ASSIGNMENT

Subject: MKT207
Product Management

Semester: September 2024 Semester

Subject Lecturer: Ms. Nguyen Thi Hong Hanh

Email: [email protected]
Subject Convenor: Mr. Alex Chang Yaw Yun

10 Pages including the Cover Page

 Individual Assignment: 100 marks or 30% weightage

Word Count: 2,500 – 3,000 words

Rationale
Product management is a complex activity. Companies face many challenges and issues in
successfully executing their functions on a day-to-day basis. This assignment aims to develop
your understanding of the activities required to launch a product successfully. It will require
you to apply the concepts of Product Management in defining competition, identifying the
competitors’ moves as well as assessing the viability of a chosen industry.

Topic
Choose a product of a brand from the Apparel/Fashion Industry that embraces the rise of
environmental impact.
The product must have been in the Vietnam market for at least 6 months (to ensure viability of
information).

Task
Critically assess the chosen product/product line and identify the following:

 Define the competition

 Competitor analysis and market landscape
 Assess category attractiveness
 Product features, value proposition and positioning

The assignment must be written in a comprehensive report format. All discussions must
be supported and justified with published facts, published journal articles and references from
creditable sources. Your report should be well-structured, data-driven and backed by logical
reasoning. Visual aids such as graphs and charts can be used to enhance the clarity of your
analysis.

Your report submission should also include your

 Turnitin summary report

 Marking scheme (2 pages)
Marking Scheme

Assessment Criteria for MKT207 Individual Assignment.

Your assignment will be evaluated based on the depth of your analysis, the coherence of your strategies,
the alignment of your positioning with market insights, and the overall creativity and innovation
exhibited in your recommendations.

Note that allocation of marks includes published facts/data/academic references.

Any internet sources that are NOT published facts/data/academic references and published news such
as Wiki sources, MBA Skool, other organization slides/personal teaching materials i.e. MBATools,
Blogspot will have mark reduction. ALL REFERENCES MUST BE CITED.

Section Guide for Students %

Section 1: Introduce the selected product. Your discussion should clearly /5
Introduction state the chosen product, the objective(s) of the analysis,
introduction of the product, pricing in precise and synthesized
manner.

Section 2: A detailed analysis on the selected product. All discussions must

Product Description and be justified with supporting references / facts. Mark deduction
Analysis applies if inappropriate references are used to cite the theory(ies).
Use the Levels of Product model discussed in lecture.

2.1 Levels of Products /15

(Note: appropriate core value defined will lead to better discussion)

2.2 Type of Product Category /10

(e.g. shopping, convenient, specialty or unsought)

Section 3 This section requires you to define the competition. You answer
Define the Competition should include the following:
of Selected Product
3.1 Level of Competition: name all the identified products. Must /15
adhere to need-based model discussed in lecture.

3.2 Discuss another TWO appropriate methods that you can use /10
to identify the competitors besides the need-based model.
Apply the proposed methods to the selected product.
Section 4 Analyze your competitors. Your answer should include the
Competitor Analysis following and support with relevant justification: -

4.1 Compare and contrast your product with all competing /10
products.

If there is no competing product from competitors, then take the

competing products from the product category. Compare
meaningful elements such as benefits and put them in a matrix.

4.2 Assess the chosen product and all competing products from /20
the following marketing perspectives:
 Product marketing objectives
 Target segment(s)
 Product value positioning
 Positioning strategy

Section 5 Summarize your findings in a concise manner. /5

Conclusion

List of References & Turnitin Originality Index should be less than 2% per source. /5
Originality Mark deduction applies on those that exceed 2% per reference
source.

References must be from published / creditable references. Mark

reduction applies to unverified sources references such as Wiki
sources, MBA Skool, other organization slides / personal teaching
materials i.e. MBATools, Blogspot.

Citation All references must be cited in either APA OR Harvard

Referencing standards (refer
http://flash1r.apa.org/apastyle/basics/index.htm).

Presentation & Writing The report is well written, organized, has no grammar or spelling errors, /5
and flows clearly from point to point.

