REGISTRATION INFORMATION

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In order to receive academic credit for an internship, prior to starting your internship experience, you must meet with Dr. Ruth Shelton to discuss the nature- of your internship position, your goals and objectives for the internship. The registration is completed in four parts:

THE FINAL REPORT

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The Final Report is due on the date listed on the important dates page of this web site.  Turn the report in to your faculty advisor.  A penalty of 10% per day will be imposed on any assignments turned in late. The final report shall consist of four (4) sections which are explained and outlined on the following pages:

1. Company Description
2. Job Description
3. Marketing Audit (Complete 4 out of the 6 sections of the audit. Further information will be provided later in the syllabus.)
4. Personal assessment of your job performance

The final report should be presented in a professional business report. The following guidelines apply to the final report:

1. All pages must be computer generated and submitted on 8.5 x 11" paper.
2. All pages should be consecutively numbered and the report should contain a table of contents.
3. All sections and sub-sections should be clearly marked with headings.
4. All supporting material should be placed in an appendix. These appendices must be clearly labeled and the information in each appendix should be referenced within the body of the final report.
5. A bibliography should be included listing all information sources consulted, including individuals with whom you have spoken or interviewed.

GUIDELINES FOR THE FINAL REPORT

The expectations for each section of the final report are outlined on the pages which follow.  But please remember these are guidelines.  You may need to adapt them to your internship.

Company Description. A brief description (1 page) of the company for which you are working. This should include the nature of the products and services offered and a profile of the customers who use them. You may also provide brochures or collateral material that further describes the company.

Job Description. The job description should be written in third person as if you, acting as a manager, were writing it for a new employee/associate. It should be written in outline form, except for the job summary section. Headings should be used to identify each of the job description sections. A suggested outline for the job description is listed below:

Specific duties and responsibilities -- a list should be provided to indicate all duties performed by the individual in this position.

The purpose of this section of the final report is to provide an overview of the individual department as well as the entire company. You will be expected to conduct personal interviews with selected managers and to complete company research to complete this section of the report. The topics that the marketing audit addresses are shown on the following pages. You can add to these suggested topics all relevant aspects of the firm's marketing activities. It is impossible to develop a list of audit questions which is totally applicable for all organizations. Please use the sections and questions as a guide, not an absolute mandate. In every organization, information in some sections will be readily available, and other sections will be more difficult to complete. Simply do the best that you can and use your best judgment. If you have specific questions, please direct them to your faculty contact.

When completing the marketing audit portion of the final report, you will not be expected to complete the entire audit. You must complete four of the six sections outlined on the following pages. You must complete Section A-The Marketing Environment and Section F-Review of Marketing Functional Areas. Of the remaining four sections, you are to complete two sections. You may select any two sections from sections B-E.

As you develop the marketing audit, your assignment is to provide a summary of what you have found and to organize your findings into a report which is clear, concise and organized and presented in a business report format. Do not simply provide a listing of answers to the questions contained in the audit. Rather, under each separate heading and sub-heading, you are to summarize your findings to the entire list of questions for that particular section. The keys to completing an excellent marketing audit are:

One of the benefits of completing the marketing audit as a part of your internship is that it can be directly related to several courses within the marketing curriculum. Prior experience with a marketing audit will be especially beneficial when you enroll in MKTG 485 - Marketing Management, the capstone course in the marketing program.

A. The Marketing Environment (4-6 pages)

The Macroenvironment

Task Environment

B. Marketing Strategy Review (1-3 pages)

C. Review of Organization and Management Structure (2-3 pages)

D. Review of Marketing Systems and Operations (2-3 pages)

E. Productivity Analysis (1-2 pages)

F. Review of Marketing Functional Areas (3-6 pages)

Products

Price

Distribution

Advertising, sales promotion, and publicity

Sales force

Personal Assessment. Students completing internships in prior semesters have indicated that this section of the final report was the most beneficial. It offers the opportunity to reflect on the entire internship experience and think about both the positive and negative aspects of your internship. The page limit for this section of the final report is 6 pages. This section should address the following questions and issues:

1. To what extent have you learned new disciplines for learning and managing your time?
2. Have your career goals been reinforced or have you decided to alter your original goals?
3. What new skills have you acquired and what present skills have been reinforced? Consider the full range of skills: leadership; technical; communication; artistic; social; political and others?
4. What specific techniques from the textbook have you learned which will improve your interpersonal skills? How will these improve your ability to be a successful manager?
5. How could your internship experience have been more beneficial? What were the most positive and negative aspects of your experience?
6. What suggestions would you make for improving this internship experience?

The exit interview is an opportunity for you and your faculty contact to talk about your entire internship experience. The format of the interview is open, the approach friendly and relaxed. The main goal of this discussion is to talk about your experiences within the organization. Interviews begin during the later part of May and may be scheduled by calling your faculty sponsor.

PERFORMANCE EVALUATION.

BI-WEEKLY LETTER OR E-MAIL MESSAGE

All students must stay in contact with their faculty advisor several times during the course of the semester.  You will be required to send an e-mail message or regular, snail-mail letter (you know, the kind that is stuffed in an envelope) once a month during the course of your internship.  You must submit at least three e-mail or snail mail reports to get full credit.  Your letter or e-mail should state how you are doing and whether or not the internship is meeting your needs.   Your advisor may ask you to respond to questions or to follow up on specific items.   This circumstance may require more than one e-mail or letter every month.   Let your advisor know what is happening and use this opportunity to interface with JMU.

EXIT INTERVIEW

After your internship is over, you will be required to have an exit interview with your faculty advisor.  Call or e-mail your advisor to set up an exit interview sometime after the beginning of the fall semester.   In the exit interview, we will discuss what you learned (or did not learn) and how the whole process has benefited you.  We will also discuss the structure of your internship at the company in which you worked, and JMU's role in providing internships to students in the future.

These guidelines and syllabus have addressed most of the questions which students normally ask concerning their internships. However, you will undoubtedly have further questions. Please contact your faculty advisor. Good luck with your Marketing internship!