A company self-examination. What are we known for? Who do we want to become?
In this assignment, you will create a Situation Analysis for the following companies / brands: Burger King which has been through numerous changes in recent years.

Use the information listed, as well as your own knowledge and research, to complete the provided situation analysis template. Additional research should include the use of the company’s Website, the course textbook, and other online sources.

Burger King Provided Information:

Burger King

History

Burger King Corporation, restaurant company specializing in flame-broiled fast-food hamburgers. It is the second largest hamburger chain the United States, after McDonald’s. In the early 21st century, Burger King claimed to have about 14,000 stores in nearly 100 countries.

Persistently lagging behind McDonald’s in sales and profitability, Burger King underwent many changes of ownership and corporate governance. In 1967 it was sold to the Pillsbury Company, which, in the late 1970s, brought in Donald N. Smith, a former McDonald’s executive, who revitalized Burger King by expanding the menu and tightening control of franchisees. Pillsbury was itself acquired by the British company Grand Metropolitan (Grand Met) PLC in 1989. Grand Met became Diageo PLC after its merger with the Irish brewer Guinness PLC in 1997. Diageo sold Burger King in 2002 to a consortium of private equity financiers, namely the Texas Pacific Group, Bain Capital, and Goldman Sachs Capital Partners. In 2010 3G Capital, an investment group controlled by the Brazilian billionaire Jorge Paulo Lemann, took over the company in a leveraged buyout. By 2012, Burger King shares were being sold to the public again, but 3G retained a controlling interest. Burger King Worldwide merged with the Canadian doughnut and fast-food chain Tim Hortons in 2014, and a new parent company called Restaurant Brands International was formed. In what some critics saw as a tax-avoiding “corporate inversion” move, Restaurant Brands International was headquartered in Oakville, Ontario, Canada.

A large hamburger called the Whopper is Burger King’s signature product. The Whopper was introduced in 1957, at a time when its competitor McDonald’s was still selling only small hamburgers. The chain took a new direction by adding hot dogs to the menu in 2016.

Template:

1. Customers

Who are the current customers/users? Include information related to demographics, psychographics and buying behavior, price sensitivity, customer satisfaction and loyalty. 

For example: You could include information such as whether the brand is trying to appeal to a certain social or cultural group and how customers perceive the product/brand. It’s also possible to include demographic information related to: age, educational attainment, geographic area, gender, race, employment status and/or home ownership. Additionally, you can discuss psychographic information which includes those attributes that relate to personality, values, attitudes, interests, or lifestyles of people. This area is also related to situational life stages as well as customer beliefs, and how customers want to see themselves and be perceived. Some examples of psychographic groups include video gamers, soccer moms, sports fanatics, hipsters, and single moms. Life cycle stages include: retirees, new homeowners, college students and new parents. Be aware that some products/brands may appeal to a wider customer base than others.

[Insert response]

Assignment: Tasty Snack Foods: Analysis of a Market Opportunity

Tasty Snack Foods, a small, start-up gourmet food business, has a new line of gourmet potato chips. The company has been testing the chips in California, and they are selling well. They are now planning to expand the market to another state or region and have hired XYZ Corporation to do some up-front research resulting in a presentation that outlines some options for the company’s involvement in this new market. You have been given this assignment by Michael Johnson, Director of Marketing for XYZ Corporation. He has asked you to put together a report that focuses on a specific state or region and explores the viability of a market opportunity for Tasty Snack Foods to sell its gourmet potato chips.

To prepare for this Assignment:

• Review this week’s Learning Resources.
• Refer to the Academic Writing Expectations for 2000/3000-Level Courses as you compose your Assignment.

By Day 7

Submit your report. Use the template provided to create your report, making sure to incorporate a minimum of four scholarly sources, properly formatted, as references.

Part 1: Situational Analysis

In this part of the report, you will perform a situational analysis relevant to the particular state or region you selected. Be sure to include the following:

• A brief introduction in which you identify the components of a situational analysis (75–150 words, or 1–2 paragraphs)
• An appraisal of the organization’s environment, including a description of how each of the five Cs pertain to the selected region or state (150–300 words, or 2–4 paragraphs)
  • Specifically, provide a detailed description for each C regarding the challenges that Tasty Snack Foods is facing for that component.
• An analysis of how each of the Cs affects decision making for the company (150–225 words, or 2–3 paragraphs)

Part 2: SWOT Analysis

For the second part of the report, you will perform a SWOT analysis on the Tasty Snack Foods gourmet potato chips expansion project. This should include the following:

• An analysis of the organization’s internal and external environmental factors (150–300 words, or 2–4 paragraphs)
  • Strengths
  • Weaknesses
  • Opportunities
  • Threats
• A breakdown of the potential traditional and digital marketing strategies based on the SWOT findings (75–150 words, or 1–2 paragraphs)
  • What suggestions related to the expansion do you have for Tasty Snack Foods based on this analysis?

Assignment: Mini case study: Liverpool relaunched

· Read the questions, then the case material, and then answer the questions.

· Please submit your answers in a SINGLE WORD DOCUMENT with a MAXIMUM of 2 pages (page 1 to answer questions 1-3; page 2 to answer question 4)

Questions

1. What problems did Liverpool face in attracting tourists? (Use the information in the case study, but you may also want to look up Liverpool, and rival cities, on the Internet.)

