Development of Multinational Marketing Project

                                                    Chapter One

Introduction

This section focuses on AMINA Plc being tasked as a team in scoping a multinational marketing project across only digital channel. Hence, using the online present to target the potential shareholders across the globe. More so, the assessment of Purpose of the Project, Project plan and the scope to understand what maybe in and out.

Project Purpose

The main purpose of AMINA Inc. project is to create awareness to its stakeholders such as shareholders, customers, government and supply chain partners of the company’s investment on new technologies. The benefit of writhing this marketing campaign project purpose is for the AMINA Inc. to select most cost-effective digital marketing channel and through successful communication, the company intends to increase its production, sales, hence meeting overall business needs of increased market shares and a competitive advantage (Nag and Pathak, 2009). A detailed description of the resources and time required to initiate, implement and terminate the project will be produced throughout the project using issue logs.

Project Plan

Apparently, a substantial project must have structured tasks that is planned from start to end, delivered within the expected performance targets for time, cost, quality, scope, benefits, risks and defined deliverables. In APM BoK, plan is an intended future course of action (Burke, 2014). A project plan gives an outline of activities planned despites all risks. In addition, it will aid AMINA Inc. marketing campaign technological capability to ensure that the choice and application is achievable substantially via the use of skills and tools where it is applicable. In this case, AMINA Inc. will commence its project on 13 February till 27 April 2017.

Application

The team organised a preliminary meeting to provide a foundation for the project and created a comprehensive simple set of guidelines as means of an initiation approach. AMINA Inc. marketing campaign is expected to last for three months and deliver its project within the expected budget and specifications. Therefore, weekly minute meetings will be held to have a work breakdown structure, scope and track progress set against each milestone. The project plan input will be dictated by its complexity. In addition, the balanced scorecard will be used as a strategic planning and measurement system. This has integrated with the AMINA Inc. technological capability campaign planning in seeing all of the aims and objectives of the business project and supporting it with the overall business strategy (Norton, 1996).

Benefits	Clear start and end time. An effective method of delivering a unique product or service Improved quality hence customer satisfactions
Limitations	Inflexible Time-consuming Disagreements among project members

Source: (Burke, 2014)

Project Scope

The main objective of this project is to inform the appropriate stakeholders about the company’s new capabilities with a view to increase sales through establishing new investment on technology that will enhance the productivity. For this purpose, the report presents a detailed outline of the main components and contents of the project. Furthermore, it will provide a detailed Work Breakdown Structure (WBS), a project charter and analysis of feasibility study.

Application of Project Scope to the marketing campaign to the AMINA Inc. Project

What is In	What is Out
To plan and make decisions To prepare feasibility report to the stakeholders To analyse the business environment such as PESTLE, Five Porters’ forces. Risk analysis Budgeting Marketing campaign/Promotion	Primary research Public relation

Benefit	It increases the project’s expected benefits within budget, on time and within scope The campaign project investment aligns with AMINA Inc. strategy The company will increase its ability to plan using future project deliverables
Limitation	The information gathered may be insufficient to provide the purpose of the task The task may be time-consuming, making it immoderate with a great idea of exertion Uncompromising stakeholders is burdensome to the project

Benchmark

British Petroleum (BP) has used this conceptual framework in monitoring future energy demand and thus, used its projects and operation (BP, 2016).

Project Chapter

 

 

 

Benchmark

Estimation of the schedule and cost benefit analysis should be done within the $170 billion budget. Within this benchmark, the company requires focus performance measures, quick fix of issues and consider using extra information if needed.

Conclusion

The project sponsor and manager should review the completed strategy, considering impacts from both internal and external sources that could influence the project. The methodologies and techniques used are in the interest of analysing the business environment, budgeting and the power field research for the project.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                            Section Two

Business environment analysis of AMINA Inc.

Introduction

Business environment is the performance of an organisation analysis is a strategic tool which is used to identify all the internal and external elements (Boddy, 2014) which could significantly affect an organisation’s performance. The analysis entails assessing the level of opportunities or threats the environments might present. AMINA Inc. will this the analytical tool critically examine its overall business environment.

Image: 1 Indicate the overall business environment

Source: www.josbd.com

Micro

Micro market environment comprises of a particular forces that are part of the organisation, however, they remain external to the business such as distribution channels, marketing intermediaries, suppliers, customers, competitors, employees and the company as well as the to the general public (Kotler & Armstrong, 2016). On this aspect, their might be barriers in AMINA Inc. from the above micro element of which stands as external forces to the organisation.

 

 

Macro

Macro marketing comprises or irrepressible external factors which influence the decision making of an organisation and thus affect it strategies and performances. For AMINA Inc. to be able to deliver it goods and services, there are factors that need to be considered such as economic, demographics, social condition, political, technological, and legal and natural forces (Kotler & Armstrong, 2016)

Benefits	The awareness of overall business environment aids in gaining strategic advantages over competitors. AMINA Inc. will be able to develop board policies and long term strategies. The firm will be dynamic and innovative. For example, Norwegian Statoil is one of the leading innovative oil and gas company (Marketline-Norway, 2016).
Limitations	The data used might sometimes be insufficient or inadequate to make significant decisions (e.g. targeted market). External factors are susceptible to rapid changes hence challenges to getting the precise knowledge. It takes a lot of time, can be costly with a lot of effort gain access to quality data.

