MNM2615 Assignment 3 Portfolio 2026

MNM2615 Assignment 3 Portfolio 2026 MNM2615/102/2/2026 Tutorial Letter 102/2/2026 Marketing in Africa MNM2615 Semester 2 Department of Marketing and Retail Management IMPORTANT INFORMATION This tutorial letter contains the assessment questions for Assignment 03. Please remember that all assessments for this module must be submitted online. BARCODE CONTENTS Page 1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................ 3 2 ASSIGNMENT INFORMATION ...................................................................................................... 3 3 ASSIGNMENT STANDARD AND STRUCTURE ........................................................................... 3 4 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................................ 7 2 MNM2615/102/1/2026 1 INTRODUCTION This tutorial letter contains the assessment for Assignment 03 of MNM2615. 2 ASSIGNMENT INFORMATION Assignment 03 covers units 1 to 10 of the study guide. It contributes 70% towards your final mark, and the assessment is in the form of a written assignment. Assignment 03 must be submitted online via myUnisa. NO LATE SUBMISSIONS WILL BE ACCEPTED. 3 ASSIGNMENT STANDARD AND STRUCTURE 3.1 Plagiarism and dishonest academic practices Plagiarism entails presenting other people’s ideas and writings as your own, and it is NOT allowed. This is one of our greatest frustrations with students and it is also where many students fall short, especially when it comes to the written assignments. You are expected to submit a written assignment that you can proudly say is your OWN work. Yet, many students in the past have simply copied major sections from a variety of sources (particularly from the Web) and pasted it into their assignment as their own work, sometimes including a reference. Some students seem to think that if they provide a reference, they are allowed to copy and paste whole sections of text – this is plagiarism and is not allowed. In the academic world, it is one of the most serious offences to copy the work of others and present it as your own. If you are found guilty of plagiarism or any other dishonest practices, such as copying from another person, buying answers or asking someone else to do your assignment on your behalf, you may receive 0% and be reported to the Student Disciplinary Committee for further investigation. If there are reasonable grounds to charge you with misconduct, you may be required to attend a hearing to answer to the charges. If you are found guilty, some of the sanctions against you could include revocation of your degree, denial of reenrolment, financial compensation to repair damage caused, annulment of results, and suspension or denial of reregistration. The university has special software to detect plagiarism, which I may use with your assignments. If you copy and paste, you are likely to fail. You must create your own voice when presenting your discussions. Please ensure that you familiarise yourself with the following Unisa policies: • Policy for Copyright Infringement and Plagiarism • Policy on Academic Integrity • Student Disciplinary Code 3.2 How to detect similarity Assignments 01 and 03 must be submitted to Turnitin (TII) to determine similarity. Students should not have a similarity score of more than 10%. 3 3.3 What you need to do to complete this assignment Read the following instructions for the assignment before answering the questions: • Ensure that all content extracted from external sources is referenced. You are not restricted to using only your study guide and prescribed book. You should consult other sources to complete this assignment and make sure that you reference these sources properly. • Use the Harvard referencing technique for your sources and ensure that you have in-text citations as well as a reference list at the end for the various sources you use. • Under no circumstances should you complete this assignment in a group or with your fellow students, since that also constitutes plagiarism. • Provide a cover page; a declaration that it is your own work; a table of contents; an introduction; a body; a conclusion; and a list of references. Make sure that you use relevant headings in your assignment. • A template will be provided to you on myUnisa under Additional Resources; ensure that you access the template and use it for this assignment. • Submit your assignment as a PDF document on myUnisa. • Do not use bullet points to answer the questions. You must discuss the issues in full sentences and paragraphs. • Your assignment should be typed in Arial font size 11, with 1.5 line spacing. The assignment should be a maximum of 30 pages in length, including the table of contents, introduction, body, conclusion and list of references. Visit the same SME/SMME as you did for Assignment 01 and have a final discussion with the owner or manager of the enterprise about conducting business in Africa. Here are a few questions you could use to help you with the conversation to gather the information you will need to answer the questions in Assignment 03: • What government institutions support SMMEs? • What opportunities are available for local business expansion in South Africa? • What developments and trends in brand promotion are happening in South Africa? Note: You need to understand