Week 6 - Project Management

A Project Management Plan will form an integral component of your final project documentation. In gaining an understanding of how to apply the principles of PM, it is worth thinking about projects (no matter how small) in which you have been involved, and that have failed for one reason for another.  Describe the project, identify (as best you can) the point of failure of the project, and then link that to an aspect of the Project Management Body of Knowledge that could have helped minimize or avoid the failure.

Week 5 - Team Marketing Challenge

The photograph below is of an advertising signboard on a new residential development (four units) in Queen Victoria Street, Claremont.  The developers of this property are not satisfied with the marketing efforts of the agents, and have requested that your team devise a new marketing strategy and plan for the development.

In the next 90 minutes, using the input your have received in the last two lectures on marketing (check Vula for slides and additional support readings), your team should prepare the following: -

1.     A strategy as to how you will market the property (the various things you will do to create awareness and generate sales)

2.     A new signboard for the property

3.     An A4 brochure marketing the property.

Think carefully about your target market, the benefits of the property, and how you will communicate this to your prospective buyer.

I will be available in the lecture venue for any assistance, input and advise.

Week 4 - Marketing

How would you market one of the hotels on this page. Use the marketing mix for services marketing as a framework.

Week 3 - The Needs of the Elderly

With your VM lectures done and some input into the Client Briefing Process, you should by now have made contact with your partner organisation and should likewise be getting ready to engage with the issues that confront the elderly in South Africa.  No matter what the positioning of your project (private high-end project or low cost social housing), your work will need to be driven by an understanding of the needs of the elderly.

You should not forget the plight of the elderly - this is what the project is all about.  Understanding their situation and providing a solution that not only addresses their human needs (food, shelter, safety, health) but also their need for social inclusion.  Have a look at this YouTube video. Think about the way in which you have engaged with elderly people in your family, home, or community, and share your thoughts with the rest of us.

For those who have not seen the movie, I strongly recommend you see The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. 

Jonathan

Week 2: Value Management & The Retirement Opportunity

Following on from the guest lecture this week by Anthony Pycroft & Quinton Miller (presentation available on Vula), and the first lecture my Prof Bowen on Value Management, I invite each of you to indicate how you could apply the principles of VM to the design of retirement housing across the economic spectrum.

Cheers,
Jonathan