2. Emerging Themes Assignment briefing June and September 2013 Michelle Gledhill Senior Examiner Chartered Postgraduate Diploma in Marketing

3. Session Outline Emerging themes. Strengths and weaknesses of past diets. Assessment advice.

4. Emerging Themes Syllabus 1.Macro and micro emerging themes (50%): – 1.1 Critically evaluate macro environmental emerging themes and assess/forecast their potential impact upon one specific sector or industry. – 1.2 Critically evaluate micro environmental emerging themes and assess/forecast their potential impact upon one specific sector or industry.

5. 2. Micro emerging themes (50%): – 2.1 Judge the importance of a range of emerging themes to a particular organisation. – 2.2 Develop contemporary strategic marketing and business responses to a prioritised emerging theme. – 2.3 Propose methods by which marketing professionals can anticipate and adapt to change.

6. Themes Profit to Purpose. Geopolitical Wars. Resource Shortages. Mobility in Production and Consumption. Source: Global Trends for 2013, The Economist.

7. Assessment 3,000 word project. All tasks compulsory. Candidates to select themes. Framework: – Summary and evaluation of sources. – Discussion paper. – Webpage for internal company intranet.

8. Approach Theory/concept 15%. Application 30%. Evaluation 45%. Format and Presentation 10%.

9. General Strengths Candidates mentioned a wider range of concepts and frameworks, including better coverage of consumer behaviour theory. There was a good level of research evident in most papers again and use of evidence to support assertions was improved on previous cohorts. Most papers were referenced, which is a great improvement on previous sittings. Presentation of papers was generally good, with considerable thought and care going into layout and graphics used.

10. Better students used their sources expertly to build a picture of a changing external environment impacting the future of the sector. Some students provided a rationale for their blog stating the target audience and included objectives. The informality of the blog seemed to work well with most candidates making a good attempt to summarise their work in an accessible manner.

11. General Weaknesses Poor referencing-inconsistency, models not referenced. Outdated sources. Critical evaluation – general lack of relevant underpinning theory. Models used seem to be led by the centre as opposed to those applicable on an individual basis. There is still scope to use a wider range of theory and more current strategy content. Few candidates attempt to use ideas from a wider range of theorists covering competitive advantage – such as D’Aveni, Mintzberg, Barney and Peteraf. Recommendations – not always strategic in focus and theoretical underpinning lacking.

12. A substantial minority of candidates are still failing to justify their choice of strategic response – often going into tactical details – such as the marketing mix – instead. Adaption of marketing professionals – very generic and not applied to the industry or sector. The blog was generally misunderstood and many students did not understand the relevance and continued to write a letter to a conference organiser? Even those that adopted a more discursive style failed to invite comment. Presentation – few seem to know what an Executive Summary is. The balance of the answer did not always reflect the marks available for the section.

13. Task One Evaluation of sources: – Varied range. – Textbooks. – Journals. – Industry reports. – Internal data. Rating: – Credibility. – Reliability. – Merit.

14. Task Two Discussion Paper. Select and critique relevant macro theme for their industry-ensure sources are referenced by industry and academic sources. Use relevant statistics to support and justify the explanation. Emerging Theme may be dependent on stage of development in identified industry/market. Critically evaluate the impact on supply chain management, consumer behavior, competition. Use relevant models to underpin the discussion paper.

15. Recommend a strategic response that is supported by relevant concepts and theories and addresses the problems posed by the theme discussed. Predict how marketing professionals in the industry will have to ADAPT eg advertising-digital skills, virtual agencies.

16. Task Three Produce an Intranet webpage that summarises the discussion paper and assesses impacts on employees and customers. The tone needs to be professional but demonstrating an insight into the intended internal audience. Candidates are not required to publish the webpage. Candidates may find it useful to look at websites within the chosen sector, and also to search keywords of the sector. Alexa provides information about websites including Top Sites, Internet Traffic Stats and Metrics, related links. www.alexa.com.www.alexa.com The websites can be instructive, and annual reports or ‘About Us’ pages can be helpful in identifying structures and how to communicate persuasively and convincingly to an internal audience.

17. Teach the syllabus not just to the assignment. Ensure students observe command words and complete all tasks. Observe assessment and marking criteria. Assessment

18. Resources Please utilise the sources update available on the tutor website. Tutor Training 2013. CIM Website and Tutor Zone Resources: – Examiner’s Reports. – Harvard Referencing document. – Forum. Learning Zone: – Tips on assignment writing. – Previous assignment briefs. – Syllabus. – recommended reading (books and EBSCO links). – Knowledge Hub.