5.1 Discussion: Devotional – Planning

Getting Started

Planning: Our Part of God’s Part?

Managers spend large parts of their lives planning and controlling, two of the four functions according to management theory. Yet we are told on Sunday and in our Bible study that God is in control and we should turn it all over to Him. Woody Allen is quoted as saying, If you want to hear God laugh, tell him about your plans. This makes us laugh until we realize how much time we spend making plans in our business and personal life. Is all that time wasted?

Upon successful completion of this discussion, you will be able to:

Develop a biblical framework to resolve ethical dilemmas in marketing strategies and tactics.

Resources

Bible (New International Version)

Background Information

All right, the Lord said to Satan, everything he has is in your power, but you must not hurt Job himself. ()
“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” ()

Instructions

Review the rubric to make sure you understand the criteria for earning your grade.
We are asked by our supervisors, peers, and work team to develop plans for success. We invest significant time and energy in finding and reviewing data, and manipulating spreadsheets and charts and graphs to forecast the future so we think we know what will happen. This course and many others train you on how to perform those analyses.
The course author was once managing a sales team and asked a common question to one of its members, How much will you sell next year? The man, an openly devout Christian, quickly responded, Whatever God brings to me. While the author did not disagree that it could happen, he responded back, OK but God expects you to do your part, so how much are you going to try to sell? The salesperson was not prepared for that question and walked away with a strange look on his face.
In this module, you submit the revised final draft of your internal and external marketing environments report. That report will or should include significant analysis of external elements, factors, and pressures that are outside of your clients control but may have a substantial impact on their plans. We say that analysis is art and science, that science is finding the numbers and art is interpreting them. If there is so much that we cannot control, and we believe that God is in control, can we expect our plans to be valid? We see in the Book of Job that Gods faithful servant lost it all through a series of unexpected and unforeseen events including two natural disasters (lightning and wind). In a few hours, these two unpredictable and indefensible calamities and two attacks by enemies erased all of Jobs success after many years of planning and implementation. Then we are told in Jeremiah that God has good plans for us, almost suggesting that since He has plans for us, we dont need any plans, that its already taken care of.
You identified a company or industry of interest to use in your degree program. Consider these questions and post your thoughts on them:
1. How much can and should a company in your industry of interest plan or how much should its management team rely on letting God do it all?
2. What are some unpredictable and indefensible calamities that might affect your industry of interest?
3. How is it our responsibility as a manager or leader in that industry of interest to do everything we can to plan when external events beyond our control can have such a significant negative impact on our plans?

===============================================================================

5.2 Discussion: Research-based Peer Alternative Response to 4.3

marketing plan. While data is objective, analysis and interpretation of data are influenced by experience, preference, perspective, and risk tolerance. This is why strategy is often referred to as both an art and a science, and why a team can come up with a better solution than one person working alone. The science is finding data and calculating results; the art is looking at the data, understanding what it means today, and forecasting what it will mean tomorrow.

Since the client may view the data differently from the writer, it is helpful for the original writer to be aware of and prepared for alternative interpretations. You as the peer reviewer will be the one who prepares the writer for those alternative interpretations that could be asked by the client during the presentation of the report. You are therefore helping your peer prepare for questions and concerns that he or she might have missed or might have interpreted to be of a different level of impact.

Your role as a peer reviewer is to objectively examine the same category but to come up with a different interpretation of the data and/or a different recommendation. This means you will need to do your own research on the category to understand it well enough to provide an analysis and recommendation. Your solution must be based on your sources which will not be the same as the original writer. As a peer reviewer who must present an alternative interpretation and/or recommendation, you push and prompt the other person to reconsider his or her decision based on a different objective analysis. This allows the original writer to strengthen the proposal before the client sees it.

Upon successful completion of this discussion, you will be able to:

Analyze the effectiveness of emerging promotional strategies.

