ARAB OPEN UNIVERSITY

Faculty of Business Studies

BE200 – Marketing Management

Tutor Marked Assessment
Spring 2018-2019

Read carefully the following instructions and both cases study, and then answer each question
in an essay format. To support your analysis use relevant material from BE200 covered so far
and other resources such as AOU e-library articles.

INSCTRUCTIONS:

 Cut-off date: Submit this assignment (TBCL). All late submissions require approval from the branch
course coordinator and will be subject to grade deductions.
 Word count: you should discuss the questions in no more or less than the number of words mentioned
for each question (plus or minus 10%).
 Referencing: You must acknowledge all your sources of information using full Harvard Style
Referencing (in-text referencing plus list of references at the end). Use E-library: to get journal articles
on the topic (Emerald, EBSCO…). Use at least 2 articles.
 Plagiarism: Remember that you should work the information from references into your own original
thoughts and INTO YOUR OWN WORDS. Plagiarism will lead to a significant loss of marks. Extensive
plagiarism could mean that you failed your TMA. (Refer to AOU definitions of cheating and plagiarism
at the end of this document)
 Essay guidance: Your response to each question should take the form of a full essay format. Avoid
using subheadings and bullet points. Use BE200 textbook, slides, case study and E-Library. Plan what
you will write, and have a well-organized outline.
 Using PT3 form: When you have completed your TMA, you must fill in the assignment form (PT3)
posted on your moodle account, taking care to fill all information correctly.
 Turnit-in upload: A soft copy of your TMA and PT3 form should be uploaded to Turnit-in via the link
posted on your moodle account, within the cut-off date.
 This TMA is 20% of BE200 Grade.

For textbook: Principles of Marketing (Arab World Editions) with My Marketing Lab - refer to chapters 1,
2, 3.
 BE200 – Tutor Marked Assessment – Fall 2017-2018

Balancing the marketing mix through creative and innovative strategies

W.K. Kellogg and his brother, Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, founded the Kellogg Company in 1898. Through
experimentation with flaked corn, W.K. Kellogg created the recipe for Corn Flakes. In 1906, he opened the
“Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Company” and recruited his first 44 employees. Together with these
employees he developed the initial batch of Kellogg's Corn Flakes bringing to life his vision for great-tasting,
‘better-for-you’ breakfast foods.

Kellogg embraced every opportunity to make a difference in peoples’ lives and was motivated by his passion
to help people improve their health. Today, over a hundred years since it was first founded, the Kellogg
Company still upholds his original values. The company is the world’s leading producer of cereals and a
market leader in health and nutrition. Kellogg’s was one of the first companies to print nutrition labels on its
packaging and, in 2007, was amongst the first companies to print Guideline Daily Amounts (GDA) on its
products to inform the public about the food they are eating. This has helped the company to engage with a
market more concerned with healthy living

A marketing strategy determines what a company is going to produce in terms of products or deliver in terms
of services, how much it is going to charge for these products or services, how it will deliver these products
or services to the customer, and how it is going to tell its customers about its products and services. This is
known as the marketing mix and is often referred to as the 4Ps of marketing. The mix involves creating the
right product, sold at the right price, in the right place, using the most suitable methods of promotion.
Although the marketing mix will vary from business to business and market sector, its purpose is to assist a
business to balance these four key factors to meet the needs of the customer

Kellogg’s balances the 4Ps by

Offering a wide range of popular products and regularly introducing exciting new products to the market -
Product

Pricing its products to ensure that customers receive the best possible product for their money - Price

Help ensuring its products are available wherever shoppers are, from supermarkets, to the internet or on-the-
go, and by understanding shopper behaviors - Place

Delivering engaging and exciting marketing communications – Promotion

Getting the right product or service to the customer, at the right price, in the right place and at the right time
is fundamental to business success. Understanding and balancing the marketing mix enables an organization
to uniquely position its brand to drive sales of its products and services. To remain as a market leader a
business needs to continually look at new ways of engaging and exciting customers in its products and
services.

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 BE200 – Tutor Marked Assessment – Fall 2017-2018

Answer the following questions:

Question 1 :( 30 Marks)

Today’s successful companies have one thing in common: they are strongly customer focused and
heavily committed to marketing.

a-What does marketing means? (5 Marks)

b-Discuss in details the five marketing management orientations and explain which one you believe
is mostly used by today's organizations (25 Mark)

Word count: 300 words

Question 2: (25Marks)

The first four steps in the marketing process involve building customer relationships. The final step
involves capturing value in return.

a-Describe what is meant by customer relationship management (5 Mark)

b-What are the different relationship levels companies can build with customers? (10 Mar)

C-In respect to customer relationship management concept and referring to the case above, explain
what did Kellogg focus on in order to retain and gain its customers loyalty? (10 Marks)

Word count: 400 words

Question 3: (45 Marks)

The marketing mix is the set of controllable, tactical marketing tools that the firm blends to produce
the response it wants in the target mark.

a-Explain how Kellogg managed to balance its marketing mix strategy. How did it manage each of
the marketing mix components? The students should begin by explaining the marketing mix
component while referring to BE200 material and then apply it to the case. (20 Marks)

b-Discuss how Kellogg succeeded in differentiating and positioning its products for maximum
competitive advantage in the marketplace? (10 Marks)

c-Identify any one of Kellogg's competitor.

-Discuss the differences in marketing strategies between the two (15 Marks)

Word count: 500 words

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 BE200 – Tutor Marked Assessment – Fall 2017-2018

Grades deduction for:

TMA Presentation: (up to 5 marks)

Up to 5 marks should be deducted for poor presentation or poor organization of the TMA outline
and discussion or TMA presented without PT3.

Proper referencing: (up to 5 marks)

Referencing should be both in-text referencing, plus a list of references at the end using Harvard
style. Up to 5 marks should be deducted for poor referencing.

Use of E-Library: (up to 5 marks)

A minimum use of 2 articles from AOU e-library is required to support the discussions. Up to 5
marks should be deducted for no use or poor use of e-library.

Word count: (up to 5 marks)

The answers should be within the specified word count. A deviation of 10% is acceptable; if
more, a deduction up to 5 marks will be applied.

Arab Open University Definitions of cheating and plagiarism

Plagiarism means copying from internet, from unreferenced sources, from other students’
TMAs or any other source. Penalties for plagiarism range from failure in the TMA or the
course, to expulsion from the university.

According to the Arab Open University By-laws, “the following acts represent cases of cheating
and plagiarism:

• Verbatim copying of printed material and submitting them as part of TMAs without
proper academic acknowledgement and documentation.

• Verbatim copying of material from the Internet, including tables and graphics.

• Copying other students’ notes or reports.

• Using paid or unpaid material prepared for the student by individuals or firms.

• Utilization of, or proceeding to utilize, contraband materials or devices in examinations.”

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 BE200 – Tutor Marked Assessment – Fall 2017-2018

Penalty on plagiarism: The following is the standard plagiarism penalty applied across
branches as per Article 11 of the university by-laws was revisited and modified to be more
explicit with regard to plagiarism on TMAs. Penalties include the following:

1) Awarding of zero for a TMA wherein more than 20% of the content is plagiarized.

2) Documentation of warning in student record.

3) Failure in the course to dismissal from the University.

All University programs are required to apply penalties that are consistent with the University by
laws.

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