Work as a team with two or three other students in your class to select an organisation in your community that practises marketing. It may be a manufacturer, a service provider, a retailer, a not-for-profit organisation – almost any organisation will do. Then schedule a visit with someone within the organisation who is involved in the marketing activities. Arrange for a short visit in which the person can give your group a tour of the facilities and explain the organisation’s marketing activities.

Divide the following list of topics among your team and ask each person to be responsible for developing a set of questions to ask during the interview to learn about the company’s programme:

???????? What customer segments the company targets.

???????? How it determines needs and wants.

???????? What products it offers, including features, benefits and goals for customer satisfaction.

???????? What its pricing strategies are, including any discounting policies it has.

???????? What promotional strategies it uses and what these emphasise to position the product(s).

???????? How it distributes products and whether it has encountered any problems.

???????? How marketing planning is done and who does it.

???????? Whether social responsibility is part of the marketing programme and, if so, in what ways.