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IMT-03: MARKETING RESEARCH
PART A
Q1. Discuss the nature and scope of Marketing Research. Identify
some problems in different areas of Marketing where Marketing
Research can be helpful.
Ans. The nature and scope of marketing research is very wide and
comprehensive, which includes: 1. Product Research studies
product
modification, product innovation, product life cycle, etc.
2. Consumer Research studies
consumer behaviour, needs, wants, likes, dislikes, attitude,
age, sex, income, location; buying motives, etc.
3. Packaging Research studies the
package of the product, improves the quality of the package, and
reduces the cost of packaging.
4. Pricing Research studies the market
and future price trends, pricing of the product, suitable method
of pricing, price for the product, and compares the companies price
with the competitor's price.
5. Advertising Research studies the advertising of the product,
objectives,
budget, message, layout, copy, slogan, headline, etc. and other
sales promotion techniques.
6. Sales Research studies the selling activities of the company,
sales outlets,
sales territories, sales forecasting, sales trends, sales
methods, and effectiveness of the sales force, etc.
7. Distribution Research studies the channels of distribution,
suitable channel for
the product, identifies the channel functions like storage,
grading, etc., and evaluates the competitor's channel.
8. Policy Research studies the effectiveness of the policies on
marketing, sales,
distribution, pricing, inventory, etc. 9. International
Marketing Research studies the foreign market, collects data
about consumers and foreign competitors from different
countries.
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10.Motivation Research studies consumers' buying motives,
factors that motivate consumers to buy a product, and consumer
behaviour in the market.
11.Market Research studies the markets, market competition,
market trends,
etc., and estimates the demand for new products. 12.Media
Research studies various advertising media and cost, suitable
media
for advertising, and media planning. There are problems in
different areas of marketing where marketing research can be
helpful: Problem: Customers looking for discounts. Solution: Find
other ways to persuade customers to buy. Problem: Customers do not
seem to understand the companys objective. Solution: Develop a
clear sales message. Problem: Where to start with sales and
marketing planning. Solution: Make sales targets clear. Problem:
Target in marketing campaign. Solution: Narrow focus with micro
marketing. Problem: Effectiveness of marketing campaign Solution:
Measure and understand customer's need. Q2. Is a research design
always necessary before a research study can
be conducted? In what may do exploratory, descriptive and causal
research design differ? Explain with the help of an example.
Ans. Research design is always necessary before a research study
can be conducted because it is considered as a "blueprint" for
research, dealing with at least four problems:
1. Which questions to study 2. Which data are relevant 3. What
data to collect, and 4. How to analyze the results
Descriptive research encompasses much government sponsored
research including the population census, the collection of a wide
range of social indicators and economic information such as
household expenditure patterns, time use studies, employment and
crime statistics and the like. While exploratory research provides
insights into and comprehension of an issue or situation which
should draw definitive conclusions only with extreme caution.
Moreover, exploratory research is conducted to explore a problem to
get some basic idea about the solution at the preliminary stages of
research that may serve as the input to conclusive research, and
information is collected by focus group interviews, reviewing
literature or books, discussing with experts, etc.
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which is unstructured and qualitative in nature, conducted to
simplify the findings of the conclusive or descriptive research, if
the findings are very hard to interpret for the marketing managers.
The way in which researchers develop research designs is
fundamentally affected by whether the research question is
descriptive or explanatory which affects what information is
collected. For example, if one wants to explain why some people are
more likely to be apprehended and convicted of crimes, one needs to
have hunches about why this is so. However, causal research argues
that phenomenon Y (e.g. income level) is affected by factor X (e.g.
gender), and some causal explanations will be simple while others
will be more complex. For example, one might argue that there is a
direct effect of gender on income (i.e. simple gender
discrimination). Most causal thinking in the social sciences is
probabilistic rather than deterministic, which is working at the
level that a given factor increases (or decreases) the probability
of a particular outcome. For example: being female increases the
probability of working part time; race affects the probability of
having a high status job. Q3. A marketing manager needs to find the
causes for the decline in
market share of his company. The manager decides to conduct
marketing research. How should he go about finding a supplier of
research services?
