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Postgraduate Diploma in Marketing Assignment

Subject Nature of the Assignment Examination Assignment Submission Period Last Date of Acceptance Presentation Date Economic and Legal Impact (Legal) Individual Assignment without Presentation December 2012 01st November 2012 to 15th November 2012 20th November 2012 ( with penalty ) N/A

IMPORTANT (Common for Integrated and Subject Assignments)


The assignment is designed to assess the application of theory and knowledge gained in the above subject. Assignment should conform to the Assignment Guidelines presented as per the Programme Handbook. (Refer to Section 07 Guidance for Assignments) Assignment should be submitted to SLIM within the Assignment Submission Period. All assignments submitted after the Submission period will be subjected to a penalty fee of LKR. 1,000.00 and reduction of marks (Maximum 10 Marks ) Assignment will not be accepted after the last date of acceptance under any circumstances. You will score higher marks in assignments if you meet the criteria given in the Programme Handbook. ( Please refer to Page 101 Assignment Marking Criteria) Assignment Marking Sheet should be attached after the cover page for the examiner to mark assignment as per the Order of Headings in Programme Handbook. (Refer the Page 64) Attending Coaching Sessions (Classes) is compulsory in order to carry out the assignments. Current University students are allowed to submit the assignment without attending lectures since they register as self study students. SLIM will issue an acknowledgement slip upon the submission of your assignment and it must be retained by the student as proof of submitting the assignment.

IMPORTANT (Only for Subject Assignments)

Its a compulsory requirement to submit the assignment in order to pass the relevant subject. If you have not submitted the individual subject assignment your results for the respective subject will appear as Fail in the final grading. Assignment marks will not be considered to transfer to next examination in case of absent at the examination under any circumstances. In case of absent at the examination, relevant student has to re-do the assignment in order to pass the subject in the next examination.

IMPORTANT (Only for Integrated Assignments)

Student should complete / exempt or at least follow lectures for all four (4) subjects to be eligible to carry out the assignment. Any assignment which does not fulfill above criteria will be rejected in assignment marking process. Integrated Assignment Fee will not be considered to refund or transfer under any circumstances.

Assignment Topic Consumers power in Sri Lanka

Background
In Sri Lanka, we have a long history of consumer protection which goes back to the Badulla Sel Lipiya (stone inscription) of the 10th Century B.C which can be considered as the oldest written evidence in the world as to rules or laws as to consumer protection. ( refer to CAA website for further details of this Sel lipiya) Then in the modern day, Sale of Goods Ordinance 1896 (specially the implied conditions), Food Act, then the Price Control Act, Unfair Trading Commission etc and now with the very powerful Consumer Affairs Authority Act No 9 of 2003 are laws enacted to protect consumer from errant marketers. (hereinafter called as CAA) Marketing mix is one of the controllable variables that a business uses to achieve desired level of sales in the target market. Traditionally, it is identified as the 4 Ps, namely: Product, Price, Promotion and the Place. Out of the 4 Ps, Promotion denotes the communication mix of the marketer. When communication mix is singled out and taken separately for analysis, the major elements of it could be identified as advertising, personal selling, sales promotions, direct marketing and publicity. Out of these five elements of the communication mix, advertising is the major player and it dominates in proportion and magnitude against all other elements. Always there have been doubts about the truthfulness of advertising and a lot of criticism has been leveled against the marketers on deceptive and misleading advertising. The legal provisions in CAA are more than enough to take action against deception and misrepresentation by marketers. It is important to cite here the sec 30 of the CAA Act which states No trader shall in the course of trade or business engage in any type or conduct that is misleading or deceptive or is likely to mislead or deceive the consumer or any other trader. Please note the final part of the section in your arguments in the answer, it is not only misleading and deceptive but even it is likely to mislead or deceive a phrase that could be very widely interpreted.

Task 01
Take an Infomercial run in one of the Television Channels in Sri Lanka and assume that you have purchased such a product advertised and you do not find the benefits as advertised. Discuss the possibility of prosecuting the advertiser by making a complaint to CAA

Task 02
Assume that you have purchased a fairness cream or any other beauty care products advertised in the television and have not been able get the benefits as advertised. Discuss the possibility of prosecuting the advertiser by making a complaint to CAA.

Note - In both of the above instances, you are requested to draft a complaint as per the guidelines
given by the CAA. You may make a visit to CAAs website and find out the powers it has, the raids it has made and any other guideline made to traders and public in formulating your answer in addition to what you have learnt in the class. You can also quote examples of similar cases in Sri Lanka or in any other country in support of your arguments with proper citations.

Assignment Marking Scheme


Subject Student Registration Nu
Marks Allocated Awarded 20 1-5 6-10 11-15 16-20 20 1-5 6-10 11-15 16-20 20 1-5 6-10 11-15 16-20 20 1-5 6-10 11-15 16-20 20 1-5 6-10 11-15 16-20 100

Criteria Aligning to the purpose of the assignment Some of the answer addresses to the purpose of the question This has addressed the purpose of the assignment Has addressed the purpose of the assignment coherently This has addressed the purpose of assignment comprehensively Clarity of expression An attempt to organize in a logical manner Satisfactory showing of logical manner and organization Shows higher level of Carefully and logically organized Shows coherent structure with clearly expressed ideas Using examples/evidences Shows a little use of examples Some use of examples. Some evaluation attempted Some use of examples. Well evaluated Shows appropriate examples are fully and reliably evaluated Critical analysis of concepts, theories, conclusions Demonstrates limited evidence of critical analysis Demonstrates some critical analysis of relevant theory Demonstrates application of theory through critical analysis Demonstrates application of critical analysis well integrated Following assignment guidelines Limited follow-up of assignment guidelines Some level of follow-up of assignment guidelines Good display of adherence to assignment guidelines Excellent adherence to assignment guidelines Total

Special Remarks

Signature of the Examiner

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