Curriculum-Framing Questions

• Essential Question
  What influences our choices?
• Unit Question
  What is the right marketing mix for your product?
• Content Questions
  What is a marketing mix?
  What are its elements?
  How can we determine a right marketing mix? 
  What are the factors that affect the choice of the channel of distribution? 
  What influences the price of a commodity? 
  In what ways can surveys help us to make business decisions?

Assessment Process
View how a variety of student-centered assessments are used in the Unit Plan. These assessments help students and teachers set goals; monitor student progress; provide feedback; assess thinking, processes, performances, and products; and reflect on learning throughout the learning cycle.

Instructional Procedures
Prior to the Project
Before starting the unit, prepare the following materials for effective implementation of the unit:

• Prepare charts papers with the Essential Question written on them.
• Prepare mind map sheet to help student categorise the factors influencing the choices of businessmen.
• Create a presentation that would give a fair idea about marketing, its elements and students’ project.
• Prepare a list of websites and make sure that the websites are active.
• Prepare case study handout to help students in planning their study.
• Prepare guidelines to conduct survey for students.
• Prepare team work and decision making checklist to help students monitor their progress.
• Arrange for an expert on pricing products for guest lecture.
• Test the smooth working of all the three online tools simultaneously with the help of the computer lab assistant
• Set-up the Visual Ranking Tool and the Seeing Reason Tool workspace.
• Arrange for lab assistant to be present for students’ online tools sessions.
• Prepare revival strategy presentation score sheet.

Setting the Stage
Divide students in groups of 5 students each. Arrange for the chart papers for each group with the Essential Question: What influences our Choices?

Make students discuss the question in groups. Ask students not to limit their thoughts in a specific direction but to brainstorm about all choices that they have made or need to make in life and the factors that influence their choices.

Provide sticker notes of two different colours. Ask them to write the choices and factors influencing them in different colours.

Provide time for students to discuss and make their chart papers ready for presentations. Have each group explain their list of choices and the factors influencing them. Promote a whole class discussion based on the presentations made by each group and explain about how each factor plays an important role in making a choice. Point out that every person’s choices are influenced by different factors in a unique way. Emphasise that, what influences us might not influence others.

Narrow down the discussion to the choices of customers while buying products. Ask students to list the choices. Ask students to think from a businessman’s perspective. Make students brainstorm about the things businessmen decide when they want to sell their product in the market. Make students come out with the list and discuss it with the class. Distribute the mind map sheets (DOC 21.5KB) and ask students to categorise the list in the marketing mix elements. Point out to students that the entire list can be narrowed down to 4 P’s - price, product, promotion and place.

Explain the term marketing mix and its elements. Make an analogy between a product and a painting. Explain that every product in the market is like an image on an artist’s palette. The marketers mix the prime colours (mix elements) in different quantities to deliver a particular final colour and every product has a unique marketing mix. Showcase the presentation (PPT 191KB) created on marketing and its elements. Explain the marketing and the selling concepts to the class.

Introducing the Problem
Introduce students to the problem of some fast moving consumer goods that are experiencing a decline in the demand and thus losing market share. Have students take on the role of market researches who will look into each aspect – price, place, promotion and product itself. Ask students to work in groups and choose different products that are facing decline in the market and undertake a thorough research including survey. Introduce the Unit Question: What is the right marketing mix for your product? Inform students that they will prepare a revival strategy presentation for convincing the board of directors about their suggestions to revive the product’s market share. Ask them to do research for investigating about:

• What are the factors that affect the choice of the channel of distribution?
• What influences the price of a commodity?
• In what ways can surveys help us to make business decisions?
• How can we determine a right marketing mix for a particular product?

Identifying the Products
Get the students into their respective groups. Share the teamwork checklist (DOC 25.5KB) with the groups. Speak to them about the importance of collaboration for the success of the project. Each group’s main task will be to identify the product and analyse the causes for decline using the investigating questions and come up with strategies to revive the product. Distribute the marketing mantra journal books to the students. Ask them to enter all their reflections, learnings and ideas in the journal through out the project and inform them that their journal books will be reviewed on a weekly basis.

