Global Marketing Plan, Part 2: The Complete Marketing Plan

Complete the global marketing plan begun in Week 2 for your mentor company: a

COMPANION TO THE WEEK 6 COMPREHENSIVE STUDY GUIDE AND THE DISCUSSION GUIDES | THE MOST

Important Guide Of The Week

The Week 6 final paper, “Global Marketing Plan Part 2,” is the summative assignment of BUS 622 — the single largest grade in the course, worth 25 points, and the deliverable the entire term has been built toward. It is anchored to Weekly Learning Outcome 3, “Formulate a company’s global marketing plan,” and to course learning outcomes 2, 3, 4, and 5. It asks you to complete the global marketing plan you began with the Week 2 Global Marketing Plan Part 1 — for the same mentor company, the same product line, and the same expansion region — and to deliver it as a full, coherent 10–13 page plan. This guide takes the assignment apart heading by heading, decodes the 25-point Waypoint rubric so you can see exactly where the points sit, lays out a research plan, and ends with a working outline and a model thesis with a section skeleton. It is the most important guide in the Week 6 set; the two discussion guides are companions to it, because the CSR discussion in particular drafts a section of this very paper. The Prompt, Restated Read the assignment’s instructions as a checklist. The paper must, under four boldface headings:

• Executive Summary. Summarize the rationale of your plan — the marketing team’s sales pitch for the company entering the new country.
• Environmental Analysis. Analyze the environmental situation of your mentor company in the global arena, based on seven factors: economic, environmental, trade, social and cultural, political, legal, and regulatory.
• General Strategy. Explain segmentation, targeting, and positioning for the product line in the new region; discuss the market-entry strategy, including export selling and sourcing activities, if any; and explain the environmental/sustainability factors.
• Specific Plans and Strategies. Explain the competitive-advantage strategies to compete against the five industry forces; formulate the 4Ps (product and brands, price, place, promotion with a digital/IMC focus); include a color SWOT grid that incorporates sustainability; and discuss the company’s CSR and social-responsiveness strategies, particularly in the selected region.

The paper must run 10–13 double-spaced pages (excluding the title and references pages), follow APA Style, open with an introduction ending in a clear thesis, close with a conclusion, use academic voice, and cite at least three scholarly sources in addition to the textbook. It is submitted through Waypoint; you are encouraged also to upload it to your Folio ePortfolio and paste the Folio link as a Waypoint comment. U SE THE BOLDFACE HEADINGS — AND START THE FIRST ONE ON PAGE 3 The assignment is explicit about layout: “Incorporate your points in your paper under the boldfaced headings listed in your directives here, with the first heading placed at the top of page three.” In practice that means page 1 is the APA title page, page 2 holds the introduction and the Executive Summary, and the first content heading — Environmental Analysis — begins at the top of page 3. Use Executive Summary, Environmental Analysis, General Strategy, and Specific Plans and Strategies as actual APA level headings.

The single most important fact about this paper is that it is not a fresh assignment — it is the completion of one. As the Week 6 faculty video, featuring Program Chair Bill Davis, states directly, BUS 622 has been deliberately “scaffolded” so that each week’s work moves toward one summative product: the global marketing plan. You started that plan in Week 2; this paper finishes it. That makes Part 2 an assembly job as much as a writing job. The assignment tells you to “include the portions you completed during Week 2 through Week 6 in weekly assignments and discussion forums, and make any adjustments to the work using any recommendations from your instructor.” The table below maps which earlier work feeds which part of the final paper.

The mentor company, the environmental analysis, Week 2 — Global Marketing Plan Part 1 and the country/region selection — the foundation of the Environmental Analysis and General Strategy sections. Material for the “product and brands” element of Week 4 — Product Branding discussion the 4Ps (the assignment hints at this directly). The “promotion” element of the 4Ps and the SWOT Week 5 — Integrated Marketing Communications assignment (the assignment hints at this directly). The CSR and social-responsiveness section (the Week 6 — CSR discussion post discussion states it “will be added as a section to your final paper”). What Part 2 Adds Beyond Part 1 Part 1 was a 4–5 page paper: an environmental analysis of the company plus a general country strategy. Part 2 keeps that foundation but roughly triples the scope. It expands the plan to 10–13 pages by adding an Executive Summary; a full segmentation, targeting, and positioning analysis; a market-entry strategy; a competitive-advantage strategy framed against Porter’s five forces; the complete 4Ps; a color SWOT grid; and a CSR section. Part 1 answered where and whether to expand; Part 2 answers how — in operational detail.

gather every prior paper and discussion post for this mentor company, read the instructor’s feedback on each, and revise accordingly. The assignment explicitly asks you to fold that feedback in.

