Consumer Behavior

1. AIMS OF ASSIGNMENT

This final case study assignment aims to evaluate students’ abilities to:
• identify marketing problems, issues or opportunities in a given business situation/environment.
• critically analyze these problems, issues or opportunities from a consumer behavior perspective.
• provide solid managerial recommendations backed by an appropriate application of consumer behavior theories.

2. ASSIGNMENT CASE STUDY:
   The Sharing Economy: A Consumer Behaviour Perspective

You are invited to the London Sharing Economy Conference 2023. At this conference local start-ups convene to learn, network and share information about how to grow and stay competitive in the sharing economy. The organizers of the conference invited experts of various fields including e-commerce, software development, economics and logistics to give inspiring, informative and critical talks about how to succeed in the increasingly competitive sharing economy. You are the consumer behavior expert!

Prepare a 10 page power point slide deck with presenter notes (see more details about the format below), in which you cover the following:

1. Discuss the rise of the sharing economy.

• Define what the sharing economy is, and outline how/why it has developed.
• Contextualize the sharing economy in current times of increasingly liquid consumer lifestyles.
• Identify its merits and critiques.

1. Discuss the role of consumer behaviour in the sharing economy.

• Outline latest consumer research on how consumers consume in the sharing economy, and what they (not) value.
• What are key marketing issues (challenges/opportunities) in the sharing economy?
• Integrate concepts and frameworks that we discussed in class into this part of the analysis. What is the role of consumers’ attitudes, identity/self, reference groups, brand communities etc. in consumer behaviour in the sharing economy?

1. Based on this consumer behavioral analysis, provide three crisp managerial recommendations that will help your start up audience to develop competitive marketing strategies in the sharing economy. For each recommendation provide best practice examples of sharing economy companies who managed to get it right.

All claims must be underpinned by secondary sources including academic articles, industry reports, press articles, company website etc. and referenced accordingly. Start your academic literature search with those three articles and continue from there:

Bardhi, F. and Eckhardt, G.M., 2012. Access-based consumption: The case of car sharing. Journal of consumer research, 39(4), pp.881-898.
Bardhi, F. and Eckhardt, G.M., 2017. Liquid consumption. Journal of Consumer Research, 44(3), pp.582-597.
Eckhardt, G.M., Houston, M.B., Jiang, B., Lamberton, C., Rindfleisch, A. and Zervas, G., 2019. Marketing in the sharing economy. Journal of Marketing, 83(5), pp.5-27.

3. INDICATIVE STRUCTURE AND SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS

Your presentation must include the following components:

Component Description Slide No.*
Cover Slide Includes the title of your presentation, your name and student number These 3 slides are not included in the 10 slides max and 1500 words word count.
Executive
Summary
This section introduces the purpose of the presentation, outlines the conclusions from your analysis, and details the main recommendations.
Table of content
List all the main sections of your presentation
Section 1
The Rise of The Sharing Economy in Context. – Define what the sharing economy is, and outline how/why it developed.

• Contextualize the sharing economy in current times of increasingly liquid consumer lifestyles.
• Identify its key merits and critiques. 3 slides Section 2 Consumer Behaviour in the Sharing Economy
  • Provide a critical analysis and outline latest consumer research on how consumers consume in the sharing economy, and what they value/not value.
• Integrate various concepts and frameworks that we discussed in class into this part of the analysis. What is, among others, the role of attitude (functions), identity/self, reference groups, communities etc. in consumer behavior in the sharing economy? 4 slides
  Section 3
  Strategic Recommendation for the Start Up Audience – Based on this consumer behavioral analysis, provide three crisp managerial recommendations for your start up audience about how to become/stay competitive in the sharing economy. For each recommendation provide best practice examples of companies who managed to get it right. 3 slides
  Reference list Include a full list of all works citied including all academic articles, data sources, and any industry reports you have used in your presentation. Adopt Harvard Referencing conventions.
  Not included in the 10 slides max and 1500 words word count.
  *This slide number is a suggestion, but the maximum number of slides is 10 not including the Cover Slide, Executive Summary, Table of Contents and Reference list. Please note that you are free to be creative in producing your presentation, but all components must be included.

Submission guidelines
• Submit this assignment as a presentation with presenter notes.
• You are required to submit the presentation in the printout option that places the presenters notes below the corresponding slide.
• Submit as ONE PDF document
• The presenter notes should be used to complement the slides. The slides should focus on the key aspects and include visuals and diagrams if appropriate. The presenter notes provide further explanation and analysis of each slide.
• Max number of slides: 10 not including the Cover Slide, Executive Summary, Table of Contents and Reference list;
• Word count for slides and presenter notes: max. 1500 words (not including the Cover Slide, Executive Summary, Table of Contents and Reference list).

4. MARKING CRITERIA

All assessments are marked holistically out of 100 in accordance with the specific criteria listed below, the module specific marketing criteria listed in in appendix 1 (page 5) and the generic KCL UG marking criteria (level 5). All formal grades for coursework and exams in this module follow the King’s Business School’s marking and moderation policies.

Assessment Topic Description
Quality of research Systematic identification and investigation of relevant academic articles, data sources and industry reports.
Depth of analysis Examination, interpretation and synthesis of concepts, data and information.

Application of subject knowledge Knowledge of relevant consumer behaviors concepts, theories and frameworks and ability to apply these to underpin the analysis and recommendations.
Recommendations
Ability to present a commercially sound recommendation which logically follows from the research and analysis conducted.
Communication and presentation
Clarity of structure and flow of the presentation.
Quality of visual aids
Communication of key messages and ideas in a clear spoken and written format

5. FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT

A formative assessment is an activity designed to assist you in your learning by providing feedback from tutors. This formative assessment, and the feedback from tutors, will help you identify your strengths and weaknesses and to target areas that need further work in order to prepare you for summative (graded) assignments in the future. The formative assessment does not contribute to the final grade in this module.

Formative Assessment – Individual Project Outline
In tutorial 5 (week 10), we will engage in formative feedback activities. Further detail will be provided ahead of this date.

6. MODULE LEARNING OUTCOMES ASSESSED

Four Module Learning Outcomes are Being Assessed:
• Select consumer and buyer behavior theories to evaluate and assess marketing strategy and practice;
• Identify and critique theories that explain observed consumer and buyer behavior;
• Evaluate, select, and design market research Programmes;
• Recall and illustrate consumer and buyer behavior processes and challenges;
• Classify consumers’ ethical concerns and argue for marketing strategy remedies;
• Assess marketing strategy problems using consumer and buyer behavior theories;
• Summarize and criticize academic work on consumer and buyer behavior.

7. ACADEMIC HONESTY

Academic misconduct at King’s is categorized into four areas: plagiarism, collusion, cheating through deception and fraud, and contract cheating. It is university policy that all allegations of academic misconduct will be thoroughly investigated and may result in action being taken under the university’s Misconduct Regulations. If a charge of academic misconduct is upheld the penalties range from a formal warning to expulsion, depending on the severity of the act or if it is a repeat offence. Plagiarism is the most common form of academic misconduct, and may arise intentionally or otherwise (e.g., through negligence, poor scholarship or lack of understanding). At King’s plagiarism is defined as the taking of another person’s thoughts, words, results, judgements, ideas, images etc, and presenting them as your own.