Reflective Overview.

In all the coursework we had to find relevant information from internet about the firm we are discussing about. We learned how to rate and select the information from reliable sources. The websites given in the course handbook were considered as the benchmarks and they were very relevant to the marketing strategies. Similar sources were found out and were utilised in the coursework. In the marketing plan, as we are not inside the company and we don’t have the internal perspective, it felt miserable and helpless that how one can proceed without relevant data. But extended search operation gave us very useful information about the company and its competitor. It will be very useful as an example for any future situation where we need to find information about competitors. The marketing plan was perhaps the most educative and conclusive coursework of all. It made me extensively think about all the phases of a marketing plan and how a better analysis in the first phase can be very much reflected in the second phase execution.

I thought many times that this course does only teach me theories and just increases my knowledge but as this module was very close to professional practice. It kept us busy all the time to think of the taught concepts and this was a very important difference between this module and other modules. I just think that seminars could be designed slightly better like and action learning set.

Overall completing this module gives me real satisfaction. It was also useful in other module’s coursework specifically consumer behaviour was easier to understand after we learned a lot of positioning in this module. While other modules also gave us real knowledge but might not be used depending on our choice of job, this will be very useful irrespective of our job titles.

Reflective Overview.

Residential trip gave me the experience of how marketing is so different in different industries like a film industry, digital media industry as compared to the industry which I belonged to and gave me an added perspective to similar issues I faced in the professional practice. The case study task of residential made me develop critical evaluations of intangible aspects in a film industry which was the first instance of understanding those concepts. Also the experience of learning from colleagues during the execution of the group task was very useful as it is possible that in the coming professional career I will face situations where I have to deal with different people. The debates made us support our arguments with real evidences and I learned that sometimes just having an opinion is not enough. I learned how to make a presentation of a different company without mere pie charts and graphs showing the targets and turnovers of the previous quarters of a company. Also getting feedbacks of the presentation style was very useful as I could understand my strengths and weeknesses clearly.

Reflective Overview.

Contemporary Marketing Strategy is a core module which has the contents which are very close to the industrial marketing practices. It follows a solid theoretical framework of the basics of the marketing concept. It followed an organisational approach where we started from as basic as “The Concept of Maketing Strategy and Planning” which made me feel comfortable as if we were starting from scratch and it is very necessary for people like me who come from a different background and first degree.  The modular design of the structure i.e. Situation Analysis, Strategy selection and Marketing Mix Programme helped in understanding the organisational view point to any present situation and the approach was missing during my professional practice. Now there is a clear understanding about from where to start with a marketing problem that was faced during the last quarter of the professional schedule as a marketing and sales engineer in a multinational firm. The range of information from various sources can now be better synthesized and into meaningful data that can help in the decision making process.

The lectures conducted were very helpful and easy going and involving. The interactions and the live examples which were discussed gave us an insight into the UK markets. Every theory supported by an example made it easy to understand in a better way. The examples given were accurate, but till the end of course, as many examples are famous in other modules too they seemed to be repetitive. The lecture also encouraged us to interact with faculty and clear our questions on the spot. The seminar classes just after the lectures were very helpful in practicing what we learned in the previous lectures and hence pushed our thought process.

The portfolio case studies were a very important platform to apply our theoretical knowledge to a situation of the company described in the case study. Interesting part was the selection of case studies in accordance with the learnt theories. It gave us the chance to directly link of the recent learnt theories and answer the questions. It felt in the beginning that it was like a comprehension to write answers in 1500 words and will not help anything than to gain marks. While solving the very first ones I learnt that there was a lot of reading and critical thinking of the situation to go into answering those questions. It pushed us beyond the theory and to start applying them which made the theories even more meaningful. The modular design was even significant in the case studies. “It was very important that in the process to achieve synergy, Weldon does not harm the entrepreneurial spirit” – a sentence from my answer to a J&J case study is expressive enough to say that I learned concepts as difficult as synergies between business units.

COMMUNICATION STRATEGY FOR PRECAUTION DURING A PANDEMIC OUTBREAK

REFERENCES:

Murray et al., 2006 C.J. Murray, A.D. Lopez, B. Chin, D. Feehan and K.H. Hill, Estimation of potential global pandemic.

Blendon et al., 2006b R.J. Blendon, J.M. Benson, C. Fleischfresser, K.J. Weldon and M.J. Herrmann, Pandemic Influenza Survey, September 28–October 5 (2006) www.hsph.harvard.edu/panflu/panflu_release_topline.doc.

Lance Jennings and Douglas Lush, (2004), International congress series- “National pandemic planning must be an ongoing process” 

The New England journal of medicine, Vol 352, January 2005.

How prepared is Europe for Pandemic influenza? Analysis of national plans- Sandra Mounier-Jack

Estimation of potential global pandemic influenza mortality on the basis of vital registry data- Christopher J L murray

Alexander,(2000) D.J. Alexander, A review of avian influenza in bird species, Vet Microbiol 74 (2000), pp. 3–13.