the theory surrounding these topics before visiting the SME/SMME. The format of your final portfolio (Assignment 03): Section 1: Background of SME/SMME Provide a summary of the background of your chosen SME/SMME. As part of this background, provide information on the products or services that the SME/SMME offers, where the business/store is situated and who its current customers are. NB: Use the same background that you used for Assignment 01 (a maximum of one page for the discussion). (5) Section 2: Assignment 01 corrections and suggestions You need to incorporate my corrections and suggestions from Assignment 01. Your corrected Assignment 01 will be checked and marked when you submit your final portfolio. Therefore, it is important that you do not ignore my suggestions and corrections. NB: Only make the necessary corrections; do not rewrite the entire assignment. Corrections and suggestions from Assignment 01 should amount to a maximum of 10 pages. (15) 4 MNM2615/102/1/2026 Section 3: Answers to Assignment 03 questions a) Discuss the informal economy from a South African perspective (5 marks for the theoretical discussion). b) Provide practical examples of the chosen SME/SMME in relation to the South African informal economy (10 marks for the practical application). (15) c) Explain the role of SMMEs in the township economy (5 marks for the theoretical discussion). d) Provide examples of how the chosen SME/SMME contributes towards the township economy (10 marks for the practical application). (15) e) Discuss the product application from a South African perspective (5 marks for the theoretical discussion). f) Read the case study on ‘Bathu’ in the prescribed textbook. Then compare Bathu’s products with those offered by the chosen SME/SMME. Use practical examples to show similarities and differences between the offered products (10 marks for practical application). (15) The fourth section should be a maximum of 15 pages. See the marking criteria below for the mark allocation. Section 4: Recommendations Based on the discussions above, provide recommendations to the chosen SME/SMME and substantiate your reasons (advise or recommend what needs to be done to improve the chosen SME/SMME). (15) Address the following to ensure the technical care and presentation: Track Changes are stopped and accepted. Only ONE table of contents is included. Only ONE introduction and conclusion are included. The document is reader-friendly (headings and subheadings). The correct referencing technique (in-text references and reference list) is used. (10) This is a practical assignment; however, don’t explain the theory from your prescribed material ONLY. You must also consult various other academic sources and incorporate the relevant practical information about the SME/SMME. The portfolio you submit must follow a logical sequence. 5 Plagiarism is a criminal academic offence. Do not copy and paste information from any source – you will be penalised. Everything must be presented in your own words. Also, include references when you discuss the theory, since this will contribute to your technical mark. ASSIGNMENT 03 MARKING CRITERIA Your work will be marked according to the following criteria: Section number Topics Percentage (%) 1 Background and key concepts 5 2 Assignment 01 applied 15 3 Informal economy from a South African perspective 15 4 Role of SMMEs in the Township economies 15 5 Product application from a South African perspective 15 6 Recommendations 15 7 Technical care and presentation 10 TOTAL 90 TECHNICAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR ASSIGNMENT 03 HOW TO ADDRESS TECHNICAL CARE: − Select the “Review” tab on MS Word. − Select “Accept All Changes and Stop Tracking”. And select “Delete All Comments in Documents”. − Provide a standard table of content. See page 2 of Tutorial Letter 101 as an example. − Provide sufficient in-text referencing: for example, Klopper and North (2011:5) OR (Klopper & North, 2011:15). − The document should be reader-friendly, that is, avoid including lengthy paragraphs. − Always link theory with practical application. (As an MNM2615 student, this is how you are expected to answer questions that require both a theoretical discussion and practical applications). See the example below. Example: Question: Discuss the logistics system used by SMEs in Africa. Answer: Theoretical discussion Logistics is the process of planning and executing the efficient transportation and storage of goods from the point of origin to the point of consumption (Makhubela, 2025:25). Practical application Chisa Nyama’s logistic process when the business places an order with Banele’s potato farms. Chisa Nyama uses trucks to transport potatoes from Banele’s farms to their storage depot/s. 6 MNM2615/102/1/2026 This demonstrates the logistics that Chisa Nyama uses to transport goods from the point of origin to the point of consumption, which are the customers. NOTE: You are advised to apply yourself to answering this assignment as the practicality of it prepares you to be a potential entrepreneur, that is, if you would prefer to employ others rather than be an employee yourself. 4 CONCLUSION Do not hesitate to contact me by e-mail or telephone should you experience any challenges. Mr VF Makhubela Department of Marketing and Retail Management Unisa 7