Mk0134 assignment brief 2010 2011 final
- 1. Module Code:MK0134Module Title:MarketingDistributed on:16/02/11Hand in Date:Please check with the UG office<br />Instructions on Assessment:<br />Simbrand <br />Simbrand is a competitive marketing strategy simulation where students assume responsibility for developing a firm’s marketing strategy as they take on the role of the marketing manager. Participants have to react to the firm’s current situation, the nature of the market and the competition it faces. Simbrand provides a great learning experience for students with:<br />Dynamic markets in the various stages of growth, which provide opportunities to succeed.<br />Opportunity to achieve good results based on sound marketing decision-making.<br />Reinforcing the financial implications of marketing strategies in terms of profits and share price.<br />Testing student skills in realistic markets with realistic marketing relationships.<br />Part One: <br />Participating in the Simbrand simulation (30 marks)<br />Simbrand is being run within your seminar group and is played within teams.<br />6 Simbrand decisions are to be made.<br />Decisions 2, 4 and 6 will be assessed on the amount of profit between those rounds that each team has made. For example profit for decision 2 is the total profit made decision 2 - 1; decision 4 is total profit made decision 4 - 3; and decision 6 is total profit made decision 6 - 5 (see table below)<br />SimBrand decision 2 (Profit at decision 2 - profit at decision 1)SimBrand decision 4 (profit at decision 4 - profit at decision 3)SimBrand decision 6 (profit at decision 6 - profit at decision 5)<br />Part Two<br />Simbrand presentations (20 marks)<br />Student teams will make two 10 minute presentations (one in week 33 / 9) and one in week 35 /11) within their usual seminar sessions<br />Presentation 1 (10 marks)<br />Students are to give an overview of their advertising strategy in Simbrand so far using Simbrand reports and marketing theory. More detail will be given to students in the seminars and on the black board site prior to the presentations being made.<br />Presentation 2 (10 marks)<br />Students are to give an overview of their distribution strategy in Simbrand so far using Simbrand reports and marketing theory. More detail will be given to students in the seminars and on the black board site prior to the presentations being made.<br />Students are encouraged to use power point and screen shots from simbrand to support their presentation. Each presentation should include the use of Simbrand market outlook information and academic theory. <br />Part three<br />Final Report (one written report per group – 2000 words) (50 marks in total)<br />Your report should cover your marketing strategy for the next round in the Simbrand (a hypothetical decision 7). You should choose whether to concentrate on Asia – specifically China OR Europe – specifically the UK. Using external resources students should conduct some analysis on the mobile phone market within their chosen country and then discuss their Simbrand strategy in relation to their research findings. Your discussion should include:<br />Product<br />Price<br />Advertising<br />Channel Investments<br />Research & Development<br />This should be applied to Marketing theory, models or diagrams and other academic research. <br />The report must be supported by, as a minimum, <br />2 academic text books<br />2 academic journal articles (electronic or hard copy)<br />2 electronic references (websites, news paper articles, market research reports)<br />These sources are to be fully referenced using the Harvard referencing system.<br />The report should also include a confidential peer evaluation form which each student within each team submits in a sealed envelope along with their group report (see below for details).<br />Report Format.<br />The work should be presented in a basic report format using a contents page, subheadings and bullet points as appropriate. An introduction and conclusion are not required. Sensible use of an appendix is permissible.<br />Peer evaluation<br />All group members are to individually complete a final Peer evaluation form – available on the BB site. Each form should be put into a separate sealed envelope and submitted with the final report. At the end, total marks awarded will be shared amongst the group according to each group member’s views on how the others performed (Peer evaluation). The marks of the group members will be adjusted – higher or lower depending on the peer evaluations. The maximum differential between any two students through peer evaluation alone will be 10%. It is not intended that peer evaluation alone will allow any student to fail. Further differential of marks may be made by the module teaching staff if considered necessary.