As a Consumer Behaviour Analyst in a marketing consultancy company, you have been assigned the

task of writing an academic report to critically assess the marketing activities of an organisation of
your choice. Your academic report must include two theoretical aspects from the module syllabus
and Culture must be one of them.

This report should also adhere to the following requirements:

o ChoiceofOrganisation:YourchosenorganisationmusthavedirectB-to-Coperations– i.e., selling

products and services directly to consumers without any intermediary. This organisation must be
operating in the global market serving consumers from different cultural backgrounds with
different norms, traditions, beliefs, values, customs, laws, rituals, and practices.

 You need to choose an organisation that has achieved mixed results across different cultures.
For example, an organisation may have attained successful outcomes (i.e., high brand awareness,
increased sales, positive word-of-mouth, etc.) in one culture, but may have failed to do so in another
culture. Alternatively, you can also choose an organisation facing problems or issues in both cultures.
These problems or issues must be of recent times and are yet to be resolved instead of something
which has already been solved by the organisation.

o Cultural Comparison: Your report must focus on one of the following cultural comparisons:

 Two countries with different cultures (e.g., the UK and France)

   Two different broader cultural groups (e.g., East vs. West)

   Two different subcultures within one country (e.g., Millennials vs. Generation

Z, ethnic minorities vs. mainstream, etc.)

   Two similar subcultures in different countries (e.g., skateboarders in Japan and

USA)

o Marketing Activities: Your analysis must focus on two marketing activities of your chosen
organisation.

 “Marketing activities” refer to the elements of marketing mix – i.e., the 7Ps of marketing:
product, price, place, promotion, people, process, and physical evidence. For example, you can focus
on product and price or you can focus on people and promotion for your analysis.

Based on your selection of organisation, cultural comparison, and marketing activities:

o First, you will evaluate the appropriateness of your chosen organisation’s marketing activities (in
one culture vs. the other) using the consumer behaviour aspect of Culture. Based on your analysis,
you will then make recommendations to address the problems or deficiencies in the current
marketing activities across the two cultures. This part will constitute 60% of your mark for this
assessment.

o Second, you will choose another consumer behaviour aspect(i.e.,other than Culture) and explain
how it relates to your chosen organisation’s marketing activities (in one culture vs. the other).
Based on your analysis, you will then make recommendations to address the problems or
deficiencies in the current marketing activities across the two cultures. This part will constitute 40%
of your mark for this assessment.

Structure of the Academic Report

This academic report must include the following sections:

1. Introduction: (~300 words)

o Briefly describe your chosen organisation(i.e.,origin, product offering, countries of

operation, etc.).
o Outline the scope of your report:

 Specify the two cultures or subcultures you will be comparing.

   Specify the two marketing activities (i.e., elements of marketing mix)

you will be focusing on.

   Specify the consumer behaviour aspects (i.e., theories or concepts) you

will be using for your analysis.

2. Culture: (~1000 words)

o Describe your chosen organisation’s marketing activities(i.e.,two elements of

marketing mix) that you are focusing on.

o Compare how the organisation’s marketing activities reflect similarities and differences between
the two cultures or subcultures in terms of their norms, traditions, beliefs, values, customs, laws,
rituals, practices, etc.

o Using theories and concepts related to the consumer behaviour aspect of Culture, explain what
the organisation has done that was appropriate and what was not appropriate (i.e., problems or
deficiencies in the marketing activities). This part requires a literature review of theories and
concepts related to culture that are being used for analysis and supporting evidence (i.e., reports,
statistics, illustrative examples, etc.) for the arguments.

3. Another Consumer Behaviour Aspect: (~800 words)

o Clearly identify another consumer behaviour aspect from the following:

 Attitudes and Consumers’ Decision-making Process  Consumer (& Brand) Identity and
Personality

 Reference Groups, Social Influences

 Consumer Behaviour Outcomes: Innovation and Resistance  Perception, Attention, and
Emotions
 Needs, Motivations
 Consumer Wellbeing and Research in Consumer Behaviour
o Discuss how this aspect relates to your chosen organisation’s marketing activities across the two
cultures or subcultures.

o Using theories and concepts related to this another consumer behaviour aspect, explain what the
organisation has done that was appropriate and what was not appropriate (i.e., problems or
deficiencies in the marketing activities). This part requires a literature review of theories and
concepts related to the consumer behaviour aspect that are being used for analysis and supporting
evidence (i.e., reports, statistics, illustrative examples, etc.) for the arguments.

4. Recommendations: (~600 words)

o Based on your analyses in both Sections 2 and 3(i.e.,Culture and Another Consumer

Behaviour Aspect), make recommendations to address the problems or deficiencies in the current
marketing activities (i.e., identified in Sections 2 and 3) across the two cultures or subcultures.

5. Conclusion: (~300 words)

o Concluding remarks(i.e.,sum up the key points of the report)

6. References (cited works only):

o Follow the Harvard referencing format consistently for both in-text citations and

reference list.

Appendices (optional):
o Supplementary materials such as charts, graphs, visuals, and research instruments(if

any, for example, raw data, survey questionnaires, interview transcripts, etc.)