Training and Development Methods

This assignment focuses on different training and development methods used in organizations. It requires students to research and analyze various methods, understand their applications, strengths, and weaknesses, and critically evaluate their effectiveness in fostering employee growth and organizational success.

Marketing Planning
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................................3
TASK 1.................................................................................................................................................3
a) Marketing planning......................................................................................................................3
b) Importance of specific techniques for organizational auditing...................................................4
TASK 2.................................................................................................................................................5
The main barriers to marketing planning.........................................................................................5
TASK 3.................................................................................................................................................7
a) Formulate a marketing plan.........................................................................................................7
b) Pricing policy within the marketing plan of Happy Meal...........................................................8
c) Three advantages of marketing planning within the organization of McDonald's......................9
TASK 4.................................................................................................................................................9
a) The importance of ethical marketing...........................................................................................9
b) Ethical issues in the consumer industry.....................................................................................10
CONCLUSION...................................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES...................................................................................................................................12
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INTRODUCTION
To create a marketing planning, there is necessary to make a business plan. This is developed
for the purpose of conducting advertising and ensuring efforts of marketing team in the promotion of
firm for future. It also evaluates that marketing objectives will be achieved in given time period to
accomplish the organisational goals (Kerzner, 2013). Marketing plan analyses the customer’s needs
through market research in order to fulfil the requirements of business. This plan generally includes
process of determining market situation, sales forecasts, strategies as well as activities related to the
product specific and market specific etc. In the present research, report will include marketing
planning, its perspectives and various strategies which are needed for such planning. For better
understanding of this report, easyJet Airline has been chosen. It is a British low cost airline carrier
company based at London Airport. In addition to this, present report will deal with the issues or
barriers which come at the time of conducting marketing planning. For this, McDonald's Happy Meal
has been been chosen for creating aqnd implementing the marketing plan. In further task, it will
involve the formulation of marketing plan as well as strategic planning of the chosen organization.
Moreover, report will describe about various ethical issues in context of marketing planning.
TASK 1
a) Marketing planning
Marketing planning
To make a business plan, it is necessary to focus on marketing which should be effective as it
enhances the profitability of organization. According to the Balmer (2011), states that, without the
business strategies the market plan can't be make so the company e needed a good marketing plan for
their products and services (Balmer, 2011). This plan describes about various business strategies and
current position of the firm. Organization needs better marketing mix strategies to target consumers
and achieve business goals as well as objectives. Marketing plan constitutes in a form of formal
structure but it can be used in both the informal and formal way to make it flexible. This plan is made
on the basis of previous financial position as well as future scope which can help business to enhance
profitability. It includes several techniques that help business to utilize their resources in the best way.
Two recent trends / perspectives in marketing planning
Two recent trends / perspectives in the practice of modern marketing planning are as follows: Customer Satisfaction: Direct motivation to the customers is a major key of success for the
organization. Firm can motivate their customers according to their convenience, quality, value
and their services (Greenberg, 2010. Business enterprise is offering good quality products at
low cost. This is because new trend is all about to attract large number of customers and satisfy
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them from products and services of business.
 Customer Retention: Today, companies need loyal customers who will remain with them
lifelong. Through this, their profitability and market share will not be affected in future. For
that, firm is satisfying their customers by charging low cost on their products as well as
providing some offers and vouchers so that customers can get attracted towards the
organization (Pagla and Brennan, 2014). To retain their customers, company should focus to
meet the needs, tastes, preferences and lifestyles of them. Through this, they can maintain their
customers and increase their profitability on the regular basis.
Two capabilities in the company needed for marketing planning
Two capabilities which are important for the organization to make planning of their future
marketing activities are as follows: Low cost prices: Capability is one of the core competencies of an organization which helps
them to expand their business. For example: Easy Jet is offering their services at low price as
compared to other airlines of Europe which benefits them as well as their consumers (Singh
and Gupta, 2013). Low cost airlines have the potential to attract large number of customers and
they are able to expand their business.