Ans. In conducting marketing research, the manager should know
the function that links the consumers, customers, and public to the
marketer through information used to identify and define marketing
opportunities and problems, generate, refine, and evaluate
marketing actions, monitor marketing performance, and improve
understanding of marketing as a process. Through marketing
research, the manager may be able to find a supplier by specifying
the information required to address the issue, designing the method
for collecting information, managing and implementing the data
collection process, analyzing the results, and communicating the
findings and their implications. A marketing manager would find
that marketing research is a systematic method of gathering,
recording, and analysis of data about issues relating to marketing
products and services which would be very useful for his purpose in
identifying and assessing how changing elements of the marketing
mix impacts customer behaviour. Marketing research is often
partitioned into two sets of categorical pairs, either by target
market:
1. Consumer marketing research 2. Business-to-business (B2B)
marketing research
Or, alternatively, by methodological approach:
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1. Qualitative marketing research 2. Quantitative marketing
research
The basic task of marketing research for a marketing manager is
to provide management with relevant, accurate, reliable, valid, and
current information. Thus, competitive marketing environment and
the ever-increasing costs attributed to poor decision making
require that marketing research provide sound information.
Marketing managers make numerous strategic and tactical decisions
in the process of identifying and satisfying customer needs, as
well as make decisions about potential opportunities, target market
selection, market segmentation, planning and implementing marketing
programs, marketing performance, and control, which are complicated
by interactions between the controllable marketing variables of
product, pricing, promotion, and distribution. Consequently,
marketing research helps the marketing manager link the marketing
variables with the environment and the consumers, and helps remove
some of the uncertainty by providing relevant information about the
marketing variables, environment, and consumers. Q4. a) Distinguish
between a Focus Group Interviews and an in-depth
interview. Ans. When doing qualitative research, one needs to
decide which is right for the client, either an in-depth interview,
focus group, or maybe a combination of both which depends on the
clients goals. Dimensional Research recommends focus groups when
the client wants to gain multiple perspectives in an interactive
group setting, since one of the main benefits of focus groups is
that they get the participants brainstorming, and when trying to
evaluate market acceptance, capture challenges and issues, or
understand objections to new technologies or processes, the focus
group dynamic is ideal. While the in-depth interview is a technique
designed to elicit a vivid picture of the participants perspective
on the research topic, and the researchers interviewing techniques
are motivated by the desire to learn everything the participant can
share about the research topic. As a rule of thumb focus groups and
interviews cost about the same per participant, so with the
exception of travel, not a consideration for phone interviews or
online focus groups, cost should not be the driving consideration
in choosing the research approach. Interviews are appropriate for
eliciting individual experiences, opinions, feelings, as well as
addressing sensitive topics. And the strength of the method is that
it elicits in-depth responses, with nuances and contradictions,
gets at interpretive perspective, i.e., the connections and
relationships a person sees between particular events, phenomena,
and beliefs. While focus groups are appropriate in identifying
group norms, eliciting opinions about group norms, and discovering
variety within a population. With the benefit of eliciting
information on a range of
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norms and opinions in a short time, and the group dynamics
stimulate conversation, and reactions. b) In which cases would an
In-depth Interview be more applicable
than a Focus Group Interview? Ans. Although many people
immediately think of focus groups when they think of qualitative
research, there is another qualitative approach that may be better
suited to delving deep into issues and challenges, and that is
in-depth one-on-one interviews, which offer greater value than
focus groups and should be considered whenever qualitative results
are needed. Furthermore, In-depth Interview is more applicable than
a Focus Group Interview for a number of critical reasons:
More Quality, since one-on-one interviews uncover the best
thinking of each and every participant without the drawbacks of
group dynamics, while in a typical focus group, a small percentage
of the participants do most of the talking.
More Quantity of Information because researchers obtain at least
twice the amount of information per participant in an in-depth
20-minute interview than in a typical 10-member, 90-minute focus
group.
