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MK7040 Marketing in Digital Age and Corporate Social Responsibility Assessment Answer

    Module Title: 

    Marketing in a Digital Age and Corporate Social Responsibility

    Module Code: MK7040

    Assessment

    Project 

    Individual Marketing Report (100%)

    Details of the assessment can be found in the assessment guide below

    introduction to the MODULE

    This module is designed to introduce you to contemporary principles and practices in marketing, in a customer-focused and market-oriented organisation. Relationship marketing is the recent marketing approach that develops around the buying and consumption experience. As such, the module aims to develop your in-depth understanding of the strategic role of marketing in business, and its impact on the market and society in the digital age.

    MODULE AIMS

    The main aim(s) of the module are:

    • To develop your understanding of contemporary marketing in an environment of digitalised communications serving a customer-brand-relationship.
    • To equip you with the ability to make strategic decisions in market segmentation, targeting and positioning, brand and corporate reputation management, market offerings, and marketing programme/mix.
    • To offer you insight into future marketing challenges: society, technology, and ethics; the role of corporations in our society; accountability and responsibility in the corporate environment.
    • To develop your understanding of corporate social responsibility; and the most relevant mandatory corporate social responsibility interventions, to make responsible business and market decisions.

    MODULE LEARNING OUTCOMES

    At the end of this module, you will be able to:

    Knowledge

    1. Develop a critical understanding of major concepts, frameworks, and methods in marketing and corporate social responsibility, and assess their application in the business environment, including brand value.
    2. Examine the role digital marketing and media play in contemporary marketing and business practice, and the social impact of these practices. 
    3. Identify key issues and problems related to the lack of responsibility in the approach to corporate business operations, and the risk that unethical corporate conducts pose for our society. 

    Thinking skills

    1. Critically evaluate marketing strategies, including digital marketing solutions - in different business contexts, and address their implications including ethical issues, and reflect on the significance of key historical events. 

    Subject-based practical skills

    1. Make strategic marketing decisions based on facts and market research; and to commission marketing communication campaigns, including digital marketing solutions. 
    2. Critically assess currently implemented corporate social responsibility solutions and recognise the links between the adoption of certain solutions and the performance of business operations. 

    Skills for life and work (general skills)

    1. Adopt a persuasive argumentation, and present it in verbal or written communication. 
    2. Collect, analyse and synthesise data; and take a problem-solving approach to strategic thinking, and creativity. 

    ASSESSMENT

    This assessment is an individual project that contains one individual summative report and one formative group presentation. 

    • Formative group presentation (0% - verbal feedback is provided).   
    • Summative individual written report (100%). 

    Emerging new technologies are changing the way consumers interact with brands which in turn provide avenues for marketers to reach their target consumer across a myriad of digital channels. In the connected world, we live in, successful marketing will require connected, personalised and real-time customer experience. Companies are experimenting on different marketing communication strategies, and embracing customers using various touchpoints to position their brands and connect with their target market. However, the hunger to buyers and consumers data and the eagerness to influence their decisions and behaviours led unconventional users of marketing and communications techniques to go above and beyond the norm. Such practices led to controversy in the society regarding privacy, ethically and legally accepted the use of data.

    One of the major cases in recent years is the role Cambridge Analytica played in the latest American presidential election and the Brexit referendum in the UK. Political marketing and the use of digital media in political campaigns is not new; however, the way Cambridge Analytica used Facebook users’ data to target users with influential contents that can lead to favourable results to the promoted parties was labelled unethical and illegal.  

    Your Task

    Research the case of Cambridge Analytica and write a report that reflects on and answers the following questions. 

    Your answers should be supported by evidence from the data you collect through your research. Your answers should also show how you analysed the data you collected using the marketing theories and concepts, and corporate social responsibility concepts you are learning in this module.

    The questions:

    What was the business opportunity for Cambridge Analytica? How did the company capture it? 