The paper is built under four boldface headings, each with its own job. Treat them as the nonnegotiable skeleton — the rubric scores the paper against them, and a paper that drifts from them forces the grader to hunt for content that should be signposted. The table below is the map; Sections 4 through 7 build each heading out in detail.

The mentor company’s global situation across seven factors: Environmental Analysis 4.00 economic, environmental, trade, social and cultural, political, legal, regulatory. Segmentation, targeting, and positioning; market-entry General Strategy 4.00 strategy (with export selling and sourcing); environmental/ sustainability factors. Competitive advantage vs. five forces; the 4Ps; a color SWOT Specific Plans and Strategies 12.00 grid with sustainability; CSR and social responsiveness.

Executive Summary, although written last, is placed first in the paper, on page 2; the Environmental Analysis begins at the top of page 3. One structural fact drives everything else: the fourth heading, Specific Plans and Strategies, carries 12.00 of the 25.00 points — nearly half the grade — because it contains three separate 4.00-point rubric criteria (competitive advantage, the 4Ps, and CSR). It is the longest and most important section of the paper. Budget your pages accordingly.

The Executive Summary is worth 3.50 points — the second-heaviest single criterion in the rubric. The assignment defines its job precisely: “summarize the rationale of your plan,” and “remember that this is the marketing team’s sales pitch for the company entering the new country.” The faculty video adds the practical instruction: write it last, “as the last part in your plan,” once the rest of the paper exists to be summarized. What an Executive Summary Is — and Is Not An executive summary is not an introduction and not an abstract. It is a self-contained, persuasive condensation of the whole plan, written so a busy executive could read it alone and grasp the recommendation and the reasoning behind it. The word the assignment uses — “sales pitch” — is the key: the summary should be confident and decision-oriented, telling the reader what the plan recommends, for which company, in which country, and why it will succeed. It should touch every major section of the plan briefly: the environmental situation, the strategy, the 4Ps, and the CSR posture. What to Cover

• The recommendation. One or two sentences naming the company, the product line, the target region/country, and the core strategic recommendation.
• The rationale. The most compelling reasons the expansion makes sense — the environmental conditions and competitive logic that justify it.
• The plan in brief. A sentence or two on the entry strategy, the positioning, and the marketing mix.
• The payoff. Why the plan, executed, creates value — and a note that it is pursued responsibly. P LACE IT ON PAGE 2, WRITE IT ON THE LAST DAY The Executive Summary sits at the front of the paper (page 2, after the introduction) but should be drafted only after the body is complete — you cannot summarize a plan that does not yet exist. Keep it tight: roughly half a page to one page. The UAGC Writing Center’s

“Writing an Executive Summary” resource, linked from the assignment, is the reference to use.

The Environmental Analysis heading is worth 4.00 points and asks you to “analyze the environmental situation of your mentor company in the global arena” across seven factors. This builds directly on the environmental analysis you wrote in Week 2 — revise and expand that work rather than starting over. The rubric’s word for top marks is thoroughly: a thorough analysis treats all seven factors with real substance.

