Conduct Marketing Audit to support a marketing plan

Question
The purpose of this assessment is to produce a marketing audit that would support a marketing plan. The audit should be produced for a company (or business unit) of your choice in one sector from; food retail, gaming, fragrance or charity and should focus on one country only.

Assessment Task

Conduct independent research using quality sources fully referenced to provide the evidence to support your analysis e.g. Mintel, MarketLine Advantage, ABI Global, newspapers, journals, company websites etc.

This Marketing Audit is limited in scope and should contain the following areas: (A full Audit, based on Kotler’s format, can be seen in Appendix 1 of this brief)

Macro analysis (PEEST)

Micro analysis (market, customers and competitors)

Internal analysis (strategy, functions, productivity)

One-page TOWS matrix and key strategic challenges summary

Appendices (up to 4 sides of supporting information/analysis, not included in word count which must include the Company Overview)
Appendix 1: One-page Company Overview to include; name, type, size, key competitors, customers, products/services. Specific area of focus for your audit – company or business unit and country.

Appendix 2: supporting Macro model/framework application Appendix 3: supporting Micro model/framework application Appendix 4: supporting Internal model/framework application

This should be in report format. Your analysis should be succinct and the use of models and tables is encouraged. This should be addressed in a level 7 (MBA) academic style. It should show:

critical awareness in relation to the identification and application of relevant models/frameworks, analysis, evaluation, synthesis and original insights

appropriate academic English for level 7 work

appropriate support from secondary literature supported by appropriate UoN

Harvard referencing.

Solution
Executive Summary
This report has provided an overview and a detailed analysis of the marketing audit through a strategic focus on the Tesco Plc. This is categorised as the largest retailer in the UK. In the marketing audit which is applicable for the future marketing plan, it has analysed, identified and appreciated issues and challenges in their internal and external business environment. Different tools have been used in the analysis. It has been recommended that Tesco Plc need to put more efforts in building their brand, ensuring they withstand the highly competitive market and having a more structured strategy of attracting and retaining their customers. They must also focus on regaining their client reputation by clients and employee satisfaction which would generate and promote the level of consumer confidence particularly if the consumers and employees recommend the company to others.

Table of Contents
1.0 Introduction 4
2.0 Marketing Audit 4
2.1 Brief Literature Review 4
2.2 Macro-Analysis (PEEST) 5
2.3 Micro Analysis 6
2.4 Internal Analysis 8
2.5 TOWS Matrix and Key Strategic Challenge Summary 9
3.0 Conclusion and Recommendations 10
References 12
Appendices 14
Appendix 1: Company overview 14
Appendix 2: Macro model/framework application 15
Appendix 3: Micro-model/ framework application 15
Appendix 4: Supporting internal model/framework application 16


1.0 Introduction
In the contemporary business environment, the market function is increasingly pressurised to establish and implement business-focused approaches and strategies for marketing and harnessing the overall business effectiveness. According to Lipnická and Dado (2013), many organisation have a feeling that their marketing strategies need regular reviews and overhauls but lack knowhow to proceed. Despite such organisations having a concrete annual marketing plan, policies and operations, they are not reoriented to adopting to changing business environments and opportunities. As noted by Al Fahad et al. (2015), through marketing audit, it is possible to conduct a systematic evaluation of overall plans, objectives, strategies, activities and organisational structure and marketing staff. In this regard, this report presents a marketing audit of Tesco PLC in UK. This is the leading retailer with 30% of the market share in the UK (Tesco plc, 2019). In UK, Tesco PLC operates in distinct formats including Express, Extra, Supermarkets, Metro, Home Plus, One Stop, Bank, Booker and Dunnhumby. Despite its success in all these areas in terms of return on investment, profitability and market dominance, there is a need to develop broad marketing plans and strategies which can be identified through a marketing audit. Through this, different threats and opportunities in their internal and external environment have been identified using the Kotler’s format.
2.0 Marketing Audit
2.1 Brief Literature Review
Philip Kotler who is considered as the originator of marketing audit holds the view that an entity must periodically revise their strategic practices by specific control instruments including marketing audit. This is affirmed by Al Fahad et al. (2015) study that notes……………………………………………………………………..Please click the paypal icon below to receive this assessment for only $25