Assignment Paper

Retailing Essay
SECTION 1-
Introduction and case
1. Start your work by explaining what do you consider as the failure?
2. Then talk about, in this essay, Company X will be used as a failure case.
3. Company X closed down their shops in this market/ country in this year. Or, company X lost market share in this market/ country between these periods.
4. DO NOT TRY TO WRITE ABOUT A GLOBAL FAILURE (because in each market the failure has different reasons and you would get things mixed up.)
5. Also, DO NOT TRY TO EXPLAIN SEVERAL FAILURES AT ONCE, as this would also lead to mix ups. (hence the requirements for explaining which market and what periods.)
6. Do not take cases that are not retail cases. E.g. Kodak or Nokia failure are not retail failures. There is no shortage of retail failures, so pick one that is appropriate.
Media quotes
7. After you introduced your case, briefly, move to the media quotes.
8. Explain each quote very shortly in terms of theoretical arguments. (DO NOT try to explain them in detail because you will struggle to write anything in the 3rd section of your work.)
9. Sometimes, the quotes would be easy to interpret, however, sometimes they might hint different reasons than what is obvious.
10. If you find a quote like that, try to explain the subminimal messages.
11. Once again, very shortly….

SECTION 2- in this section, review these theories.
12. Once you have done this exercise pick one or two theories that would explain the underlying reasons for this failure.
13. When reviewing, you would be writing about what these theories are, how they are used, what are the strengths and weaknesses????
14. A review means, you need use more than 1 or 2 resources…
15. IN THIS SECTION< YOU WILL NOT WRITE ABOUT YOUR CASE… ONLY REVIEW OF THE THEORIES. 16. These theories could come from the first section. 17. HOWEVER, we covered strategic management, leadership and institutional theories. YOU MAY PICK YOUR 2nd THEORY FROM ONE OF THESE. 18. In the lectures, we covered philosophical arguments. (THESE are introductory level theories/ they are too simple and too basic to explain a failure. ) 19. DON’T SUGGEST much learning from the lectures. SECTION 3- Apply theories from section 2 to the case from section 1. 20. Section 2 will be followed by section 3, where you will apply the theories from section 2 to the case… 21. You thought that the theories in section 2, are appropriate to explain the failure. So section 3 will show how. SECTION 4- Is separate than the rest of the assignment 22. It is dedicated to the online game. 23. The game is built on the introductory level of marketing and retail theories. 24. Once you have developed you understanding about these, you can write this section. 25. PLEASE reflect on if these introductory theoretical perspectives are good for competitive advantage for retailers. 26. OR do you think retailers should use different approaches to gain and sustain their competitive advantage? (Consider lecture content when reflecting this part., why/ not? ) 27. DO NOT make this section too long, but also, too short is not a good idea too. 28. Final notes: use subtitles to differentiate between sections and theories (specifically for section two.) 29. Use references in all sections to support your arguments. 30. Use a clear font, and at least 1.5 lines spacing when writing. 31. Appendices are not marked, so plan accordingly… Assignment Remit Programme Title Business Management Module Title Module Code Assignment Title Level Weighting Hand Out Date Due Date & Time Feedback Post Date Assignment Format Assignment Length Submission Format Assignment: In this assignment, students will be expected to research thoroughly (using secondary data), critically discuss and evaluate a retail failure. For this essay, students are expected to follow the structure given below and integrate relevant theory from this and other marketing/management courses. Specifically, students are expected to: (i) Select a retail failure in the world and critically discuss and evaluate why it failed (please note it may be a domestic or international retail firm). (ii) From the identification of the retail failure case, you must then select between 4-5 revealing/insightful quotations from media sources and evaluate those quotations within the context of the failure and theory. For example, “We may have assumed that certain elements of the Fresh & Easy brand would do the work for us and we would not have to go down and dirty on price. That may have been a mistake” (Tim Mason, head of Tesco’s US business). GUIDELINES FOR THE ESSAY The extended essay will have a number of parts. The total word limit for this essay is 2500 words. All parts of the essay should be formatted in 1.5 spacing and Times New Roman. The following structure for the extended essay is required. 