MK3013 – Marketing of Services

Academic year 2016-17

Assignment 2: Group report – 50% of the module mark:

This is a piece of group work.  You must work together efficiently or you may be asked to leave the group and complete the work alone.

It is to be handed in to Turnitin 23rd November 2016 by 2pm. 1 hardcopy to GR’s assignment box.

Using insight gained from your seminar topic which you should enhance with further reading, you should advise your business partner on financial service selection in the scenario below.

You are a recent graduate in business and marketing and have started a company with a friend who is a software engineering graduate.  He is developing networking applications for SMEs in the north-west of the UK.  You have identified the need to showcase the successes achieved so far at trade shows throughout the UK to develop further interest in your services and expand your market.  However such promotion needs funding and your cash reserves are close to zero.

MK3013 – Marketing of Services

Although the company has made a net profit of £38,000 for each of the past 3 years, you are investing this into further fixed assets for the business.  You need to find a loan to invest in promotional activity.  Your dilemma is to choose between a traditional source of financing from one of the large high street banks such as  Barclays, Santander, Lloyds TSB, HSBC or to try with some of the new smaller financial service providers (See the “Small fish are swimming in the big pond” article on Blackboard).  You will need to borrow £40,000 for some slick promotional IT equipment and a stand, and to cover expenses for 12 months.

·    Conduct thorough research and present a case which summarises the advantages and disadvantages for each of the two finance options (traditional/small fish).
·    Use the “Small fish are swimming in the big pond” resource.
·    Structure advantages and disadvantages around the three service Ps.
·    Make your final decision and present an argument to support it, give your evidence cited in sources which you provide in the appendix.  Don’t forget to rebut the anticipated counter argument.

MK3013 – Marketing of Services

Assessment criteria.
·    The report will provide evidence of a broad range of research, academic, trade press and other sources have been used.  The content does not simply recount the literature (such as that of the “Small fish are swimming in the big pond”) instead it presents synthesised analysis based on all the research undertaken.  Sources have been cited. (33% marks)
·    The report focusses on the decision outlined in the scenario and this has been clearly structured around the three service Ps.  Report formatting has been used (33% marks)
·    A convincing argument has been presented which recommends one source of financing with detailed justification, rebuttal of counter argument, and multiple sources of evidence.  (34% marks)

Your report must show a word count on the title page and this should be within 10% of a 3000 word limit (excluding references and appendices).

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