More Depth since it captures all the relevance and salience of
qualitative information of focus groups which can get beyond
surface answers and produce a rich database of interviews that
generates analyst reports, identifies broad themes, and produces a
body of knowledge of the range and depth of reactions.
More Statistics because conducting one-on-one interviews to
which content analysis is applied, provides the basis for an array
of traditional and proprietary analyses, and this level of detailed
data produces a reservoir of knowledge that can be used and
compared over time in ways not possible with standard focus group
research.
In essence, the value received from in-depth one-on-one
interviews when compared to focus groups is significantly greater,
and the research investment is more cost-effective since more of
the budget is used to elicit information from each and every
respondent, rather than for other incidental costs of hosting a
focus group. Q5. a) What do you understand by selecting samples
from the
universe? Ans. In explaining the concept on selecting samples,
it would be answered with the first question as to how many people
are in the group the survey is supposed to represent (called the
sample universe), and statistically, this only becomes an issue if
the sample universe numbers below 10,000 individuals. Thus, if one
wants to survey the donor base and it has only 3,000 people, then
the sampling figures are different, but if the group of people is
10,000 or more,
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it does not matter whether the survey represents a city with
about half a million people, or the entire population of some 200
million adults which is the number of survey responses one needs is
the same in each situation. The second question is how much
potential margin of error needed in the survey, where most
researchers use the 95% confidence interval as their basis which
means that if the same survey were done 100 times, then 95 of those
times the answers would fall within the same range. Thus, the
number of people interviewed determines what that range is. If
there are subsamples within the total population, the overall
sample size must be large enough that these subsamples are also
large enough to analyze, where a survey of 200 people divided
evenly into two age groups means 100 respondents in each age group,
small, but usable for a high-level look at opinion differences, but
try to divide that sample into six key age groups, and the
subsample sizes become too small to allow comparison. b) Discuss
the various methods of probability sampling. Use
examples to illustrate cases in which each of the methods would
be most applicable.
SECOND Ans. Probability sampling is a sampling technique wherein
the samples are gathered in a process that gives all the
individuals in the population equal chances of being selected.
Through probability sampling, the researcher must guarantee that
every individual has an equal opportunity for selection and this
can be achieved if the researcher utilizes randomization, and its
advantage is the absence of both systematic and sampling bias, and
when done properly, the sample is therefore representative of the
entire population. There are various methods of probability
sampling, namely: SIMPLE RANDOM SAMPLING is the easiest form of
probability sampling because the researcher simply needs to assure
that all the members of the population are included in the list and
then randomly select the desired number of subjects. STRATIFIED
RANDOM SAMPLING is also known as proportional random sampling, and
this is a probability sampling technique wherein the subjects are
initially grouped into different classifications such as age,
socioeconomic status or gender, and usually used to study a
particular subgroup within the population. SYSTEMATIC RANDOM
SAMPLING can be likened to an arithmetic progression wherein the
difference between any two consecutive numbers is the same. An
example of which is a clinic having one hundred (100) patients. The
first thing to do is pick an integer that is less than the total
number of the population which will be the first subject e.g. (3).
Then select another integer which will be the number of individuals
between subjects e.g. (5). CLUSTER RANDOM SAMPLING is done when
simple random sampling is almost impossible because of the size of
the population.
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MIXED/MULTI-STAGE RANDOM SAMPLING involves a combination of two
or more sampling techniques enumerated above.
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PART - B Q1. State whether you agree or disagree with the
statement Correct
identification and clear definition of the research problem are
more crucial to the success of a market research study than
sophisticated research techniques. Justify your answer with
suitable examples.
Ans. It is true that correct identification and clear definition
of the research problem are more crucial to the success of a market
research study than sophisticated research techniques because the
research problem is basically the heart of the research process,
and without such, no research process can take place. In
formulating the research problem, the variables must be eminent and
easily identifiable while a hypothesis should accompany each
research problem because once a research problem is clearly
defined, it should be translated into a research hypothesis that
states, a relationship between two or more variables in one (or
more) population(s). Thus, the assignment will reflect on the
linkage of the research problem, research hypothesis and the
existing variables. Firstly, the research problem will be explored,
its importance, sources of the research problem, considerations as
well as steps to be followed when formulating a research problem.
