1. Assignment
Class 4

2. The assignment
“A small group of friends are going to start a company in Sri- Lanka and launch a product that they believe will be successful. This assignment will discuss the steps that need to be taken to successfully launch this product.” This paper will be no more than 15 pages long and at the end of the class there will be a group presentation where the students will explain their methodology and findings. The paper will be graded out of 20 marks The presentation will be graded out of 20 marks.

3. Section 1 – Organizational Overview
What type of company are you planning on forming? How will you register the company? What are the rules and regulations that need to be followed? What name will you give the company? What is the company mission and vision? What are the organizational objectives?

4. Section 2 – The Product
What product or service are you going to launch? How did you choose this product or service? What is the cost of the product? Are you going to manufacture or import? What is the market potential? Show detailed research on how you selected the product or service.

5. Section 3 – Customer, Competitor and stakeholder analysis
Who is the major target market that you are going to sell to? (Pick one target market)
What characteristics of that target market make it attractive?
A Customer Analysis - Once you have selected and justified the ONE target market you wish to focus on, outline any demographic and/or behavioural characteristics of this segment. You would need to comment on:
Who is this market (demographics), where are they located, how do they spend their time and money (psychographics); what else defines them (interests, attitudes, values and/or lifestyles);
the relative size of the segment;
potential market share and opportunities for growth and development;
any other information including their likely purchase behaviour and motivations purchasing this product as well as what the product offering would be for this segment (what are they buying and why); and
What is the value proposition?

6. Section 3 continued
A Competitor Analysis this section would focus on how your product offering compares to alternative purchase choices. Remember this can be broader than just substitute brands – think more broadly here about substitute options for spending their money. So you need to also include an analysis of the products/services/substitutions that are likely to be competition for this product offering in this market segment. You are also required in this section to include an overview of the current positioning, value-chain structure, marketing channels used and relevant market drivers for this product/service. A Stakeholder Analysis You need to consider any other stakeholders who might have an interest in or be able to impact the marketing of this product offering in this segment.

7. Section 4 – Strategic positioning, Entry and exit, timelines
How will you strategically position this product and this company? What resources will you require? (Land, Labour, Capital etc) When will you enter the market, under what conditions will you exit the market? What are the company objectives for the product . Short term and long term goals? (Goals have to be SMART) What will your marketing efforts look like? An implementation plan: Next consider the order or sequencing of activities with a timeline (i.e. what needs to occur first etc.). Contingencies: After you have developed your plan you then need to consider contingencies, or what are the risky parts of your plan and are there any actions that need to be considered or prepared to counter these if they were to occur. Conclusion: Finally, provide an overall conclusion for your work (about 1 paragraph) that brings it all together and re-enforces your case for this plan to be accepted/adopted.

8. Additional requirements
A title page A contents page An executive summary A works cited page Appendix (Appendix is not going to be counted for the page count)