 Promotional activities: It is also an essential part of organization as it helps to boost up their
profits and extend their market share (Avlonitis and Giannopoulos, 2012). Promotional tools
includes advertising, social media and print media which promote company in front of
customers to attract them as well as to retain them for a long run. This tool also helps in
improving the financial position of company.
b) Importance of specific techniques for organizational auditing
Organizational auditing can be carried out through SWOT analysis. This is emphasis on the
capabilities and resources which are as follows:
Strengths
 Level of brand loyalty is higher and it is the largest low cost airline carrier company in Europe
which is offering reliable offers to attract large number of customers.
 It renders air services in all over the European countries which extends the extensive network
and market share of the organization.
 It is one of the modern fleets of the Europe which leads to enhance its brand reputation that
makes them popular in the Europe (easyJet, 2016).
 It is one of the company among the LCCs which introduces e- tailing which helps in obviating
intermediaries and various distribution costs.
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 Firm has an easyJet academy which ensures that they will provide effective and efficient supply
of pilots as well as cabin crew.
Weaknesses
 It is the competitive industry in which the rivalry is with the national company only. This is
because it has the advantages to compete with the easyJet. For instance, Ryanair is offering
their services at less price compared to the easyJet (easyJet, 2016).
 It is the highly sensitive to an extra charges and the taxes which are imposed by the
government. This is happening due to its lowering operating margins.
 The business enterprise is only earning on the high or festive season and the service format is
not targeting the large demographic areas. For example: They are segmenting only economy
travellers mainly in Europe.
Opportunities
 The easyJet can expand their business outside the Europe at the low cost to attract large number
of the customer base.
 The company can offer travel tour packages and some vouchers to attract their target market as
well as increased brand awareness (Domegan, 2010).
 The organization can improved their operating framework by cost cutting through engineering
and fuel innovations, ground handling etc.
Threats
 Government policies and strict aviation rules and regulations is creating the difficulties for the
company by increasing the airport fees.
 The major airlines are entering into the market through Low Cost Carrier segment (LCC) which
are affecting the market of the easyJet.
 Threats from the competitors such as Ryan air, Air Berlin and Air France etc.
TASK 2
The main barriers to marketing planning
The main barriers to marketing planning which are composed by the Malcolm McDonald that
are useful in the preparation and implementation of marketing plans. Here, the solution to these
challenges are also given and they are as follows:
Barriers / Challenges Possible solutions / Activities
Organisational barriers:
 There are many barriers in the company
 These barriers can be removed through the
communicvating with employees as well
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which are reducing the core competencies
of the organization.
 The organizational barriers can be mis
communication, less employee
employment, mis management of time etc.
as consumers to know their ideas and
problems regarding the sitaution.
 Taking various ideas and feedbacks can
involve many employees to the discussion
of new things at workplace (Masterson
and Pickton, 2010).
 The manager should management their
time through taking some classes of time
management courses etc.
For example: easyJet can communicate with their
customers to know their requirements or
problems. On the other hand, the time
management can be improvise through planning
of the schedule for the upcoming day.
Lack of detailed analysis:
 In this, the company is not doing the in –
depth research to know the needs and
requirements of the customer.
 For this, the business enterprise should
done the proper market research to know
the current trend of the market and
custiomers needs and requirements
(Coallier, 2012).
For instance: easyJet should go through the
various research process and this can done
through social media, surveys, questionaire and
feedback from their customers.
Lack of knowledge and skills:
 Here, the organizational lacks the current
trends and changes and knowledge about
the environment which are affecting the
company.
 Skills can be lacked because of the
unefficient employees that are not that
skilled which can handled the customers.
 To overcome this, the firm can do proper
research and gained some knowledge
about the customers' tastes, preferences
and lifestyles. This is because the business
enterprise should know their customers'
needs (Greenberg, 2010).
 The company should recruit skilled and
talented employees which can serves best
to their customers.