/100%
5/5
Very Poor Poor Average Good Excellent
1 2 3 4 5

10/10
Very Poor Poor Average Good Excellent
1-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9 – 10

15/15
Very Poor Poor Average Good Excellent
1-3 4-6 7-9 10 - 12 13 - 15

20/20
Very Poor Poor Average Good Excellent
1-4 5-8 9 - 12 13 - 16 17 - 20
 Assignment No.: __

Assignment Cover Sheet

Student Information (For group assignment, please state names of all
Grade/Marks
members)

Name ID

Module/Subject Information Office Acknowledgement

Module/Subject Code

Module/Subject Name

Lecturer/Tutor/Facilitator

Due Date

Assignment Title/Topic

Intake (where applicable)

Word Count Date/Time

Declaration

. I/We have read and understood the Programme Handbook that explains on plagiarism, and I/we
testify that, unless otherwise acknowledged, the work submitted herein is entirely my/our own.

. I/We declare that no part of this assignment has been written for me/us by any other person(s) except
where such collaboration has been authorized by the lecturer concerned.
. I/We authorize the University to test any work submitted by me/us, using text comparison software,
for instances of plagiarism. I/We understand this will involve the University or its contractors copying
my/our work and storing it on a database to be used in future to test work submitted by others.

Note:1) The attachment of this statement on any electronically submitted assignments will be deemed
to have the same authority as a signed statement.

2) The Group Leader signs the declaration on behalf of all members.

Signature: Date:

mail:

Feedback/Comments*

Main Strengths

Main Weaknesses

Suggestions for improvement

Student acknowledge feedback/comments

Grader’s signature Student’s signature:

Date: Date:
Note:

1)A soft and hard copy of the assignment shall be submitted.

2)The signed copy of the assignment cover sheet shall be retained by the marker.

3)If the Turnitin report is required, students have to submit it with the assignment. However, departments may allow students
up to THREE (3) working days after submission of the assignment to submit the Turnitin report. The assignment shall only be
marked upon the submission of the Turnitin report.

*Use additional sheets if required.

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ACADEMIC INTEGRITY

Honesty and Responsibility

Academic integrity is an important tenet for HELP University (the “University”). In pursuit of the
highest standards of academic integrity, the University holds its students to the highest ethical
standards defined by the Rules and Regulations section of the Academic Handbook. All students
studying a HELP University programme are subjected to and are bound by the Student
Academic Misconduct Rule to assure academic honesty. Students are required to sign a pledge
on the assignment cover sheet before submitting your assignments.

What is Plagiarism?
Plagiarism is academic dishonesty or academic theft, and it is a serious academic offence.
Plagiarism includes, but is not limited to, the followings:
1. quote, paraphrase or summarise someone else’s ideas, theories or data, in whole or in
part, without appropriate acknowledgement;
2. borrow ideas, opinion or words, in whole or in part, from other sources without
properly crediting the author(s);
3. use any facts, statistics, diagrams or graphs, in whole or in part, without acknowledging
the source clearly;
4. claim or imply original authorship of someone else’s ideas, theories or data, in whole or
in part, as your own;
5. employ or allow someone to help to revise, amend or write your work and pass off as
your own original work;
6. collaborate with or allow other students to copy your work; and
7. draw on sources more than what you have acknowledged by citations.

While a student is not discouraged to discuss an assignment with his/her friends or classmates,
the work he/she submits must be done by the student alone. If a student shares his/her
assignment with other students and they plagiarise it, the student is as guilty as those students
who plagiarised his/her assignment. All parties to plagiarism are considered equally guilty.
Under no circumstances should a student be involved in collusion with other students unless

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he/she is permitted to work on an assignment jointly by the lecturer/tutor. If a student is
unsure what constitutes plagiarism, he/she is obliged to consult the lecturer/tutor on the
matter before submission of his/her assignment.

When and How to Reference?

Knowing when and how to cite is a student’s responsibility. If he/she is in doubt or need more
help on this matter, the student may consult the lecturer/tutor. The following list comprises
some of the sources a student will need to reference. The list is by no means exhaustive, but
simply consists of the most common sources used by students to complete their work.

