MEI608 Study Guide
Unit 4: Management and Marketing Planning
4a. Analyze marketing plans to sell a product or service
- How do entrepreneurs apply the 7Ps to market their business?
- What are the different types of market research you might engage in?
The marketing mix consists of the 7Ps: product, promotion, price, place, people, physical environment, and process. Each element plays a role in marketing and how the entrepreneur will write the marketing plan. Product refers to the definition of the value of the good or service being provided; promotion involves communication with the customer; price maximizes competitiveness and profits; place involves reaching the market at a reasonable cost; people involves linking companies to customers; the physical environment is what is conveyed through atmospherics; and process involves the ways to build trust through effective processes.
Entrepreneurs engage in research to put together a marketing plan. Primary research entails collecting new data to answer a specific set of questions. In secondary research, already-existing data is used to inform the entrepreneur about the target customer and markets.
Brand strategy is the image a company wants to convey to its customers. When entrepreneurs write marketing plans, the goal is to convey the marketing objectives, strategies, and actions they plan to take to attempt to sell their product or service.
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4b. Apply the necessary components of management plans
- What is management?
- Why should skills and abilities be addressed in a management plan?
- What key advisors and service providers should be used?
Management is the process of guiding the development, maintenance, and allocation of resources to attain the company's goals. Management consists of four main activities: organizing, planning, leading, and controlling.
In a management plan, it is important to address the various team members, such as owners and managers, along with their key skills and abilities that make them uniquely qualified for the position. Also, addressing key advisors and service providers is necessary. This can include people like attorneys and insurance agents.
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4c. Adapt human resource management strategies to your business
- What aspects are involved in human resource management?
- How might an entrepreneur apply the team development process to better understand how to manage people?
Human Resource Management is the process of hiring, developing, motivating, and evaluating employees to achieve organizational goals, and is a key skill in entrepreneurship. Human resource planning involves:
- determining goals and strategies;
- performing job analysis;
- recruiting employees;
- selecting employees;
- training the employees;
- evaluating performance; and
- determining appropriate compensation and benefits.
One of the goals of human resource management is to keep retention and turnover low.
As part of human resource management, understanding the role of teams in an entrepreneurial venture is important. Teams develop over time, and depending on the phase of team development, as a manager, you may take a different focus, either task-focused or relationship-focused. The phases include forming, storming, norming, and performing.
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Unit 4 Vocabulary
This vocabulary list includes terms you will need to know to successfully complete the final exam.
- 7Ps
- human resource management
- management
- primary research
- secondary research