- Choose a specific organisation and critically examine the role of marketing in
this company. In particular, you should address the following questions:
What constitutes the firm’s viewpoint of marketing’s role inside the firm? How
is marketing perceived (internally/externally)? How does marketing contribute
to the firm’s strategic decision making? How does it help create tangible value,
as claimed by scholars discussing the importance of concepts of value-in-use
and value co-creation for companies? How is the contribution of marketing
measured?
Conducting Research
The focus of your project will be review of the academic research, together with
evidence from company sources. The challenge will be to integrate theory with
practice. The starting point for your research of academic sources will be the books,
and journal articles on the reading list at the end of this document. From these,
you should search for, and review some of the further journal articles which are
cited. Wider search may lead to additional academic (book and journal articles)
sources which are relevant for your essay. You also have to search for and review
practitioner sources. These sources might include company reports and websites,
company communications, practitioner journals, government/ industry/trade
association reports, reports from research agencies, specialised press and so on.
Choice of Company
You should choose a specific, named organisation, in any industry. It is probably
advisable to select a company with a national or international presence: this should
facilitate gaining access to the type of information you will require. However, if you
have access to a small or medium sized company, and would prefer to focus on their
activities, then this will be fine too.