Resources

Textbook: , Ch. 6-7, pp. 115-150
Textbook: , Ch. 4
Textbook: , Ch. 1-7, pp. 3-51
File: Market Analysis Report Template

Instructions

Review the rubric to make sure you understand the criteria for earning your grade.
Review the pricing, promotion, and distribution report from your peer as submitted to the .
You will need to do appropriate research on the industry and category so that you understand them in order to make an educated analysis and recommendation for this section of the consultants report. It is important to start out with a thorough understanding of the category and industry. You should not rely on the original writers research and description of the industry.
You will provide a 250- to 350-word review to your peer as a post in the discussion forum. Your review must provide a different or alternative perspective, interpretation, conclusion, and/or recommendation for at least one (1) of the six (6) elements noted in the assignment (these should be the 6 titled sections from the ), based on your personal objective analysis of the category using credible sources. You do not need to have an alternative for all six elements of the assignment, but your alternative may involve more than one element since many of them are related.
You will not discuss the original writers analysis or recommendation; all of your comments must be focused on your objective interpretation and analysis. You must have a distinctly different perspective and/or recommendation in your alternative response. In other words, you are looking at the same scenario in the same industry and/or category, but you are coming to a different conclusion such that any form of I agree in your review is not an option.
You must cite at least two credible sources that were not used by the original writer to support your interpretation and recommendation.
Cite your work per current APA standards, however, indenting of the references is not required due to the discussion board format. (See )
Post your initial proposal into the discussion forum as a post, not as an attached file.
Your grading is based in large part on your critical thinking as demonstrated in providing a different interpretation, conclusion, and recommendation. Because your peer is expecting this assistance on time to improve his or her report, late peer postings will have a penalty of 10% per day (6.5 points) for up to 5 days and may not be submitted for points after 5 days. This late penalty cannot be waived by the instructor.

==============================================================================

5.3 Assignment: Research-based Marketing Plan Revised Final Proposal – Internal and External Marketing Environments

Getting Started

Revised Final Proposal – Internal and External Marketing Environments

The process of peer review strengthens a presentation by having another qualified person analyze the same data and then review your work. You have written and revised a product differentiation and positioning section (submitted in 3.4), and a product development and market demand section (submitted in 4.4). You will now strengthen your initial report on internal and external marketing environments by integrating the alternative from your peer (received in 4.2) into your revised final draft that will be submitted to the client.

Upon successful completion of this assignment, you will be able to:

Assess the market structure and internal and external marketing environments to determine the crucial factors influencing the marketing strategy.

Resources

Textbook: , Ch. 9, pp. 175-192
Textbook: , Ch. 6
Textbook: , Ch. 1; Ch. 3, Section 3
File: Market Analysis Report Template

Instructions

Review the rubric to make sure you understand the criteria for earning your grade.
This is your revised final draft of the internal and external marketing environments section of your consultants report. It is based on what you posted in 3.3 and on your peers comments and response posted in 4.2.
Your revised final report must integrate your peers alternative analysis or recommendation as an alternative perspective as part of your final report. You must either accept your peers perspective as a replacement to your initial proposal based on adequate credible theory and current marketing practice to accept it or you must provide adequate credible theory and current marketing practice to reject it. If you accept it as the correct analysis or recommendation, then the peer alternative will become the primary focus of your final paper, and your original analysis and/or recommendation will be noted as an alternative perspective that you have rebutted through cited research. If you do not accept the alternative, then you only need to discuss it as an alternative and provide objective and qualified reasons to reject it.
Use the titles from the to create four sections for this part of the consultants report:
1. Porters five forces model
2. Other macroenvironmental external factors
3. Required Internal Resources and Competencies to Compete in the Market
4. Required Licenses, Patents, and Rulings or Legal Requirements to Compete in the Market
The body of your paper (i.e. excluding title page, graphics, appendices, and references page) must be 1300 words (+/- 50 words). In the event that your peer did not provide feedback, your length must be 1000 words (+/- 0 words) and you will not be penalized for not including the missing feedback.
You must use, cite, and reference at least five credible sources not provided in the course documents, plus at least one source provided in the course documents.
Your paper must be submitted as a Word document.
Your paper must be formatted to current APA standards including title page, body of the paper, citations, headings, graphics, appendices, and references page. (See )