 

Applications

The technological campaign team will use PESTLE analysis to address factors that drives these objectives, however, with AMINA Inc. Project, the most applicable tools in business environment will be used respectively. On this aspect, SIC/G Plc. has used this influence the activities within an organisation (Palmer and Hartley, 2009).

• Porter’s five forces
• PESTLE analysis

Porter’s Five Force Analysis of AMINA Inc.

Analysis of potential threats to the new entrants which is, the new entrants have more ability and desire to capture the share of the market , which in turn can increase the value and the cost of the products as well as on the rate of investment required in order for the company to achieve their competitive advantage. For example, AMINA Inc. might b effacing threat from giant providers globally such as Australia, Russia’s Gazprom and Qatar (Richard, 2014). In this case different strategy might be implemented by AMINA Inc. for customer in order to gain their loyalty and value proposition.

Image: 2 illustrate the diagram of Porter’s five forces.

Source: www.mindtools.com

Threats of substitutes

Porter indicates that a substitute’s threat is high when it offers an attractive trade price. For instance, within India, the company will encounter threats of substitutes from renewables such as biomass and solar, as government looks to venture with foreign companies such Trans Alta Corporation from Canada and NRG Energy Inc. from United States.

Power of supplies

In business processes additional costs may be sustain for switching or for additional suppliers. In this case, AMINA Inc. achievement of smaller gas firm might come with prime price due to the importance of the industry supplier’s revenue.

Power of buyers

A major number of buyers has the potential power to influence the price and demand for more product or services (Kotler, 2014), as well as to substitute available product price in the industry. AMINA Inc. can offer lower price and thus have cost leadership as they will have larger buyers and have less power to negotiate because of few close alternative. Oil and gas organisations try to acquire rights to put resources into investigation and global ranges. These rights are procured through purchasing a rate and privilege of other organisation or partaking in permitting rounds. In this, profoundly aggressive environment, oil and gas organisation join and structure a co-operative venture.

Rivalry amongst competitors

High rivalry amongst the industry competitors has the prospective ability to limit the business profitability based on the moderation amount of the market competition. For example, most project establishers and global gas suppliers  are ready to seek new contracts and market during the Energy community meeting which as bound to take place in Japan from the 4^th – 7^th April 2017 (BMIReasearch-Japan, 2016). In addition, the competitiveness in Oil and Gas Company particularly in the upstream sector is significantly intensive (Pitatzis, 2016). Giving into account these potential IOCs, with their huge revenues, (see figure 2), AMINA Inc. will be faced with competitiveness. However, it will be imperative for AMINA Inc. to adopt Porters generic strategy framework such as cost leadership to gain competitive edge.

Figure 1 indicates the International Oil Companies coupled with their revenues.

Source: (Energy Routes, 2016)

PESTLE Analysis

Pestle is an analytical tool that is used to identify factors that can affect organisation economically, politically, legally, socially and technologically. Nevertheless, for the purpose of the project, the applicable factors to AMINA Inc. are legal, political and technological. In respect to this project these are the factors that will be address.

Image 2 indicate PESTLE

Source: www.fppt.com

 

Political Factors

The project will be politically stable, as most targeted markets are in place. There are political factors that might affect AMINA Inc. marketing campaign Project and these includes payment of taxes, compliance with government policies and environmental regulations associated with oil and gas industry. Furthermore, the new project will incorporate labour laws and taxation policy considering the staffs. For instance, ongoing agreement for Japan to carry out 19 PROJECT ELEMENT largescale free trade with countries such as Australia, Mexico and New Zealand (Market line-Japan 2015a)

Economic Factors

The technical ability campaign of AMINA Inc. and it foreign expansion might be influenced by different regional economy policies and structures such as, exchange rate, local economy and interest rate, taxation and international trade. Nevertheless, high income increase might in turn boost up the demand for gas products. The economic factors affect the demand and supply of oil and gas prices, exchange rate of America dollar and supplementary and substitute resources. For instance, the China government is taking measures to rebalance its economy by increasing domestic consumption (Market line-China, 2015b)

Technological Factors

The trend of innovations, incentives, barriers can be seen as a technological factor that will significantly influence AMINA Inc. technological campaign to the stakeholders. Hence, it will be imperative for the firm to utilise information and communications for this project to enrich its online platform media. In an example, Japan appears to be one of the leading technological countries with firms that are innovation driven and exceedingly distinguished in the international market for high-tech technology product (Marketing-Japan, 2015). On the other hand, China and India are renowned in developing in Research and Development. Thus, AMINA Inc. will see this as opportunity to achieve its aspiration of becoming the best innovation as the firm continues to invest in technology in order to enhance its oil and gas production efficiently and reliably.

Benchmark

YJ Oil and Gas has seen optimised Research and Development to gain competitive edge over its rival in oil and gas industry as it sees technologies as a key to continue efficiencies and maximising outputs such as fracking (Best, 2010).