Secondly, identification of variables will be discussed using the
three common types of variables and the four prominent scales of
measurement. Correct identification and clear identification of a
research problem is the first step and the most important
requirement in the research process that serves as the foundation
of a research study, and thus if well formulated, then a good study
will also follow. Thus, in order for one to solve a problem, one
must know what the problem is, and the large part of the problem is
in knowing what one is trying to do. A research problem and the way
it is formulated, determines almost every step that follows in the
research study, and formulation of the problem is like the input
into the study and the output is the quality of the contents of the
research report, often accompanied by research questions. An
important point to keep in mind when defining or formulating a
research problem is that it should be specific and focused, and
expressed as a general question about the relationship between two
or more variables which also introduces the necessity of defining
clearly all concepts used and of determining the variables and
their relationships. Q2. Discuss the various steps in Questionnaire
design. Ans. Market research is all about reducing business risks
through the smart use of information which is often cited that
'knowledge is power', and through market research, one will have
the power to discover new business opportunities, closely monitor
your competitors, effectively develop products and services, and
target the customers in the most cost-efficient way.
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However, in order to get useful results, one needs to make sure
in asking the right questions to the right people and in the right
way. The following are the various steps in preparing a
Questionnaire Design which are provided to help avoid some of the
common pitfalls when designing a market research questionnaire:
A good questionnaire is designed so that the results will tell
what one wants to find out.
Make sure that everything needed is covered when it comes to
analyzing the answers, and how it is going to be used.
Select the best method to use in asking questions, either
through postal surveys, face-to-face, web surveys, and
telephone.
Select which is best to use, either Qualitative or Quantitative
because the method used will generally be determined by the subject
matter being researched on and the types of respondents being
contacted.
Keep the questionnaire short, which will be about 10 to 15
questions.
The questions must be clearly understood by the respondent by
using simple and direct to the point.
Start with something general by avoiding questions that are too
personal, such as financial matters, age, even whether or not they
are married.
Place the most important questions in the first half of the
questionnaire by putting the most important items near the
beginning, but the partially completed questionnaires will still
contain important information.
Leave enough space to record the answers, particularly on
questions which may require a long answer.
Test the questionnaire on colleagues which will give time to
make any final changes, and get feedback.
Q3. What sampling scheme you will muse in following situations?
a) A study to find out preference and people for shampoos in
urban
market. Ans. Shampoo remains the key hair care segment,
accounting for 41 per cent of sales, and although overall sales
have remained flat year on year, medicated shampoos are offsetting
a decline in the two-in-one shampoo sector. Thus, sales of
medicated shampoos are driven by traditional brands, such as Head
& Shoulders.
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The customer's desire for greater convenience appears to be
declining in importance, with the "two-in-one" shampoo/conditioner
sachet market now accounting for only nineteen (19) per cent of the
overall shampoo market, with sales down by seven (7) per cent.
Retail purchase data shows that on the occasions when people buy a
shampoo and a conditioner at the same time, they are more likely to
pick up the shampoo and conditioner from the same brand. Over half
of the sales are made through sales promotions, particularly
"multi-buy" promotions have proliferated in both the shampoo and
conditioner sectors, with a quarter of volume in both these markets
sold through such offers. Procter & Gamble, particularly
Clairol Shampoo, is the largest manufacturer with a twenty-one (21)
percent market share by value. While the L'Oreal group,
particularly Garnier Shampoo, follows with a sixteen (16) percent
share, but its sales are declining at four percent year on year as
the Elvive brand suffers. Hair shampoo consumers tend to shop for
promotions and new products, mostly influenced by advertising
messages that shampoos need to be changed regularly, or possibly
because of the glut of multi-buy promotions, consumers are now much
more fickle than in the past. As a result, new brands have made
life more difficult for established beauty brands as consumers like
to experiment. b) A survey to study the potential users of
microwave oven in Delhi. Ans. The latent demand for microwave ovens
in India is not actual or historic sales, nor is latent demand
future sales which can be either lower or higher than actual sales
if a market is inefficient (i.e., not representative of relatively
competitive levels). Inefficiencies arise from a number of factors,
including the lack of international openness, cultural barriers to
consumption, regulations, and cartel-like behaviour on the part of
firms. However, latent demand is typically larger than actual sales
in a market. The study on the use of microwave ovens is strategic
in nature, taking an aggregate and long-run view, irrespective of
the players or products involved, by which all the current products
or services on the market can cease to exist in their present form
(i.e., at a brand-, R&D specification, or corporate-image
level), all the players can be replaced by other firms (i.e., via
exits, entries, mergers, bankruptcies, etc.), and there will still
be latent demand for microwave ovens at the aggregate level. In
order to estimate the demand and potential users of microwave ovens
across the states or union territories and cites of India, a
multi-stage approach should be used, but before applying the
approach, one needs a basic theory from which such estimates are
created. And while the debate surrounding beliefs about how income
and consumption are related is interesting, in this study a very
particular school of thought is adopted, particularly on the demand
and consumption for microwave ovens across the states or union
territories and cities of India.
