Marketing Plan Comparison: Nestle and Unilever (MKT301, Spring 2024)

Desklib provides past papers and solved assignments for students. This report compares Nestle and Unilever's marketing strategies.

Marketing Essentials
Marketing Essentials
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
LO1 A brief explanation on the role of marketing and the interrelation with other functional
units of an organization................................................................................................................4
Sales.............................................................................................................................................6
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Marketing Essentials
P1 Explanation of the key role and responsibilities of the marketing function...........................7
M1 Detailed analysis about the roles and responsibilities of marketing in the context of the
marketing environment................................................................................................................9
D1 Critical evaluation of the key elements of marketing in relation with other functional units
of an organization.......................................................................................................................11
P2 Interpretation of the relation of roles and responsibilities of marketing to the wider
organizational context................................................................................................................13
M2 Analysis of the significance of interrelationships between marketing and other functional
units of an organization..............................................................................................................14
LO2 Comparative analysis of the elements of the marketing mix (7Ps) to achieve overall
business objectives.........................................................................................................................15
P3 Comparative discussion on the marketing planning processes by applying the marketing
mix between Nestle and Unilever..............................................................................................18
M3 Evaluation of different tactics applied by Nestle and Unilever to demonstrate how business
objectives can be achieved.........................................................................................................20
A brief reflection of the presentation and learning outcome during the project............................22
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................23
References…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………….24
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Marketing Essentials
Introduction
This assessment aims to introduce the principles of marketing and employ the factors of the
marketing mix to understand and develop a basic marketing plan to achieve results. From this
study, it can be perceived that international and national corporate farms use effective marketing
strategies and strategic plans to expand their business at a larger level. These strategic plans are
very effective to retain international and national level consumer base. There are various
organizations, retail companies, FMCG companies (fast moving consumer goods, small scale
businesses that are dependent on such marketing strategies to rectify the difficulties and
understand the hindrances. To retain the customer base understanding these processes are very
important. In this assignment comparative analysis based on the factors of the marketing mix
between Nestle and Unilever has been given to understand different marketing plans to enhance
the growth opportunities. The key responsibilities of the marketing function, strategic plans to
remove the environmental barriers along with the future objectives have been mentioned in detail
in this assignment.
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Marketing Essentials
LO1 A brief explanation on the role of marketing and the interrelation with other
functional units of an organization
Marketing can be regarded as a science of value creation of products and value captivation from
customers in return. As per Brassington and Pettitt, (2012 ) marketing play an important role in
terms of business expansion, customer retention, sales, and sustainable growth. Those functional
areas stated as below-
Administration
Administrative body of an organization is responsible for top-level management. This team
consists of top-level executive managers and managing directors. Administration links with other
departments to provide a smooth flow of operations. Marketing is also an essential part of a
business. Some major critical business decisions regarded to marketing like venture over other
regions, online marketing promotions, etc. are approved by the administrative body.
Human Resource
Human capital deals with the employee base of any organization. Employees and employers are
behind the execution of strategic business plans for the good fare of the business and help to
attain short-term, mid-term and long-term goals. This department is responsible for recruiting the
efficient, experienced and skilled employees to sustain the productivity rate in the company.
Legal Advisory Body
This department oversees the legal issues in all the department of that organization. By providing
the employees with proper training and assistance with the law and order manuals would help
them to be familiar with such concerns and face those issues efficiently. In the case of customer-
centric businesses knowledge on legal issues regarding the intellectual property law would
enable the marketing officials to handle the complaints in a professional way.
Accounting and Finance
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Marketing Essentials
This department is responsible for managing the business cash in-flows and outflows; auditing
the financial details and organizing the company’s monetary funds. The money that could be
used for marketing promotions is also issued by this department.
Information Technology Support
This department creates business software, company website, business e-mail accounts of the
employees and employers, moreover looks into developing a secure online business network.
Online sales and promotion of goods, online customer interactions, and e-marketing campaigns
are such initiatives that are controlled by information technology support department.
Research and Development
In this 21st era or modernization competition among equivalent products have increased in the
current business environment. Such that research and development team need to create new
products, implicate innovative ideas and offer customized goods at affordable price.
Operations
This department looks into the operational process that takes place into the organization. If the
desired quality of the manufactured product is not attained, the customers would obviously
switch to equivalent products.
Production
This production department converts the raw materials into desired goods through a series of the
production process. This department guarantees the effectiveness of the finished products and
regulates the inventory processes
Distribution
The distribution channel regulates the cycle of demand and supply. Receiving the orders and
delivery of the orders accordingly is maintained by this department. This department involves the
suppliers and customers. If a proper distribution channel is not maintained, marketing at
sufficient amount would also create hindrances in business growth.
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Marketing Essentials
Marketing
Online- offline advertisement, sales promotion is crucial for spreading information about the
manufactured product. This would enable the buyers to become familiar with the features,
varieties, and details of that product (McDonald and Wilson, 2011).
Sales
Sales department is responsible for generating the business revenue. They are tasked to elevate
the growth curve of any such businesses. This department over some attributes with the
marketing department. But this sales department involves product-awareness, brand value, new
product launching, etc. This department targets the on developing ways to sell the goods to the
consumers (Jobber and Chadwick, 2012).
