R/508/0486 Unit-2 - Marketing Essentials Regent College

Task 1

P1 Key roles and responsibilities of marketing functions

Marketing is an important procedure that involves multiple functions that involve satisfying the needs and demands of the consumers by producing products of such kind. It also involves building a conducive relationship with them so that they can be retained for a longer period of time. Marketing involves several types of interrelated activities and plans of action that have to be conducted at the same time, thus it is not an easy process. The marketing manager must have all the knowledge that is required to conduct marketing functions so that set goals of the company can be accomplished. CADBURY also have to conduct this process in an effective way so that all its products can reach its final customer at the proper time. The roles and responsibilities that are linked with the marketing function of CADBURY Company are described below:

Marketing planning function: The marketing manager of CADBURY always prepares marketing plans and procedures that define the sequence of activities that have to be carried out in an effective way. Managers have to make sure that planning is carried out in a favourable way so that every individual knows his duty to be performed while carrying out this process. This function is very much necessary when the company is about to launch a new product or service in the marketplace. For instance, CADBURY has introduced its new product with the name Nutties hence managers must have draft plans before launching it and after its introduction in the market. If they find any problem related to it then plans must be reviewed properly in order to make any modifications which are required at that point in time (Baker and et. al., 2016).

Promotional function: Every company wants to promote their product or service in the market area in order to create awareness and interest among customers and lead to the generation of the demand for that goods or services. Hence, it is considered an important marketing function that must be carried out by the marketing manager. There are several methods that are available in order to perform promotional functions therefore companies have to make a choice from a number of options and choose the best alternative that will yield them high profits as well as significant sales volume. CADBURY also promote their products by making use of print media, social sites etc.  

Research and development function: It is a very important function that has to be performed in today's business environment as companies have to operate in a dynamic environment which keeps on changing with time. Thus, companies have to perform research and development processes so that they can examine all the factors that are available and cause a number of changes in the system. That is how the company could able to perform activities in accordance with the needs and demands that are prevailing in the surroundings and respond against it accordingly. CADBURY have a well-established R&D department that keeps checking the environmental changes that are taking place and then makes decisions accordingly.

Marketing Information System (MIS): it involves keeping a check on customers' behaviour and demands that are taking place in the market and then making any decision regarding it. Customers are considered real kings of the market thus companies have to make plans and procedures in their respect (Bastable, 2016). In order to carry out this process in an effective manner business organizations can adopt MIS which assists them in gathering all relevant and materialistic information regarding consumer behaviour and then make plans accordingly. It is done in a sequence of steps that starts with a salesman who visits the field area and gathers data on their interests while performing surveys on their target audience. After this, they report to the marketing manager who examines all the information that is required to make the decision process simple and easy. The marketing manager of CADBURY also follows this function very keenly so that the final process can be performed and fulfilled in an achievable manner.

Financing function: Finances are considered the most important resource that is required in almost every set of activities that are performed in a single business organization system. Therefore, it is necessary that the company have a sufficient amount of funds with them so that all functions in the organization can be done effectively. There are a number of options available through which they can arrange funds. Cadbury can also adopt the best alternative from the number of options that are available in order to fulfil their financial needs that may arise in future times. This is also considered a necessary marketing function. 

P2 Roles and responsibilities of marketing relate to the wider organizational context

To identify customer needs and wants, marketing activities are performed. Managers who possess proper skills and appropriate knowledge can perform the task of determining the overall needs and requirements of the customers. Therefore, marketing managers are appointed by the organizations to take care of all the marketing activities. These marketing managers perform various duties and functions in order to enable smooth working of processes and activities. It will increase the productivity of the firm which will ultimately result in multiple benefits like an increase in profits, increase in market share, expansion and growth of the firm etc. It will also create a good image of the firm in the market and in the eyes of customers.

In a business organization, there are various departments and each department performs a different function. It is the duty of a marketing manager to evaluate the functioning of each department and then delegate responsibilities to them (Berkowitz, 2016). It will create a good organizational structure in the firm and also improve the performance of all the departments of the firm. Better performance of all the departments will result in achieving the objectives and targets efficiently and effectively thus increasing the productivity and profits of the company. Some of the duties and responsibilities performed by CADBURY are-

Human resource management and marketing - The human resource department plays an important role in an organization. This department is responsible for the recruitment of all the employees. Due to this department, there is effective functioning of an organization. A marketing manager is also appointed by the human resource manager who can evaluate and manage all the functions of marketing and helps in achieving the goals and objectives of the organization. A marketing manager is selected on the basis of knowledge, skill, competence, capability and experience. HR manager evaluates all these skills of the person who is going to be appointed as a marketing manager. He also evaluates the efficiency and effectiveness of a person so that he can perform all activities related to marketing effectively. HR department organizes training programs as well to enhance the knowledge and skills of the employees so that they can perform all their activities more efficiently and helps the company to earn more profits.