The natural-environment and ecological conditions affecting the company — Environmental resource dependence, climate exposure, and environmental pressure on operations. The trade architecture the company depends on: WTO rules, regional blocs and Trade agreements, tariffs, and supply-chain exposure. The cultural environment of the company’s markets: religion, language, aesthetics, Social and cultural dietary norms; highand low-context cultures and Hofstede’s dimensions. Political risk and sovereignty, government stability, and the political forces that open Political or close markets for the company. The legal-system families (common law, civil law, Islamic law), intellectual-property Legal and antitrust exposure, and contract enforcement. The regulatory bodies and rules that touch the marketing mix — advertising rules, Regulatory product standards, labeling, data and privacy regulation. N OTE THE SEVEN-FACTOR LIST — IT DIFFERS FROM PART 1 The Week 2 Part 1 paper used a five-factor environmental analysis (economic; trade; social and cultural; sustainability; political, legal, and regulatory). The Final Paper’s list has seven factors because it (a) names “environmental” as its own factor and (b) splits “political, legal, and regulatory” into three separate factors. The rubric criterion is titled “based on the seven factors” — so address all seven by name. The verbatim list from the assignment is: economic, environmental, trade, social and cultural, political, legal, and regulatory. The test for every factor is the same: name the condition, tie it to a course concept, and say what it means for the company’s marketing. A factor named but not analyzed scores nothing; treat each as a real paragraph of analysis.

The General Strategy heading narrows from the company’s global situation to the specific region it is expanding into. The rubric splits it across three criteria, worth 4.00 points combined. 6.1 Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning (1.50 points) Explain the segmentation, targeting, and positioning (STP) strategy for the product line in the new region. Segmentation divides the regional market into distinct groups of buyers — by geography, demographics, psychographics, or behavior. Targeting selects which segment or segments the company will serve. Positioning defines the distinct place the product will occupy in the minds of those target customers, relative to competitors. State each of the three explicitly: name the segments, choose the target, and write a positioning statement. 6.2 Market-Entry Strategy (1.50 points) Discuss the market-entry strategy — the mode by which the company will enter the region — and, the assignment specifies, “including export selling and sourcing activities, if any.” The entry modes the course covers form a ladder of commitment: exporting (the lowest commitment), licensing and franchising, joint ventures and strategic alliances, and foreign direct investment through a wholly owned subsidiary or acquisition (the highest). Name the mode you recommend, and — this is the part the rubric rewards — explain why it fits the company, the product, and the region. Address export selling (selling into the region from outside it) and sourcing (procuring inputs from the region or elsewhere) explicitly, even if only to say they do not apply. 6.3 Environmental/Sustainability Factors (1.00 point) Explain the environmental and sustainability factors that shape the strategy in the region: the ecological conditions, resource constraints, environmental regulations, and sustainability expectations the company must design around. This is a distinct, separately scored criterion — do not let it dissolve into the environmental factor of Heading 2; here it is applied specifically to the regional strategy.

what separates a Distinguished section from an underdeveloped one.

The Specific Plans and Strategies heading carries 12.00 of the 25.00 points. The faculty video calls it “one of the most important sections of your plan, where you get more practical.” It has four parts, and three of them are 4.00-point rubric criteria. 7.1 Competitive Advantage vs. the Five Industry Forces (4.00 points) Explain the company’s competitive-advantage strategies to compete against the five industry forces. The five forces — from Porter, in Chapter 16 — are the threat of new entrants, the threat of substitutes, the bargaining power of buyers, the bargaining power of suppliers, and rivalry among existing competitors. For each force, assess how strong it is in the company’s industry and region, then explain the strategy the company will use to defend against or blunt it. Tie the strategy to Porter’s generic strategies (cost leadership, differentiation, focus) so the competitive logic is explicit. 7.2 The 4Ps (4.00 points) Formulate the 4Ps — the marketing mix — for the product line in the new region:

• Product and brands. The product offering and brand strategy for the region; how much to standardize or adapt. The assignment hints: refer to your Week 4 Product Branding discussion.
• Price. The pricing strategy — the approach, the positioning of the price point, and the regional factors (income, competition, tariffs, exchange rates) that shape it.
• Place. The distribution and channel strategy — how the product reaches customers in the region.
• Promotion. The promotion strategy, “with a special focus on digital media and integrated marketing communication (IMC).” The assignment hints: refer to your Week 5 IMC assignment.