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c) A survey to study the usage of laptops in the small office
segment-All India Level.
Ans. An example of a survey to study the usage of laptops in
offices is Lenovo being the worlds fourth-largest PC maker
restructured its global operations from four regions (Americas,
Europe, Asia-Pacific and China) to five, and making India as a
major part of the companys strategy and it was listed as a separate
region to be managed. India had just 7.5 million PCs compared with
Chinas 40 million which presented a huge opportunity for Lenovo and
it wanted to double its market share in three to four years, and
expected to find natural success in India as the Indian market was
similar in nature to the Chinese market. However in India, Lenovo
was lagging behind competitors like Dell, HP (Hewlett-Packard) and
local brands like HCL (Hindustan Computers Limited, and had only a
7.3 per cent share in the Indian PC market. Lenovo India has
customized LES Lite stores for the Indian market, and these Lite
stores are smaller versions of Lenovos exclusive stores and have
lower costs and also lower break-even points as compared to bigger
metro stores. Thus, the strategy with Lenovo Lite store is to
expand into Indias key tier 3-5 cities/towns, around 150-250 square
feet in size. Lenovo leads in India with single largest deal
worldwide, and supplies the Tamil Nadu (South Indian State)
government with 3 lakh laptops. As such, in total, Tamil Nadu state
government plans to give away 68 lakh laptops to students in 5
years. While the other competitors of Lenovo in India like Acer and
HCL are also in line to supply said laptops. Q4. Explain the
process of new product development and highlight the
role of marketing research in developing a product. Ans. In New
Product Development Stage, market research methods and tools used
may vary according to the product type, the extent of incremental
change from other products, the investment and risk factors, and
the costs of seeding the new product in the marketplace. New
Product Development is a sequential decision process, a series of
decisions, and the key to concentrate attention on the precise new
product decision at hand, and think through the market research and
creative tools needed for that stage. The concept also involves
product launch, branding research, or market sizing and targeting
engagement, and since each company is unique with its own set of
issues and opportunities, the process begins with identification
and clarification engagement called decision mapping that
identifies the most relevant problems, opportunities, and issues
most relevant, and serves to clarify the decision agenda. The role
of marketing and market research in developing a product involves
the following strategy areas:
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Positioning Segmentation Product launch New product development
advertising strategy Corporate and product naming Company branding
Brand equity measurement Pricing Brand development Brand strategy
Product concept testing Identifying opportunities Targeting
positioning.
