Week 2 Journal

1. What does it mean to: Evaluate, Audit, Review & Measure. And are they the same?
Definitions
(Dictionary.com, viewed 2.9.2010, http://dictionary.reference.com)

Evaluate: to determine or set the value or amount of; appraise: to evaluate property
Audit: an official examination and verification of accounts and records, esp. of financial accounts.
Review: a critical article or report, as in a periodical, on a book, play, recital, or the like; critique; evaluation
Measure: any standard of comparison, estimation, or judgment.

I think that the terms Evaluate, Audit, Review and Measure have small differences however they are all means to assess and record information.

2. Complete the Essential Marketing Planning Checklist No. 1
a) What sources of information will you need to evaluate the business?
The company’s previous marketing plan and strategic plans, annual reports to see if their previous strategies are being met, and how successful the current plans are working.

b) What political changes, economic issues, socio-cultural changes, technology trends, legal issues and ecological considerations are likely to influence your evaluation and planning?
Issues that will effect our evaluation and planning for the UCU Operations – Food Court would include economic issues such as the GFC. Socio-cultural issues such as what types of people are we marketing to? UC is a very culturally diverse university and it is important that we market to everyone. Another important social issue is obesity. It is important that the Food Court is marketed in a way that it supports healthy eating. Ecological issues that are current at the moment are sustainability issues, it is important in the fast food industry that everything is environmentally friendly.

c) If the business is in more than one country or has international connections, what regional and international issues must be considered?
I think because the university has international students issues such as communication should be considered to make sure that the Food Court tailors to all students and staff.

d) What kind of insights could similar organizations failures tell you?
I can’t think of any particular failures for organizations such as this, however looking at trends from other Food Court situations it is evident that healthy choice styles are emerging and are being successful over small deep fried filled food courts. Modern layouts are also successful, that represent clean and fresh environments.

e) Who are the organizations broad public’s or stakeholder’s and how important will it be to get buy in from them?
The organizations public’s and stakeholder’s include the students and staff of UC, as well as guests that visit the university.

Business.gov Marketing Plan Format Review

The Business.gov Marketing Plan template is a very descriptive template with advice and support for users. It describes how the template should be used, what the user needs to do in terms of research and preparation to make a marketing plan.

Each section is very simple and easy to read whilst being thorough and descriptive. For Example, each page illustrates to the user what needs to be on each page with an explanation of why the information should be included. If the user needs more help on a particular part of the template, there is a “More Information” section for each question that includes a link to more information.

I think this is a very good marketing plan template, there are many more on the internet that people can download, however this template has a lot more additional information that others do not include.