Assignment Requirements
My group is going to do the optus and focusing on australia mobile and data market.
(1) What is the general product/service being offered by the organisation? What are the characteristics (size, competitors, activity etc) of the market in which the organisation is operating? What are the sources of value for customers in general for the products/services being offered by the organisation? Are the sources of value the same for all customers? Does the organisation appear to segment its customer base and if so what are the segments the organisation targets?
Project Aim: This Project seeks to understand to what degree organisations have implemented CRM by analysing the organisations’ use of CRM for customer acquisition, retention and development and the organisations’ use of technology (websites, social media, email) to enhance their CRM and potentially customer experiences with the organisation, The objective of the Project is to ascertain the level of implementation of CRM for the organisations, the consistency of CRM implementation and the potential implications for the organisations CRM related strategy and performance.
General Approach: Students will undertake research about organisations and their implementation of CRM. Data may be obtained from surveys, observations, physical evidence such as websites, brochures etc. and through other sources. From this analysis each group is expected to submit a written report outlining the research findings and conclusions.
Report Tasks:
Each group is to select an appropriate organisation from the potential sectors/organisations listed below and investigate the overall Customer Relationship Management (CRM) strategy of the organisation. This investigation should include relevant components of CRM including aspects of consumer behaviour, segmentation, tactics for acquisition, retention and development, application of technologies, channel strategies and consistency, communications and other relevant organisational issues regarding structure or management (where applicable).
The report should address the following major areas in detail, in addition to any other
areas that your group considers relevant to the organisation and its CRM. The following questions serve as a guide and may not be relevant to all organisations. However, as far as possible groups should seek to address this questions in a suitable narrative (don’t just answer each question one by one but weave the answers into a story with evidence for support)
(1) What is the general product/service being offered by the organisation? What are the characteristics (size, competitors, activity etc) of the market in which the organisation is operating? What are the sources of value for customers in general for the products/services being offered by the organisation? Are the sources of value the same for all customers? Does the organisation appear to segment its customer base and if so what are the segments the organisation targets?
(2) What is the type of CRM strategy the organisation currently has in operation and what do its objectives appear to be? To what extent has the organisation implemented the particular CRM strategy? To what extent does the strategy appear to influence organisational structure and culture? What are the potential resource implications for the organisation? Does the current CRM strategy employed by the organisation appear to be successful? If so why, if not why not. How does the organisations current CRM strategy and implementation compare to its direct competitors?
(3) What appear to be the overall strategies concerning customer acquisition, retention and development? How satisfied do customers appear to be with the organisation and the organisations products/services? To what extent are the organisations customers “loyal”? What tactics are employed by the organisation for acquisition, retention and development? Do these tactics employed by the organisation differ by customer segment or extent of customer relationship? Are the tactics consistent with the customer analysis in (1) and the CRM strategy in (2)? How do these tactics compare to the tactics being used by competitors?
(4) To what extent does the organisation use multiple channels to deliver sources of value (can be product/service related, process related or communication related) to its customers? To what extent are these channels integrated and/or consistent in delivering value? How does the channel strategy integrate with customer segments? How does the channel strategy integrate with relationship strategies regarding acquisition, retention and development?
(5) To what extent has the organisation employed technology with respect to its CRM strategy? How does the organisation use technology to deliver customer value? To what extent has the organisation automated relevant customer related processes? Is there consistency with the level of process automation and customer value, segmentation and relationship development? How does the organisation use technology to communicate with customers? How does use of technology for communication integrate with segments and tactics regarding customer acquisition, and customer retention and development? What appears to be the organisation’s presence in social media? How does the organisation use social media, if at all, to enhance customer relationships?
Possible Organisations:
The choice of organisation should come from one of the sectors indicated below. Groups will pick ONE organisation from ONE sector only. The choice of organisation will be in general up to the group to decide, however, it will be in your interests to pick an organisation that will be a reasonably relevant presence in its sector/category. For the Motor Vehicle category for example, you should choose an organisation that sells new motor cars or motorbikes such as Toyota, Honda, Holden, Suzuki etc. This will make it easier for you to answer the questions above as larger organisations will be more likely to have employed some degree of CRM. There will also more likely be publicly available information on these organisations which will assist you in answering the above questions.