Brosseau and Li Environmental Health: A Global Access Science Source 2005 4:23   doi:10.1186/1476-069X-4-23.

Barrett DJ, Balicer RD, Lucey DR , Everly Jr GS- A systematic analysis approach to pandemic influenza preparedness planning.

BMA 2008, “preparing for pandemic influenza” guidance for GP practices

Possamai M, (2003) “lessons for influenza pandemic planning and response” SARS health worker safety.

Klenk et al. (2008). "Avian Influenza: Molecular Mechanisms of Pathogenesis and Host Range". Animal Viruses: Molecular Biology. Caister Academic Press.  Kawaoka Y (editor).

Applying the Rositier Piercy model to social marketing Communications- John R Rossitier

Engwall, D., Hunter, R., and Steinberg, M.  Journal of American College Health, 2004, 52, 245–255.

Kent, R. (2007). Marketing Research: Approaches, Methods and Applications in Europe. London: Thomson Learning.

Morgan, D.L., (1997) Focus groups as qualitative research, 2nd ed., Sage publications Inc.: London

General practice-Professional preparation for Pandemic- Nick Collins and John Litt

Cause and deaths during influenza pandemics in United States-  John F Brundage

Preparedness for a pandemic –influenza A H1N1, L

Kotler P, Roberto N, Lee N social marketing: improving the quality of life, 2^nd edition , Thousand oaks, California: Sage publications.

://www.who.int/wer/2005/wer8033.pdf

”. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandemic

http://www.thepigsite.com/pighealth/article/438/terminology

http://www.medicinenet.com/influenza/article.htm

COMMUNICATION STRATEGY FOR PRECAUTION DURING A PANDEMIC OUTBREAK

LIMITATIONS:

The study was carried out in London and specifically in the University campus and area of residence. So even though the sampling was taken with a proper mix the participants were a restricted group of social direct contacts.

The country from which the participant’s come might not have faced a severe pandemic till date and they might not know about such situation prior to discussion.

Also as many people from the University were unavailable in the time period when the study was carried out it could have affected the sampling.

COMMUNICATION STRATEGY FOR PRECAUTION DURING A PANDEMIC OUTBREAK

Their views were discussed as below:

      Understanding of the instructions from a person whom you know is an excellent form of message delivery method because it is easier and can be generalized accordingly. It is one of the most influential form of instruction delivery about a subject.

      It leads to better communication and better following of the concept and can be seen as a chain system in message transformation.

      The effectiveness of the message is highlighted through these social marketing campaigns.

      It is a rapid and effective means to create mass awareness amongst the people about a particular subject.

Hence, there was a positive response from 15 out the 16 participants in following this type of information through a friend or a person who is already known to you.

In response to visuals shown to the participants, people wearing mask had a negative response while washing and drying hands and using handkerchiefs had a positive response from majority of the participating participants.

After all the discussions about the pandemic preparation measures, 13 out of the 16 participants had a  positive response in following the instructions given after this social marketing campaign carried out in a form of a group discussions. They agreed to remember and follow the instructions given in the discussions about communication and preparation strategies in a future influenza pandemic scare.

Therefore, these discussions show that if the social marketing campaigns are deployed extensively during a pandemic outbreak, they could be more effective and the transformation of the message educating the mass population through these means would imbibe a behavioural change and a positive approach towards these alert situations in a faster way.    

COMMUNICATION STRATEGY FOR PRECAUTION DURING A PANDEMIC OUTBREAK

RESULTS AND FINDINGS:

In response to the 1^st set of questions asked to the participants, all the members participating the group discussions were aware of the influenza pandemic scare through one or the other forms of media like television, internet, daily newspapers, public hoardings, Ngo’s or through government health regulatory bodies. Flu vaccinations were a common phenomenon in most parts of different country as influenza was one of the major pandemic occurrence over the years.

In response to the second question being asked about the practice of precautionary measures against a pandemic scare, 11 out of the 16 participants practiced basic remedial forms of safety measures as a part of clinical hygiene to a certain extent, but not in an exclusive manner.

Most of the students were not aware of the acute types and mode of transmission mechanism of the influenza virus and were keen to understand the phenomenon.

All the participants were aware about the general symptoms of the influenza infection. The common symptoms included   Fever, common cold , headaches and muscle aches as they had relative information about the influenza scare through media awareness.

14 out of the 16 participants in the group discussions did not have any of their friends or family members that were infected by influenza in the recent past. Two participants had  their family members that were infected by the influenza virus and therefore they did practice the basic forms of remedial and hygiene measures against the influenza flu. Since, Influenza has a communicable mode of transmission both the participants did follow the precautionary guidelines carefully.

Now in response to the second set of questions asked to all the participants, the participants were asked to express their views in a written format about how they see this form of social marketing campaign after understanding the basic preparation measures of an influenza pandemic scare.