Needs for information and research

The project needs robust information research because according to the survey, the innovation of technology in oil and gas exploration and production is a key to continue efficiency and maximizing output in every country (Best, 2010). In addition, it can be said that no business has same level of market integration though operate in same industry. There is additional research that will be needed for this project such as primary and secondary data, however, for the purpose of this marketing campaign, it is imperative to consider the secondary data as it is most applicable to this project.

Secondary Data

This is an analysis of information that has been previously collected by primary research of which can be either internal within firms or external from outside agencies (Grant, 2016). It is also known as desk research will enables AMINA Inc. to build on data of its existing customers.

Stakeholders Analysis

Stakeholder in project management can be seen as a process of identifying a group or the individuals that are likely to affect or be affected by a proposed action and getting them sorted according to their impact on the action and the significant impact of the action on them (Tarhini et al. 2015). As studies provides recognition that stakeholders are powerful enough to influence any project (Clarkson, 1991; Carol and Nazi 1997). Hence, AMINA Inc. has acknowledged the importance of stakeholders’ management. As a result, the firm has identified the stakeholders that can either enhance or slow down the project or totally obstruct the project (see figure 2).

Figure: 2 Indicates the application of AMINA Inc. recognising and raking its stakeholders

Stakeholders	Ability to help	Power to hurt	Likelihood of acting %	Overall priority
Industry competitors	1	4	0.7	3.5
Government and Regulators	2	3	0.4	2.0
Project Sponsors	5	1	0.8	4.8
Supply Chain Partners	5	1	0.7	4.2
General public	3	3	0.5	0.3
Employees Trade & Union	4	3	0.8	5.6
Customers and Clients	4	1	0.7	3.5

Source: by the Author

The stakeholders’ analyses of AMINA Inc. below specify expectation and the importance expectation relevant to the organisational management strategy.

Benchmark

Shell has used these tools to identify stakeholders that may be interested in or affected by the project, hence, it engages stakeholders such as communities, NGOs and host government and thereby feed response into its risk analysis and decision making progress (Shell, 2015).

Medlow’s Stakeholders

 

High

Power

Low

Interest                                                                 High

Constrain Analysis

The constraint analysis indicates the element or the factors that are the essence of organisational management (Bryman, 2015). Typically, every projected is characterised by the type, duration and complexity. That is, large project in an example may be constrained by external and internal factors. Thereby in this project, AMINA Inc. will be considering the two distinct heads such as external and internal factors.

 

 

 

Internal Analysis

When executing a project, it can be said that there is direct correlation between internal constraint and the scope of the project by asking basic questions such as the building method and the feasibility of executing the project. Similarly, the question could be asked is, if the organisation is capable of completing the project successfully. Conversely, due to the fact that the organisation is characterised by the reliable project sponsor, the right skills, knowledge within the management sector, experience and technical understanding to execute the project to the successful handover, it can therefore be said that the team capability in completing the project.

Apparently, it appears that various contribution and domain may shape the success of the marketing campaign. However, it can be questioned that if the organisation has the sufficient technical equipment for the project. In this case, giving into account the lump sum of the investment on technologies to enhance the oil and gas production, it can be said that AMINA Inc. has the technical know-how team who are in control for the various project verifications and of its project team that are responsible for the design specification and skilled contractor in charge of developing the expertise of the sub-contractors that will be responsible in development of the tools and systems to be used.

In addition, internal constraint of a project which involves significant high risk of a failure regarding overrun budget as a result of inability from project managers to maintain projected schedule. It can be said that successful project is required to have a broad teamwork amongst considerable stakeholders as well as an effective communication. As such, AMINA Inc. the internal constraint analysis entails people, policy and issue that can actively minimise the risk factors.

External Analysis

External constraints of the project involves global factors of which is beyond the project’s control that considered non-negotiable. In this project, AMINA Inc. may be constrained by availability of foreign currencies and fluctuations, political stability, supply and demand of the oil and gas product, resources preservation and its application whilst focus on minimising of adverse impact on the environment. As a result, AMINA Inc. is steadily taking into account these factors beforehand.

Application

The external analysis of AMINA Inc. may be inclusive of the scarcity of resources and contracts for both employees and suppliers of which are common in the oil and gas firm. Consequently, the resources scarcity may result in shortages of product in demand and supply within the sector. Hence, it is imperative for AMINA Inc. in maintaining and manipulating the resource scarcity through both employees and suppliers of the project management.

 

 

Benefits

This milestone benefits the AMINA Inc. as it enables the firm to easily detect the competitive rivalry, stakeholders’ analysis, and measurement of barging power of buyers and sellers.

