The executive summary should be like an Abstract that the reader reads and understands the purpose of the paper. Also, the writer should start with an interesting quote or statement. Thus, the writes should avoid starting with “the intention of ” Instead the author should give the reader a good introduction that would make the reader want to know more about the purpose of merging Epinion and Heathrow Airport. You mentioned that technological advancement was the key reason for the merger but the reader wants to know when this happened (the year). Why Heathrow airport decided to merge with Epinion? Has there been progress so far? Are there any economic reasons that fueled the merge? These kind of questions need to be answered at the introduction or the executive summary. Let the reader know the reason why he or she should be interested in reading your paper. Though you have answered some of these questions in the other parts of the paper, I think that these are the basic things that would ensure that the reader is aware of the case study and the scenario of the paper.
You need more explanation and elaboration of why Heathrow Airport, one of the biggest and busiest airports in the world, picked Epinion over other companies.
Citations
Citations at the Interpretation part – The author should put the footnote outside the period and the quotation marks. For example, “Foothold can be defined as “a secure position, especially a firm’s basis for further progress or development.” The foot note should be always outside the period and the quotation marks.
Please correct all the citations because most of them are wrong. Also, footnote 8.9 and 10 look like they are randomly put. Also, check footnote no. 24 because it is supposed to be Ibid instead of Ibit. Ensure that you have cited all models that you may have lifted from somewhere else to avoid instances of plagiarism. Also, ensure that the font for both the paper and the bibliography are the same in that some bibliographic materials have been cited with a different font from the rest. The bibliography has to be arranged in a alphabetical order as part of having a good paper.
Body of the Paper
It is good that you have used both theories and models to support you ideas and some of the projects that you think Epinion should take while working with Heathrow Airport as their marketing analyst team. However, how can you elaborate or explain these theories in your own words.
Do these theories/models conflict or complement each other. Also, consider including limitation of the models/theories that you have used for the project.
I think that all the theories and models complement each other because they look at organizational structure, the economic aspect, competition in the market, and culture of the people as a way of improving the business operations of the Heathrow Airport. Here are some of the points I lifted from your paper:
- Mintzberg’s theory in organizational structures is assigned to analyze and understand different organizational structures, configuration mechanisms of various companies.
- Transactional cost is an economic exchange term between different business units, or between different organizations (firms). The main argument of the theory is that every firm is seeking to minimize the transaction costs.
- Porter’s Five Forces model is a model is used to identify and analyses five competitive forces that shape every industry.
- Hofstede’s model Culture is broadly influent on many dimensions of human behavior of different societies.
Limitations:
Mintzberg’s theory – Dismisses the hierarchy in a business operation which may be important to a business. In order for marketing strategy to be successful, managerial roles have to be assigned to different levels of sales and marketing.
Porter’s Five Forces – The model assumes a perfect market economy and is mainly used in simple market structures in the economy in that complex industries cannot use this industry because of multi-relations. Also, the dynamic market structure hinders this model to be significant.
Given that employees are the face of the company, your ideas of training them in order to adapt to the new innovation system is admirable. Employees should give good customer service that will benefit the greater society. Also, the paper noted that there is a high cost that would be involved in training the employees but for a good system to work, employees have to be able to operate the new innovation system. Also, I like the fact that you chose to acknowledge people with different cultures and beliefs in the line of work because it is significant for employees to feel appreciated and recognized.
Epinions is also a company that offers cash incentives to the customers in order they can take surveys. Thus, you can add this as one of the factors that Epinions use to attract more customers. Also, the member center is one of the programs that is used by Epinions to give advice and tips on how to shop or use Epinions. For example, epinions use sweepstakes to increase their online sales on different websites.
In addition, it is good that you update the reader of the current situation between Epinion and Heathrow Airport. Like you pointed out in your paper, I think it is important for the marketing innovation company to take questionnaires from the clients in order to improve their efficiency in their line of work.
Questions
Some of the questions that I would be interested to see as a reader is whether the marketing analyst group has ever implemented a program and failed or whether all employees trained are competent enough to manage a new system.
Have any contemporary issues affected the efficiency of the airport? Heathrow Airport may need Epinion based on the fact that the airport is competing with larger airports such as Amsterdam as a way of improving its operations.
You mentioned that the paper does not diagnose the cultural difference between the Britain and Denmark. Does this means that Hofstede‘s culture dimension is irrelevant?
Conclusion
Overall the paper is great and has a lot of information regarding your topic and the project. However, the minor things such as use of passive voice in various areas can be removed in order to make a pertinent statement. The conclusion is a little long thus; you should put a few paragraphs.
