6MK509 Marketing Across Cultures CW1 & CW2 Assessment Brief

6MK509 Description of the assessment

Formative assessment

The interactive style of workshops will provide opportunities for formative and peer assessment. Students’ ideas for coursework can be discussed with the tutor via Microsoft Teams and email.

Summative assessment

6MK509 Assignment 1 CW1: 30% weighting

An individual presentation where you profile an international country (with special attention to its culture), which is suggested for the internationalisation process of an organisation of your choice;you will be utilising theories and models encountered in the module, to particularly research the business environment of that entry country, with specific look at the culture of such country.

6MK509 Assignment 2 CW2: 70% weighting

An individual report that builds on the findings of the presentation, which makes recommendations to the organisation of your choice (which should be presented in CW2), regarding the market entry Internalstrategy and international marketing mix  for the selected company when entering the internationalisation country previously analysed in CW1.  

Description of the assessments

Formative assessment

The interactive style of workshops and in-class activities will provide opportunities for formative and peer assessment.

Summative assessment CW1   is   an   individual   presentation   (roughly   1500   words   (+/-   10%))  where   you   profile   aninternational   country   (with   special   attention   to   its   culture),   which   is   suggested   for   theinternationalisation process of an organisation of your choice.

Learning Outcome 1  (achieved via the satisfactory completion  of CW1) states“critically discuss the differing approaches that can be used to carry out a cross-cultural   analysis,   and   using   a   chosen   cross-cultural   approach,   develop   an understanding of the social and cultural differences between two very culturally-different countries of your choice”

CW2 is an individual 2000 word (+/- 10%) critical, structured business report. Your report will focus on the key issues contained within the module, and be based on an  organisation either of your choice or provided by the moduleleader, and will specifically relate to  Learning Outcomes 2 and 3.  The  individual report that builds on the findings of the presentation reflecting on how cultural difference influencethe standardisation vs adaptation process, which makes recommendations to the  organisation ofyour   choice   (which   should   be   presented   in   CW2),  regarding   the   market   entry   strategy   andinternational   marketing   mix     for   the   selected   company   when   entering   the   internationalisationcountry previously analysed in CW1.

Learning Outcomes 2 and 3 (achieved via the satisfactory completion ofCW2) state: 

• (Learning   Outcome   2)   “Critically   examine   how   the   social   andcultural   factors   of   a   selected   foreign   country   could   influenceconsumer behaviour   towards  a   particular  product  or  service, andevaluate the strategic implications this may have on the marketingmix.”
• (Learning Outcome 3) “Critically evaluate the various internationalmarket   entry   strategy   options   available   to   the   company   seekinginternational   expansion   to   a   culturally-different   destination,   andmake justified recommendations for the market entry strategy thatthe company should adopt."

6MK509 Assessment Content CW1 – 5 minute presentation 

Scenario: 

You are a recent graduate, working in the marketing team of a successful business. You have been tasked by your marketing director to support an internationalization project. The project is to identify a suitable new destination to expand sales and exports. Using your knowledge of Marketing Across Cultures, provide a scoping presentation that indicates a potential destination country.  The task is to create a 5 minute pitch that informs the marketing director of a potential destination country. You can choose to perform the presentation face to face or as a recorded presentation.

It is suggested that the following structure is used for the presentation:

• Introduce the pitch and your situation (10%)
• Explain why we need to understand culture during internationalisation (10%)Deliver an explanation (and therefore deliver a clear understanding) of the role, objective, value and relevance to any organisation of conducting an analysis of the foreign culture and foreign business environment.Word count: roughly 200 words (1 min)
• Identify and justify a suitable culture framework. Using this framework, create and present an in-depth description of the culture of your destination country. (40%)

Word count: roughly 800 words (3 mins)Use a framework that has been discussed in class to base your analysis. Use graphics and illustrations as aids to demonstrating your point of view succinctly. Creativity and clarity are essential to a high grade. Therefore prioritise the issues most relevant and likely to affect your company.

• Identify and justify a suitable culture framework. Using this framework, create and present an in-depth description of the culture of your destination country. (40%)

Word count: roughly 800 words (3 mins)Use a framework that has been discussed in class to base your analysis. Use graphics and illustrations as aids to demonstrating your point of view succinctly. Creativity and clarity are essential to a high grade. Therefore prioritise the issues most relevant and likely to affect your company.

• Conclude your presentation by demonstrating critical cultural differences that may affect your company operating in this new country (30%)

Use cross cultural analysis frameworks to help demonstrate the significant differences in culture that may affect your product or service Word count: roughly 500 words. (2mins)

• Quality and references (20%) 

Your presentation will be judges on its overall impact, clarity and creativity, ideas clearly evidencing an appreciation of cultural theories; and appropriate Harvard styleciting and referencing techniques and protocols. Include a list of sources with your presentation.Use visual aids and present in your own style. Use 3 or 4 bullet points on each slide, and add any further text into your presentationnotes if desired. Ensure that the presented slides are not overly wordy (written text inverbatim speech format)

6MK509 Assessment Content CW2

As this may be the first time your company will be targeting and entering a culturally very different country, your (second) report must include the following:

• Details of the chosen organisation (15%): introduce the project objectives the organisation and its product or service, the home and host countries/cultures. Provide company details and current internationalisation goals.

Further details:This is where you introduce the business and its overall aim to internationalise or globalise, a description of where they have internationalised so far, and an overall brief on the company, using typical tools such as a SWOT analysis in order to describe why the internationalisation is pursued. Include data to help describe the size and capability of the company. Justify why internationalisation is an appropriate strategic aim.

• International Customer Behaviour (25%):  examine and explain how the social and cultural factors of your target internationalisation country could influence consumer behaviour towards your product or service. This is followed by an overall evaluation of the strategic implications this may have on the internationalisation process, in relation to the opportunities of standardising or adapting the international marketing of the organisation.Note: It is imperative that you also consider the elements raised in the CW1.

Further details:

Based on the point raised in CW1, analyse the international consumer behaviour that you expect in the foreign country of choice. The principles of standardisation v adaptation require consideration.

It is important to clearly define the direct benefits of standardisation for firms, such as economies of scale and efÏciencies from the learning curve effect, but also to consider the indirect benefits that come from consumer perceptions of the consistency of company image of the firm and the effect of this on the perceived brand value.

Highlight here the obvious barriers to a full standardisation, to include market led factors raised in CW1, such as the legal and cultural differences between countries (typical example: In Saudi Arabia, for example, all advertising is subject to censorship, and regulations prohibit a long list of subject matter)Also highlight specific company factors, such as the integration (or independence) of the strategies pursued by individual SBUs and competitor led factors, for example, where a firm is weak in different markets and has to follow different market leaders; consideration of competitors is important here.