Your group should choose the organisation it will investigate as soon as possible and let your tutor know which organisation you have chosen in the tutorial in week 5. This will allow the tutor to vet your choice to make sure the organisation chosen is suitable.
Sectors to Choose From
Motor Vehicles e.g. cars/motorbikes
Financial services e.g. banking/insurance
Travel e.g. airlines/vacations
Telecommunications e.g. mobile phone/broadband
Fashion e.g. major fashion chains/major specialty stores
General Retailers e.g. supermarkets/department stores
Hospitality; e.g. major hotel chains/major restaurant chains
Possible Approach to Answering Report Tasks:
There will be no right or wrong way to approaching answering the tasks. However, you are expected to provide a scientifically based analysis which relies on method and evidence to support your assertions and conclusions in the report. Reliance on purely anecdotal evidence or opinion will be penalised.
Although it is clear that not all CRM related information will be available to students, there will be key evidence that can be gathered from publicly available information which will help you to answer the questions. For example, web sites (not just the organisation’s websites) and social media may be useful in gathering general information about the organisation, its segments, customer satisfaction, available channels, levels of automation and communications. There may also be evidence from brochures and other marketing communications which may be useful. Further evidence may be able to be gained through trade associations to which the organisation belongs. Media stories about the organisation may also be a source of information that can be used.
Groups may supplement such evidence with created evidence based on methodical research. For example, to gauge consistency with channels groups may conduct an experiment which seeks to solve a customer related issue through various channels. The group can then gauge the consistency of responses across the various channels. Alternatively, groups may design a small informal questionnaire for willingly participating friends, family and other students on customer satisfaction or experiences with the organisation. Further, groups may methodically examine the content of media stories or social media regarding the organisation to obtain evidence to answer the 5 main areas indicated above. There may be other ways of gathering evidence and provided the research and accompanying evidence is scientifically derived it will be acceptable.
HOWEVER, at no time should you approach the staff of the organisation and directly ask them to provide information on CRM or CRM strategy. You should also not approach members of the public to gather evidence (other than willing friends, family and other students in MKTG308).
Project Report Submission:
General details regarding submission of the Project Report are indicated below: Groups will submit a written report, in the following form:
Executive Summary
The ES should be a one page or less summary of the Report, including your most important findings, recommendations and conclusions for management of the organisation.
Background/Introduction
A description of the research, an overview of the research objectives and an overview of the organisation studied with accompanying context (which sector, how big, what % market etc)
Analysis
This section should contain your analysis which seeks to answer the 5 main areas indicated above. One possibility would be to separate the analysis section into the 5 main areas above as sub-headings. Alternatively, your group may want to follow the headings in the marking criteria guide but again this is not mandatory. In any case, you should not just answer the questions in the each of the 5 sections one by one but build a narrative which links in a coherent and logical structure all of the relevant issues.
You should include findings as to what extent the organisation pursues relationships with customers, to what degree does the organisation implement CRM to acquire, retain and develop customer relationships, how consistent is the organisation across multiple touch points and channels and how does the organisation use customer focussed technologies such as social media, blogs, websites, apps etc. to enhance its CRM. These findings should be related to the analysis within each of the 5 main areas.
The analysis should contain evidence to support your conclusions regarding the 5 areas with an overall conclusion for each of the areas. If there is evidence which is required to establish the conclusions you are making in this section then it should be included in the analysis section (provided it is of appropriate size). If the evidence is useful but not directly relevant to the conclusions then put it in the appendix with a suitable appendix reference in the analysis section.
Recommendations/Conclusions
In this section you should summarise and integrate the findings of the previous analysis section into a coherent set of conclusions regarding the organisation’s CRM strategy. You should give the report a managerial perspective by assuming the work had been commissioned by the organisation to improve the overall CRM strategy and CRM performance of the organisation and they required recommendations. However, the conclusions and recommendations should be related directly to the findings of your analysis and not based on ideas and concepts not explored in this report.