1. The Essay 2. References 3. An Appendix 1. THE ESSAY The essay has four main parts (all parts of the essay will be marked equally – 25%/each): 1st Part: The retail failure case • A short introduction of the topic. Keep background information to a minimum. • Develop the subject by writing about four to five good solid paragraphs relating directly to the topic. You will be marked on the strength of your arguments and the solidity of your justifications. Developing both sides of the argument is important. • Select between 4-5 quotations around central themes of the retail failure. These will be identified from media sources and evaluate those quotations. For Example, “We may have assumed that certain elements of the Fresh & Easy brand would do the work for us and we would not have to go down and dirty on price. That may have been a mistake” (Tim Mason, head of Tesco’s US business). Please note that these may be direct quotations from management or a journalist. Either is acceptable so long as it is referenced appropriately. (Explain this quotation from a theoretical point of view – in this example Mason is talking about the corporate identity, brand associations and on a side note pricing) • The key is to weave your arguments around both theory and practice, using theory to deepen your (counter-) arguments. • For media sources – such as TV, Internet, popular marketing magazines (take these with a big pinch of salt) – you should critically appraise what is said/shown in light of your own developing theoretical knowledge of management. In the above example you would highlight the wider role of McCarthy’s 4ps – the marketing mix - and the way that management overlooked or ignored the integration aspect of this theory. Here you would bring in studies relating to the (retail) marketing mix to either support or refute management arguments. 2nd Part Evaluation of theory (literature review) • Find the underlying cause of the failure from the quotes in section one. • Decide which theories (max. 3) would explain the failure. • Write a literature review for these theories. • At another level, students are also expected to evaluate the theory that is integrated into your arguments. These may be from the studies which draw attention to the limitations of that particular theory. • You must selectively integrate relevant management theory to help support your arguments. It is expected that students draw upon theory beyond (retail) marketing in the wider management field. Select at least two theoretical arguments you have found through your own research. 3rd Application of theories to the Case • Explain the failure case using the theories you have evaluated (reviewed) in the 2nd section. 4th Part Reflections on group activity • In part 4 of the essay write down a reflective section on your thoughts regarding the group activity. • Start with explaining your results in the game • Reflect on what you would do differently after attending the lectures? • Support your arguments with relevant theory • At least 300 words 2. REFERENCES • Make short references to your sources. Please use the Harvard System of referencing. You may do this by supporting a point, which you have made with a direct quote from the author of one or more of your sources. Alternatively, you may refer to the views of the author in your own words. 3. THE APPENDIX • There is no word limit to this part of the essay; however it will contain almost all of the descriptive material used to support your analytical arguments. NB. Appendices appearing at the end of the text are not included in the word count. • Any key statistics and documentation. • Tables and diagrams. A soft copy of the coursework should be submitted to Canvas/ Turnitin, by midday on 15.04.2020. Tips on writing the essay: What are you going to write in each section? • Section One: 4-5 quotes from media sources. • After collecting these quotations, you will be explaining the reasons for failure based on these quotations. • e.g. If the quotation is telling you about the economic conditions, you will theorise it by saying their failure was due to the macro environment and external conditions. • In the module outline it says that you need to weave your ideas and it is important where you can produce contradicting ideas. This means that you need to “see through” the underlying reasons. In the example here, you may come up by offering (at the end of first section, for ex.) that all these refer to managerial flaws (internal conditions) and management decision making issues or management’s ignorance to internal and external conditions, etc. This is the place you are bringing in your learning and trying to explain the failure from a more explicit perspective. That is, you are unpacking the implicit reasons lying underneath the absolute failure. • In Section Two: You will take the theory from the 1st section and critically evaluate it. • In most cases it will be linked to the management theories (see my examples above). • While critically evaluating the theory, you need to explain the theory how it has been developed/progressed, where it is used, what are the limitations (all referenced), but arguments are your own arguments. See the link here. There is a short example of how to write a lit. rev. http://www.emeraldinsight.com/authors/guides/write/literature.htm (Links to an external site.) • Section Three: In this section you will be applying the theories from section 2 to the case and explain how the failure happened using these theories. • Section Four: Consider the lectures and the game you played as a group. Would you do things differently, now that you learned different strategic management approaches. How? Why? More on the concept.... 1. You can pick any failure case: • Any country, • Pick only one operation in one country. Do not take the entire organisation, do not try to explain the global failure of the company. The failure reasons will be different in each operation and this will affect your focus. 