For this submission assignment, you will work with Dovetail a Michelin Star Restaurant in New York City. You will need to visit the restaurant’s Web site to get a feel for what its business is like.

Scenario

Now, imagine that you have just landed your dream job as a Business Analyst for the restaurant you chose. Your job is to provide upper management with credible statistical information to help them make sound business decisions. As the Business Analyst, your work needs to be based upon collecting data and interpreting them through appropriate formulas. You are not the company statistician, so your job is not to crunch a lot of numbers. It is much more about analyzing data and giving your recommendations to the company; however, along the way, you will crunch a few numbers as well. Your first assignment is to look at different types of data for a specific scenario that the company is facing.

To Do

The restaurant you chose (hereinafter referred to as “X” in this assignment) is known for ultra-fine dining in New York City but wants to look at expanding into the casual restaurant niche to compete with family restaurants. Before it does that, management needs to do some in-depth research to decide if expansion into this market segment is a good idea, and if so, what the menu for their new restaurant may look like. Of course, the company wants to make money, so they want to ensure that any restaurant they open will give the public an atmosphere and menu choices that are in line with today’s busy lifestyles. However, they have an impeccable reputation to uphold and they want to make sure that any new restaurant will complement and enhance their reputation, not detract from it.

Prepare a PowerPoint presentation of at least 6–8 substantive slides that addresses the following:

• List and discuss 2 qualitative attributes of the atmosphere of the new casual dining restaurant that X’s upper management might want to ask potential customers. (Think of items that the customers would want to see in the atmosphere).
• List and discuss 2 qualitative attributes of the menu choices of the restaurant that X may want to explore with potential customers.
• List and discuss 2 quantitative attributes of the menu items that management might want to measure to make sure they are providing menu items that customers want.
• List and discuss 2 quantitative attributes that the new restaurant’s chefs may be interested in when creating the menu.
• Explain the difference between a population and a sample in research.
• Discuss at least 2 populations and 2 samples that X may be interested in using for their research.
• Discuss the target market for this new restaurant venture.
• Explain how the attributes you discussed above will help ensure that this new restaurant will compliment what you see to be X’s best attributes at their fine dining location (from what you learn by researching X’s Web site and other Internet sources you find).

Competency

Describe the key functions of managing a salesforce.

Scenario Information

You are the regional sales manager for International Herb Express (IHE) which is a large, US-based spice & herbs supplier. IHE sells to other businesses that purchase bulk spices and spice blends for use in their end products. The primary customers are baking and soup mix corporations that sell to other businesses, for example, bakeries, restaurants, other food-service, and regional grocery chains. IHE is launching a new spice blend that reflects a more diverse cultural & ethnic flavor profile than IHE's traditional offerings.

The abridged marketing strategy for this new spice blend is to target both current customers, but also to reach new customers that are target regions with higher ethnic diversity and/or the more adventurous "foodies" market. The marketing efforts will focus on taste testing, sampling, and on-site promotion. IHE is launching this marketing plan to help create a product offering that is not as commodity-driven (as most spices and herbs are the same quality no matter where they are purchased) and can potentially offer higher profit margins.

It is important to note that spices and other ingredients are raw goods and traded as commodities. The raw price for these goods changes on a day-to-day basis. Pricing is based on classic supply and demand, though nature is a key contributor to the supply–extreme weather as well as health of crops have a direct impact on the supply chain and access to the raw goods.

Instructions

With the launch of the new product offering, it has been determined that a new sales team dedicated to the new product line will be the best approach. You will need to select current sales representatives from the company as well as hire new sales representatives to create the final sales team of 8 professionals.

The new sales force will be given the assignment of connecting and educating current customers on the new spice blend offering. The sales force will also be responsible for identifying the top, new potential customers and educating them. The goal after one year is to have 10% of the current customer base also ordering the new products as well as having at least one new customer per sales professional.

To prepare for the new team, you need to create the following documents and submit as one, unified document:

• The formal job description for this new sales team which should include a brief description, list of required skills, and qualifications as well as a list of desired (but not required) skills.
• An organizational chart highlighting how the 8 sales representatives are organized (by regions, by customer industry or size for example).
• An email to the Vice President of Sales and Marketing recognizing and recommending the need for her to spend time with this new sales team as a motivational tool.
• Supporting paragraphs used to explain each piece to further clarify and rationalize the choices made.

I will provide the weeks to incorporate as indicated in the steps below

Purpose of Assignment

The purpose of this assignment is to help students think through the importance of social, legal, and ethical issues that may arise with their product or service and the implications of decisions made within those frameworks. It is designed to help the learners understand ethical and legal issues related to marketing practices. This knowledge helps to prevent such issues when developing the marketing strategies in their marketing plan. The executive overview of the marketing plan is not a summary and conclusion, but an overview of what the plan entails and what it does not address.

Assignment Steps

Note: the Social, Ethical, and Legal Implications assignment is part of the total marketing plan as outlined in the grading guide. It is not a separate paper.

Producing and marketing a product without regard to ethical, legal, and social considerations is detrimental to the overall success of any company.

Assess in a maximum of 700 words the ethical, legal, and social issues affecting your product or service in two markets: the United States and one international market. Domestic market generally means the market where the company headquarters are located. If you choose a domestic market that is not the U.S., then your other market is required to be the U.S. marketplace. This will be added to the Target Market section of your Marketing Plan.

