have to develop new diverse skills and abilities to be able to wade through the competitive and volatile business environment. Therefore Executive Development Programs are important for the individual executives seeking to broaden their portfolios in their management roles within their various organizations. The Executive Development Program is thus very important for individuals seeking to broaden their management skills range away from the contemporary and traditional business acumen developed in years of training in business schools compounded on the real life experiences and lessons drawn from day to day decisions within the operation of the business. However, to better oneself, one needs to know oneself in the first place.
This includes appreciating the strengths that make up personality and also by acknowledging the weaknesses within the individual. This portfolio by its end, will seek to analyze my strengths and weaknesses from both a personal perspective and the second perspective of individuals around my life including peers, friends, employers and colleagues. This encompasses self reflection, self verification and self assessment to evaluate my achievements thus far, strengths, weaknesses and finally by evaluating my future prospects within the management field.
Therefore, self-assessment is very important for me as I seek to be more than just a marketing manager. I want to be in charge of an organization and not just in charge of a small part of its functions such as management. To fulfil this ambition, I have to go through the Executive Development Program to enrich the skills and knowledge I have acquired in my position as the Marketing Manager in my organization. This is important to me as I acknowledge the fact that one is likely to achieve success in life if he/she useshis/her talents optimally. Similarly, one is likely to undergo fewer problems they know their weaknesses, and how to handle these weaknesses.
2.0 Self-Analysis
Self analysis refers to the evaluation of one’s thoughts, thought processes and behaviours with the aim of understanding and eventually appreciating one true self. It is the pursuit to find, know and appreciate the self-concept. Self concept consists of the impressions individuals formulate about their inner selves and their evaluations of their personal and professionaladequacy. Therefore, self analysis is important to any professional seeking to better themselves career wise, since it provides the essential tools for self reflection and analysis. Therefore, self-analysis will enable me to know of the opportunities present around me that I may have to take advantage of to realize my best potential career wise and as an individual. Lastly, the analysis will put me in a position to know the threats that impede the prospects for my career development and growth, which provides enough information to tackle these shortcomings and realize my full potential.
For the past five years, I have worked for my organization at themarketing manager management level. As a marketing manager, my job entailshelping my organization expand into new markets, increasing our market share and a general objective of increasing sales and profitability my organization. As a marketing manager, my job entails researching the current trends, identifying business opportunities, estimating the market demand and market share and developing and initiating marketing campaigns.
This is with the objective of identifying my organization’s competitive edge and acting to safeguard it. It refers to the process in which individuals rate themselves according to various scales ranging from good to bad, strong to weak, desirable to undesirable and so on. It seeks to highlight how we see ourselves and often highlights these aspects of our inner being, so that one can have adequate information about themselves in decision making concerning their future.
SWOT Analysis (Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities and Threats) is a very useful technique that identifies the strengths and weaknesses, and analyses the subsequent opportunities and threats. This is because with a little thought, SWOT analysis can help todiscover opportunities that exist in one’s immediate environment that would otherwise go unnoticed. Additionally, by understanding individual weaknesses, one eliminate or rather manage and the threats that exist or might exist, which would otherwise hurt one’s prospects to succeed.SWOT analysis gives the user the framework to evaluate their immediate environment critically and logically, which gives the user the incentive to separate themselves from their peers and colleagues, further enabling them to develop theuniqueabilities and talents needed to advance one’s career.
2.1 Strengths
I have worked as the Marketing manager for my organization for five years. This therefore has to be one of my strengths. This is because in my duties in my position, I have accumulated a lot of experience from the day to day execution of my role. Based upon the performance reviews handed to me by top management, I have led my department successfully to numerous advertisement campaigns that have drastically increased our sales and thus profitability steadily throughout my time in this responsibility. Additionally, my colleagues and peers have high regard for my job execution and often refer to be as a “great manager” since my department has been quite successful in my time there.
