I have choosen Harvey Norman. And Apple brand and Samsung as a competitor.

Assessment Description This assignment builds on the second assessment. You are now required to thoroughly analyse the marketing environment of the brand (focusing on corporate brand, i.e. the company producing/owning the brand) that you analysed in Assessment 2, including the external macroenvironment and internal environment. From this analysis, you need to identify key strengths and weaknesses (internal to the brand/company) as well as opportunities and threats (external to the brand/company), and then suggest marketing strategies to mitigate risk and materialise the opportunities. Please note that this assessment is based on the activities performed in Assessment 2 and some secondary research, so you don't necessarily have to conduct market visits for this assessment.

Essentially, you are required to perform the following tasks:

1. Conduct a thorough external macroenvironmental scan of the corporate brand/company, using PESTEL analysis.

2. From PESTEL analysis and the analysis of customers and competitors in assessment 1, identify key forces (opportunities and threats) that may affect your brand/company strategy.

3. Conduct a thorough internal environmental scan of your main brand and analyse elements of organisational culture, vision, mission, values, long term strategic orientation and capabilities (core competence and resources).

4. From the analysis of the internal environment, identify key strengths and vulnerabilities (weakness) that may affect your brand/company performance.

5. Suggest how you can use your Strengths to mitigate the effect of Threats and materialise the Opportunities. Also, recommend strategies to strengthen your Weaknesses and avoid Threats by utilising Opportunities. Use the TOWS matrix provided in the appendix.

Format of Assessments

Introduction: What is the purpose of the report? Any background information relating to the report? What will your report cover? 10 marks

2. Background: Provide a background of the selected corporate brand/company, its product/brand portfolio, key competitors, global presence and market share (if possible). Use secondary information sources (with appropriate citations) to retrieve information. 10 marks

. Analysis of Marketing Environment:

a. Conduct a comprehensive external macroenvironmental analysis of the corporate brand/company. Use the PESTEL framework, including political, economic, socio-cultural, technological, environmental (natural) and legal analysis. Based on this analysis and the analysis of customers and competitors in the second assignment, identify the brand's opportunities and threats. 30 Marks

b. Conduct a thorough internal environmental analysis of the corporate brand/company. Internal environmental forces may include, but not limited to, organisational culture, vision, mission, values, long term strategic orientation, products and services, business partners, and capabilities (core Assessment 3 - MKT103 Fundamentals of Marketing competence and resources). Based on this analysis, identify the brand's strengths and weaknesses. 30 marks

NB Use secondary information sources from industry/company reports, the brand website, competitors' websites and other secondary sources to reflect on the external environmental and internal environment of the brand. (Subject Learning Outcome 1, 2, 3 & 5).

4. TOWS Matrix Strategies: Explain in details how organisational abilities (Strengths) can be used to pursue potential Opportunities and counter disabilities (Weaknesses) and Threats. Use the TOWS matrix tool provided in Appendix A for a succinct description of strategies. (Subject Learning Outcome 1). 40 marks

5. Conclusion: Summarise key findings of the report (i.e. specific points and findings the report came up with). 10 Marks

6. References: Provide references to any secondary sources used, following APA or Harvard referencing style. (not included in the word limit)

Following are some useful resources for environmental analysis and TOWS: https://www.business.qld.gov.au/starting-business/planning/market-customerresearch/swot-analysis

https://blog.oxfordcollegeofmarketing.com/2016/06/07/tows-analysis-guide/

https://hbr.org/2007/03/from-swot-to-tows-answering-a-readers-strategy-question

See an example of TOWS matrix for VW in the following article: Dyson, R. G. (2004).

Strategic development and SWOT analysis at the University of Warwick. European journal of operational research, 152(3), 631-640. (accessed via CDU library's website)