    1. Stand in the shoes of CEO Alex Nix: What could have been done better BEFORE the scandal in 2017 and earlier? What could have been done better AFTER the scandal broke (early 2018)? (Consider the following areas: marketing communication strategy and message, corporate social responsibility and corporate reputation, the impact on brand awareness and brand trust)
    2. How do you judge the value of data for influencing decision making, in business as well as in politics? (consider the corporate social responsibility, impact on society, ethics and legislations)
    3. Explain the work and service Cambridge Analytica provided Trump’s campaign. Apart from the legal side, in your perspective, was it right for Cambridge Analytica to provide this work for Trump?
    4. How do public goodwill/license to operate and data-driven technology companies interrelate? 
    5. Facebook continues to face major ethical and legal challenges. What challenges Facebook brand is facing today? And what implications these challenges and the case of Cambridge Analytica have for the future of Facebook from your perspective?

    Write a 3000-words report (10±) answering the above questions. Build clear arguments in your answers. Strengthen these arguments with sufficient evidence from the case study, your research into the market and the company and from the marketing and corporate social responsibility literature as appropriate.  

    Recommended report structure:

    • Title page with student number and module code, plus word count
    • Each question followed by the relevant answer. You may have sub-sections in each answer. 

    Report’s Presentation instructions

    Your work should be word-processed as per the following:

    • Font style, Calibri, font size 12 
    • 1.5 line spacing
    • The page orientation should be ‘portrait’ 
    • Margins on both sides of the page should be no less than 2.5 cm
    • Pages should be numbered
    • Your name should not appear on the script
    • Your student number should be included on every page

    Word Count

    Your word count should not include your table of contents, reference list or appendices. You should provide your word count at the front cover of your report.  

    Exceeding the word count may result in a penalty of 5% of your mark. If your work is significantly shorter, then you probably did not provide the level of detail required.

    Transitional Agreement Students ONLY

    If you are completing 15 credits only of this module to compensate for MK7246 (Marketing in the digital age), then you need to complete the same individual written report assessment, but you only required to answer questions: 1,2, and 6. The word count limit is 2000 words (10±).  The deadline here is 05 March 2020.

    If you are compensating for SG7201 (Corporate social responsibility), then complete the same individual written report assessment, but answer questions: 3,4, and 5 only.  The word count limit here is 2000 words (10±). The deadline is 10 April 2020.

    The formative group presentation (Not assessed)

    This is an invaluable opportunity for you to get feedback from your tutor that will be exceptionally helpful when you are writing your individual report, so don’t miss it.

    Read the case study. Conduct market and company research and analysis. Answer the case study questions as a group. Prepare a few slides to present to the class and be ready to engage in a discussion and question and answer activity. Remember that “none of us is as smart as all of us”, so learn from each other, before you go and write your individual report. All of you will be winners here as each of you will write better after studying and discussing the case in class.

    • Simply try to have a slide or two for each question. The first slide will have your names, and the last one will have your references.
    • Presentation time is 15 minutes followed by 5 minutes discussion and tutor feedback, which will be invaluable for your individual report
    • All group members are encouraged to participate in the presentation

    Slides Presentation instructions (text should be presented in a legible format)

    Your work should be word-processed as per the following:

    • Font style, Calibri, font size not less than 24 
    • 1.5 line spacing
    • Margins on both sides of the slide should be no less than 2 cm
    • Slides should be numbered
    • Your name and ID number should appear on your slides and the front slide

    Answer

    Marketing in a Digital Age & Corporate Social Responsibility

    Answer 1

    Cambridge Analytics is one of the leading company, that had a prime role in offering the services and also had an important role to modulate the responses of the audiences, by understanding their opinion about the businesses and political parties, The company use to analyses the sensitivity towards the specific business, political parties and even have to correlate with the “change audience behavior” (Vo, 2019). The company main role was to collaborate and even understand the consumer data, analyze it, relate with the behavioral science, and further understand how to identify people that can help to parallel with the organizations which would be a target requiring the marketing material.  The commonly has converted the business opportunity, by evaluating the data which can be taken from the wide range of sources, identifying through the social media platforms such as Facebook, and then pulling out the data from the polling.