Another of my strengths from my personal viewpoint is that I have developed a very functional Network of information relay in my department. This makes access to relevant information easier further aiding the decision making process. This network comprises of colleagues and peers giving advice and job related information that helps staff within my department function in a relatively fast and efficient manner. This reduces the time lag between the conceptualization of a brilliant marketing idea to the actualization of the idea. This increases the labour productivity/output in my department at the same time increases my staff’s morale to contribute towards our success as a department. I would say this networking framework has exponentially increased the productivity of my department.
Also in my arsenal are my professional qualifications. In my undergraduate studies, I studied a Bachelor’s in Business Administration. This stemmed from my innate believe that I could make a difference in the business world and the epitome of it all, I would be in charge of a whole business organization. This Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration has aided my relatively rapid climb up the corporate ladder since five years ago I was far from any management role in any organization. My professional qualifications and zeal for this role got me here, and thus, in my book, are one of my strengths. This has allowed me to develop and adopt sound management principles in my five-year work experience. My role in the organization has not been easy and in retrospect, my ambition to run a whole organization and my professional qualification got me from volunteer work in small business management engagements to my current position as a Marketing Manager for a large business organization. During this time, I attained the practice of working under tight deadlines and meeting work-related expectations under stringent instructions.
I consider my current employment level as monument to my zeal and vigour to be a better person both professionally and personally. Therefore I fully acknowledge my family as core to my current and future success. Without the support of my family, I would not be the person I am today both professionally and personally. The same goes for the many friends I have made throughout my academic and professional journey to my current position. This has created a support structure for me to rely upon in times of difficulty and a great crowd to rejoice with in times of good fortune. Additionally, the faith bestowed upon me by top management in the various advertisement campaigns my department has undertaken has also been monumental to my current professional life.
In my five years as the Marketing Manager for my organization, I have had several performance reviews as is the company policy. These reviews are designed to give the employee performance feedback from the perspective of the employer. In my five years, my review has been steadily good since my department has on most occasions, exceeded the various performance targets set for us by the top management. These include increasing our market share by a steady rate of 10% annually, increasing our brand awareness and increasing the sales and profitability of our corporation at a steady rate. In my personal reviews, from the perspective of my employer (top management), I have a very acute skill in inspiring my staff towards our target and creating a functional framework to achieve the departmental goals and objectives in an efficient and effective manner. This is achieved by ensuring that every member in my team understands their role and is sure enough in their skill and abilities to accomplish the responsibilities and duties assigned to them. Additionally, the chance to evaluate the personal progress made by every team member against the set objectives for our team makes archiving the overall target for our department easier. This is because every team member has the chance to know what they are doing wrong or right before integrating their sum of their labour with the collective teams.
I consider that I have great communication skills in regards to processing and relaying information to either the clients or to my team members. This has to be one of my strengths cultivated in my as the Marketing Manager for the last five years. In this responsibility, I am charged with relaying information as it flows vertically from top management to the various departments among which I head. These include new information in regards to strategic and long-term decisions undertaken by the top management and have to be implemented within the organization by the staff members. Thus in my position as the Marketing Manager, I have to ensure that the information is well understood so as to ease the process of implementation by the staff. Additionally, within the scope of my responsibilities is ensuring that our clientele understand the creative angles worked by my team in the various advertisement campaigns we design. This usually involves ensuring that the client understands the desired impact of the advertising campaigns regardless of the subtleness or perceived ambiguity of the campaigns.
All these factors are put into consideration from a personal perspective, and from the point of view of the people me. These include my close friends, peers, family and reviews from top management. This is with the appreciation of relativity of facts about me with those of my peers. For instance, I cannot list my public relation skills as strengths since most of my colleagues in my department possess the same skill as I do, and thus it’s not really strength relative to my current situation.
2.2 Weaknesses
In my capacity as the Marketing Manager, I feel that my pursuit for perfection in most instances generates unnecessary friction within my team. This usually involves actual or perceived slacking off by my team members which I do not condone as the team leader. Additionally, my handling of these situation also needs refining as I feel that in most instances, I do not handle these situations to the best of my abilities which usually leaves an aura of suppressed emotions and feelings which in turn dents the productivity and output of my team. This is an aspect of myself that I would like to work on in my time at the Executive Development Program. In some cases, I avoid situations that create conflict which in turn leaves the department exposed to numerous risks including errors, misrepresentations, lateness etc. These errors can cause major problems for our organization ranging from litigation costs to the loss of our clientele.This creates a fear and conflict within me as I evaluate how to handle a situation that requires me to decide whether or not to confront an errant team.