<br /> <br />Marking <br />(1) Decision marking: (30 marks in total)<br />For the 3 decisions, marks are awarded as follows: <br />10 marks for financial performance:<br />6 teams: Top performer gets 10 marks, 2nd get 8 marks, 3rd get 6 marks, 4th get 5 marks, 5th / 6th get 4 marks each.<br />(2) Presentations: (10 marks per presentation = 20 marks total)<br />(3) Final Report (one written report per group – 2000 words) (50 marks in total)<br />Summary of marks allocation<br />SimBrand decision 210SimBrand decision 410SimBrand decision 610SimBrand presentation 110SimBrand presentation 210Group report50<br />Important note about ARNA regulations<br />The regulations specify that students must complete every assessment component contributing to the modules on their programme. This applies to all forms of assessment as defined in the module descriptor. Please note that:<br />if any assessment component is not completed, students will be failed in the module even if the module pass mark has been achieved;
- 2. if the requirements for referral specified in section 5 of ARNA1 are met, a resit opportunity will be given;
- 3. if unable to complete an assessment component because of extenuating circumstances, students should follow the procedure described in the Student Guide to Extenuating Circumstances1.This change was approved by Academic Board on 12 October 2009 in consultation with the Students’ Union. Students should consult their Programme Leader or Guidance Tutor if they have any queries. Independent advice and support is also available from the Students’ Union Advice & Representation Centre (su.advice@northumbria.ac.uk) or from a student adviser in Student Services. <br />1ARNA and the Student Guide to Extenuating Circumstances Affecting Assessed Work are available from http://www.northumbria.ac.uk/sd/central/ar/lts/assess/assproc/assdocstud/ (Some basic instruction if required here)<br />Word limits and penalties for assignments<br />If the assignment is within +10% of the stated word limit no penalty will apply. However, if the word limit exceeds the +10% limit, 10% of the mark provisionally awarded to the assignment will be deducted. For example: if the assignment is worth 70% but is above the word limit by more than 10%, a penalty of 7% will be imposed, giving a final mark of 63%.<br />Time limits and penalties for presentations<br />The time allocated for the presentation must be adhered to. At the end of this time, the presentation will be stopped and will be marked based on what has been delivered within the time limit.<br />Submission of Assessment:<br />All assignments must be submitted via the Undergraduate Programme Office. Each assignment must be accompanied by an Assessed Work Form which must be completed in full. The assignment will not be accepted by the Undergraduate Programme Office unless the form is completed correctly.<br />Marked assignments will be returned to students. It is advisable to retain a copy of your assignment for you own records. Your mark will be returned on the Assessed Work Form via the Undergraduate Programme Office.<br />Referencing your work<br />The Harvard method of referring to publications and of arranging references uses the author's name and the date of the publication. References are listed at the end of the text in alphabetical order by author's name. The general format of a journal reference is shown below:<br />Smith, J. (1999) ‘How to succeed!’, Journal of Entrepreneurs, 1 (2),pp.34-56<br />Author/s name and initials are listed first, followed by year of publication in brackets. Then there is the title of article and the journal where article appears, which is in italics. Finally, state the volume and issue Number (in brackets) along with the pages where article can be located.<br />For further information, including advice on how to cite information from the web, access the Library website:<br />www.northumbria.ac.uk/helpguides<br />which addresses frequently asked questions in relation to the Harvard referencing system.<br />Plagiarism and Cheating <br />Your attention is drawn to the University’s stated position on plagiarism. THE WORK OF OTHERS, WHICH IS INCLUDED IN THE ASSIGNMENT MUST BE ATTRIBUTED TO ITS SOURCE (a full bibliography and a list of references must be submitted).<br />Please note that this is intended to be an individual piece of work. Action will be taken where a student is suspected of having cheated or engaged in any dishonest practice. Students are referred to the University regulations on plagiarism and other forms of academic irregularity. Students must not copy or collude with one another or present any information that they themselves have not generated.