    The company has established itself in London, and it was cofounded in 2013 with a company called SCL Group, which could further offer global services. The company founder is Alexander Nix who had a leading role in manipulating the people sentiments towards the US Republican political market” and it was evident, how due to the series of steps, it has further defeated the Democrat 2012 presidential election. The company was accused of ostensibly creating and leading a tech revolution, and further using the data analytics along with the digital engagement areas, was the Republicans have also failed to catch up.  The business has converted this opportunity of reading the customer sentiments, relating to the behavior, linking the data, further understanding, and diagnosing the behavioral micro targeting, along with the political campaigns to evaluate the public sentiments (Santoro, 2019).

    Cambridge Analytics Ltd (CA) by background is the leading British political consulting firm which has also invested in the engagements such as the misappropriation of digital assets,  inbuilt data mining,  includes the data brokerage along with streamlining with the data analysis and further holding the strategic communication that was chosen during the electoral processes The company further with the collaboration with the SCL group in 2013, has further chosen close operations, due to the legal proceedings and further causing the bankruptcy and facing the consequences of it. Due to the manipulation of the customer sentiments and even miscuing the polls, it has led to the SCL Group still data scandal; The Company has used the platform Facebook as an active platform to check the people's viewpoints (Pantani, et al, 2017).

    The company was owned by the hedge fund manager by the name of the Robert Mercer, and who has further invested in the politically conservative causes and has further expanded with the multiple bases across the London, New York City, and Washington, D.C. It is believed that the company CEO Alexander Nix was also actively involved in the 44 US political races a further, it has created the data analysis services checks on Ted Cruz's presidential campaign. During 2016, CA has also collaborated with the Donald Trump's presidential campaign [, and their role has been known as the misleading and the controversial one, that has further caused the claims of the effectiveness campaigns (Masterson, 2017).

    Answer 2

    Being in the shows of the Alex Nix, firstly, to understand what kind of the political camping has been launched, how the e data has been used, and what can be the impacts, would have been better evaluated and forecasted. It was essential to understand, how the data analysis and the manipulation can cause future legislation (Loureiro, 2017).  Early to 2018 the scandal broke being Alex Nix, the first step would be to understand how the company has used the millions of users' data which was taken without the consent of the people. It has been actively sued for the political advertising roles. The company has to further understand how the data break was being done, what kind of fraud has been done, and what can be the long term consequences of it (Flint, 2017). The company has further included the data from the app which was created by Aleksandr Kogan, a Cambridge academic, which included a series of questions, such as the psychological profiles assessment and also knowing him a behavioral analysis of the users. The role of the app was to further understand how the users of the personal data can answer a few sets of questions, which would further help to understand the people's sentiments and further can also answer the 3 other Facebook friends. The company then after taking the data would collaborate and use it further with the American voters for the political campaigns and can help to understand the analytics aimed at the Ted Cruz and Donald Trump campaigns. As a precautionary step they being Ale Nix, due to the ethics, integrity and further understanding the situation could have helped to overcome the sit-upon.  As the data breach was disclosed by the former Cambridge Analytics employee in 2018, and disclosing the steps which have further helped Facebook to seek control over the data harvesting (Laudon, 2015).

    Marketing communication strategy and message

    Before 2017, being Alex Nix, the first action would be to use the neutral people's sentiments questions and the goals to understand the targets of the political campaign should have been further being evaluated. Ethics and values would govern the goals and objectives. Early to 2018, it was necessary to step in to monitor what is happening and relate to future outcomes. The messages which could be sent out should alert the people of the confidentiality and the disclaimer. It should be done with the consented state of mind.

    Corporate social responsibility

    As per the corporate social responsibility, the main goal of the company CEO is to follow the ethics, social responsibilities and the moral obligations of not deriving the data without the concert of the people and using the neutral types of the questionnaires. Everything should have understood and evaluated with a broad sense of mind, such as how the set of questions seeking human behavior could have given a fair judgment and not exact values. While calculating probabilities and understanding of the data could be still allowed, but to use the direct questions, not taking consent of the information from the consumers and further violating the norms could have caused the implications (Drew, 2017).