Circulate the decision making checklist (DOC 33KB). Discuss about the need for finding relevant information, creating options, predicting consequences and coming to a consensus with their team members before finalizing their product. Provide time for the students to identify the products that they would like to work on. Let each group select from different fast moving consumer products: toothpaste, shaving cream, shampoo, etc. Get groups to present the names of the product that they have identified. Once the products have been finalised, get the students to start working on their task role-playing as market researchers.

Understanding Basic Concepts
Ask students to refer to the list of websites (DOC 34.5KB) for articles on various topics such as life cycle of a product, impact on marketing mix, life cycle of a consumer product, market research, pricing objectives, channel decisions and promotion planning. Ask students to review their findings and summarize in their journal book. Make students discuss their understanding of the concepts in groups. Ask students to share the points discussed in their groups with the class.

Planning the Case Study
Introduce the concept of developing a case study for products under study. Circulate a sample case study and go through the various sections with the students. Share with them that they would be developing a similar case study for the products that they choose to research about. Give them a case study handout (DOC 31KB) to plan their study. Provide time for them to discuss in their groups and complete their plan by using the case study handout. Assist students to complete their case study details thoroughly as it is the foundation of their entire project. Scrutinize their plans and give feedback.

Planning Market Survey
Inform students that they will visit a market place where the products are sold to get first hand knowledge about the product’s market and interview some sellers about the selling trend shown by the products in past two years. Ask students to note down the key points they would like to observe in the market and ask the seller about the current market trend. Give some examples to the students - the competitor’s product details, the preferences of sellers, the promotional strategies of competitor’s products. Provide time for students to discuss within their groups and refer their case study handout. Make the groups share their key points with the class and provide feedback. Remind students to note down their observations of field visit to market place and points from the interview with the sellers in their journal book.

Instruct students that survey is one of the important milestones of their project. Help students understand the importance of marketing research, post the Content Question: In what ways can surveys help us to make business decisions?. Elicit and record student responses to the question. Next, tell students that they will be conducting their own marketing research to develop more in-depth understanding about the status of their product in the market.

Share detailed guidelines to conduct survey (DOC 42KB). Share with the students the things to be kept in mind while conducting the market survey. Provide time for students to come up with some questions that they would like to investigate. Let students brainstorm in their groups and compile questionnaires for the survey. Discuss the final questionnaire with each group in order to ensure complete understanding.

Conducting the Market Survey
Have each group divide the work and administer questionnaire (DOC 40.5KB) on 25 consumers to assess market trend. Provide time for students to complete survey. As the student groups complete the survey exercise, hold team meetings with the groups. Review their journal books and discuss their survey experience and also the experience of working as a team. Provide feedback on their journal entries and their working together as a team.

Analyzing the Data
When these young researchers complete survey, show students how to tally the results and enter data into a spreadsheet. Have them create a chart or graph from their data and share their interpretations with the class. Use this opportunity to demonstrate how spreadsheets can be used in order to interpret data.

Make students think about the marketing mix and revisit the Essential Question: What influences our choices?. Make students analyse the survey results. Ask student to list down the critical factors responsible for decline in sales of their product under study.

Explain students that they will work on online thinking tools for scrutinizing some marketing mix elements of their product in detail.

Ask them to study about the Place element keeping their product in mind and get them to reflect on the questions:

• What are the different channels of distribution?
• What are the factors that affect the choice of the channel of distribution of the product?

Make students discuss all the channels needed to distribute the Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG), and then group those that are similar. Finalise a list of channels of distribution with the consensus of all groups.

Setting Priorities
Inform students that they would be working on Visual Ranking Tool to analyze and rank the channels of distribution. Introduce the Visual Ranking Tool to students using the demonstration space at http://educate.intel.com/en/ThinkingTools/visualranking/TryTheTool/. Show students how to rank and compare lists, and explain their ranking. Provide time for students to practice.