<br /> (Some basic instruction if required here)<br />Mapping to Programme Goals and Objectives:<br />This assessment will contribute directly to the following Undergraduate programme goals and objectives. <br />1. Knowledgeable about the theory and practice of international business and management<br />Objectives: <br />Students will be able to:<br />x1.Demonstrate current knowledge and understanding of the major functional areas of business.2.Demonstrate current knowledge of specialist functional and professional areas of business where such specialisation is informed by relevant QAA benchmarks, professional accreditation requirements and applicable international educational standards.x3.Demonstrate, through the application of knowledge to business contexts and scenarios, their abilities of analysis and synthesis.<br />2. Skilful in the use of personal, professional and managerial techniques and processes<br />Objectives:<br />Students will be able to:<br />x1.Demonstrate the acquisition and application of a range of personal transferable skills in numeracy, literacy, communication and time management. x2.Exhibit an understanding of the needs of customers, clients and other important contacts through the demonstration of the awareness of key professional and managerial issues, problem solving and critical thinking. x3.Apply managerial and leadership techniques, including negotiation, project management, team building and decision making to business problems appropriate to their level of study.<br />3. Employable as graduates<br />Objectives:<br />Students will be able to:<br />x1.Demonstrate a range of key skills for securing graduate employment, including self presentation e.g. in CVs, interviews and assessment centres.2.Demonstrate an active awareness of the graduate labour market in order to secure, retain and develop a graduate career.3.Provide evidence of direct engagement with a range of graduate employers and professional bodies..<br />4. Aware of ethical issues impacting on business and professional practice<br />Objectives:<br />Students will be able to:<br />1.Demonstrate an understanding of UK and international organisations’ approaches to Corporate Social Responsibility and their implications for organisations and individuals.2.Demonstrate an understanding of the ethical codes of professional bodies and the legal and regulatory contexts in which these operate.x3.Demonstrate an understanding of different perspectives towards organisational ethics including shareholder, stakeholder and critical approaches.<br />Assessment Criteria (NBS)<br />The first column indicates the general assessment criteria used within NBS the second column indicates the specific criteria used when marking your assessment.<br />MarkGeneral CriteriaModule Assessment CriteriaFirst (80 - 100)Exceptional comprehension of knowledge demonstrated. Sophisticated skill shown in formation of relevant argument or analytical reasoning.Excellent structure. All issues well addressed. Thorough understanding of learning processFirst (70 - 79)Thorough knowledge and understanding demonstrated. Fluent and focused. Shows ability to contextualise knowledge and sustain a relevant argument or logical reasoning. Good structure. All points addressed to a high standard. Clear lessons covered in learning processUpper Second (60 - 69)The knowledge base is judged sound and relevant. Material is well presented and organised. Occasionally, conclusions are reached on the basis of insufficient informationFair structure. Clear issues covered in a logical way. Learning issues addressed well.Lower Second (50 - 59)Work is relevant, however, confusion shown at times. Over reliance on description rather than analysis. Perhaps some evidence of unstructured argument or illogical reasoning.Basic structure. Most areas addressed but lacked sufficient clarity and apparent understanding. Some learning experienced identifiedThird (40 - 49)Basic knowledge-and understanding of subject shown. Work can lack focus, and is prone to unsubstantiated assertion or logic. Basic structure, Most issues addressed but lacked focus. Minor understanding of learning process(30 - 39)Some elements of knowledge apparent but question/s inadequately addressed. Poor structure. Content often irrelevant.Weak structure. Limited overage of issues. Lacked understanding of learning experience(0 - 29)Unable to grasp concepts, or to present facts in a relevant way. Often inarticulate and can be incomprehensible.Poor structure. Inadequate coverage of issues. Poor understanding of process<br />Note: For those assessments or partial assessments based on calculation, multiple choice etc. Marks will be gained on an accumulative basis. In these cases, marks allocated to each section will be made clear.<br />Students must retain an electronic copy of this assignment and it must be made available within 24 hours of them requesting it be submitted.<br /> <br />