    Corporate reputation

    Before 2017, the commonly corporate reputation was seen as the esteemed and the repeated one, but early to 2018, the company after the company was caught in the data breach, scandal and using eh social media to generate opinions, has led to the loss of resolution, brand value, and image. Being Alex Nix, it was necessary to think about the value of the stakeholders trusting in the company and also focus on saving the company reputation from the long term point of view (Etter, 2019).

    Brand awareness

    The company brand of use in new ways of technology such as the digital way of organizing the issuing, interpreting the impacts, and the way social media can causes breach, highlights the online safety, rulers, and ethics (Cui, 2018).

    Brand trust

    The company has caused a breach of trust and even led to the negative sentiments agendas the Facebook and the Cambridge Analytics which has misused the digital information and influenced the public sentiments for the specific political party (Camilleri, 2017).

    Answer 3

    The value of the data while influencing the decision making in the business along with politics can be used to understand the business culture, values, and devising the set decision making styles. Through the data-driven collation, it can help to understand the changing lifestyles, trends, favoritism, influences and how the consumers would like to behave form the future point of view (Abbas, et al, 2019)

    Corporate social responsibility

    The company's corporate social responsibility is to understand values, data scrutiny, sanctioning of the data, using the data with consent, integrity, and ethics. The corporate social responsibility needs to help in abiding by the framework of the values, ethics, and integrity of the data (Baines, 2017). The data value which causes influence in the decision making should be unique, in line with the generic trends, and should not be devaluing anything. For example, the data that has been taken to influence the public should not be against the community-specific such as Anglo American or should be in the negative types. Further, it is important to collaborate and work for a positive environment, while using the data, such s adopting the green technologies or the ways to reduce the nonrenewable resources, etc.

    Impact on society

    In society the data-driven value firm should draw the business analysis data which can educate them, having a positive impact and improve the social values. Such as the data shard to influence the public can be teaching how to remain safe during the flu influenza and how it would be important to take correct steps. The data influences can also be used to correct the consumer lifestyles such as how to reduce fatty food from the daily diet and how to reduce cardiovascular and diabetes. Further, the value of the data can understand the behavior, trends, food styles, and the way events can be impacted, to forecast what can be the consumer's role in avoiding it and also help in overcoming the issue (Etter, 2019).

    Ethics and legislations

    The ethics and the legislation which can help to influence the public would be to educate them on how to be aware of their rights, importance to remain secure, safe, and avoid any breaches. Further, it is important to have the ethics and legislation data analysis, which can help to determine which country, business venture, or the domains, can be future problematic issues. Businesses having a collaborative style of decision-making can further be helpful to note, how there can be assets that can further help to note the value of the decision-making approached and how to use such information for the future course of the business opportunities, predict future trends and how it would further help to evaluate the future implications of the data (Elden 2019).  

    With the data-driven companies, it helps to take the decisions constructively, understand the data quality, relate with the low-cost access information, and further would speed up the decision power.

    Answer 4

    During the Trump's election, the company played a crucial role in manipulating the people sentiments and even extracted the data from the wide social media which included the Google, Snap chat, along with the Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube and it has further caused the data manipulation of the data (Flint, 2017).

