IB Diploma Programme Business Management HL, Unit 4 Marketing (first assessment 2024). This topic covers syllabus sections 4.1–4.6 in full: the role of marketing, marketing planning, sales forecasting (HL only), market research, the seven Ps of the marketing mix, and international marketing (HL only). The worked example keeps the shared repair business, whose local market runs 8 000 repairs a month, of which the firm completes 2 000 — a 25% market share — so every figure cross-checks.

Must-know for Unit 4:

The role of marketing (4.1) is to identify and satisfy customer wants profitably. A MARKET-ORIENTED business researches customers first and builds what they want — responsive, but followership; a PRODUCT-ORIENTED business starts from what it can make — distinctive, but risky if wants move. Market orientation 市场导向 is the modern default, and the distinction is a favourite two-mark definition. MARKETING OBJECTIVES (market share, sales growth, brand loyalty, product leadership) derive from the corporate objectives and are set on the evidence of a MARKETING AUDIT — internal (the 7Ps as they stand) and external (PESTLE, the market, the competition). Market share 市场份额 $=$ sales of the firm over sales of the market, times 100: $2\,000 / 8\,000 = 25\%$.

Marketing planning (4.2) turns objectives into strategy. The marketing plan 营销计划 states objectives, audit findings, strategy, budget, controls. The strategy runs S–T–P: SEGMENT the market (demographic, geographic, psychographic, behavioural), TARGET the attractive segments, POSITION the offer in the target's mind (value map). The marketing mix 营销组合 is the 4Ps of PRODUCT, PRICE, PLACE and PROMOTION — extended to the 7Ps for services by PEOPLE, PROCESS and PHYSICAL EVIDENCE — chosen as an INTEGRATED whole. Porter's GENERIC STRATEGIES frame the competitive position: overall COST LEADERSHIP, DIFFERENTIATION, or FOCUS (cost or differentiation in a niche) — a firm that commits to none of them is "stuck in the middle".

Market research 市场调查 (4.4) reduces risk by collecting data. PRIMARY research is new, for the purpose: surveys 问卷调查 (quantitative, scalable, question-design risk), focus groups 焦点小组 (qualitative, deep, small), observation and test marketing. SECONDARY research reuses what exists: government statistics, trade data, company records, syndicated reports — cheap and instant, but dated, biased or simply not fitting. QUANTITATIVE data counts; QUALITATIVE data explains. The RESEARCH PROCESS fixes the problem, sets objectives, chooses method, collects, analyses, presents — and every method faces the LIMITATIONS of cost-versus-benefit, reliability, validity and representativeness (sample size and design). Technology has changed the scale: big data, loyalty records and online behaviour observe millions cheaply, at the price of consent and privacy questions the concept ETHICS keeps alive.

Sales FORECASTING (4.3, HL only) predicts future sales from past data and judgement. Methods: EXTRAPOLATION (extend the trend), the MOVING AVERAGE that smooths a series by averaging the latest $n$ observations, TEST MARKETING in one region, MARKET RESEARCH into intentions, and the DELPHI TECHNIQUE (a panel of experts consulted round by round until answers converge). Benefits: budgeting, stock, capacity and staffing planned ahead; limitations: assumes the past repeats — trends bend, seasons swing, and a forecast is a hypothesis, not a promise.

Worked example. Monthly repairs for the last four months: 1 900, 2 050, 2 100, 1 950. The four-period moving average $= (1\,900 + 2\,050 + 2\,100 + 1\,950) / 4 = 2\,000$ — the smoothed level the forecast starts from; the sawtooth around it (−100, +50, +100, −50) suggests seasonality, not growth, so extrapolating the trend alone would over-forecast.

The mix in detail (4.5). PRODUCT: types (consumer, industrial, services), brand 品牌 and packaging, the product life cycle 产品生命周期 — development, introduction, growth, maturity, decline — read with its strategies, extension strategies among them, and the BOSTON MATRIX that plots RELATIVE MARKET SHARE against MARKET GROWTH: stars (high, high), cash cows (high share, low growth — fund the rest), question marks (low share, high growth — invest or divest), dogs (low, low — harvest or sell). PRICE: cost-plus, competitive, PENETRATION (low to buy share), SKIMMING (high at launch, then down), loss leader, psychological, price discrimination. PLACE: distribution channels from producer to consumer — direct, retailer, wholesaler, agent — and the channel choice that balances control, cost and coverage. PROMOTION: ABOVE THE LINE (paid advertising to a mass audience) and BELOW THE LINE (targeted: sponsorship, sales promotion, direct marketing, personal selling, PR), in PUSH (toward the retailer) and PULL (toward the consumer) logics. For services: PEOPLE (recruitment and training of front-line staff), PROCESS (the service journey), PHYSICAL EVIDENCE (the workshop's look, uniforms, invoices). E-commerce has forced omni-channel place, dynamic pricing and search-led promotion. The test is INTEGRATION: a penetration price with a premium brand promise contradicts itself.

International marketing 国际营销 (4.6, HL only) follows a product abroad because home markets saturate, costs differ, or the brand travels. The strategic choice: STANDARDISATION — one offer everywhere (economies of scale, one brand, but tone-deaf locally) versus ADAPTATION — tailored offers (local fit, at multiplied cost), usually resolved as a core that is standard and a periphery that adapts (think global, act local). Entry methods deepen in commitment: EXPORTING (lowest risk, least control), LICENSING and FRANCHISING (brand for a fee — the Unit 1 growth method), JOINT VENTURES (shared risk and knowledge, shared control), and ACQUISITION or greenfield FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT (full control, full exposure). Every choice is judged against PESTLE differences, culture, law and exchange-rate risk; the concepts CHANGE and INTERDEPENDENCE frame the unit.

• Market vs product orientation; objectives from corporate objectives; the audit; market share 2 000/8 000 = 25% (4.1).
• The plan's components; S–T–P; the 4Ps extended to 7; Porter's three generic strategies with "stuck in the middle" (4.2).
• Primary vs secondary; quantitative vs qualitative; the process and the four limitations; big data and ethics (4.4).
• HL: the five forecasting methods; the four-period moving average 2 000 with the seasonality reading (4.3).
• PLC stages with strategies; Boston matrix quadrants and cash-flow logic; the price ladder; channels; above/below the line, push/pull; people, process, physical evidence; integration (4.5).
• HL: standardisation vs adaptation; the four entry methods by risk and control (4.6).

Boundary notes: Paper 1 loves the mix applied to a case (recommend TWO Ps together, not one); Paper 2 calculates market share, moving averages and PLC/Boston placements; Paper 3's social enterprise must price and place a mission. All worked numbers are original on the shared repair business.