After students get a complete insight about the tool, assign the team Ids and make students log in to their Visual Ranking team space. Point out the prompt: What should be your priorities for choosing an appropriate channel of distribution for your product? Rank your priorities based on your product considerations, nature and type of your consumer and cost and efficiency of distribution.

Ask students to consider taxes applicable – VAT, sales tax, time, cost, geographical coverage, etc. as they rank the channels of distribution. Have each team rank the channels with these criteria in mind. Instruct students to use the comment feature of the tool to explain their reasoning on why they ranked a channel of distribution where they did. Make sure teams consider their product analysis and factors affecting the choice of ranking the channel of distribution and defend their choices. As students sort their lists, listen to their discussions and ask questions to help teams negotiate, make choices and express their thinking.

Visual Ranking Activity
Project Name: Channel Decisions
Question: What should be your priorities for choosing an appropriate channel of distribution for your product?
Rank your priorities based on your product considerations, nature and type of your consumer and cost and efficiency of distribution.

Examine the Visual Ranking Activity
The space below represents one team's ranking using the Visual Ranking Tool.

Comparing Rankings and Responding to Questions
After teams have finished ranking their lists, have them compare their rankings and comments with other teams and discuss differences and similarities. Suggest that they identify the teams that ranked items most and least like they did. Have similar and dissimilar teams meet to discuss their rankings and rationale behind the order. Some teams may want to revise their ranking based on what they learn from discussions with other teams.

Have students complete a group discussion responding to the following questions:

• Looking at the comparison of your rankings with those of other teams, why do you think your list of priorities is different? 
• Did reading the comments of other teams make you reconsider your own ranking?
• How did your perspective of the priorities change as you discussed them with your group members or with other groups?

Next, have each group compare its list with the “class average”. Have them print a report of this comparison. Encourage them to find the differences in their thinking processes. Ask students to enter their thoughts on the question: What influences our choices? And reflect on their ranking experience to answer the question. Spend time with the different groups reviewing their journal entries and discuss their answers and their understanding.

Pricing Your Product – Learning from Expert
After young researchers find out the right channel of distribution for placing their product among the targeted consumers, it is now time to price the commodity. Ask students to conduct research to gather information. Make them read an article on: How do I figure out what to charge my product?*. While students are reading the article be there to respond to their queries.

Tell them that an expert on pricing will be visiting to discuss how to price commodities. Together brainstorm a set of questions that they would like the guest to address. Arrange for a lecture session by the expert and get the students to ask questions during the session. Ask students to make use of their journal books for articulating their thoughts on pricing and the answers to their queries. Have students to research deeper on the factors affecting the price of the product under study, taking into account various economical and social factors.

Introducing the Seeing Reason Tool
Demonstrate the Seeing Reason Tool and allow the students to explore the tool on http://educate.intel.com/en/ThinkingTools/SeeingReason/TryTheTool/. Explain causal maps as a tool that helps visually represent specific, measurable factors that influence the central factor or a problem. With the help of few examples explain Cause and Effect relationships. Also explain them to the students the significance of two coloured arrows with different thickness. Introduce comment feature to communicate and receive feedback. Caution your students that relationship between cause and effect is a complex one. Introduce them to causal fallacies with the help of examples.

Using the Seeing Reason Tool
Introduce the students to the question, What influences the price of a commodity? for the Seeing Reason activity. Have the groups log on to the student workspace. As students create their maps, take the opportunity to gauge understanding and guide learning. Look at maps, listen to conversations, and ask students to describe their maps.

As students create their maps, pose the following questions to help facilitate students’ higher-order thinking.

• How have you described your factors?
• What is your evidence for the relationship you show between these factors?
• Why is this important to understand?
• What causes this to happen?
• Can you explain this relationship further?
• How does it affect this factor?

