Writting Assignment: British American Tobacco (BAT)

You will be expected to find current news articles pertaining to the current topics in the Strategy course and to describe issues related to the 3C’s and 4P’s. Most often, firms that are in the news are in the news for a “bad” reason – they’ve made a mistake and lost customer support which has led to declining purchases, negative word of mouth, etc. Using the week’s relevant material, I’d like for you to:
1. Tell me what the problem is (the firm is experiencing problems because…..)
2. Suggest 1-2 reasons for why the firm might be struggling (e.g., the firm is struggling because it produced a product that is inconsistent with the brand image or the firm is struggling because a competitor produced a better product)
3. Propose a reasonable way forward (i.e., what the firm can do to mitigate losses or to recover from losses in profits). By “reasonable,” I mean a solution the firm could actually implement in order to improve. This recommendation should be specific (not, “I recommend the firm research what consumers want or the firm needs to advertise on social media) and should follow logically from your analysis on the first two points. Full marks will be awarded to assignments with a specific, logical plan of action that makes sense given potential budget constraints. If you recommend overly expensive social media or advertising campaigns without considering the firm’s budget and resources, your recommendation is likely to be considered one that is superficial. That is, your recommendation should be feasible and reasonable, especially given the current economic climate with tight budgets.
Your assignment should be no more than 2 pages, double spaced, 12 point font. If you prefer to write less, that is fine as long as you answer the questions put forth above. You will complete four of these assignments and I will drop your lowest score. Because of this policy, I will not accept late submissions. Perhaps unsurprisingly components 2 and 3 above are the most important parts of the assignment and will be weighed most heavily.
All material should come from current issues in the news – I do not want you focusing on problems firms faced and “solved” a year ago, I want you to focus on the issues of that week. Trusted news sources include many major media outlets (WSJ, Financial Times, NY Times) as well as marketing trade publications (American Marketing Association, AdWeek). Please avoid using opinion pieces for the basis as they are not held to the same standards of journalistic integrity and might be biased.