Finance and marketing - The finance department is the most important department of every organization. It manages the funds of the organization and controls the financial transactions of the business. It is the responsibility of the finance department to allocate funds to each department as per their requirement in order to perform the activities and tasks. They also decide the amount of finance required for each activity. The finance manager manages all the money involved in every department and for each event. Budgets for each activity of the organization are formulated by the finance department. They also create a budget for various activities of the marketing department. Funds are allocated to each and every activity related to marketing. These activities involve promotional activities, advertisements, product surveys, customer satisfaction surveys etc. Thus a marketing manager can easily make decisions related to expenses involved in marketing activities and can make future plans and policies accordingly. With the help of these budgets, the resources of the organization are used efficiently and there will be no wastage of the resources. These budgets also act as a check control on the activities of the various departments. Finance managers can match the actual performance with the budgeted figures in order to check the efficiency of each department.

Research-and-development and Marketing - Research and development is one of the most critical activities involved in every business organization. The business organization either has their own R&D (Research and Development) department or they outsources this work to other specialized organizations. As every company wants to establish their product in the market, it is very necessary to introduce changes in the product with the change in environment and change in customer needs. Proper research is required to be carried out by the company to implement changes that are required in the product. For this, the marketing department takes the help of the research and development department. The R&D department does all the research activities by analyzing the market and then delivering a product similar to the needs and desires of the customers. They have two options, either to invent a new product or to bring innovations to the existing product. This activity is very important to be in the competition. The research and development department of CADBURY is also a very strong department which knows about the market and its customer needs completely. Every time when they deliver a new product, that product rules the market and this is only because of great knowledge about the likes and dislikes of customers.

Customer Service and Marketing - After-sales services are one of the most important factors to decide upon the success of the product in the market. The customer service department handles the activity of after-sales services. They conduct the work of handling all issues of the customers once the sale is made. So it is very important for every business organization to maintain an effective customer service department which effectively handles all the customer needs. It helps in maintaining the customer base because customers prefer to buy products from those organizations which facilitates better after-sales services. Therefore, it becomes the duty of a marketing department to understand the issues of the customers and tell them to the service department so that they can provide effective solutions to those problems. (Kennedy and Parsons, 2014).

Production and Marketing - The production and marketing departments are interconnected with each other very strongly. These two departments work in a combined manner. The production department produces those products which are required by the market and the marketing department lets the production department know about market requirements by conducting various market surveys and studies. The marketing department gathers information regarding the trends going on in the market and then transfers such information to the production department. On the basis of this information, the production department starts the process of making products which will ultimately be delivered to the market.

Task 2

P3 Comparison between two organizations by applying marketing mix to accomplish objectives

Every business organization aims to accomplish the final goals and objectives for which they have been present in the marketplace. There are several tools and techniques that are available in the business environment which can be adopted by the company in order to carry out its marketing process in an effective and efficient manner. The marketing mix is known as a developed tool and method through which every company can work in accordance with the factors that are included in this process. It basically involves 7p's of marketing and each contains features and characteristics that must be adopted by the company.

CADBURY is one of the most preferred brands in confectionaries and serves customers that are present almost everywhere worldwide. One benefit that they enjoy is the number of market share that they contain as compared to their competitors. They have a well-established share in the current marketplace and have retained customers for longer period of time by satisfying their needs and demands in an adequate manner.

It is very much essential for companies to create their image in such a way that customers only prefer products of that brand and do not want to purchase from other companies. The marketing mix is considered one such way in which business organizations can make decisions about the important seven elements that are present in this process (Brychkov and et. al., 2017). All these components play a vital role in business life. Nestle is considered a tough competitor of Cadbury. The comparison between these companies is illustrated below:

Marketing mix process of Cadbury Company:

Product: the final outcome that is produced by the company and which is served to the final customers in the marketplace is known as the product. It is a tangible form and buyers purchase in order to meet their needs and demands by paying some amount of money in return. Therefore, it is mandatory for the Cadbury Company to produce such products that will satisfy the desires of the buyers. Cadbury basically serves different types of chocolates in the marketplace. Some are perks, dairy milk, temptations etc.

Place: this component of the marketing mix defines the location or target customers that they will concentrate on entire work process. Cadbury always makes sure that their products are available to every store whether it is departmental stores, small general shops malls etc. Therefore, they take care of the availability of their products in the marketplace.

Price: It involves the amount of money that the final customer will pay to the company in return for purchasing their product or service (Cabrera and Williams, 2014). There are a number of factors that affect this concept for example every country has a different economic system that defines the value of money thus Cadbury has different prices for its products according to the country in which they are selling. On the other hand, the company offers affordable prices for their customers so that they can easily purchase that product.