Marketing research does not make decisions and it does not
guarantee success, and it is important that research reports should
specify alternative courses of action and the probability of
success, where possible, of these alternatives. However, it is
marketing managers who make the final marketing decision and not
the researcher. Marketing research does not guarantee success
because it is simply the recognition of the environment within
which marketing takes place, and in the fields of science and
engineering researchers are often working with deterministic models
of the world where y = f(x), and that is, x is a necessary and
sufficient condition for y to occur. In the social sciences,
marketing and marketing research, the phenomenon lends itself to
deterministic modelling by determining how much to spend on
promotion in order to achieve a given market share, by which there
are a great many more intervening variables, including: the media
used, the effectiveness of the promotional message, the length and
frequency of the campaign, not to mention the many dimensions of
the product, price and distribution. Q5. Write short note on the
following: a. Data Gathering techniques. Ans. There are various
Data Gathering techniques which are done through: Interviews are
conducted one-on-one or with a small group which can be used
throughout the data gathering process, but they are perhaps most
useful during the performance analysis stage, and when trying to
determine what the real performance deficiency is. Although the
process is time-consuming, it is useful because one can gather
specific information and ask follow-up questions to get more detail
on items of particular interest. Panels of Experts are used to get
the collective observations and opinions of the best of the breed,
and are particularly useful when there is not one correct solution
or procedure, such as conducting a goal analysis.
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Direct observation of work performance is an excellent means of
gathering data which are usually done in conjunction with another
data gathering method that is used to fill in the gaps and answer
questions. Surveys are used in gathering data from a large number
of people and when it is impractical to meet them all face to face,
which can be formal, where the results are subject to statistical
reliability and validity, and informal, where results are
anecdotal. Reviews of Performance Data on organizations that may
include data about time and attendance, rates of production, and
cost of goods sold which can provide valuable information to
substantiate the performance deficiencies under consideration and
lead to potential causes. b. Product Research. Ans. Product
research serves several goals that involve new product design and
market validation research, or assessing existing products which
drives the companys product research design, and may be needed to
increase the probability of optimum decisions and successful market
impact. Effective product market research, particularly for new
products and existing products is well integrated with R&D and
technical product design functions, and for consumer or business
B2B product market research, a global approach should be done,
incorporating appropriate market research at each design stage.
Thus, the goal is to align astute technical product R&D,
product innovation and design with market demand. Furthermore,
product research is a business and engineering term which describes
the complete process of bringing a new product to market. Thus,
many organizations have product research methodologies that provide
a standard framework for planning and managing development efforts.
As such, there are several stages in the product research
process:
Idea Generation Concept Development and Testing Business
Analysis Beta Testing and Market Testing Technical Implementation
Commercialization
Most industry leaders see product research as a proactive
process where resources are allocated to identify market changes
and seize upon new product opportunities before they occur, which
is in contrast to a reactive strategy in which nothing is done
until problems occur. Many industry leaders see product research as
an on-going process, or commonly referred to as continuous
development in which a product research team is always looking for
opportunities, and because this process typically requires both
engineering and marketing expertise, cross-functional teams are a
common way of organizing a development project.
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PART C Q1. Amul is planning to launch a new flavour of ice cream
and wants
to get a snapshot of the potential market. The ice cream has
coconut-white chocolate flavour and is aimed at the premium market.
What type of research design is appropriate? Develop the research
questions and hypothesis.
Ans. The design research for Amuls new flavour of ice-cream
brands should target the youth group, and be done using very unique
methods, developed especially for the product. Said methods would
help a lot in bringing out hidden insights from the minds of the
youth, which today forms a major part of the population, since one
does not just eat ice-cream, people relish ice-creams, and the
entire experience is an involving one. In this region, where
ice-cream is the desert of the choice, it becomes an everyday
experience. Thus, creating delight and breaking the monotony is
more difficult. Therefore, Amuls ice cream must create a
comfortable environment for the youth where they can get some
privacy along with playfulness away from the judging eyes, since
the target market would like their ice-creams to look personalized
and match the visuals they see in the media and outdoor
advertisements. Phase 1: The primary research starts by observing
the ice-creaming eating behaviour of people, followed by how to
talk to them, and asking how they feel about it because youth
eating ice-cream is a time of bonding between friends, and has
strong associations with fun and being young. Phase 2: Taking the
idea of childhood further, a questionnaire should be created akin
to fun learning books that kids learn from, not only they have to
write but also draw shapes, connect things, solve small
puzzles.
Some of the things would involve drawing an ice cream from their
imagination, by guessing the right name of the brands, choosing
favourite colours, joining the dots, and connecting the most
appropriate combinations. The users will be supplied with a lot of
colouring pens and watch how they become involved in it, just like
they do while eating ice-creams.