For example: easyJet should acquire experienced
workforce which can communicates better with
their customers as well as serves them best.
Hostile corporate cultures:
 The business enterprise should have good
environment in their workplace as well as
good terms with their customers.
 The corporate culture shows the image of
the organization.
 To deal with this, the sound and clean
culture should be their in organization.
 The communication and the gestures
shows the company's reputation.
For instance: easyJet should give training classes
to their employees so that they can conduct well
with their customers and should build good
environment in the company (easyJet, 2016).
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TASK 3
a) Formulate a marketing plan
Formulate a marketing plan for the McDonald's “Happy Meal” which are as follows:
Marketing Plan Sections Description (Minimum Requirements)
1. Happy Meal  This is the food basket which contain burgers, fruit
shoot and french fries. The burgers can be of potatoes
or of chicken, pork, beef etc. According to the tastes
and preferences of the customers.
2. Competitor Analysis The two competitors of the Happy Meal are KFC and Burger
King. Its strengths and weaknesses are as follows:
Strengths
Take Five Box of KFC:
 Hygenic food and fast service
 Good advertisiong and marketing activities
Burger King:
 Serves of lot of burgers which is not available in other
fast food restaurant.
 High brand loyalty in burgers
3. Marketing Mix
 Product: The product is well packaged and can offer
to the all sections of the society.
 Place: The company outlets is located at the malls,
university campus etc. which can be easily reachable
to the customers (McDonald, 2016).
 Price: The cost of the product is very low because the
firm wants to offer more at loe cost by which they can
attract large numbers of cuwstomers.
 Promotion: The business entity are promoting their
products through advertising, social media and also
offering vouchers and various discounts.
4. Target Market  Happy Meal is targeting the children and youth from
the middle and upper class.
 Professionals are attracting because it is easily
delivered to their home and contain excellent food
quality.
5. Segmentation Techniques The segmented is done on the basis of the demographic and
psychographic segmentation.
 In demographic section, company is targeting the all
types of the customers in terms of age status etc. It is
the family meal so family is the main focus point of
the segmentation (Noh, Runyan and Mosier, 2014).
 In psychographic section, the firm is focussing on the
tastes, preferences and lifestyles of the customer and
making food according to it.
 For example: Health conscious people wants less
calorie food so McDonalds is offering them less
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calorie foods in their Happy Meal to fulfill their needs
aqnd requirements (McDonald, 2016).
6. Human Resource Plan  For this, the Brand needs the skilled and talented
employees to serves well to their customers. So the
company should recruit good employees for the firm.
 McDonald can give training to their existing
employees to make them skilled and talented for their
Happy Meal product.
7. Brief Budgeting  To estimating the budget of the product, the brand
should add profit margins and cost of the promotional
tools to know the whole budget of the product.
8. Implementation Timeline  Firstly, Company will launch the products which is
Happy Meal through a major event , in which existing
customers will come to know about the products.
 The products can be introduced through online
websites qand on social media.
 Secondly, the product will goes in the market so that
consumer can buy and gets satisfied (Nwankwo and
Gbadamosi, 2011).
 Lastly, evaluation will be done in which customers
will give their opinion about the products.
9. Evaluation Measures  The evaluation measures can be done through the
surveys, feedbacks etc. to know the customers'
reaction about the Happy Meal.
 This will shows, what to be changed in the product
and what extra changes are to be made.
b) Pricing policy within the marketing plan of Happy Meal
McDonald's will use the bundle pricing strategy in this product that is Happy Meal. In this, the
company will sell the set of food products in one package which will charge the customers at the lower
price. This will benefits the company as well because the profits margins will get increased. Customers
will be happy also due to the discounts, the firm offering on the food products. When the customer is
receiving good quality products for a low cost then the consumers willing to buy more because they are
getting discounts on that. This directly affects the company in positive way because through this the
profitability is rising as well as market share is also expanding. For example, when customers will
purchase the burger and fries individually then it will be high in cost as compared to the bundled
products (McDonald, 2016). This because the individually will range high as compared to the package
bundle. It also reduces pricing disputes with customers. This strategy will help the customers to attract
more to the products and indirectly company is benefiting from this. So McDonald's is applying this
strategy in their products to gather large customer base.