Promotion: This component involves creating awareness in the customer's mind about the availability of products, their features, and uses so that it will lead to the generation of demand. On the other hand, if the company have already established their strong brand image in the current marketplace, it is not at all necessary to conduct promotional activities. This case is with Cadbury as they already enjoy a sustainable amount of share and goodwill there is no need to promote their products in the marketplace.

People: this component involves the customers of the company as well as the employees who are working in the business organization. Thus, it is the responsibility of Cadbury's management system to satisfy their employees so that they can contribute to the best of their efforts. They are the important resources that perform all plans of action to produce final products and services to serve their target people.

Process: This component involves the sequence of activities that have to be followed while producing the product. It is a wider concept that also involves the distribution channel that must be adopted by Cadbury in order to supply their ultimate goods to the people present in the marketplace.

Physical Evidence: this element focuses on having a distinctive name, logo, sign and symbol for every company so that customers could able to identify it from a number of competitors that are already present in the market area (Griffitts, 2016). Cadbury has their own symbol that is well known amongst the audience and they could easily identify it from the number of options.

Marketing Mix Of Nestle Company:

Product: Nestle is considered a strong competitor of Cadbury thus, they also produce chocolates of different kinds namely polo, Kit Kat and many others. Their products are of high quality and is preferred by the customers that are present in the marketplace.

Place: Nestle have well well-established image and share in the current marketplace, but there is one drawback compared to Cadbury is that their products are not always available to every store hence, this creates a lack of point in front of the company.

Price: Nestle's products are not at all expensive and are easily affordable by the customers. This is due to the reason that there are a number of rivalries that are already present in the marketplace. Therefore, it becomes necessary for them to charge fair prices for their customers so that they do not lack share in the competitive business world.

Promotion: Similar to Cadbury, they do not promote their products in front of customers as they already enjoy a sustainable amount of market share that provides benefit to them about selling their products in the market area.

People: there are a number of employees that are working in the Nestle company therefore, it becomes necessary for them to satisfy their needs and requirements as they are the ones who make the selling process of final products possible. On the other hand, customers of the company are known as the most important resource as it is because of them, the company exist (Hoeffler, Herzenstein and Ginzburg, 2015)

Physical evidence: Nestle have a unique way of creating their presence in the market. They usually construct their logos at various places in different coffee corners, thus this innovative concept attracts a larger number of people.

Process: The creation of Nestle's products involves a large number of manufacturing activities like collection of cocoa seeds, fragmentation, drying, and winnowing and the last part includes grinding which is further been classified into two more processes. Thus, Nestle have their own style of processing their products thus, it also creates a good image in customers' minds as they are well aware of the process system that has been carried out.

Task 3

P4 Evaluation of basic marketing plan

Marketing plans are considered the most important function in the whole marketing process as it formulate the framework on which all steps must be carried out in proper manner. Every business organization that is operating in business corporate world, is necessary for them to construct the marketing plans in an effective way (Hoffman and Turley, 2015). Similarly, Cadbury has drafted efficient marketing plans that contain a number of aspects of different natures.

Introduction of Cadbury: Cadbury is considered the second-largest confectionery company amongst every organization that is operating in this field all over the world. It was initially founded by John Cadbury in the year 1824. It is completely under the ownership of Mondelez International.

Mission Statement: “Cadbury means quality; this is our promise. Our reputation is built upon quality; our commitment to continuous improvement will ensure our promise”.

The vision statement of Cadbury Company: “Working together to create a brand people love”

Some aims and objectives of the company:

• To produce different varieties of chocolates for the customers.
• Continue enhancement of the chocolates that are present in the marketplace.
• To build a larger number of stores in the current market area to increase their share at a significant level.

SWOT analysis of Cadbury which is described below:

Target market: Every company operates to serve the specific group of people that are present in the marketplace. As it enables them to make every set of decisions in accordance with the demands and needs of that particular target customer. Cadbury mainly focuses on children as they love chocolates very much.

Marketing budget:

Evaluation and controlling process: this is considered the last step in the marketing plan in which the management of the company evaluates all the plans of action that have been formulated in the above steps. It is carried out to know the actual performance while making the comparison with the set standards so that any deviations can be identified if it is present and adopt some corrective measure so that the final aims and objectives of the company can be met (Karasar and Öztürk, 2014). 

Conclusion

As per the report presented above, it is concluded that marketing plays a vital role in the development and growth of the organization. The marketing department along with other departments of the organization helps an organization to achieve its desired goals and objectives in the most effective and efficient manner. Marketing understands the needs of the customers and thus helps to deliver a product which is highly demanded by the customers in the market. It satisfies the needs of all the customers and thus generates more profits. Every company must formulate its plans and policies from the customer's point of view by keeping their needs in mind. This report highlights the case of Cadbury Company which is well well-known confectionary brand in the market area. They have formulated a marketing mix function to carry out their process in an effective manner. On the other hand, they have drafted marketing plans that involve several steps that have to be followed in order to come to the last phase which is monitoring and controlling.

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References

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