BSAK Business Blog

This task ask the students to be the examiner, marking 18 mark questions and judging which level answers have achieved and justifying why.

Recently I have found that I am simply telling students how they should write answers which isn't always having the desired outcome. Therefore I decided to show them effective structures that they should use.

This week we answered an 18 mark question from June 2011 on the impact of a marketing budget on marketing objectives. Firstly, students answered the question using differentiated frameworks. Secondly, students were given to exemplar answers that the had to highlight using a different colour for Point, Evidence, Explain and the Conclusion. Thirdly, students used the level descriptors from the mark scheme to mark both answers - this was easy as the answers were already highlighted which clearly showed strengths and weaknesses in the answer. Lastly, students then used this technique to mark each others answers and give honest and constructive PEER reviews (a Positive, an Even Better If, an Example and a Reason).

At the end of the lesson I asked students to review their learning, feedback showed that students were able to clearly understand how their questions would be marked and that more emphasis should be placed on using the case and analyzing the points they make rather than trying to write as much knowledge as possible (a common mistake!).

Why not have a go? All the necessary resources and an example are below.

The question

Amina believes that a significant marketing budget would be necessary for her marketing plan to achieve its objectives. To what extent do you agree with this view? (18 marks)

The answers

Answer 1

Task 1: Use different colours to highlight the POINT, the EVIDENCE, the EXPLANATION and the DISCOM conclusion.

Task 2: Use the level descriptors to give this question a mark out of 18.

A marketing budget could be necessary because the 15-24 year old market is a new focus for Sound and Vision plc. For Amina this is because only 30% of her current customers are 15-24 years old, with 40% being 25-34 and another 30% being made up of 35+. This could affect Amina’s objective of creating awareness of her new strategy as she will need to advertise to the 15-24 year olds and make them aware of the changes in the company that will interest them. For Amina this could mean that she would require a large marketing budget as she will need to invest heavily in advertising to ensure this message is communicated with her target market. Coupling her new target market with strong competitors, such as online retailers and supermarkets, could result in Amina requiring a large marketing budget to be able to get noticed in such an overcrowded market. Furthermore, these are large and strong competitors which would require more investment as these competitors already have an established reputation and large marketing budgets themselves, thus requiring more advertising and a larger budget for Amina to ensure she can create awareness.

However, a marketing budget may not be necessary as there are other factors their success. For Amina, this could mean focussing on other factors such as operational issues. Amina is planning to set up a new warehouse and distribution centre, this could result in inventory and distribution problems which could impact her objective of regaining market share from the supermarkets and online retailers. As these are established businesses it would be expected that they have slick operations that have well established relationships with their retailers. Furthermore, at the minute the industry average for deliveries from suppliers is 5 days, whereas Sound and Vision plc average is 7 days. This could negatively affect their operations and their customer service, struggling to replenish stock and compete with their competition.

Overall, I agree to a medium extent that Amina will require a large marketing budget. However, it depends on how well Amina spends her marketing budget as if she invests in effective marketing campaigns then she is more likely to be successful. Furthermore, the budget is only one element of the marketing plan, as is the advertising, as Amina may need to invest further money in market research to ensure she streamlines the business to the wants of her new target market. In the short term she may need to invest heavily, however in the long term if she can become well established she may only need to maintain her sales as ultimately the product is key and if it meets the needs of the target market they will continue to return to her business.Ultimately, I agree to a medium extent as there are other factors that will affect the success of her business.

Answer 2

Task 1: Use different colours to highlight the POINT, the EVIDENCE, the EXPLANATION and the DISCOM conclusion.

Task 2: Use the level descriptors to give this question a mark out of 18.

A marketing budget can be important as it allows a business to spend more on marketing. For example, a business may be able to spend more on advertising. Advertising is important so that customers know about your product, that way your business will be more likely to make a profit. Also, a marketing budget can be important as it means you can invest in market research. This is important because a business can then find out what customers want and make products that a suitable for them so they will make more profit. Also, it means that a business can find out about their competition and plan their products so they are different and stand out in the market.

A marketing budget might not be important because there are other factors in businesses that are also important including finance, human resources and operations. For example, operations are important because this is how the business actually runs, such as who suppliers are, the logistics of delivering products, how products and produced and so on. This is important because this will make sure that the business has good quality products that customers will want to buy, meaning customers are more likely to buy the products and that means the business will make more profit.

Overall, I think that a marketing budget is important because it means the business can advertise to their customers and conduct market research to make sure they attract the right customers and make profit. I think marketing more important than operations because as long as customers know about the product and are convinced to buy it then it will sell.