MarketingPLOAssessment
ConductedduringtheSpring2013term
TheMarketingPLOAssessedthissemesterwas:
Constructandimplementapromotionalplan
FivefacultyparticipatedinassessingthePLO.ThosefacultywerefourIntroductionto
Businessfaculty(Lew,Carrigan,White,Zwart)andonePrinciplesofMarketingfaculty
(Riker).Thetotalnumberofstudentsassessedwas109.
Studentswereadministeredthecasestudybelow.TheywereaskedtoreadtheCasestudy
andrespondtothequestionsasidentified.Thefacultythenuseascaleof1‐4togradethe
studentresponses.Fourwasconsideredmasteryoftheconceptsand1wasconsidered
lackofunderstandingoftheconcepts.Thecasestudywasadministeredinclassand
collectedinclass.
THEMARKETINGOPPORTUNITY
Supposeyourroommatejustinventedanelectronicpencilthatsenseswhena
wordbeingwrittenismisspelled,beeps,andshowsthecorrectspellingonasmall
screenonthesideofthepencil.Hefiguresthepencilcanbemanufacturedfor
about$5,sincethecostofcomputerchipshasdroppedsolow.
Yourroommatecomestoyouforadviceandmoney.Hewillmakeyoua40%
ownerifyouhelpmanufactureandsellthepencils.Heasksyoutoputup$500for
materialsforthefirst100units.Heasksthatyouhelpmakeandsellthepencils
afterclasses.
Sinceyourroommateisstudyingelectronicengineering,heknowsaboutasmuch
aboutmarketingasyouknowaboutelectronics.Youagreetostudythe
possibilities.Youmakealistofquestionsthatneedtobeansweredbeforeyou
commityour$500.
1.Whatneeddoesthisproductfill?
2.Whatisthepotentialmarketfortheproduct?
3.Whatarethetargetmarketsforsuchaproduct?
4.Whattypeofconsumergoodisthisproduct?
5.Howwillyoudistributetheproduct?
6.Howcouldtheconsumerbeconvincedtopurchasetheproduct?
7.Whataretheotherquestionsthatneedtobeansweredbeforeadecisionis
made?
Studentsscoresrangedfromanaverageof1.2to3.3withtheirunderstandingthehowto
constructandlookatwhatwentintoapromotionalplanforaproduct.
Question
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Average
3.3
2.8
2.9
1.2
2.8
2.6
2.8
Abarchartshowsavisualrepresentationoftheresponsestothesevenquestions.
Average
3.5
3.0
2.5
2.0
Average
1.5
1.0
0.5
0.0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Question1:
Studentsclearlyidentifiedwhatneedtheproductfilled.Anaverageofthescoresforthis
questionwere3.3.Theycouldarticulatewhattheneedwasandwhytherewasaneedfor
theproduct.Responsesforwhattheneedwasdifferedbystudent,butoveralltheconcept
ofneedforaproductwasunderstood.Thegeneralresponsesfacultywerelookingforto
thisquestionwas:Thispencilwillhelpthosestudentswhoarenotgoodspellerstolearn
howtospellbetterandtomakesurethatwhattheywriteisspelledcorrectly.
Question2:
Moststudents(average2.8)couldarticulatewhatthepotentialmarketfortheproductwas,
identifyingageneralmarketthattheproductwouldsellto.Thegeneralresponsethatthe
facultywerelookingfortothisquestionwas:Thepotentialmarketincludeseveryonewho
usesapenciltowritewordsratherthannumbers.
Question3:
Amajority(average2.9)ofthestudentscouldidentifyoneormoretargetmarketsforthe
product.Thegeneralresponsetothisquestionthefacultywerelookingforwas:Especially
interestedmaybestudents,writers,andeditors.
Question4:
Thisquestionhadthelowestscoresoutofthoseassessedwitha1.2average.Itwasclear
thatstudentscouldnotidentifythevarioustypesofconsumergoods,andspecificallythe
typeofconsumergoodthatthecasestudyproductrepresented.Theresponsethefaculty
waslookingfortothisquestionwas:Itisashoppinggoodinthatitwillcompetewithother
pencilsandpensofcomparablecost.
Question5:
Moststudents(2.8average)couldarticulatehowtheproductwouldbedistributed,
identifyingoneormoredistributionavenuestogettheproducttomarket.Facultywere
lookingforaresponsesimilartotheonefollowing:Eventuallyyouwouldwantaswidea
distributionaspossible,includingdrugstorecounters,businesssupplystores,campus
bookstores,andsoforth.Atfirst,however,itmaybebesttofocusoncampusbookstores
andbusinesssupplystores.
Question6:
Moststudents(2.6average)couldarticulateatleastonewaythattheconsumercouldbe
convincedtopurchasetheidentifiedproduct.Facultywerelookingforaresponsesuchas
thefollowing:Usuallythebestwaytoconvincesomeoneofthebenefitofanewproductis
tohavehimorhersampleone.Suchsamplescouldbeplacedonthecountersofthe
bookstoresandbusinesssupplystores.Youwouldhavetotrainthestorepersonnelinhow
tousetheproduct.Youcouldalsorecruitstudentsalespeopletododemonstrationsand
selltheproductoncampus.Wordofmouthandpublicitywouldlikelyhelpincreating
sales.Itisdoubtfulthatmuchadvertisingwouldbeneededatfirst,butiftheproductis
successful,itcouldbeadvertisedwidely.
Question7:
Amajority(2.8average)ofthestudentscouldidentifyatleasttwoquestionsthatneededto
beaskedbeforeadecisioncouldbemadetomarkettheproduct.Facultywerelookingfor
responsessuchasthefollowing:Cansuchapencilreallybemade?Doyouhaveapatentor
areyougettingone?Whatshouldtheinitialpricebe?Whoshouldmakethepencil?Do
otherpeopleknowaboutthisidea?WherecanIfindthe$500quickly?
Overallstudentsunderstandthebasicsofwhatgoesintoconstructiongapromotionalplan.
FacultyidentifiedflawsinthePLO’sbecausemostcoursesdonotimplementapromotional
plan.Plo’sforMarketingneedtobere‐writtentoreflectwhatisactuallyhappeninginthe
coursework.WhenPLO’sforMarketingwerefirstconstructedfacultydidnotadequately
considerwhetherornotwhatwashappeningintheclassroomalignedwiththecourse
outlinesofrecord.PLO’sformarketingneedtoberestructuredtoadequatelyrepresent
whatcourseoutlinesofrecordareindicatingaslearningoutcomesforthecourse.