Marketing

1. SWOT Analysis

Strengths:

a) The four partners were deeply interested in Marketing Planning and Strategy and were committed to work hard to make the project so successful that it pays for their tuition.

b) The four partners have formed a strong partnership to start a small business.

c) They performed good amount of analysis on what product to select for their business.

d) They selected a product which had no competition and the sports calendar market was untapped in Florida Atlantic University (FAU).

e) The four partners had good amount of marketing research available.

f) There was way to advertise the product and also do additional sales renting booths at FAU events. The success of this work dependent on partners’ commitment, which was there for sure.

Weaknesses:

a) The product was new in an untested market. There was no historical guidance on how product would perform at FAU.

b) The time period to sell calendars was short and the duration was only two months in fall when the semester started.

c) There are lots of questions unanswered about marketing plan.

d) If the students choose to retail the calendars themselves it would mean they have to put extra hours of work. Also it will be tedious work since they can carry only 10-12 calendars in their backup and they have to rely on slow personal contact selling.

e) There was no fair idea about how to advertise the new product.

f) The critical decisions on type of calendar to make and on what kind of athletes was not made.

g) There was only $8000 available in startup capital. And students need to make at least profit of $8,000 to cover the startup capital or break even, and $18,000 to pay for the capital and tuition, which was the ultimate goal.

Opportunities:

a) There was no official sports calendar at FAU. The product could be so successful that it would become annual product to sale at the FAU.

b) The FAU...