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c) Three advantages of marketing planning within the organization of McDonald's
The three advantages of marketing planning within the organization of McDonald's are as
follows: Marketing Efforts: A plan keeps the marketing efforts connected with organizational goals and
objectives. This is because it helps in determining the work which should be done and which
should not be done. It will also focussed the teammates to do their work systematically which
will lead to the goals and objectives (Shaw and Thomson, 2013). Opportunities: A better plan creates easy access to know the new opportunities. Through its
advertising tool, the company can know the new market sector in the marketplace and its
competitors. So, it gives them criteria to know their possibilities in which they can improvise.
 Unity among organisation: This will bind the whole organization to accomplished their goals
and objectives because they are connected to the marketing plan only. A better marketing plan
will help in problems, challenges, goals, objectives, strategies and tactics, ultimately getting
everyone aligned and contributing (Singh and Gupta, 2013).
Three factors which are needed in achieving the effective implementation of the marketing plan are as
follows: Consumer responses: The implementation can be analysed through the customers responses
towards the products of McDonald's. This can be in the form of feedbacks which shows their
opinions and ideas to make changes in the products (McDonald, 2016). Consumer is power tool
to increase the profitability in the business. Consumer satisfaction: This is the key factor for which company is selling their products and
services. If the customers are happy then the firm will provide with these products only. If the
customers is not happy then the business entity will improvise their products and makes
according to the customers' tastes and preferences.
 Market performances: It also a key factor to know the product performance that it is successful
or not . For this, company enhance their marketing tools by promoting their products through
advertisement, social media, print media and online websites (Akroush, 2012). The
performance in the market will shows its suitability to the customers and evaluate its
performance.
TASK 4
a) The importance of ethical marketing
Ethical marketing is the part of the marketing strategy and more of a belief which informs all
marketing efforts. It seeks to promote loyalty, justice, and responsibility in all advertising. Ethics is a
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notoriously difficult aspect because everyone has subjective judgements about what is “right” and what
is “wrong.” For this reason, ethical marketing is not a hard and fast list of rules, but a general set of
guidelines to assist companies as they evaluate new marketing strategies. For companies looking to
improvise the brand image as well as reputation. In addition to this, to develop long-term relationships
with customers, this kind of unethical behaviour can quickly lead to failure. Customers do not want to
feel manipulated by the brands they like (Hatten, 2011). Companies can use ethical marketing as a way
to develop a sense of trust among their customers. If a product lives up to the claims made in its
advertising, it reflects positively on the entire company. It can make the consumer feel like the
company is invested in the quality of the products and the value they provide customers. For example,
a company could intentionally package its product to look like that of another popular product even
though it knows that its own version is inferior (Usui, 2008). This company might rely on the fact that
not a lot of people will look too closely to tell the difference between the two products. Not only would
such a practical application of marketing ethics be morally condemnable, it would also be basis for a
lawsuit if the other company can prove that it is capitalizing on its product identity to generate sales.
As such, the issue of the application of marketing ethics is one that assist ensure that consumers do not
get a raw deal from manufacturers.