1. Books
2. Chapters in books
3. Journal articles
4. Conference papers
5. Newspaper articles
6. Magazines
7. Websites
8. Study guide

Students are advised to cite in the following cases [1]:

1. When he/she quotes two or more words verbatim, or even one word if it is used in a
way that is unique to the source;
2. When he/she introduce facts that he/she have found in a source;
3. When he/she paraphrase or summarise ideas, interpretations, or conclusions that
he/she find in a source;
4. When he/she introduce information that is not common knowledge or that may be
considered common knowledge in your field, but the reader may not know it;
5. When he/she borrow the plan or structure of a larger section of a source’s argument
(for example, using a theory from a source and analysing the same three case studies
that the source uses);
6. When he/she build on another’s method found either in a source or from collaborative
work in a lab;
7. When he/she build on another’s program in writing computer code or on a not-
commonly-known algorithm; and/or
8. When he/she collaborate with others in producing knowledge.

In general, a referencing system requires two parts:

1
http://www.yale.edu/bass/writing/sources/plagiarism/warning.html, accessed May 18, 2008.

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 1. In-text citations
This is information about a source within the text of an assignment.
2. List of references
This is a list of all sources a student has used to research his/her assignment. It is
alphabetically arranged by author surname and appears immediately after the last page
of an assignment.

Different faculties or departments may have different requirement on how referencing for an
assignment should be done. The various formats used for in-text citations and list of references
are available in the following websites:
1. Harvard System
(http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/library/subjectsandsupport/referencemanagement/
harvard))
2. Chicago Style (http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/index.html)
3. American Psychological Association or APA Style (http://www.apastyle.org)
4. Modern Language Association of America or MLA Style (http://www.mla.org/style)

Once a student has selected a referencing style for his/her assignment, he/she must follow the
same style consistently throughout the assignment. We strongly suggest that the student
consults the lecturer/tutor about which method to use before submission of his/her
assignment.
Penalties for Plagiarism

The Turnitin Similarity Index for all programmes offered should be not more than 15%.

Penalties for plagiarism ranges from mark reduction for the assignment to expulsion from the
University. If plagiarism has been found to have occurred, the action(s) taken will be
determined by the forms of plagiarism implicated:

1. Complete plagiarism
Verbatim copying another person’s work without acknowledgement
- To be referred to a panel 2 for further investigation. If the student is found to be
guilty, a grade “FL” is to be awarded for the subject.

2. Substantial plagiarism (Turnitin Similarity Index ≥ 30%)

2
The panel consists of the HoD as the Chair and 2 to 3 senior academic staff.

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 Near-verbatim copying another person’s work by simply altering the order of the
sentences or the format of presentation or by changing a few words or phrases without
acknowledgement.
- Based on a report submitted by the lecturer in charge of the subject, a Zero mark
will be awarded for the said assessment.

3. Minimal plagiarism (Turnitin Similarity Index ≥ 15%)

Paraphrasing by changing and/or eliminating some words without proper
acknowledgement.
- Based on a report submitted by the lecturer in charge, a deduction of up to 50% of
marks the student is entitled to receive for the said assessment.

Pleading ignorance or unintentional plagiarism does not constitute valid reasons for plagiarism
and will not avoid the penalties from being imposed. Excuses for acts of plagiarism such as the
following, but not limited to, will not be entertained:
1. I don’t have time to do the assignment
2. I have too many assignments due on the same day
3. I don’t know, I really didn’t do it
4. I am not aware
5. I don’t understand what plagiarism means
6. I have no intention to plagiarize
7. I forgot to cite the reference
8. I forgot to include the bibliography
9. My English is not good
10. My lecturer/tutor did not explain to me
11. In my country, it is alright to copy someone else’s work
12. My friend copied my assignment when I let him/her to look at my assignment
13. My friend copied my assignment when I allow him/her to use my laptop
14. I did my assignment in the computer lab, someone must have copied my work
15. I asked my friend to submit my assignment and he/she copied my work
16. I discussed my assignment with my friends, so our answers are the same/similar
17. Even though I do not have in-text citation but I have bibliography/reference list

Students should be reminded that it is their responsibilities to take due care throughout their
written work to effectively reference or cite when they use others’ ideas from any source.

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