Discussion: Devotional – Planning

 

5.1 Discussion: Devotional – Planning

 

Getting Started

Planning: Our Part of God’s Part?

Managers spend large parts of their lives planning and controlling, two of the four functions according to management theory. Yet we are told on Sunday and in our Bible study that God is in control and we should turn it all over to Him. Woody Allen is quoted as saying, “If you want to hear God laugh, tell him about your plans.” This makes us laugh until we realize how much time we spend making plans in our business and personal life. Is all that time wasted?

Upon successful completion of this discussion, you will be able to:

• Develop a biblical framework to resolve ethical dilemmas in marketing strategies and tactics.

Resources

• Bible (New International Version)

Background Information

• “All right,” the Lord said to Satan, “everything he has is in your power, but you must not hurt Job himself.” (Job 1:12, NIV)
• “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11, NIV)

Instructions

1. Review the rubric to make sure you understand the criteria for earning your grade.
2. We are asked by our supervisors, peers, and work team to develop plans for success. We invest significant time and energy in finding and reviewing data, and manipulating spreadsheets and charts and graphs to forecast the future so we think we know what will happen. This course and many others train you on how to perform those analyses.
3. The course author was once managing a sales team and asked a common question to one of its members, “How much will you sell next year?” The man, an openly devout Christian, quickly responded, “Whatever God brings to me.” While the author did not disagree that it could happen, he responded back, “OK but God expects you to do your part, so how much are you going to try to sell?” The salesperson was not prepared for that question and walked away with a strange look on his face.
4. In this module, you submit the revised final draft of your internal and external marketing environments report. That report will – or should – include significant analysis of external elements, factors, and pressures that are outside of your client’s control but may have a substantial impact on their plans. We say that analysis is art and science, that science is finding the numbers and art is interpreting them. If there is so much that we cannot control, and we believe that God is in control, can we expect our plans to be valid? We see in the Book of Job that God’s faithful servant lost it all through a series of unexpected and unforeseen events including two natural disasters (lightning and wind). In a few hours, these two unpredictable and indefensible calamities and two attacks by enemies erased all of Job’s success after many years of planning and implementation. Then we are told in Jeremiah that God has good plans for us, almost suggesting that since He has plans for us, we don’t need any plans, that it’s already taken care of.
5. You identified a company or industry of interest to use in your degree program. Consider these questions and post your thoughts on them:
   1. How much can and should a company in your industry of interest plan or how much should it’s management team rely on letting God do it all?
   2. What are some unpredictable and indefensible calamities that might affect your industry of interest?
   3. How is it our responsibility as a manager or leader in that industry of interest to do everything we can to plan when external events beyond our control can have such a significant negative impact on our plans?

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5.2 Discussion: Research-based Peer Alternative Response to 4.3

 

marketing plan. While data is objective, analysis and interpretation of data are influenced by experience, preference, perspective, and risk tolerance. This is why strategy is often referred to as both an art and a science, and why a team can come up with a better solution than one person working alone. The science is finding data and calculating results; the art is looking at the data, understanding what it means today, and forecasting what it will mean tomorrow.

Since the client may view the data differently from the writer, it is helpful for the original writer to be aware of and prepared for alternative interpretations. You as the peer reviewer will be the one who prepares the writer for those alternative interpretations that could be asked by the client during the presentation of the report. You are therefore helping your peer prepare for questions and concerns that he or she might have missed or might have interpreted to be of a different level of impact.

Your role as a peer reviewer is to objectively examine the same category but to come up with a different interpretation of the data and/or a different recommendation. This means you will need to do your own research on the category to understand it well enough to provide an analysis and recommendation. Your solution must be based on your sources which will not be the same as the original writer. As a peer reviewer who must present an alternative interpretation and/or recommendation, you push and prompt the other person to reconsider his or her decision based on a different objective analysis. This allows the original writer to strengthen the proposal before the client sees it.

Upon successful completion of this discussion, you will be able to:

• Analyze the effectiveness of emerging promotional strategies.

Resources

• Textbook: The 30 Day MBA in Marketing: Your Fast Track Guide to Business Success, Ch. 6-7, pp. 115-150
• Textbook: Value-based Marketing Strategy: Pricing and Costs for Relationship, Ch. 4
• Textbook: Setting Profitable Prices: A Step-By-Step Guide to Pricing Strategy-Without Hiring a Consultant, Ch. 1-7, pp. 3-51
• File: Market Analysis Report Template