b) Ethical issues in the consumer industry
The ethical issues refers to problems related to principles of morality that further determines
what is right or wrong for business entity. The ethical issues have direct impact on the functions of
company and result into negative brand image, legal consequences etc. therefore, it is important for
organizations like, Mc Donald's , PUMA to avoid ethical issues for sustaining market reputation,
retaining loyal customers and maintaining the interest level of its buyers. In this respect, these entities
ensure its dealings are in accordance with prevailing law, products are of good quality etc. Also,
companies consider ethical issues in consumer industry in order to avoid same mistake. Such as
studies revealed that there is high level of obesity in the children of US and UK. As per International
association for study of obesity, it was alleged that one third of children are overweight. Considering,
the negative impact of junk food of children health, it was decided by Mc Donald's to add healthy food
items in menu for kids. Therefore, company added, apple pie, garden salad, filet-o-fish etc products in
its menu (Mc Donald's menu, 2015). Further, as per the reports of Green peace that sportswear
companies are generating toxic fluids into water bodies etc. This, resulted into strict actions by
government against companies and campaigns by activist, pressure groups etc. Therefore, it stimulated
PUMA to remove toxic chemicals from supply chain by taking part in global campaign like, Detox etc
(Ethical conusmer issues, 2015). hence, it can be stated that it is significant for entities to avoid ethical
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issues in order to ensure smooth functioning, high customer satisfaction and retention of buyers in long
run.
CONCLUSION
This report concludes that the effective marketing planning can leads to the accomplishment of
the organizational goals and objectives. It also helps in making the profitability and extending the
market share for the company. easyJet is the low cost airlines which serving in the whole Europe and
its environmental auditing has been done to know the financial position of the company. Furthermore,
McDonald's marketing plan has been made to target the more number of the customers for their
product that is Happy Meal. In addition to this, the ethical marketing significance and issues are
discussed in the report.
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REFERENCES
Journals and Books
Akroush, M. N., 2012. Organizational capabilities and new product performance: The role of new
product competitive advantage. Competitiveness Review. 22(4). pp.343 – 365.
Avlonitis, G. J. and Giannopoulos, A. A., 2012. Balanced market orientation: qualitative findings on a
fragile equilibrium. Managing Service Quality. 22(6). pp.565 – 579.
Balmer, J. M. T., 2011. Corporate marketing myopia and the inexorable rise of a corporate marketing
logic: Perspectives from identity-based views of the firm. European Journal of Marketing.
45(9/10). pp.1329 – 1352.
Coallier, J., 2012. Introduction to Marketing. Booktango.
Domegan, C., 2010. The history of marketing thought: a teaching reflection. Journal of Historical
Research in Marketing. 2(4). pp.457 – 466.
Greenberg, P., 2010. The impact of CRM 2.0 on customer insight. Journal of Business & Industrial
Marketing. 25 (6). pp.410 – 419.
Hatten, T. S., 2011. Small Business Management: Entrepreneurship and Beyond. Cengage Learning.
Kerzner, H. R., 2013. Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and
controlling. John Wiley & Sons.
Masterson, R. and Pickton, D., 2010. Marketing: An Introduction. SAGE.
Noh , M., Runyan, R. and Mosier, J., 2014. Young consumers' innovativeness and hedonic/utilitarian
cool attitudes. International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management. 42 (4). pp.267 – 280.
Nwankwo, S. and Gbadamosi, A., 2011. Entrepreneurship Marketing: Principles and Practice of SME
Marketing. Routledge.
Pagla, M. and Brennan, R., 2014. The development of brand attitudes among young consumers.
Marketing Intelligence & Planning. 32 (6). pp.687 – 705.
Shaw, D. and Thomson, J., 2013. Consuming spirituality: the pleasure of uncertainty. European Journal
of Marketing. 47 (3/4). pp.557 – 573.
Singh, N. and Gupta, K., 2013. Environmental attitude and ecological behaviour of Indian consumers.
Social Responsibility Journal. 9 (1). pp.4 – 18.
Usui, K., 2008. The Development of Marketing Management: The Case of the USA, C. 1910-1940.
Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.
Online
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utm_source=ej_CMS&utm_medium=en_Homepage&utm_term=CompanyInfo&utm_content=St
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aticLink_AEJ1&utm_campaign=Footer>. [Accessed on 5th April 2016].
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Mc Donald's menu. 2015. [Online]. Available through:
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[Accessed on 5th April 2016].
McDonald. 2016. [Online]. Available through: <http://www.mcdonalds.co.uk/ukhome/Family/Happy-
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