From my performance appraisals from top management, I have also realized that my compulsive need for perfection creates unnecessary reduction in the productivity and efficiency of my department. This is because in the time we use perfecting our assignments, we could use in doing more. This trade-off between quality and quantity produced creates a conflict for me as I always choose to make the client happy by giving them a final product which is as close to their demands as possible. This in some instances leads to “wastage” of time in the production of one unit of goods which in perfect conditions, would have two goods produced in the same duration. Upon further analysis of this situation, I realized that I placed too much responsibility on the creative team members that others, depending on the scope of the assignment at hand. For instance, team members with vast experience in producing advertisement campaigns geared towards the retail consumer got more responsibilities than those with experience in gathering market statistics. This “inequity” in role assignment creates inefficiency in the total production by my team.
Another weakness highlighted by my experience as the Marketing Manager for my organization is my inadequate skills in Business Information Technology. With the growing need to adopt internet technologies to the contemporary business processes of the modern age, the need for skills in information technology is now more important. Additionally, globalization of the business processes creates the need to embrace information technology to ease the functionality of the business. In my current job, social media and other internet based advertising avenues take up most of the advertising space in these times. Therefore, adequate mastery of these and related technologies makes the future of business an inevitable alien world for me, given my inadequate expertise in this field.
2.3 Opportunities
In my profession, several management opportunities exist. With the growing trend towards globalization of the business process, the field of management is thus becoming diverse and versatile, with the prospect of accommodating only the professional, ambitious and self-driven management personnel. Due to the increasing global competition attributed to the globalization of business process, successful businesses need to evolve into the competition and find a sustainable way of doing business. The continuity of the corporation long after its owners means that managerial presence is crucial to the very success these corporations enjoy. The absence of an authority figure in a business can translate (directly or indirectly) into inefficiency in production, substandard products, loss of consumer confidence and in some cases possible litigation expenses. Therefore, through the Executive Development Program, I seek to better myself both personally and professionally in the wake of the changing times for my professionin regards to the globalization of the businesses process. The acquisition of new skills in relation to the business process such as learning new languages, acquiring international public relation skills, studying new cultures and learning different management techniques formulated in different set ups.
Additionally, my future plans include acquiring additional skills in Business Information Technology to supplement my current skills. This will enable me to diversify my portfolio from the strictly management roles to broader more diverse roles within the business structure with the epitome of which I will fulfil my ambition of running my own organization. This is because with the growing shift towards the information technology age, the mastery of this field will be essential to the management and functionality of the future business organization. Thus, aligning my skills portfolio with the future of the business process is core to my career development, present and future job satisfaction and the chance for self-actualization; as stated in Marslow’s hierarchy of needs. Additionally, acquisition of international relation skills and acumen will be important for my career objective fulfilment. This is because of the growing need for competitive business organizations to diversify their operations beyond their sovereign bounders into international territories, to increase their profitability, market share and global reach.
2.4 Threats
There are two main types of threats to my future management career. These include internal and external threats. Internal threats are those which manifest within me and the external threats are those which are posed by my environment. For instance, within my own capacity my pursuit for perfection from past experiences has in some instances created friction within my team which often boils over to the overall productivity of the team. These situations usually manifest in actual or perceived slacking off by my team members which is generally unacceptable for me as the team leader. My pursuit for perfection poses a threat to my future career development and growth since in doing so, the productivity of the team in general is reduced, which reflects badly on the team leader.
Moreover, my handling of these situation also needs refining as I feel that in most instances, I do not handle these human resource conflict situations to the best of my abilities which usually leaves an aura of suppressed emotions and feelings which in turn reduces the efficiency and productivity of my team. This is an aspect about myself that I would like to work on in my time at the Executive Development Program. In some cases, I avoid situations that create conflict which in turn leaves the department exposed to numerous risks including errors, misrepresentations, lateness etc. These errors can cause major problems for our organization ranging from litigation costs to the loss of our clientele. This creates a fear and conflict within me as I evaluate how to handle a situation that requires me to decide whether or not to confront an errant team.