7.3 The Color SWOT Grid (scored within the 4Ps criterion) The assignment instructs: “Include the SWOT for your company in a grid with color and include sustainability.” Build an actual four-cell SWOT grid — Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats — presented as a colored table, not prose, and make sure sustainability appears somewhere in it (typically as an opportunity or a threat, or a strength if the company leads on it). Reference the SWOT in your Week 5 IMC assignment as a starting point. Every claim in the grid should be supported by the analysis in the paper. 7.4 CSR and Social Responsiveness (4.00 points) Discuss the company’s CSR and social-responsiveness strategies, particularly in the selected region. This is where the Week 6 CSR discussion post becomes a section of the paper. Cover the ways the company demonstrates social responsibility, give specific documented examples, and connect them to the region the plan targets. Use the Chapter 17 vocabulary: the stakeholder concept, CSR, and social responsiveness.

The Waypoint rubric (id BUS622.W6A1.11.2024) divides 25.00 points across thirteen criteria. Knowing the split tells you where to spend effort. The eight content criteria are worth 23.50 points; the five communication and critical-thinking criteria are worth just 1.50.

Analyzes the environmental situation of the mentor company in the Environmental Analysis 4.00 global arena based on the seven factors Explains segmentation, targeting, and positioning strategy for the General Strategy 1.50 line of product in the new region Discusses the market entry strategy General Strategy 1.50 Explains the environmental/sustainability factors General Strategy 1.00 Explains the competitive advantages strategies to compete against Specific Plans 4.00 five industry forces Formulates the 4Ps Specific Plans 4.00 Discusses the company’s CSR and social responsiveness strategies Specific Plans 4.00 in the selected region Written Communication: control of syntax and mechanics Whole paper 0.25 Written Communication: APA formatting Whole paper 0.25 Written Communication: page requirement Length 0.25 Written Communication: resource requirement Sources 0.25 Critical Thinking: evidence Whole paper 0.50 Three observations. First, four criteria are worth 4.00 each — the seven-factor environmental analysis, the competitive-advantage strategy, the 4Ps, and CSR — together 16.00 points, 64% of the grade. These four are where the paper is won or lost; give each one real depth. Second, the Executive Summary at 3.50 is the next heaviest — do not treat it as an afterthought. Third, the 1.50 points of mechanics, APA, page length, sources, and evidence are the easiest in the assignment: they reward following instructions, not insight, so losing any is an unforced error.

is usually completeness — Proficient work is missing “minor details.” Cover every element the prompt names, and give each genuine substance, and you are writing at the Distinguished level.

This is a research paper, and its source bar is higher than the earlier papers: it requires at least three scholarly sources in addition to the course text. Note the word scholarly — the Week 2 and Week 5 papers accepted “scholarly or credible” sources; this one specifies scholarly. The assignment links the “How to Use Library OneSearch” video for exactly this reason. What Counts as a Scholarly Source A scholarly source is written by academics for an expert audience and reports original research or analysis — peer-reviewed journal articles and university-press books are the core examples. A peer-reviewed article has passed review by experts in the field. The assignment’s “Scholarly, Peer- Reviewed, and Other Credible Sources” table is the reference; your instructor has the final say on whether a given source qualifies, so when in doubt, ask. To meet the bar safely, aim for three peerreviewed journal articles. Where to Look

• UAGC Library OneSearch. Use Advanced Search: the company or country name in one box, a concept — competitive advantage, market entry, segmentation, corporate social responsibility — in another. Filter to peer-reviewed.
• Company and country databases. Business Insights (Gale), MarketLine reports, and Mergent Market Atlas supply company profiles, SWOT inputs, and country data — useful, though some are “credible” rather than “scholarly,” so do not let them alone satisfy the three-scholarlysource rule.
• The assigned article. Shafiee (2021), “Knowledge-Based Marketing and Competitive Advantage,” from the Journal of Modelling in Management, is a peer-reviewed article already relevant to the competitive-advantage section — a natural one of your three. ATTACH EACH CITATION TO THE CLAIM IT SUPPORTS The Critical Thinking: Evidence criterion rewards sources that actually do analytical work. A citation placed on the specific sentence it backs — a market figure, a regulatory fact, a competitive claim — does more than one floating at the end of a paragraph. Use sources to build the analysis, not to decorate it.