Limitations

• Technology changes need to be made
• The complexity increases

Conclusion

The section has analysed detailed business environment respectively using appropriate model to inform on possible challenges and solutions. It examined the both research methodology in which considered secondary research methodology as it applicable to this project as it aid in building on existing data by the previous researchers  while indicated the primary research was not applicable. In considering the applicable stakeholders to AMINA Inc. marketing campaign project, it can be said that the firm clearly acknowledges and rank the stakeholders according to their power and importance while constraint analysis aid in identifying the both external and internal challenges for the project. Wherefore, this project has estimated and demonstrated that a business with robust strategic planning will survive the overall business environment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                  Chapter three

Risk Management

Every project is associated with at least one risk, apart from financial, time and team management, risk management is a compulsory component for a successful project. (Cosmina-Simona, et al 2016). A project cannot be started without proper consideration to its risks, since at any stage of the project risks can occur and thus have a higher or lower control on the project, which can be monitored through risk management (Newton, 2015).  Risk management in oil and gas is not an easy progression, due to both project’s multiplicity and complexity.

Uniqueness of the project coupled with high level of uncertainty, using a general success formula will not be possible due to different nature of the project. Majority of current projects pose a great challenge to manage in certain environments such as financial, human resources, equipment (Kendrick, 2015).  Current project setting evolves at a fast pace leading to constant increase in the customer experience and the severity of risks such as content and data which can lead to a higher level of project failure. To avoid failure of a project, reasonable use of the best practise should be the norm, through these best practises can only be obtained through experience and investment in analytics, to get this done a strong foundation of data is needed (John, T. 2017). “Success is where preparation and opportunity meet” (Bobby Unser – US motor racing champion).

 

Risk Analysis

Performing a force field analysis, Amina Inc can successfully identify and analyse the positive facts that influence (‘driving forces’) and negative factors that hinder (‘restraining forces’) the organisation attaining its objectives. Force field analysis as a result is considered as a useful decision-making tool. In the present scenario, driving forces (positive) and restraining forces (negative) have been identified using FFA below;
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Positive Driving Forces               Change Objective              Negative [Restraining Forces]

• Powerful Animation
  • Quick change to outline trends
  • Not all potentials can be reached outline
  • Service for customer gets impersonal
  • Data and security risk
  • Monitoring and control
  • Regulations and cost

(Gives customers a

Deeper understanding

Of their work)

• Useful apps and

Videos (help increase

Productivity and avoid

Work duplication)

• Well and well portfolio

Optimization

• specific target groups

Selection

• Monitoring and measuring
• Reduced cost and more

Efficiency

• Market demand
• Local and global customer

experience

Risk Control/Response/Management Program for Amina Inc

Risk management should be full responsibility of the whole firm, however, there should be a staff whose sole responsibility is leading the initiative and effective monitoring, and that person in this case should be the project manager. The project manager in the staff that sits on the project as the CEO, part o the responsibility is to forewarn the team of any humps or detours along the way and signifying counter measures to overcome any problem. The benefit of such role is that the team becomes pro-active and wholly prepared rather than panicking and get issue sorted, observe related approaches in risk management which is applicable to digital marketing.  Risk management in digital marketing gets more complex as it is a combination of project management, information technology and marketing. This field inherits all the concerned risks regarding the subject. Therefore, it is important to put in place risk management approach that is deduced from NIST, ISO and IEC, as these bodies do have concurrence on the subject.

 

 

 

 

 

Risk Evaluation

(Risk = Probability x Impact x Vulnerability x Actor x Motivation).                                                                           Understanding of impact and probability of any incidents on business is very important because it helps in evaluating risk significance. The weakness is the vulnerability which can be exploited by the actor to gain motivational (financial) objectives.

 

Risk Response

Strategy use in risk management is risk response in tackling potential risks in a prioritized manner (Kendrick, 2015). However, prioritizing risks needs to be classified into individual categorised. The major risk to AMINA Inc’s digital marketing is the “Auto Spamming Agents” – spam is security threat which leads to inconvenience as sifting of the data is concerned. To counter these challenges captecha has been in used many years which means “avoid” strategy. However, care should be taken, this countermeasure. Can be overruled by humans that would be a different risk with different actor and impact, to avoid this, all high risk should be further evaluated and quantified and assigned monetary values in other to develop contingencies. Risk monitoring and control is another aspect of risk management, usually in this phase, procedures is developed and implemented.

 

Risk Category and Type

Since the risk managements aspect has been covered, there is need to investigate different types of risks which have different impacts that need to be treated differently. It should be noted that risks are not only applicable to the project; it also impacts the business, the team on the project, the suppliers, the system as well as the people that have to use and support the project.

There are lots of risks to acknowledge but the most considerable ones are below:

• Project risk
• System risk
• Business risk
• Benefit recognition risk
• Personal risk

Project risk: these are elements that could disrupt the entire project. These factors are the most important of the risk types and can be subdivided for consideration.

• Product or system complexity– regarding the size of the project; the amount of features, expected traffic volume, number of users, content volume, and the level of authorisation required.

Any of these aspects can affect the entire project and the kinds of risks they are exposed to.

• Target environment– about the end solution usage and the disposition of users, e.g. intervene access level, users’ level of knowledge/ capacity, required level of interaction with the system, the effect of the result on the users and internal or public system.

Now that the internet is being frequently used both internally and externally, any failure will adversely impact the business.