2. In the 1st part of your assignment after picking the 4-5 quotations write down the failure from a theoretical point of view (e.g. they got the positioning wrong, they overlooked the customer needs, and/or pricing was wrong, etc. Then, appropriately cite and reference them. 3. In the 2nd part of your assignment, discuss the theory which best explains the failure (you can have more than one theories). Do not forget to write the counter arguments to those theories! So, in this part you will critically discuss the theories you have selected with the help of literature. And More... 4. Overall you need to evaluate the failure: • if the case has a market entry failure you might discuss about market entry from the related points (is it an entry problem related to the boundaries? Or is it an international market entry problem? (maybe both?) or for example related to sustainability issues? Ethical issues etc..) • Try to see it from a couple of perspectives rather than a broad one. You can also bring in strategy and management literatures here, discussing about decision making processes, knowledge acquisition, exploration, exploitation etc… • I would recommend an equal distribution of number of words, but it is not a strict rule. In areas, where you will discuss the theory the word count can be in the favour of the theory discussion. • Please, do not forget to introduce the case company at the start of your essays and keep it short (a paragraph is sufficient). Group activity (not assessed directly but indirectly in the individual essay) Please note that this activity itself is not assessed. Your performance in this activity will not form any part of your assessment. However, you will use this experience in the 4th section of your assignment by reflecting on your gaming experience and the course content. In order to understand the impact of this exercise pre and post-game questionnaires are designed. Please visit Canvas quizzes to answer these questions. Aim This course aims to provide students with an appreciation of the strategic issues, which firms face in a global distribution and retailing marketplace. Therefore, to help to understand the dynamics of retailing marketplace a group activity is planned. This group activity focuses on the basic retail mix and facilitates learning by playing. The activity In this activity students will work in groups and play an online marketplace game. In this game, student groups will open retail shops in a shopping centre and manage them. The game is available only on Facebook. 1. Each group will create a Facebook account for their group. 2. Using personal accounts for the group is discouraged. 3. Using personal accounts will be the risk of the account holder. 4. Groups should not share any personal and or sensitive information other than the public information of the group with the game app. 5. All sensitive information shared will be at the group’s (and/or the person who shared the information) risk. 6. The groups should follow the terms and conditions of Facebook and the game app. 7. You are not allowed to make any real/actual financial gain from this game including digital currencies. 8. The groups are strongly advised to work together and take decisions accordingly. This will be a good practice for your future careers. 9. In the aftermath of the game, students are expected to reflect on how they took decisions during the game, how these resulted and how they would use the learning from the course (if their decisions would be different?). The game http://www.flonga.com/play/marketland.htm Module Learning Outcomes: On successful completion of this module students will be able to:- 1. Understand the nature, scope and role of distribution and retailing firms and how this sector relates to wider subject of marketing; 2. Display an understanding of the pervasiveness and changing environment of retailing as well as its impact upon the upstream strategic decision-making practice of firms; 3. Fuse the analytical with the creative aspects of retailing to produce informed arguments about the strategic issues which retailers face in institutional and global markets; 4. Critically evaluate, using a range of theoretical perspectives, distribution and retail management environments; and 5. To put forward arguments and counterarguments about current retail management trends. The module is also designed so that students may enhance/develop the following skills: • accept the opinions of others; • integrate your opinions into your arguments • support and/or refute (counter-) arguments with a range of theories; • work and engage with the arguments put forward within retail case studies; • apply analytical schemas to facilitate analysis in decision-making; and • source material from, and learn across, a variety of (e)places. Grading Criteria: Please click this link to access the grading criteria. Feedback to Students: Both Summative and Formative feedback is given to encourage students to reflect on their learning that feed forward into following assessment tasks. The preparation for all assessment tasks will be supported by formative feedback within the tutorials/seminars. Written feedback is provided as appropriate. Please be aware to use the browser and not the Canvas App as you may not be able to view all comments. Plagiarism: It is your responsibility to ensure that you understand correct referencing practices. You are expected to use appropriate references and keep carefully detailed notes of all your information sources, including any material downloaded from the Internet. It is your responsibility to ensure that you are not vulnerable to any alleged breaches of the assessment regulations. More information is available at https://intranet.birmingh am.ac.uk/as/studentservices/conduct/misconduct/plagiarism/index.aspx.