3.0 Self-Assessment
The ability to perceive the immediate environment around an individual in a subjective and realistic manner is one of the descriptive traits of the human being. This judgement about one’s capabilities and competencies in regards to certain situations is referred to as self awareness. Each and every individual has a unique and different capacity for handling day to day difficulties. That is why every individual experiences changes in their environment in a unique manner and react differently in response to these changes in their immediate environment.The modern business environment is quite demanding requiring participants in this field to quickly adapt to the perpetually evolving business conditions while remaining competitive and profitable both in the short term and in the long term. Therefore, it is a worthy question to self examine and evaluate how well suited an individual is in a personal capacity in regards to the ever evolving business environment. My self-assessment will enable me to know the aspects of my life which are essential to my identity. I will carry out a self-assessment with the motive of self-verification, along with self-evaluation and self-enhancement
Self-Assessment allows individuals to take personal charge of their career development and learning prospects, by fully engaging in the process of self reflection and evaluation and taking the necessary steps and actions to remedy their shortcomings. This process is very inspiring for the individuals who seek to take charge of their career since it stimulates the participants towards their inspirations, allowing them to edge closer to their career objectives and ambitions. This process allows for individuals to make personal reflection on their career progress and review this progress by reminding the individual that the responsibility for career growth befalls the individual and not on the organization they work for.
Self-reflection refers to the personal evaluation what personality traits such as social behaviours, moral values, performance quality and personal relationship. These factors are very important in the discovery of the inner self, which forms a basis for self assessment.To evaluate myself and how well I fit in the Executive Development Program, I will evaluate four key areas in my professional life including: interests and passions, job related skills, values and finally, personality fit. This will be done with the aid of a Self Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ) designed to evaluate my professional progress against my career objectives and ambitions.The Self Assessment Questionnaire is designed to highlight the personal interests, Personality, skills, experiences and values of the individual under assessment.These are the most important components of the inner self that an individual projects to the world. The Self Assessment Questionnaire below is a copy of thequestionnaire I used to arrive at the various conclusions about myself in regards to my personal interests, personality, skills, experiences and values.
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Operating Environment
Specific Criteria 0-39 40-49 50-59 60-69 70 – 79 80-100
Operating Environment (15%) Little or no operating environment analysis. Very little understanding of the wider issues in the operating environment. Largely a description of the purpose and process with no contextual analysis or evidence. Very definition orientated with no real analysis or depth. Clear understanding and some analysis of purpose and process. Some areas have gaps and some areas require further justification. As previous section but with improved analysis and clear understanding of purpose with good overview of environment. As previous section but a holistic view of the operating environment. Deep detailed understanding of operating environment. As previous section but a holistic view of the operating environment. Deep detailed understanding of operating environment and its relevance in the wider field.
Objectives (15%) Very poor Objectives, No depth no understanding. Objectives are very descriptive. No real focus and difficult to measure in the long term. Clear understanding of Objectives, with some analysis of purpose. As previous section with understanding of Objectives based on SMART Framework. Objectives linked with channel strategy based on Operating Environment. As previous section with detailed understanding of Objectives based on SMART Framework. Objectives linked with channel strategy. As previous section with detailed understanding of Objectives based on SMART Framework. Objectives closely linked with channel strategy.