• Team environment– this could be classified as one of if not the most important type of risk. The team is crucial to the success of the project; having a well experienced, functioning team is a huge advantage. This kind of risk needs careful consideration as it can make or break the project. The main considerations are the consistent stay of the team throughout the project; how positive the work environment is; the availability of needed resources on time and a fixed timeline.

 

Business risk

After scrutinising the kinds of risks that can hinder the success of a project, there should be second thought. Should the project fail, what will happen to the business as a whole, e.g. rebuilding an intranet; the effect will not be significant if the old system can still cope or act as a backup. Care must be taken to minimise this risk, money can be lost if the product doesn’t deliver value.

System risk

Lack of consideration for the ongoing cost of the solution. An example is the challenge faced by not upgrading to the latest version of an application once the variant currently in use is no longer backed. Like any other hardware product, regular tuning and servicing will do any web application well.

Consideration should be given to:

• Support and maintenance provision
• Production support team members’ experience.

 

Benefits recognition risk

There is always a reason behind any project in the first instance. The reason for AMINA Inc is to communicate its capabilities to relevant stakeholders, solidifying this leader position and most importantly increase operational efficiencies and competitive advantages.

Consideration would be how realistic it is that the benefits would be realised by the business what to look into includes:

• The amount of clients, stakeholders and external partners concerned
• Benefit awareness time limit
• The need for changes of culture, training and acceptance of new solution

Personal risk

This also an important risk that needs to be looked into but is often neglected, particularly by the management. What would be the effect or impact on the individuals on the project if the project fails? Apart from emotional setback, it could cause a financial disaster should the project failure lead to job loss as well as physical and mental crisis due to too much pressure caused by the time frame. The pressure is not only on the manager but the manager is the most likely stress target, nevertheless, everyone on the project can be affected.

What the project manager needs to consider should the project fail are:

• Professional life effect
• The effect on his/her personal life
• Emotional and physical effect

 

Assessment/ Impact of Risk on the Company

Evaluation of probability:

Qualitative Risk Analysis Technique is used to evaluate the probability of each identified risk. For this reason, the Risk Probability Impact Assessment Matrix is examined for prioritising the risks. Probability of occurrence for each identified risk is given below:

Probability	Explanation
High	Certain to occur/ extremely sure to occur/ almost sure/ very likely to occur
Medium	Somewhat good chance to occur
Low	Not very likely to occur

Risk Response strategy

The strategies are means or methods that can be applied to the identified and quantified risks. Regarding the risk’s priority or ranking [calculated using the probability impact matrix], the available options based on tolerance are:

Acceptance Accepting the risk indicates that the severity of the risk is low enough needs be   done.

Mitigation strategy Probability and impact of a particular risk can be reduced using such as using money from the contingency budget.

Cause the risks voidance This is the strategy of removing the specific activity or task that could be the easiest way to avoid such risk is through elimination from project deliverables.

Transfer The strategy is to transfer such risk to a third party ‘using establishing a partnership to minimize the impacts’

(Aven, 2015).

 

Contingency Planning

AMINA Inc’s contingency plan involves proper planning for system back up, latest version software application, in case of data loss or breach how this would be quickly communicated to the management, and also loss of key team member (Norman, 2016).

 

Access Resources

The required resources for the project could be assessed on their individual capacity, capability and necessity. Reviewing the resources the 5 M’s of management are utilized;

Men – Key staff for this project were selected based on their experience, qualification, skill and Integrity.

Minutes – Effective time management strategy to enhance ‘fast and high quality and timely Delivery’ (Haines, 2015)

Money – Strict budget management is considered for effective planning the financial aspect of the Project, which includes the cost-benefit analysis.

Machinery – Hardware selection resources such as, technology application, process designs, equipment installation etc.

 

 

RACI Matrix

Task/ role	Project manager	Team leader	Client	Business owner	Risk manager
Plan project	R	A	I	C,I	I
Identify risk	C	A	I	C	R,A
Analyse requirement	C	R	I	C	I
Plan requirement	R	A	I	–	C
Maintenance planning	A	A	I	C	C

 

R= Responsible; A= Accountable; C= Consulted; I= Informed

Benefits

• Strategies of risk management enhances ‘early detection of risky events, mitigating, and minimizing the seriousness of impacts’ (Haines, 2015)
• It allows for system identification because sound risk management program is the AMINA Inc.’s first line of defence in establishing a weakness or potential system failure before it happens.
• It allows for data gathering that can be used for future improvement.

Limitations

It is very important for AMINA Ins to establish the limitations of committing the project. In this situation the risks serves as the project limitation and needs to be adequately taken care of using necessary strategies.

Benchmark

Shell Plc is used as benchmark reason been, Shell Plc’s position as no.1 in UK’s most digitally connected corporate brands in FTSE 100. Other well digitally connected brands include, Kingfisher, SAB Miller, and Aviva using different channels for their digital marketing. “Shell proves to be the most digitally connected when it comes to marketing its brand to customers” (Radley Yeldar, 2017). Due to its fully optimised mobile site as well as its immersive and intuitive YouTube channel.

