The Social Age brings with it a new approach to communication and collaboration across boundaries using technology. As with any new technology, there are great benefits and plenty of challenges as well.

One of the advantages for businesses is the ease of interacting with a large audience very quickly. But this also provides the temptation to react when negative things are written and posted about the company.

In Chapter 8 you read about Coca-Cola's social media guidelines. One of the company's guidelines is to avoid the temptation to react in defense of the company in social media spaces. However, not all companies have such policies, especially smaller ones.

Use Strayer's library or the Internet to search for an example of when someone that represented a company or was known to be affiliated with a company reacted to something negative posted about the company.

• In the discussion, describe the scenario and what happened as a result. If you were able to recreate this situation, what would you do differently? Why? Is there ever an instance where you should defend a company you work for? What if it is a company you own? Explain.

Be sure to respond to at least one of your classmates' posts.

The purpose of this assignment is to select a company, conduct research on it, and collect data, analyze findings, and explain how this information is used to formulate marketing objectives, strategies, and tactics that align to the organization's mission and vision statements.

Navigate to the IBIS World resource, provided in Class Resources, and identify a company from the Start Your Search Here search box. You must obtain permission on the company from your instructor prior to starting the project. Explore the IBIS World website and conduct additional marketing research on the company to locate the company's mission and vision. Assume the role of a marketing professional who has been tasked with completing a marketing plan for a client.

Once you have conducted the necessary research, complete and submit the "Benchmark – Marketing Plan Analysis – Marketing Strategies, Objectives, and Tactics" resource to the digital classroom.

While APA style is not required for the body of this assignment, solid academic writing is expected, and documentation of sources should be presented using APA formatting guidelines, which can be found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center.

This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.

You are not required to submit this assignment to LopesWrite.

Benchmark Information

This benchmark assignment assesses the following programmatic competencies:

BS Applied Entrepreneurship, BS Applied Management, BS Applied Marketing and Advertising 1.1; BS Business Information Systems 3.4; BS Business Analytics, BS Business Management, BS Marketing and Advertising, BS Sports Management 3.5; BS Accounting, BS Business Administration, BS Entrepreneurial Studies, BS Finance, BS Finance and Economics, BS Hospitality Management, BS Supply Chain and Logistics Management 3.7; BS Business Secondary Ed 6.2

Determine how organizations formulate marketing strategies and tactics using market and consumer data.

REQUIRED READINGS

Chapter Nine: Product Strategy

Chapter Ten: Prices

From

Berkowitz, Eric N. Essentials of Health Care Marketing. Available from: VitalSource Bookshelf, (5th Edition). Jones & Bartlett Learning, 2021.

Additonal Readings:

 Sturm, A., & Tiedemann, F. (2013). Developing a consumer pricing strategy: as consumers take on more cost responsibilities for their own health care, providers should adopt a more retail-oriented approach to positioning and pricing strategies to stay viable. Healthcare Financial Management, 67(5), 104-109.

PDF: 
Sturn_2013.pdf Sturn_2013.pdf – Alternative FormatsKemp, E., Jillapalli, R., & Becerra, E. (2014). Healthcare branding: developing emotionally based consumer brand relationships. Journal of Services Marketing, 28(2), 126-137. 

PDF: 
Kemp_2014.pdf Kemp_2014.pdf – Alternative Formats

1. Question One: Having recently graduated from an evening MBA program where you worked closely with a team of other MBA students throughout your program, you and two other graduates spent hours together and developed a wellness tracker app that you have pretested with consumers. It tracks a person’s daily activities, can link them with video to a personal coach, provides regular updates on their fitness goals, and provides rewards to retailers in their area. You have also gotten initial interest from insurance companies as well as small and medium-sized employers as a possible way to link with their health plans to reduce cost if their employees participate. An initial program you have run in a pilot test is promising in early results. Now as you and your partners are considering going for more venture money, you also realize that to be successful a key issue to assess is how to enter the market and where you would be in the life cycle and what challenge that might present. Provide illustrations. 
2. Question Two: Two medical organizations have recently examined their cost structures. The first group is a radiology practice with a significant investment in diagnostic-imaging equipment. The second group is a single-specialty pediatric practice. The cost analysis reveals the following distribution:
   
   Explain the implications of these differing cost structures of each medical group in terms of contracting with managed care organizations.
   REQUIREMENTS: (non-compliance will result in Zero credit)
   1. Minimum TWO-page report. Arial 11, 1.15 line spacing, Word/PDF document.
   2. Cite references in APA format. 
   3. Use appropriate terminology. Use content from required readings. 
   4. Provide clear illustrations
   5. Inference is key. Do not copy/paste or simply repeat what is given. 
   6. Incomplete/sloppy work will not be graded. 

Market planning Ag

Market Planning

The food and fiber supply chain is large, broad, and complicated. Understanding the supply chain will help you better understand the various markets and how marketing efforts must adapt to reflect specific areas within the chain. In this assignment, you can learn more about a specific area of the supply chain that interests you.  

Research a segment of the food and fiber supply chain that interests you. It may be an area you see yourself working in someday or an area you want to learn more about. There are many possibilities. Some of these include (as they apply to food and fiber):

• Fertilizer manufacturers
• Fertilizer retailers
• Chemical manufacturers (pesticides)
• Financial institutions
• USDA
• Farmers and ranchers
• Meat processors
• Fruit and vegetable processors

• Warehouse and transportation
• Foodservice 
• Restaurants
• Grocery stores / retail outlets
• Consumer advocacy groups
• Business Analytics
• Accounting / Legal

As you learn more about the segment, summarize its key aspects about it. You might include: 

• Segment size, e.g., how many companies work in the segment, how many people are employed in the segment, how much money is generated in the segment
• Key “players” in the segment. What are the names of companies I might recognize operating in this segment? Which companies in the segment are seen as “innovators?” What are some of the “up-and-coming” companies represented in this segment? 
• Factors that are influencing the segment. What factors have caused the segment to change or may make it change moving forward? Are there examples you can provide that illustrate these forces? 

Your summary should be two pages long (double-spaced if you want). I’m looking for evidence that you did a good job exploring more than the length of the report. 

In this course, you will develop a strategic marketing plan for a selected business that you will use throughout this course. To do so, the assignments and summative assessments in this course build on each other, and you will develop your strategic marketing plan in sections. Please do not integrate previously used content from other courses or assessments outside of this course. 

Review the Strategic Marketing Plan Template to get an understanding of the type of information you will need throughout this course.

Select 1 well-known business you would like to research and use as the basis for developing a marketing campaign. Refer to the following resources, as needed, for assistance selecting a business and locating information about it:

• Marketing professional organizations, such as 4 A’s website or American Marketing Association website
• Get Started with Marketing Research page on the University Library website
• Business databases on the Week 1 University Library

Consider the following during your business selection process:

• The business you select will be used throughout the weekly assignments and summative assessments in this course.
• It will be to your benefit to select a business whose information is easily accessible. While you will base your plan on the actual business, there may be parts of this assignment that will require you to use your knowledge and resources to make an informed plan.

Develop a 350- to 700-word outline for your selected business in which you include the following information that you will use to complete portions of your Week 2 summative assessment:  

• Mission statement
• Vision statement
• Product line description
• Business information, such as the size of the business
• Current target markets
• Current marketing tactics

Cite sources to support your outline.

Format citations and references according to APA guidelines.