Bibliography
You must include all reference sources including websites and other relevant sources. All referencing must conform to the Journal of Marketing reference standards, details of which are provided within this unit outline.
Appendices
Relevant evidence which is required to help explain analysis and conclusions should be put in ordered and numbered appendices.
The Project report must be prepared as a formal business report, written from the perspective of your group being consultants to the organisation. It will be likely that you will split each of the 5 areas among the group members. However, you must ensure that the report is coherent and presented as a single report with consistent fonts, line and page spacing. Presentation of the report will be a relevant component in assessment and marking of the report.
The Project report should be no longer than 20 x 1½ spaced 12 point typed pages excluding appendices. It should include standard elements such as references. A hard copy should be handed in to your tutor in the relevant tutorial class. The Project report is due in class in week 11. Late submissions of the group Project report will be penalised at 20% of the potential grade per day late.
MKTG308 GROUP Report (20%) – MARKING CRITERIA
COMPONENT/WEIGHT
Fail (F) Pass (P) Credit (C) Distinction (D) High Distinction (HD)
0% to 49% 50% to 64% 65% to 74% 75% to 84% 85% to 100%
Company Overview: (30%)
general overview of the company, organisational structure and culture, organisational processes and technology, its competitors, customers and segments, and the overall crm strategy
Superficial overview with insufficient or unacceptable ranges of sources consulted
Few or no key issues identified
Limited overview with limited use of sources of data
Some key issues identified
A more comprehensive overview with a wide range of sources used most of which were relevant
Most key issues identified
A comprehensive overview with scholarly use of a wide range of sources of data
An acceptable number of key issues identified
Very comprehensive and highly proficient overview with evidence of rigour use of a wide range of relevant secondary sources
All key issues expertly canvassed
Company Analysis: (40%)
analysis of common themes, connections, relationships and patterns relating to the consistency and outcomes of strategy, organisational structure and culture, organisational processes, channel integration, technology deployment and social media presence with the overall crm strategy providing evidence to support your arguments
Argument, if evidenced, not developed or supported.
Substandard, no merit to analysis and conclusions.
Descriptive. Reproduces information from lectures and readings. Over-reliance on quotes and close paraphrasing.
Fails to identify relevant counter-arguments.
Arguments are not well developed and supported.
Conclusions evident from the analyses
Demonstrates an adequate level of integration of concepts and some consideration of alternate perspectives evident.
Requires further development of concepts.
Logically developed arguments supported by evidence
Effective analyses and conclusions but occasionally lacks some consistency.
Able to identify relevant and contrasting arguments.
Logically developed argument clearly supported by evidence
Able to accurately interpret evidence and statements.
Comprehensive analyses and conclusions
Offers analyses and evaluation of obvious alternative points of view.
Logical argument developed in a scholarly fashion
Clearly demonstrates a high level of integration of readings and/or alternative perspectives.
Conclusions and analyses supported by evidence in
an influential and scholarly manner
Critically analyses and evaluates major alternative points of view.
Overall recommendations and conclusions: (10%)
Connecting analysis to CRM theory and practice with recommendations based on the study’s analysis and findings
Arguments, if evidenced, not developed or supported.
Substandard, or no merit to analysis and conclusions
Arguments are not well developed and supported
Conclusions not directly related to the analyses conducted
Logically developed arguments supported by evidence from the
analyses and conclusions
Logically developed argument clearly supported by evidence from
comprehensive analyses and conclusions
Logical argument developed in a scholarly fashion
Conclusions supported by analysis evidence in
an influential and scholarly manner
Written Communication: (20%) Presentation inadequate with little regard for standards of scholarship Presentation well set out with some evidence of scholarship Presentation expertly set out with an acceptable standard of scholarship Presentation expertly set out with a high standard of scholarship Report expertly presented in accordance with an excellent standard of scholarship
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