While mapping get them to identify desirable and undesirable features as they look for the right price for their product. For example, Govt. policies on taxes would positively affect the price of the product. In this case the tax is a factor that may help keep the cost of their product in control. Encourage them to use the description feature of the tool to explain their thinking.

Examine the Visual Ranking Activity
Visual Ranking Activity
Project Name: Channel Decisions
Prompt: What should be your priorities for choosing an appropriate channel of distribution for your product? Rank your priorities based on your product considerations, nature and type of your consumer and cost and efficiency of distribution.

Examine the Seeing Reason Activity
The Seeing Reason Tool space below represents one team's investigation in this project

When the maps are complete, show maps of different teams from the teacher’s workspace using a projector. Ask the teams to describe their maps and articulate their thinking. Invite feedback for each map from the whole class. After discussion, provide time for the students to revise their maps. Remind them to write their learnings on pricing of the product in the journal. Conduct team meetings and review student journals.

Thinking Time
Review the entire project beginning from the product planning, deciding the channel to reaching the targeted customer and finally deciding on the right price. Ask them to reflect, discuss and share in their groups. Remind them to write down their reflections in journal. Have a whole class discussion based on the reflections in journal.

Ask them to read through an article on Promotion planning*. As they read through the article ask them to write their understanding about promotional strategy. Encourage students to think about the right kind of promotional technique for their product as well. Ask thought provoking questions such as:

• How do you see products being promoted around you?
• What are the promotion objectives?
• How do you choose among elements of promotion?
• What do you think is the best technique to promote your product?
• Are there any factors that affect the choice of its selection?

Encourage a discussion in the class about various types of promotional techniques available in the market. Depending upon the nature and type of product they are dealing with ask them as a group to discuss and relate the best promoting technique that would make the greatest impact on costumers’ mind and create a need for their product.

Creating Presentations
When the ground work for research and deeper thinking into the nitty-gritty involved in developing the right channel of distribution, right price and right promotional technique have been completed, have student groups begin developing their presentations.

Share multimedia presentation score sheet (DOC 38KB) with the students to help students monitor their progress and understand the expectations.

Encourage them to prepare presentations, wherein they analyse the entire market situation with respect to their product and give a concrete plan to the board of directors so that they may revise the market penetration strategy.

Presenting Findings
As students complete their presentations, make arrangements for an event where they present their proposals to the (simulated) Board of Directors. You may also ask the market experts or specialists, different functional heads of the company to be your audiences. Give students enough time to practice their presentation in small groups before they present it to the larger audience.

Allow students to showcase their revival strategy multimedia presentation (PPT 144KB) for their product. Set time for settling the queries from the audiences. Assess students’ presentation using the multimedia presentation score sheet.

Wrapping It Up
Refer back to the entire unit and their first responses to the questions. Make students discuss how ideas have changed or stayed the same based on what they have learnt in the unit. Together review their original goals, plan, research and marketing strategies evolved during the course of the project. Post the Essential and Unit Questions and allow time for students to reflect upon these questions and making connections to the topic under study. These questions can be used as a part of the unit reflection in their journal.

Prerequisite Skills
Conceptual Knowledge

• Market
• Selling Concept
• Trade
• Commerce

Technological Skills
Familiarity with:

• Multimedia Presentations
• Word Processing
• Spreadsheet Application
• Internet Explorer

Differentiated Instruction
Resource Student

• Present instructions in variety of ways
• Include checkpoints and positive reinforcement throughout the unit and assigned projects
• Select helpful class partners who can support his/her needs.
• Allow extra time to complete assignments.
• Students can be asked to reduce amount of evidence required, pre-selected research materials and support from resource specialists.

Gifted Student

• The student can include more advanced technical attributes in the presentation.
• Have the student serve as an expert during research.
• Encourage the student to investigate more complex questions.
• Ask the student to provide more in-depth information or analysis in the project.

Credits
This project idea has been developed by Mr. Sanjay Bareja. A team of teachers expanded the plan into the example you see here.