Include the following:

• Develop a process to monitor and control marketing performance. This process could be a flowchart but a flowchart is not required (flowcharts do not count towards your word count requirement).

Formulate a maximum 350-word executive summary including at a minimum the following elements to include in your marketing plan:

• Required executive summary elements:
  • Strategic Objectives 
  • Products or Services 
• Optional executive summary elements:
  • Resources Needed 
  • Projected Outcomes

Integrate the previous weeks' sections, social, ethical, and legal implications, and executive summary into the marketing plan. Incorporate corrections and suggestions from the instructor's weekly feedback. The marketing plan should be a minimum of 3,850 words and include the following:

• Incorporate Understanding Target Markets (Week 2)
• Incorporate Promotion and the Product Life Cycle (Week 3)
• Incorporate Price and Channel Strategy (Week 4)
• Incorporate Marketing Communication and Brand Strategy (Week 5)
• Incorporate Executive Summary, Legal, Social and Ethical Considerations (Week 6)

Cite a minimum of three peer-reviewed references. 

Include all peer-reviewed references from the previous weeks' individual assignments in your marketing plan.

Format your assignment consistent with APA guidelines.

ZAP! Vehicles and Motors: A New Way to Travel?

Gary Starr had been hoping to market alternatives to gas-powered vehicles since the 1970s when an oil crunch shot gasoline prices to all-time highs inAmerica/>/>.  At the same time, Jim McGreen was tinkering with a working model of an electric bike.  Both men met at an electric vehicle association meeting in California/>/>and decided to go into business together.

After a lot of toil and lots of money and time investment, the two entrepreneurs have one invention ready to market under their brand name, ZAP! (which stands for Zero Air Pollution).  The invention is a small, quiet electric motor that contains a square battery pack, and can be used to power small vehicles. Produced in a small Sonoma/> County/>/> factory in California/>/>, ZAP! Has used the electric motor on its first new product – a 35-pound foldable electric scooter with a handle that travels up to 13 mph.  A recommended retail price hasn't yet been determined for the product but Gary, president of ZAP!, says he thinks $600 sounds affordable. The scooter is small enough to fit in a school locker, and according to both partners with practice, you can even do tricks. It takes a few hours to charge the batteries, which plug into any outlet and lasts for about 14 miles.  The company has the engineering expertise, and unlimited financing, and determination to produce other, similar type transportation products that can use its ZAP! motors.

Both men realize that to capture market share with this innovation, to have ZAP! become #1 in its industry, and then to stay ahead of the competition, they will have to develop and implement a strong marketing plan as soon as possible.  They have heard about your expertise as a marketing consultant, and are seeking your advice before they begin their marketing.  Specifically, they want to know answers to many questions including:

·         Who and where should ZAP!'s target  market(s) be?  Why?

·         What product extensions, additions, modifications, etc., if any, should they consider to their line?  Why?

·         How, where, should they physically distribute their product(s)?  Why?

·         How, where, and to whom should they promote their product(s)?  Why?

·         As part of their promotional mix, how should the company position its product(s)?

·         What pricing strategy should they adopt for the scooter?  Why?

·         What may be some of the environmental opportunities and/or threats to their marketing plans?

·         Five years from now, do you still think they will be a successful business?  Why?

Note: To get current informaton about Zap, check out www.zapworld.com for a complete website about this company.  This case was developed by Dr. S. LeShay, Ph.D., and is based on an article entitled "Two guys find way to ZAP! bike idea into huge success," in the Mar. 7, 1999/>Stars & Stripes Business Section, p. 1 and 3.  

Competency

Distinguish between traditional, personal, and strategic selling.

Scenario Information

You are the regional sales manager for International Herb Express (IHE) which is a large, US-based spice & herbs supplier. IHE sells to other businesses that purchase bulk spices and spice blends for use in their end products. The primary customers are baking and soup mix corporations that sell to other businesses, for example, bakeries, restaurants, other food-service, and regional grocery chains. IHE is launching a new spice blend that reflects a more diverse cultural & ethnic flavor profile than IHE's traditional offerings.

The abridged marketing strategy for this new spice blend is to target both current customers, but also to reach new customers that are target regions with higher ethnic diversity and/or the more adventurous "foodies" market. The marketing efforts will focus on taste testing, sampling, and on-site promotion. IHE is launching this marketing plan to help create a product offering that is not as commodity-driven (as most spices and herbs are the same quality no matter where they are purchased) and can potentially offer higher profit margins.

It is important to note that spices and other ingredients are raw goods and traded as commodities. The raw price for these goods changes on a day-to-day basis. Pricing is based on classic supply and demand, though nature is a key contributor to the supply–extreme weather as well as health of crops have a direct impact on the supply chain and access to the raw goods.

Instructions

The VP of Sales & Marketing has asked you to prepare a memo that recommends a selling approach to the sales and marketing executive team for the new product spice blend. You will need to evaluate the 3 major selling styles and explain which style would work best for this new product sales plan. Additionally, the recommendation includes the sales approach to meet the goals of the marketing plan. The memo should suggest a statement about ethics as it relates to sampling of product and maintaining integrity of recipes used in taste testing and sampling.

Your recommendation should include:

• A review of each of the three selling styles: traditional, personal, and strategic.
  • Recommend a style for taste testing, sampling, & on-site promotion.
  • Include ethics statement on integrity and how to spend and verify expenditures.
• Identify ways the sales-customer relationship can add value through this new product line.