    It was observed, how the 27-page presentation could have potentially impacted the company that has further caused a problem for Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. It was revealed how details of the techniques which were further used to favor the Trump campaign and further how to use the micro-target US voters which can notify the tailored messages of how to influence the Republican nominee which has covered across the digital channels. The economy has used the wide variety of intensive survey research, used the data modeling along with the performance-optimizing algorithms which have further caused a target 10,000 different ads which have indicated how there can be different audiences within the months to influence the election (Glavas,2016). The influential ads have further used a billion views of the presentation. The company has also shared the Trump’s victory, which has shown how there has been a controversial firm which has further helped to pull out the dramatic political stats for the modern history (Hadjimanolis, 2017). Cambridge Analytics which has a high brand value and the wide role during the political operatives has further helped in exaggerating its role during the campaigns, further, it was further understood as to how the company has created the influential data, further leading to the controversial data, that has infringed the rights of the people’s sharing their sentiments which was further used in the influencing and manipulating, without the consent. The company has used the data from the 50 million Facebook users without their consent and further, they have closely tracked the data that can help to elevate the online footprint and also understanding U.S. lives. Even though there has been advanced data-led political campaigning, further, there were techniques that have been used in accordance with the presentation and have secured sufficient delegates which would further help the party’s candidate. The company has used the data infrastructure”, integrated the “no unifying data, integrated the digital and tech strategy”. During 2016, the company has invested in the 2016 presidential campaign, and the company has largely used the data tools which have helped to demonstrate the goal of giving conservatives big data tools that have further helped to evaluate the data. The company has even used the detailed psychological profiles of every potential or exiting American voter and even matched with the sentiments of the campaigns for the person to person.

    Answer 5

    The public/goodwill is lost in the form of the loss in the reputation, compromise in the brand image, and further would lead to compromised ethics. The people would further feel they have been breached with the data being used without their consent and it has been used with the specific intention that can further cause the breach in the trust (Hadjimanolis, 2017).  The data-driven and the goodwill/license and the data-driven are interrelated as follows-:

    Privacy regulations

    To make the company use valuable data by the data-driven organizations, it is necessary to be transparent and further be able to build trust and even engage in between the businesses and the market. It is necessary to avoid the risks of invasion of privacy, further focus on market manipulation and also examine the monopolization, which can help to influence the news and even have control over it. The company can further derive the data-driven organizations and it is necessary to have the GDPR, to avoid any steep fines along with the sanctions and further help the license to operate.

    Persistent silo thinking

    The company can further integrate the silo thinking to collaborate with the goodwill and include the influential data which would further be used in the positive spirit. The company can use a better strategy and further can use the information silo (Kasemsap 2017). 

    Lack of data integrity

    The data infrastructure can help the companies to use ample data that can further be used insightfully and also integrate the decisions, which would be scoped in a poorly managed manner and it can be exploited. The company can use the data-driven and the public license with better data management and governance.

    Having the right skills

    The company needs to have a better-drawn relationship and even focus on the data skills requirements, which would further help to secure innovation, better inputs, and better outcomes. Further, it would help in the data-savvy people which can help devise the technological knowledge that can help to understand the easy step (Laudon, 2017).

    Right technology

    The company can focus on the overabundance of data solutions, and further reevaluate the good fit that can help to identify the specific case that can further be devising the best-fitting technologies and also understanding the data-driven greatness (Loureiro, 2017).

    Answer 6

    The company Facebook has been facing the biggest challenges and it has also impacted the future implications-:

    Due to the unprecedented scandals, it has further caused the problems of 20% of its value and it has also resulted in the scandals which would further cause the mishandling of user data and has also cussed the influence in the interference on its platforms (Masterson, 2017).

    1. More Bad Headlines

    The company has to face more horrible issues and also faced the problem of the negative stories which has further caused the transgressions that have caused the problem in the influence and the resultant impact. The company has to also face the bogus accounts which have been seen in the Instagram, and it has further lead to the breaches of the data, less facing the scrutiny as Facebook's and the main target is the Facebook's ad targeting which can cause the problem of the more problematic challenges (Santoro, 2017).

    2. Monetization Pressures

    The company has to face the monetization pressures, which has led to casing the monetizing the products and even caused the more packing of ads, The company faces the problem of the varieties of the problems, with the wide data consent that has been carrying the ads, and has further resulted in the tolls on the advertisements (Santoro, 2017). 

    3. Governance Troubles

    The company also has to invest in a negative relationship with the government and has also been blamed to exploit management changes and has also caused cascading impacts.

    These challenges can further cause Facebook to rethink the data breaches, integrity of the data, sanctioning of data, and any potential compromises in the ethics.

    Tags:mk7040marketing in digital agecorporate social responsibilitycsrmarketing management
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