Strategy (15%) Very little understanding and development of strategy. No understanding and depth. Very descriptive outline you show very little understanding with little justification. Clear understanding of strategies with some justification. As previous section but good justification based on Objectives. Clear identification of Target market and positioning strategy. Detailed understanding on the way forward for the company. Good identification of strategies very closely linked to Objectives. As previous section but excellent understanding on the way forward for the company. Detailed identification of strategies with close ties to previous areas of the assignment
Implementation (30%)
Very little discussion on implementation. Technologies identified do not match strategies discussed. Poor prototype and planning. Very descriptive use of technology with no real understanding of technologies needed. Poor justification for prototype and planning, and poor discussion on design structure & implementation. Clear understanding of implementation with some decent justification of prototype and planning. Some relevant discussion on social media. Some constructive discussion on design structure & implementation. Clear planning with a coherent wireframe, navigation structure, social media plan and prototype with good justification. Linked with strategy and detailed discussion on design structure & implementation. As previous with detailed planning and prototype with excellent justification closely linked with Strategy and objectives. A coherent and excellent design structure and implementation. As previous section but detailed analysis of Usability and accessibility issues
Measurement Strategy (20%) Shows little understanding of basic concepts with inadequate or erroneous descriptions and explanations. Some understanding but very descriptive in content and context. More specific measurement tools need to be addressed. Some basic discussion on Budgeting issues. Clear Understanding with some analysis of the measurement and budgeting process. As previous section but with improved analysis and clear understanding of different touch points and channels and identification of measurement metrics As previous section but with improved analysis and clear understanding of different touch points and channels and the identification of key measurement metrics and understanding of synchronisation between objectives and Measurement As previous section but detailed understanding and synchronisation between objectives and Measurement
Report Quality (5%) The reports organisation is lacking. Some importance points are overlooked or not developed. The reader has difficulty in following the argument. The overall organisation is generally clear although the reader may have some difficulty in making logical links in parts of the report. Some points may lack development.
The overall structure is usually clear and logical but some paragraphing may be problematic. The overall argument generally develops logically but ideas may occasionally not link well.
The overall structure is clear and logical with good paragraphing in terms of position and structure. The overall argument develops logically. The overall structure is clear and logical with excellent paragraphing in terms of position and structure. The overall argument develops logically. Excellent structure with clear and logical report style.
The University of Huddersfield Business School
ASSIGNMENT FRONT SHEET
Module: Digital Marketing and Communications: BHO0172
Module Tutor: Abdul Jabbar
Assignment Title: Online Brand Marketing plan (report)
Hand in date: 8th December 2015
Where to hand in: TurnitinUK ONLY
Note: This assignment contributes to 50% of the total module mark.
Learning Outcomes
4. Research and assess opportunities for the application of digital marketing and communications practices within specific markets
5. Create detailed, actionable e-marketing plans
6. Identify the information, systems and process requirements for successful integrated, customer-focused e-marketing management
7. Apply quantitative techniques to analyse marketing data
Identification of group and individual components:
The assignment is to be completed individually by each student.
DETAILS OF ASSIGNMENT
Assignment task
For the purposes of this assignment outline and detail an online marketing plan for an organisation based on the scenario below.
Based on your analysis of the scenarios you will need to do the following:
• Clearly define the marketing environment for the organisation.
• Using an environmental framework Identify in depth areas of opportunity and weakness and use these to formulate the objectives of your marketing plan.
• Detail your strategy and how you intend to implement it. You will need to consider your niche and target market strategy alongside your positioning and differentiation strategy. In addition identify your domain name with costs.
• You will be expected to implement your ideas and therefore you will be required to develop a fully functioning website prototype which includes as a minimum 5 pages. You will need to include a wire frame and a navigational outline to show that the necessary information and planning process has taken place.
• As part of this implementation detail your social media strategy.
• Identify what are the key metrics you will use to help you identify your success rate in meeting your objectives. You will need to develop a measurement strategy based on defined online metrics and analytical criteria.
• Reflect on the information and process developments. Carefully consider, style, layout and appropriate e-marketing activities that were integral during the implementation phase.
Reflect on the decisions you have made and the ideas you propose and give full justification.
This is an individual written assignment. 3000 words maximum.
Assignment Scenario
For this assessment you will be required to be thorough in your analysis and research and make maximum use of the scenario provided.