Chapter Four

Robust Cost Benefit Analysis of ‘Digital Channel’ Project.

 

4.1 Introduction

From this section, the project will be addressed in correspondence with the related costs and benefits analysis. For this purpose, cost management techniques such as break-even analysis, payback period, and return on investment estimation have been employed.

4.2 SMART Objective

Incorporating and utilising Smart objective lends itself to facilitating the accomplishment of organizational goals especially with respect to financial, production, marketing, and sales objectives. As such, many organizations employ these SMART objectives to afford themselves better vantage in terms of strategic view and business requirements. Successful businesses which internally employ SMART objectives do, however appreciate that SMART objectives are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timed (Hornyak, 2012).

   

Source:

Application to the Project

Within the ambit of this project, smart objectives can be gleaned through digital channels by looking at multi-national marketing campaigns. Here, the focus will be aimed at using contemporary technology to address the issues surrounding the exploration and production of AMINA Inc. over a three-month period. Subsequently, the application of technology will seek to reinforce the enterprise’s leadership position while setting the scene for it to showcase its capabilities. With such competitive advantages the enterprise can anticipate short term rewards such as increased shareholder value, as well as the long term benefit of sustained stability. The project is pencilled in for completion on the 27^th May 2017.

 

Nnemonic	Description	Smart Objectives
S – Specific	Which, who, what, where, why, when	To communicate the potential technology in addressing the exploration and production of AMINA Inc. thereby increasing the sales operational efficiency and leading to cost saving. To gain competitive advantage leading to increase market share. A near term reward of increase shareholder’s value of AMINA Inc. whilst maintain long term stability.
M – Measurable	How many or how much	To achieve certain amount of Return on Investment (ROI). To identify the payback period to sustain in this business.
A – Achievable	Describe a result	To hire key personnel in operating and maintaining certain aspects. To achieve the business goals along with existing and new initiatives.
R – Relevant	Relevant to the business	To improve production efficiency and cost saving. To gain competitive advantage hence increase market share. To gain shareholders confidence.
T – Time-bound	By when	To identify payback period To specify the required time needed to implement the project.

(Source: Created by author)

4.2.1 Benefits of Smart Objectives

Smart objectives mainly allow organisations to be specific about their goals and objectives, (Maylor, 2001).

4.2.2 Limitations of Smart Objectives

 With regards to Smart Objectives, deadlines could be possibly put lots of tensions on employees and consequently keep their mind completely focus on that deadline at the same time as ignoring other useful activities, therefore tendency to lower the actual goal of the project,(Pinto, 2016).

4.3 Cost Benefit Analysis

Cost benefit Analysis denotes an estimation of the total monetary equivalent of the benefits as well as the collective costs accrued in undertaking all pertinent projects. This is carried out to ascertain the economic viability of such projects (Robinson, 2016) and (Smith, 2006). It helps to determine whether the investment worth embarking on.

4.3.1Application to the Project

When performing the Cost Benefit Analysis, this project (AMINA Inc.) considered the factors of Budgeting, Return on Investments, and Payback period.

4.3.2Benefits

These methods are simple to calculate and analyse, this enable managements to make prompt investment decisions, (Burke, 2014).

4.3.3 Limitations

Though, the cost benefits are easily calculated and analysed, human errors could lead to misinterpretation and wrong decision be made.

4.3.4 Benchmark

 

4.4 Budgeting/Type of Budget

“This is agreed cost of project”. APM BoK (Burke. R, 2014). It refers to the methodology the team has employed in controlling the revenue and expenses entailed in the project. Thus, the budget of choice considers the Return on Investment, and payback period for planning and controlling the project. Depicted below are the calculations of the expenses/forecast. A budget is an estimated expenditure being equated to income, (Palmer & Hartley, 2009).

4.4.1 Benefits

It allows the organisation to earmarks funds accordingly and save cost, (Collier, et al. 2007).

 

4.4.2 Limitations                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

Budget could sometimes be underestimated or overstated and this may create problems for people involved, (Hughes & Cotterell).

 

The Budget                        Qty                        Price                             Total

1 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4	Research Research  firm fee Web research Independence      research  Other research Sub Total	2 1 3 2	$ 5, 300.00 4, 500.00 2, 750.00 3, 325.00	10, 600.00 4,500.00 8,250.00 6,650.00 30, 000.00
2 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5	Communications E-mail marketing Social media Mobile marketing  You Tube  Blogging                             Sub Total	Various	15, 000.00 25,000.00 200, 000.00 15,000.00 5,000.00	15, 000.00 25,000.00 200, 000.00 15,000.00     5,000.00 260, 000.00
3 3.1 3.2	Logistics Transportation Hospitality Sub Total	Various Various	65, 000.00 35, 000.00	65,000.00 35,000.00 100, 000.00
4	Consultancy fee			20, 000.00
5	Contingency	10%		40, 000.00
	GRAND TOTAL			450, 000.00

(Source: Created by author)

The overall investment for this project is $3.2bn but only $450,000.00 will be needed for .the digital marketing campaign based on our benchmark.

