BMM645 International Marketing Management Coursework Assignment 2025-26 | Aston university

1) International Marketing Plan Description:

For a product of your choice (not a service), you should write a 3000-word report, which evaluates the opportunities available within a single chosen country. The report should justify your choices as well as provide a rationale for and an outline of your proposed market entry approach. Additionally, your report should discuss the adaptation and standardisation strategy for that market. The branded product must currently be available in the UK but not currently available in the chosen country.

Your report should address the following, in every case, presenting appropriate and fully referenced theories, and using those theories to substantiate, focus and structure your report. You will need to support your choice of product and country / region and should include the following activities:

Further guidance:

Choice of country: You can choose any country to enter. However, if you choose a large one such as the USA, China, India etc. you must decide whether to go country - wide or to launch in a specific region or state(s) within that country.

Choice of product: Please do not choose a service. You must choose a tangible product. It is expected that the same or similar products, sold by other organisations may already be available in the chosen country. For example, you could choose to launch Brand ‘A’ shoes into Spain. Obviously, there would be other brands of shoes already in that market. For the purposes of this assessment, however, you would need to ensure that Brand ‘A’ shoes were not currently available in Spain.

REPORT STRUCTURE:

Executive Summary (Not included in the word count): You must include an executive summary (<300 words) at the beginning of the report which outlines your report. This is not merely an introduction but an overview of the entire report presenting the main highlights.

STEPS:

1)Brief background of your chosen product and reasons why they should internationalise
This section will provide a brief overview of your chosen product and outline the reasons why you think it should internationalise. Consider internal organisational factors here too.

2)Profile the marketing environment of your chosen product for a potential market using STEEPLE. Analytically summarise the key insights arising from your research to justify selecting it.
In this section, you will draw up a justified shortlist of 4-5 countries, explaining your international market screening process. Based on a rigorous comparative analysis, select the most suitable country. While profiling the marketing environment of the country, you must investigate ALL of the STEEPLE factors, however, include only those insights which are relevant to your chosen product.

3)Provide an overview of your direct competitors using a positioning map for the chosen market to encapsulate how you differentiate yourself from your competition. Summarise all analyses to formulate SMART objectives and define a target market.

Be creative and insightful in this section. There are lots of different variables which you can include in a positioning map beyond just price and quality. Your positioning in the selected country may be different than in the UK, and so can the variables in your positioning map! You can also consider indirect competitors in this section as they may influence the purchase of your product. Following all research and analyses, you should be able to provide:
i)a summary of key insights and derive SMART objectives for your chosen product to attain in your chosen market and
ii)a well-defined target market

4)Justify your chosen market entry strategy

Make sure you fully consider the external environment as well as internal organisational factors when you justify your market entry.

5)Present and discuss your standardisation and adaptation strategy for the chosen market.

You need to provide an overview and discuss what marketing mix factors you will keep the same and what you will adapt for the new market and why (consider the extended marketing mix here where relevant). The preferable approach would be to present overall ideas in a table and critically justify your reasoning thereafter. You may find the use of the below table useful to first present an overview of your standardisation / adaptation and then critically justify. Please make sure that in your justification, you refer to points 1-4 to make your report internally cohesive.

In addressing the steps mentioned, you need to use theoretical models where appropriate and provide a report that is referenced appropriately.

This list should be seen as indicative, you may wish to add more factors specific to your research and reflections. As long as you address the points mentioned above, the structure of the report is entirely up to you.

Weighting of each section:

REPORT FORMAT

For this assignment, a general business report format is required. The word limit is a maximum of 3000 words (excluding the executive summary, which should be no longer than 300 words, reference list and appendices). Tables included within the main body of the assignment will be included within the word count while words in graphs or diagrams are not. The following points should be noted:

• Reports should include a front cover clearly stating title, word count and student number
• Students are encouraged to include graphic representation (charts, tables etc.) fully referenced, to assist the reader
• Referencing of sources of identified data/information will be by using Harvard referencing (See the Library Web pages for further guidance)

All your sections must be written critically and must be correctly referenced in your report using a judicious mix of relevant academic, industry and credible media sources.

IMPORTANT - It is YOUR responsibility to ensure that you upload the correct file to Turnitin; that it is not corrupt; and that it can be opened and read.

2)Reflective learning presentation:

After completing the international marketing plan, create and narrate an A3 PowerPoint poster reflecting on:
i)What you have learnt (e.g., the skills you have gained) and any difficulties you experienced during the process (e.g., analysing information, writing concisely etc.)
ii)How this module has influenced your future career aspirations. You can choose a
framework such as Schein’s career anchors to help here.

Module Learning Outcomes Assessed:

a)Analyse and apply factors that impact upon strategic internationalisation decisions (e.g., apply international marketing theory and frameworks for foreign market selection and market entry decisions).
b)Critically evaluate and make recommendations on the application of the marketing mix in international contexts.
c)Reflect upon the development of their professional skills during the course of the module

Formatting Requirements:

For the written report:

Word Count: 3000 Words including tables (plus 300 words for the executive summary) Font Size: Arial 12 point
Line Spacing: 1.15
Please include the overall word count on the cover page and note, there is no tolerance. Anything above the 3000-word limit will not be marked and the report will be considered incomplete, hence marks deducted for any missing component(s).
For the poster:
Word limit: 750-1000 words
Presentation/narration of the poster should be recorded in PowerPoint and be no more than 5 to 7 minutes.