You are a Digital Marketing consultant who has been approached by a local book publishing business known as “books r us”, who are located in the town of Pendle. They are a small organisation whose primary business goals revolve around identifying good quality authors who write books that are in the realm of science fiction and fantasy and then selling these books. Books r us is struggling in the economic downturn and therefore they intend to diversify as a business into online publishing offering, as a minimum the following packaged services:
Books r Us services:
• Standard cover design
• Online marketing
• Online book publishing
• Bespoke cover design (freelance designers)
• Book editing (extra 5% surcharge)
• Website sales
“Books r Us” wants to diversify its product range and increase its online brand awareness. Currently they do not have an online presence and no mechanism to engage with their current or past customers.
Therefore your job is to develop a Online marketing plan with a website prototype which allows “Books r Us” to compete within the online environment. You will need to write a report and create an online presence that allows books r us to:
• Increase Brand awareness
• Increase engagement with their users
• Provide a platform(s) to sell their books online.
• Provide a platform(s) to publish the books online
• You will need to Identify multiple channels not just your website.
You must remember that the book publisher has zero experience of the online environment with their skillset primarily anchored in the offline environment.
Guidance Notes:
You should support your work throughout with evidence from good quality academic (journal articles, textbooks, conference proceedings, etc) and business sources. All material you reference should be cited fully using the standard university style, both within the main body of your report and in a clearly marked References section at the end.
You should ensure that you adhere to the current student regulations regarding assessment (presented in the student handbook), with particular reference to ethical considerations and issues of plagiarism. You will need to hand in your work through TurnitinUK at 23:59pm on the day stated above. It is important that your published URL is pasted on the cover sheet of your work. There is no need for a manual hand in.
Core Text:
• Dawsonera eBooks — electronic book
Library holdings:
• Huddersfield: 10 copies (none available at the moment)
Bibliographic details:
• 5th edition, published in 2012 by Pearson (Harlow)
• shelfmark: 658.800285 INT
• ISBNs: 9780273746102 / 9780273746225
Library Catalogue – all editions and related works:
• Digital marketing : strategy, implementation and practice (5th ed, 2012) – Chaffey, Dave
• Digital marketing strategy, implementation and practice (5th ed, 2012) – Chaffey, Dave [electronic book]
Internet marketing : strategy, implementation and practice (4th ed, 2009) – edited by Chaffey, Dave
Recommended Reading:
Dahl,S. (2015) – Social Media Marketing; theories and applications.
Hemann,C. and Burbary,K. (2013) – Digital Marketing Analytics
Laudon, Kenneth C. and Traver, Carol Guercio (2014) – E-commerce : business, technology, society
Sheldrake, Philip (2011) – The Business of influence : reframing marketing and PR for the digital age
Background Reading
Kelly, Sean (2006) – Customer intelligence : from data to dialogue
Lee, Nancy and Kotler, Philip (2012) – Social Marketing: Influencing Behaviors for Good
Osterwalder, Alexander, Pigneur, Yves and Clark, Tim (2010) – Business model generation: a handbook for visionaries, game changers, and challengers
Weinreich, Nedra Kline (2011) – Hands-on social marketing : a step-by-step guide to designing change for good (2nd ed)
What to include in the assignment:
Talk about how a website will make the business (Books R Us) do better and how important it is by comparing with other existing business.
Include S.W.O.T and PESTL analysis for this business.
 Help’s to support marketing strategy by:
Awareness / brand recognition
Attraction / lead generation
Conversion
Acquisition
Retention
Relationship / loyalty
Talk about wireframing:
 A basic outline of an individual page, drawn to indicate the elements of a page, their relationships , and their relative importance
 Used by designers to indicate the eventual layout of a web page
 A wireframe is a simple outline that allows you to work exclusively on the experience, ignoring the visual aspects for now.
 Back to graph paper.
 Integrate consistently available components (navigation, search)
Talk about:
 Hierarchy is conveyed by the way in which elements are grouped and sub-grouped.
 They are defined by:
Proximity
Alignment
Consistency
Contrast
Talk the ten rules of Thumb:
 Visibility of system status:
 Match between system and the real world:
 User control and freedom:
 Consistency and standards:
 Error prevention:
 Recognition rather than recall:
 Flexibility and efficiency of use:
 Aesthetic and minimalist design:
 Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors:
 Help and documentation:
Cover up e-marketing metrics: (Note: create a table for this structure)
 
 
 
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