 Benchmark

This budget estimate had been benchmarked against Shell digital marketing strategy/funds allocation, although, Shell estimate does not include research fee and logistics.

4.4.3 Return on Investment (ROI) Introduction 

As a cost management technique, Return on Investment (ROI) is utilised in assessing the associated cost and benefits of this project. Hence, ROI is the focus of this subsection.

Definition

ROI refers to the average profit that is accrued annually, after the expenditures incurred in undertaking the project as deducted from total gain. This sum is subsequently decided by the total number of years in which investment is on-going (Berger, 2012) and (Burke R, 2013).

Below is the formula;

ROI = Average Annual Profit x100

Total Investment

For this project, the company investment is $3.2bn while the 2016-17 financial year is $170bn but the total expenditure for the marketing campaign is $450,000.00. A projection of 2% of its profit is being proposed from the marketing campaign i.e. $170bn x 2% =$3.4bn/yr. In a quarter will be $850m

Application of ROI to the Project.

Profit = $3,400,000,000 – $450,000 = $3,399,550,000

ROI =                3,399,550,000 X 100

450000

= 755,556%

For each $1 that is spent, there will be $755,556 is made in profit.

 

Benchmark

Cadbury’s ‘’Chocolate Chamer’’ brand ran an online ads and Tube promoted videos, investing 7% of its budget and generated 20%of sales revenue.

 

Benefits

	ROI concept is widely utilised in assessing the business’ financial performance.
	When measuring and comparing the performance between division and company of different sizes, ROI is widely used.
	It is used in analysing the asset turnover and profit margin of an organisation (Berger, 2012) and (Kaplan, 2012).

 

Limitation

	There is possibility of figures to be manipulated, for instance if figures for capital employed to advance results for the purpose of getting a bonus payment.
	Due to the use of different accounting policies, it can be confusing (Botchkarev, 2011) and (Kaplan, 2012).

4.4.4 Payback Period 

Payback period refers to the period over which the outflow of cash, divulged as an investment, is expected to be recovered in the form of cash inflow generated by the initial investment (Irfanullah, 2013).

 

 

 

Benefits

 

	As a result of its simplicity, the calculation appears easy
	It is used in measuring the risk factor in a project as the decision on payback period is guided on how soon the initial investments are recovered.
	It makes provision for a crude measure of liquidity (Miklovičová et. al, 2013).

Limitation

	It does not take into consideration any cash flow beyond the payback period
	This is another concept that does not take into account the time value for value (Irfanullah, 2013).

Below are the calculations;

Qtr                                                                                 Cash flow

0                                                                                       – $450000

1                                                                                       $850,000, 000

2                                                                                       $850,000, 000

3                                                                                       $850,000, 000

4                                                                                       $850,000, 000

Total Profit                                                                       $3,399,550,000

Marketing Company    qtr0                            qtr1                qtr2                  qtr3                qtr 4

Quarter	($450,000)	$850,000,000	$850,000,000	$850,000,000	$850,000,000
Cumulative Total		$849,550,000

(Pinto, 2013)

Therefore, Quarter 1= Revenue –Investment = $850,000,000 – $450,000 = $849,550,000. Arriving at this figure from the calculation above, the project will payback its investment before the end of the first operational quarter. After which the company will accrue $850,000,000 in the subsequent quarters.

.

Benchmark

This is against Salesforce.com that embarked on CRM project which cost $619,262 and generated annual revenue of $4,438,658 and pay back within 2months (Campbell, 2013)

 

 

4.5 Breakeven Analysis

Breakeven analysis is a financial appraisal tools to indicate the point at which the business cost and revenue equals to zero, no loss nor gain.

4.6 Non-Financial Benefits

•              A business is based on a number of benefits utilized for applying the project. For example, decreased environmental impact caused from oil production.
•              Taking appropriate safety measures that will ensure fewer accidents and hazards in the environment.
•              Increase in knowledge within the community (Robinson, 2016).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                              Chapter five

 

 

Scheduling of ‘Digital Marketing Channels’

 

5.1 Introduction

Milestone 5 will address the scheduling of identified activities pertinent to the ‘Digital Marketing’ project. Milestones are achieved according to the implementation of the project, while the scheduled plan serves as a communicative reference, from which internal and external shareholders gain a better understanding of the outline of the project (Mubarak, 2015). Throughout, the WBS, Gantt chart, critical path identification, and project control are reflected.

5.2 Work Breakdown Structure

 

Figure 5.2.1: Work Breakdown Structure

 

 

(Source: Created by author)

 

Table 5.2.2: Activity Layout

Task Indicator Serial Numbers	Task and Milestones for Proper Scheduling
1	Project plan for Oil and Gas Company – AMINA Inc.
2	Start the project plan
2.1	High level analysis of internal and external factors
2.2	Stakeholder Analysis
2.3	Gathering of the information
2.4	Completion of the plan
3	Risk Analysis
3.1	Identify the risks
3.2	Risk control
3.3	Evaluate the risk
3.4	Mitigate the risk
4	Cost benefit analysis
4.1	Estimate the budget
4.2	Financial benefits
4.2.1	Estimate forecast
4.2.2	ROI
4.2.3	Payback
4.2.4	Breakeven
5	Final Evaluation
5.1	Termination and handover plan
5.2	Post implementation review
6	Completion of the overall plan

(Source: Created by author)

 

 

Key word

1. Forming of the group project plan and scope
2. Assessment of Business environment, Research and Constraints Analysis
3.  Risk Assessment, Resources Review and RACI.