2. How could good marketing help to overcome these problems?

3. How could relationship marketing help Liverpool to attract more visitors?

4. Write a short piece (approx. 200 words) on Liverpool for inclusion in a tourist guide. You should identify different aspects of the city that will appeal to different types of visitor.

Assignment #2: Mini case study: “Getting There” 

Read the questions, then the case material, and then answer the questions.

Please submit your answers in a MAXIMUM TWO PAGE DOCUMENT.

Questions

1. Identify all the people involved in the two purchase decisions outlined in the case study: Duncan’s Paris journeys and the couple’s holiday plans. Comment on these people’s roles and information needs. Explain and justify your answer.

2. What factors, internal and external, are likely to influence Duncan’s decision about Paris? How?

3. Apply the decision-making framework to Annie and Duncan’s holiday decision, picking relevant information out of the case and adding to it from your own knowledge (e.g. of information sources) if you can. What is likely to influence the outcome of each stage? How can marketing techniques assist the couple in their decision-making?

Assignment: Mini case study: Liverpool relaunched

· Read the questions, then the case material, and then answer the questions.

· Please submit your answers in a SINGLE WORD DOCUMENT with a MAXIMUM of 2 pages (page 1 to answer questions 1-3; page 2 to answer question 4)

Questions

1. What problems did Liverpool face in attracting tourists? (Use the information in the case study, but you may also want to look up Liverpool, and rival cities, on the Internet.)

2. How could good marketing help to overcome these problems?

3. How could relationship marketing help Liverpool to attract more visitors?

4. Write a short piece (approx. 200 words) on Liverpool for inclusion in a tourist guide. You should identify different aspects of the city that will appeal to different types of visitor.

Assignment #2: Mini case study: “Getting There” 

Read the questions, then the case material, and then answer the questions.

Please submit your answers in a MAXIMUM TWO PAGE DOCUMENT.

Questions

1. Identify all the people involved in the two purchase decisions outlined in the case study: Duncan’s Paris journeys and the couple’s holiday plans. Comment on these people’s roles and information needs. Explain and justify your answer.

2. What factors, internal and external, are likely to influence Duncan’s decision about Paris? How?

3. Apply the decision-making framework to Annie and Duncan’s holiday decision, picking relevant information out of the case and adding to it from your own knowledge (e.g. of information sources) if you can. What is likely to influence the outcome of each stage? How can marketing techniques assist the couple in their decision-making?

1.   Why is it important for most salespeople to spend at least some time prospecting?

a.	Because finding new customers is easier than keeping existing customers.
b.	Because it is likely that they will lose some of their existing customers over time.
c.	Because the existing customer base may not be sufficient to generate desired future revenues.
d.	All the above are correct.
e.	Both b and c are correct.

 

 

 

2.   With respect to prospecting, which of the following statements is untrue?

a.	Most salespeople need to engage in some activity designed to cultivate future business
b.	Salespeople often indicate they do not have enough time to prospect.
c.	Typically, salespeople enjoy prospecting because they like the positive feedback.
d.	Many of today’s buyers are busy and reluctant to see salespeople.
e.	All of the above are true.

 

 

 

3.   Which of the following describes a common reason why salespeople dislike prospecting?

a.	They have a fear of rejection.
b.	They dislike dealing with people.
c.	Actually, most salespeople like prospecting.
d.	All of the above are correct.
e.	None of the above is correct.

 

 

 

4.   Which of the following is not one of the reasons buyers may not want to see salespeople?

a.	They may have never heard of the salesperson’s firm.
b.	Buyers may have their own deadlines with other issues . . . and are not receptive.
c.	Buyers are looking for ways to solve problems, and salespeople add to the problems.
d.	Buyers are constantly getting calls from salespeople and do not have time to see them all.
e.	They may have just bought the salesperson’s product category, and there is presently no need.

 

 

 

5.   Steve is a salesperson for XYZ Corporation. His territory includes 50 established accounts which he calls on regularly. Although Steve is supposed to allocate some time to prospecting, he’d rather call on his existing accounts. Like many salespeople in his position, Steve resists prospecting because:

a.	He is afraid of rejection.
b.	He doesn’t believe it’s necessary.
c.	He’d rather use his spare time for paperwork.
d.	His established accounts are too important.
e.	He doesn’t need any new accounts.

 

 

 

6.   Which the following best describes the process of strategic prospecting?

a.	The process of locating new customers
b.	The process of generating leads
c.	The process of identifying, qualifying, and prioritizing sales opportunities
d.	The process of turning prospects into customers
e.	None of the above described prospecting

 

 

 

 

7.   Which of the following statements about strategic prospecting is untrue?

a.	An objective of strategic prospecting is to improve the salesperson’s efficiency.
b.	Prospecting can be very discouraging.
c.	With respect to business-to-business selling, most salespeople will never have to prospect.
d.	Prospecting involves generating and qualifying leads.
e.	All of the above statements are accurate.

 

 

 

 

8.   What is the goal of strategic prospecting?

a.	To generate the largest number of leads.
b.	To help salespeople identify the best sales opportunities in the most efficient way.
c.	To get past the gatekeeper.
d.	The haphazard screening-out of undesirable sales leads.
e.	To help salespeople identify the decision maker.