Several rubric criteria reward nothing but compliance. Run this checklist before submitting.

• Length. 10–13 double-spaced pages, not counting the title and references pages.
• Title page. A separate APA title page, in title case: the paper’s title in bold, a blank line, then your name, the institution (The University of Arizona Global Campus), the course name and number, the instructor’s name, and the due date.
• Headings. The four boldface headings — Executive Summary, Environmental Analysis, General Strategy, Specific Plans and Strategies — as APA level headings, with the first content heading at the top of page 3.
• Introduction and thesis. An introduction paragraph that ends with a clear thesis statement indicating the purpose of the paper.
• Conclusion. A conclusion paragraph that synthesizes — no new information.
• Academic voice. Third person; no contractions; no colloquialisms; measured, evidence-based claims.
• Sources. At least three scholarly sources in addition to the course text.
• APA citations. In-text citations for everything drawn from a source, all visuals cited, and a separate, properly formatted references page.

• SWOT grid. Included as a colored grid, with sustainability represented.
• Submission. Submit through Waypoint. Optionally, upload to your Folio ePortfolio and paste the Folio link as a Waypoint comment. T HE EPORTFOLIO STEP IS ENCOURAGED, NOT REQUIRED The assignment “encourages” you to upload the paper to Folio, the UAGC ePortfolio tool, in addition to Waypoint, and to paste the Folio page link as a Waypoint comment. The faculty video frames the finished plan as a portfolio piece you can show employers. Treat the Folio upload as a worthwhile professional step; the graded submission itself goes through Waypoint.

The outline below distributes the paper so that every heading is fully developed, the page requirement is met without padding, and the heaviest-scored sections get the most room. Pages are approximate and exclude the title and references pages.

~½ page Introduce the company, the region, and the task; end Introduction with the thesis statement. On page 2. ~½–1 page The plan’s rationale as a persuasive sales pitch. On page Executive Summary 2; written last. ~2–2½ pages The seven factors — economic, environmental, trade, Environmental Analysis social and cultural, political, legal, regulatory. Begins at the top of page 3. ~2–2½ pages Segmentation, targeting, positioning; market-entry General Strategy strategy with export selling and sourcing; environmental/sustainability factors. ~4–5 pages Competitive advantage vs. five forces; the 4Ps; the color Specific Plans and Strategies SWOT grid; CSR and social responsiveness. The longest section — it carries 12 points. ~½ page Synthesize the plan and the recommendation; no new Conclusion information. 1–2 pages Textbook plus at least three scholarly sources, APA; References separate, not counted. The proportion matters: Specific Plans and Strategies should be the longest section because it carries nearly half the grade. If the paper runs short, the fix is more depth in the four 4.00-point criteria — the seven-factor analysis, the five-forces strategy, the 4Ps, and CSR — not more words in the introduction.

Below is a model thesis statement and a skeleton of the paper, with a model opening sentence for each part. This is scaffolding, not a paper to submit — the bracketed cues are yours to fill, and the analysis and sources must be your own. Use it to see how the pieces connect. Model Thesis Statement (last sentence of the introduction) “The purpose of this paper is to present a complete global marketing plan for [Company]’s expansion of [product line] into [Country] in [Region], analyzing the company’s global environmental situation, formulating a general strategy of segmentation, targeting, positioning, and market entry, and detailing the specific competitive, marketing-mix, and corporate-socialresponsibility strategies that will make the expansion successful.” Executive Summary [boldface APA heading; page 2; write last] “This plan recommends that [Company] expand [product line] into [Country] in [Region]. The recommendation rests on [the core rationale — the environmental conditions and competitive logic]; the company should enter through [entry mode], position [product] as [positioning], and support it with [the marketing-mix and CSR strategy in brief].” Environmental Analysis [boldface APA heading; top of page 3] “In the global arena, [Company]’s environment is shaped by seven factors. Economically… · Environmentally… · In trade terms… · Socially and culturally… · Politically… · Legally… · In regulatory terms…” — one developed paragraph per factor. General Strategy [boldface APA heading] “For the [Region] market, [Company] should segment by [bases], target [segment], and position [product] as [positioning statement]. The recommended market-entry strategy is [exporting / licensing / joint venture / FDI], because…; export selling and sourcing considerations are…. The environmental and sustainability factors shaping this strategy are….” Specific Plans and Strategies [boldface APA heading; longest section] “To compete against the five industry forces, [Company] will [strategy vs. each force, tied to a generic strategy]. The marketing mix for [Region] is: Product and brands — …; Price — …; Place — …; Promotion — … (with digital/IMC focus). [Insert the color SWOT grid here, with sustainability.] On CSR, [Company] demonstrates social responsibility and responsiveness in [Region] by….” Conclusion “[Company]’s global environment, the conditions in [Country], and the strategies set out above together indicate that [the expansion recommendation] — a synthesis of the plan, with no new evidence introduced.” Replace every bracketed cue with your own researched content, name and cite your sources, and write in your own voice. The skeleton shows structure only; the substance — and the grade — comes from your analysis.