4. Activity/Issue Log
5. Cost Benefit Analysis/SMART Objective and Budgeting
6. Activity/ Log to Project Sponsor
7. Scheduling/ WBS/Gant Chart/ Critical Path/Project Control/ Methodology/ CP
8.  Activity/ Issue Log to Project Sponsor
9.   Termination/ Evaluation/ Post Implementation Review/ Conclusion.

Task              Description               Duration              Predecessor            Budget

A	Forming of the group project plan and scope	7 days	–
B	Assessment of Business environment, Research and Constraints Analysis	8 days	A
C	Risk Assessment, Resources Review and RACI.	8 days	B
D	Activity/Issue Log	4 days	A, B, C,
E	Cost Benefit Analysis/SMART Objective and Budgeting	10 days	D
F	Activity/ Log to Project Sponsor	6 days	B, C, E
G	Scheduling/ WBS/G Chart/	10 days	F
	Critical Path/Project Control/ Methodology/ CP
H	Activity/ Issue Log to Project Sponsor.	4 days	C, E, G
I	Termination/ Evaluation/ Post Implementation Review/ Conclusion	6 days	H

 

Network Diagram

 

 Figure 5.4: Critical Path

(Source: Created by author)

The critical path is the longest path which is;

A+B+C+D+E+F+G+H+I

Therefore, duration is 63 days i.e. 7+8+8+4+10+6+10+4+6 =63days

Project start date 14 February 2017 Project end date 27 April 2017 +Duration days is 63 days.

GANTT CHAT

Figure5.5: GanttChat

(Source: Created by author)

 

5.5 Project Control

 

• Following listed controls are identified as primary in the Digital Marketing plan such as:
• Scheduling includes development, updates with maintenance of the project activities
• Risk management to mitigate unwanted risks and potential issues
• Saving important documents as credentials till the project is delivered
• Assessment of the financial feasibility and economic value of the project

5.6 Project Methodology

The project commences with a top-down technique seeking to drive the project plan as a means to arrive at some measurable outcomes of the venture (Burke, 2013). Furthermore, deliverable are divided into sub-deliverables by constructing a work-breakdown structure. Thereafter, the Gantt chart is employed in prioritising activities to reflect the correct sequence based on timely completion (Kerzner, 2013). The project management plan also considers agile methodology given that it is used in dividing responsibilities into certain agile components such as those that facilitate achievement of project goals. Moreover, ‘ScrumMaster’ is also used to allocate tasks as well as the personnel tasked with addressing the daily detail management and reporting.

 

5.7 Communication Plan

Communication Type	Purpose	Medium	Frequency	Listeners	Project Owner	Deliverable
Kick off the meeting	Review of the objectives and introduction of stakeholders	Face to face	One time	Project Sponsor and other Stakeholders	Project Manager	Main activities of the stakeholders
Team gathering	Review the plan’s status with team members	Conference call	As required	Team members	Project Manager	Meeting Minutes
Meetings for Monthly status	Review the plan’s status with management	Presentation	Monthly	Management team	Project Manager	Agenda
Status report	Report  on plan activities, progress, costs  and issues	Face  to face presentation and email	Weekly	Customers, Sponsor and Project Team	Project Manager	Project Status Report

Table 5.7: Communication Plan

(Source: Created by author)

5.8 Benefits

Among the benefits of elucidating a scheduled plan is that it augments clarity and communication between stakeholders since it affords them the opportunity to track the attainment of objectives detailed within the plan. It also facilitates focus and channelling of in-house resources towards prioritised goals.

 

 

5.9 Limitations 

On the other hand, a limitation of scheduling is that it is a complex process. It typically involves a project manager keeping abreast of several activities while ensuring they are processed within a given time. This is particularly arduous given the nature of operations within the oil and gas industry where there are rapid changes in business operations which also filters into the schedule; effecting several changes. This limitation is exacerbated when weekly or monthly meetings are not conducted in a timely manner.

 

 

5.10 Benchmark 

Benchmark processes are put in place to assuage the scheduling limitations. It achieves this by encouraging the project manager to ascertain a suitable start and finish date for the planning initiatives prior to commencement (Schwalbe, 2015). In the event of a delay in the plan due to lack of resources, then outsourcing of the plan is benchmarked while the Gantt chart can be employed in readjusting estimation such that the time in between the project activities are reduced. Also Communication issues can be benchmarked through face-to-face interactions with the senior management.

 

 

5.11 Conclusion 

From the above, it is evident that in the construction of a project plan, the scheduling of plans is accompanied by both benefits and limitations. The latter can be addressed through benchmarking. When aptly applied scheduling and communication plans are beneficial such that they augment the strategic framework of an oil and gas enterprise.