Customer Service Support
This department focuses on maintaining good seller-buyer relationship and interacting with the
customers regarding product issues, complaints, and feedbacks. Customer relationship
management looks into solving such concerns and issues faced by the customer. Marketing
concentrates on consumer preferences. Improved relationship between the management and
consumers must enhance the loyalty level of customers.
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Marketing Essentials
P1 Explanation of the key role and responsibilities of the marketing function
Marketing is responsible for building a potentially strong relationship between the consumers
and the sellers. The key role can be better understood from the marketing management
orientations like-
Concept of Production
As per the writings of Groucutt and Hopkins, (2015) this concept helps to interpret why
consumers prefer highly affordable and easily available products or services. In the competitive
market of this modern world equivalent products and services can make customers switch from
one brand to another brand. In such case, the well-evaluated concept of production would help
the organization to elevate the production efficiency and distribution channel.
Product concept
This concept concentrates on why consumers prefer to buy products or avail services that offer
better quality, innovative features, and performance than other companies. According to Keegan
and Green et al, (2012) companies have been able to elevate growth by maintaining good quality
standards of products. Better product at the equivalent price can decrease the customer base of
any organization. So to retain and expand the customer base companies must invest more energy
toward continuous product enhancement.
Selling concept
This concept majorly deals with the idea of large-scale sales and promotion approaches. Sales
and promotional campaigns of products and services are the backbones of marketing. Through
sales and promotion, consumers would get more familiar with the features of products, varieties,
product benefits, etc. In the era of modernization advertisements over virtual media, social
networks, websites are the mediums of getting fast response by the consumers. Selling concept
helps to fasten the growth by sales promotion and advertisements.
Concept of marketing
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Marketing Essentials
This concept deals with the idea of understanding and attaining organizational goals by
understanding the customer needs, demands and wants. By understanding the determinants of
target market desirable steps can be taken.
Concept of societal marketing
The concept of societal marketing argues whether any business farm must consider the short-
term wants or long-term interests. From this societal marketing concept, the impact of marketing
strategies on the customers and the society can be understood. That is more like for delivering
short term demands of the customers an organization has caused major ecological issues. These
issues can portray a negative picture of this farm to society.
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Marketing Essentials
M1 Detailed analysis about the roles and responsibilities of marketing in the context of the
marketing environment
Marketing is comprised of various roles and responsibilities to attain and manage profitable
customer relationships, as mentioned below-
Focused strategies on quality improvement- It's the sole duty of any organization to produce
quality products and services to meet high-level expectations of customers. Marketing
professionals conduct market research programs that help the company to evaluate strategic
plans, global trend and spread brand awareness (Fan et al, 2015).
Creating a bond between the management and the customers- It’s the sole responsibility of
the marketing professionals to make the consumers aware of the products, the new features, and
its usefulness. Using well-planned marketing strategies and evaluating the market trends would
the organization to rectify its problems and make a strong bond between the employees and
employers.
Competitiveness monitoring- There are various tools like Porter’s five forces model that helps
to understand the intensity of competitiveness in the market. Marketing is important to determine
the current position of the company in the market. Evaluate those issues and take steps
accordingly.
Organizing promotional marketing ventures- 21st marketing involves online marketing, social
media marketing, blogs, websites, etc. that helps business organizations to spread their market to
the global customer base. The marketing is generally dependent on these key factors as below-
Needs wants and demands market offerings
Markets
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Marketing Essentials
Exchange, transactions and relationships Value satisfaction and quality
The above figure can be effectively used to describe the core competencies of customer and
marketplace concepts.The primary stage is customer demands, wants and needs. Next comes
how to serve that need with the market offerings
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Marketing Essentials
D1 Critical evaluation of the key elements of marketing in relation with other functional
units of an organization
Business organizations are comprised of the factors that can impact the business environment
directly and indirectly. Environmental analysis of any business or organization is very crucial to
understand the internal and external factors of the business. Systemic and efficient business
operation is preferable for any organization. To attain that strategic periodical planning is of
utmost importance. As per the citation of Jobber and Chadwick, (2012) implantation of effective
strategies to evaluate the factors of the micro and macro environment and also enables any
organization to attain organizational goals. The key elements of marketing involve creative
thinking, market research using the strategic tools, building relationship with the management
and the employees, evaluate the competitiveness in the market, brand awareness, etc.
Administration looks into the administrative management of any organization. Decision making,
systematic planning, environmental analysis, financial reviews are some of the crucial roles of
this department. Therefore as per Crane et al, (2014) efficient top-level management is of
profound importance to take decisions regarding marketing strategies by any organization.
Human resource deals with recruitment issues, training issues, wages issues and communication
between the employees and employers. Marketing professionals need to implement innovative
ideas into business to get effective results. For this purpose, the human resource department must
employ efficient employees with relevant experience in marketing and provide training programs
for the fresher.
Legal advisory body helps to implicate legal decisions regarding products and services,
copyright issues, forfeiting of products, etc. Accounting and finance look into the monetary
issues of the organization. Information technology support team helps to provide online support,
create a company website and monitor safety issues. As per the citation of Kotler and Armstrong,
(2013) research and development department helps the marketing team to elevate the business
growth and expand at a larger customer base. For overseeing and controlling the supply-demand
chain effective strategies must be implanted by the operations team. The final product is made by
the production team. Promotion of good valued products among the customers would make them
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Marketing Essentials
buy the products. Distribution channel looks into the distribution part. Customer service support
looks into resolving the queries and helps to elevate loyalty among the consumers.
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