• Treating Part 2 as a brand-new paper. It is the completion of the Week 2 plan. Reuse and revise earlier components; do not rebuild from scratch or, worse, change the mentor company.
• A five-factor environmental analysis. The Final Paper requires seven factors — economic, environmental, trade, social and cultural, political, legal, regulatory. Address all seven by name.
• An afterthought Executive Summary. It is worth 3.50 points. Write it last, but write it well — as a persuasive summary of the whole plan.
• Skipping the five forces. The competitive-advantage criterion is 4.00 points and names “five industry forces” explicitly. Assess all five and give a strategy for each.
• A 4Ps section that is four definitions. Formulate the mix for your region and product — concrete decisions, not textbook definitions.
• A SWOT in prose, or without sustainability. The assignment says a colored grid that includes sustainability. Build the grid; put sustainability in it.
• A thin CSR section. 4.00 points. Use the Week 6 CSR discussion post; cover CSR and social responsiveness in the chosen region with documented examples.
• Missing the page or source bar. 10–13 pages and at least three scholarly sources are pass/fail in spirit — do not give those points away.
• Uncited visuals. Every visual — the SWOT grid, ad images, charts — needs an APA citation.
• Citation drift. “Research shows” with no source. APA in-text citation, or it did not happen.

Due Day 7 (Monday), Jun 22, by 11:59 p.m. Submitted through Waypoint; optional Folio ePortfolio upload. 10–13 double-spaced pages excluding title and references; APA; title page; Length & format introduction with thesis; conclusion; academic voice; first content heading at the top of page 3. Executive Summary; Environmental Analysis; General Strategy; Specific Plans Four headings and Strategies. Seven factors: economic, environmental, trade, social and cultural, political, Environmental Analysis legal, regulatory. Segmentation, targeting, positioning; market-entry strategy (with export selling General Strategy and sourcing); environmental/sustainability factors. Competitive advantage vs. five industry forces; the 4Ps (product/brands, price, Specific Plans and Strategies place, promotion with digital/IMC); color SWOT grid with sustainability; CSR and social responsiveness in the region. At least three scholarly sources in addition to the course text; UAGC Library Sources OneSearch. Shafiee (2021) is one natural choice. Content 23.50 (Executive Summary 3.50 + Environmental Analysis 4.00 + STP 1.50 Points split + entry 1.50 + sustainability 1.00 + competitive advantage 4.00 + 4Ps 4.00 + CSR 4.00); communication and evidence 1.50. Week 2 Global Marketing Plan Part 1 (same company, region); Week 4 Product Builds on Branding discussion; Week 5 IMC assignment; Week 6 CSR discussion. Creating global marketing plan; managing ePortfolio; environmental scanning; Competencies marketing strategy; export selling and sourcing; analyzing environmental factors; analyzing sustainability factors; analyzing four P’s of marketing; SWOT analysis. Companion to the BUS 622 Week 6 Comprehensive Study Guide and the Discussion Forum guides. Prepared as a selfcontained writing resource for the Week 6 final paper. Verify all dates, point values, the seven-factor list, and rubric details against Canvas and Waypoint before submission.