This is a paper which will go more into depth with a company: Chicago Transit Authority
Read the requirements below and please talk about CTA (Chicago Transit Authority) as an organization and follow the requirements down below. Do not hesitate to ask questions.
MINIMUM OF TEN PAGES, DOES NOT GO OVER 20 PAGES!
MINIMUM OF 10 REFERENCE’S FOR THE PAPER
USE THESE HEADINGS:
I.Background
Introduction to Company/Organization
Describe the firm and what it does in no more than 3 paragraphs. State the industry your organization is in. The reader should be able to know what your company does.
II.Environments
A.Competition: Complete discussion of the industry (number of competitors, total size of industry) and competition, big and small. The more you show what you know about your industry the better. How competitive is your industry.
B. Technology: What tech is affecting your industry and how?
A.Economy: How are major economic factors impacting on your industry.
B. Legal or political factors: Those that affect your business and industry.
C. Customer trends: What are customers trending away from and toward?
D. What is the effect of Covid-19 on this industry and suppliers in this industry?
Here you need to do research obtained outside the company. You must show where you got your information in References. Cite your sources, from References, so reader knows where your information comes from. Exhibits are very useful here to show statistics, charts, and trends on the industry environment. This research will be shown on the reference page. This is your chance to show off how well you understand the industry.
III.The Organization’s Marketing Mix
A.Target Market: First discuss the company’s target market, who is served? Consumers, businesses, donors??? How well do you know them?
B.Offering: What is the company’s offering (product or service)? How does it compare to competitors?
C.Revenue/Pricing: How does your organization pay for itself? You can’t be expected to reveal internal data, just give a general overview of how the revenue comes to the company.
D.Distribution: How does the customer obtain the offering (distribution)? (Online, in stores, at events?) How do your competitors distribute their products?
E.Marketing Communication: What are the company’s present methods of promoting its offerings to its customers in the target market (A, above) and to other stakeholders. Here consider all advertising (on-line and off), social media platforms, sales promotion, events, personal sales people, and public relations. How does your company decide if these methods are effective? Exhibits might also show what competitors are doing on these same variables.
Exhibits are useful to show off what your firm does and what the competitors do for product, price, place and promotion.
IV. |
SWOT Analysis: Based on what you have analyzed to this point, this section should |
discuss strengths, weaknesses (these are internal to the firm), opportunities and |
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threats (these are external to the firm) of your company. Please revisit your MKT 301 |
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text or the index of any basic marketing principles book for the specifications of a |
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SWOT analysis. For opportunities, consider these possible things to exploit in your |
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plan below. Use the headings to explain each. The SWOT Chart should be included with the Exhibits section, NOT in the text of your paper.
V.A Statement of the Bench Mark and Marketing Goal:
Your Marketing Goals should be SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound. You choose one or two measures that you believe are SMART goals. The BENCHMARK is are statement on where your firm is now.
Your GOAL is where you want to be at some point in the future)…set a date.
For help on finding the relevant benchmarks and goals, look at the SWOT analysis, above. There may be weaknesses that need shoring up, Opportunities might give you ideas on how to grow, Threats might tell you what to look at in order to cut off these threats.
VI.Your solution to achieve goal in V:
This is big, your time to shine! This is where you show your marketing plan to reach the goal, above. As much as you can, discuss what your strategy is for product/price/place and promotion. It should be extensive and well thought out. Show plans and charts of what you think they should do in the Exhibits section. Show you have really truly thought about this. If this is less than a page long, you haven’t thought enough.
VII.Reference page
A good paper has many research sources (at least 10). You should research the industry, competitors, the company, and its products/services through a combination of resources. Company supplied information is not enough. Plan to use the library to find out about the industry and competitors.
Format:
List all of your sources in alphabetical order on the “Reference Page” in the back. Do not use foot notes. Number each reference along the left side of the page, e.g.
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ALL EXHIBITS ARE IN THIS SECTION.
NONE ARE IN THE TEXT OF THE PAPER.
Think of your exhibits as if they were Power Point slides that you would use in a presentation. Make one exhibit per page. Think how they tell your story. Each exhibit has a number, title/explanation, and the SOURCE at the bottom.
1.Include your SWOT Chart in Exhibits
2.Would a map of your location and your competitors’ locations be useful? If you are a local operation, show your firm on are map relative to competitors might help.
3.Would an organization chart help the reader understand your operation better?
4.Examples of ads, promotional literature, web site, pricing sheets, catalogue pages, and sales data are all possible exhibits.
5.Scanning documents into an exhibit is easy, but sometimes it is not easy to read. Make sure all exhibits are: CLEAR, NUMBERED, HAVE A TITLE/EXPLANATION and have the SOURCE at the bottom of the exhibit.
6.**It is REALLY IMPRESSIVE when you take some data and do your own analysis on it; put it in a chart, to share with your reader. Use data from surveys or financial documents. Show that you can use EXCEL to make are chart, for instance.
7.Make sure you refer to your exhibits in your paper. Do this by typing (See Exhibit #…)
8.Do not stuff exhibits in this section without mentioning them in your paper.
Rubric for Evaluating the Internship Project:
1. The Exhibits are well done, cited in the text of the paper and represent the discussion in the paper.
2. The research was sufficient to give a true representation of the size and competitive aspects of the industry.
3. The benchmark and goal are measurable and represent important metrics for the firm.
4. The solution is a thorough plan to move the firm from the benchmark to the goal.
5. The SWOT analysis is a thorough evaluation of the position of the firm as it relates to its internal capabilities and its external environment. Opportunities are understood.
6. The target market is a clear description of the profile of the best customer(s) for this firm.
7. The marketing mix is a clear representation of the offering and the programs designed to reach the target market.
8. The discussion of the environment is complete, all elements are explained well.
9.The background statement gives the reader a clear understanding of what the firm does.
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10.Overall, the paper is well written, free of spelling and grammar errors and represents a document the student would be proud to place in his/her employment portfolio.
11.The text portion of this paper should not exceed 20 pages but it probably needs more work if it is less than 10 pages. This page limit does not include the reference pages and the exhibits. You should give it the highest presentation quality you can.
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