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Phase 3:
Further, retail outlets and other outlets should be analysed on
how the users choose the ice-creams, and how they eat that
ice-cream afterwards. Phase 4:
Finally, put together print advertisements of major ice cream
brands and remove the logo or any identification mark, then ask
users to guess which brand it belonged to. Q2. Discuss in detail
various methods by which sales forecasting can
be done. Ans. Sales forecasting is especially difficult when one
does not have any previous sales history as a guide, as is the case
when working on preparing cash flow projections as part of writing
a business plan. There are all sorts of ways to estimate sales
revenues for the purposes of sales forecasting, and one point to
remember when sales forecasting is that if one plans to work with a
bank for financing, one will want to do multiple estimates so as to
have more confidence in the sales forecast. Sales Forecasting
Method #1 For a particular type of business, one should know the
average sales volume per square foot for similar stores in similar
locations and similar size. Sales Forecasting Method #2 For a
specific location, know how many households needing the goods, how
much will they spend on these items annually, and what percentage
of their spending will the company gets, compared to competitors.
Sales Forecasting Method #3 Make an offer and an estimate of where
the company perceives to be in six months and calculate the gross
sales per day, and multiply by 30 for the month, then scale
proportionately from month one to month six, that is, build up from
no sales or few sales up to the six month sales level, then carry
it out from months six through 12 for a complete annual sales
forecast. Instead of forecasting annual sales as a single figure,
the company should use one or two of the sales forecasting methods
above and generate three figures: pessimistic, optimistic, and
realistic, then put the figures in by month, as depending on the
type of business. In addition, the company has to put in expenses
by month, including big purchases by season, or however
materials/goods are bought, and analysing how much of the sales are
by cash, how much by credit card, how much by extending credit.
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Q3. Distinguish between Semantic Differential scale and Likert
scale.
Give examples. Ans. Semantic differential is a type of a rating
scale designed to measure the connotative meaning of objects,
events, and concepts which are used to derive the attitude towards
the given object, event or concept. Accordingly, semantic
differential was designed to measure the connotative meaning of
concepts in which the respondent is asked to choose where his or
her position lies, on a scale between two bipolar adjectives, such
as being "Adequate-Inadequate", "Good-Evil" or
"Valuable-Worthless". Subsequently, semantic differentials can be
used to describe not only persons, but also the connotative meaning
of abstract concepts which is a capacity used extensively in affect
control theory. The Semantic Differential question scale offers a
bipolar pair of adjectives between which the respondent must choose
along some form of scaling (typically a five-point scale). However,
the pairs of words need not be opposite and may be used to discover
fine differences in viewpoint, and are often adjectives. Unmarked
scales are more difficult to code afterwards, although this can be
done with a Likert scale type overlay, and the advantage of which
is that they are not dependent on the interpretation of words, such
as 'somewhat' can mean a lot or a little to different people.
Relatively, a Likert scale is a psychometric scale commonly
involved in research that employs questionnaires which is the most
widely used approach to scaling responses in survey research, such
that the term is often used interchangeably with rating scale. The
scale is named after its inventor, psychologist Rensis Likert, who
distinguished between a scale proper, which emerges from collective
responses to a set of items (usually eight or more), and the format
in which responses are scored along a range. Furthermore, the
Likert scale is simply a statement which the respondent is asked to
evaluate according to any kind of subjective or objective criteria,
generally the level of agreement or disagreement is measured which
is considered symmetric or balanced because there are equal amounts
of positive and negative positions. Q4. Discuss the methods of
pre-testing and post-testing of advertisements. Ans. Pre-market
research can be conducted to optimize advertisements for any
medium: radio, television, print (magazine, newspaper or direct
mail), outdoor billboard (highway, bus, or train), or Internet. As
such, different methods would be applied to gather the necessary
data appropriately.
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Pre-testing also known as copy testing, is a form of customized
research that predicts in-market performance of an ad, before it
airs, by analysing audience levels of attention, brand linkage,
motivation, entertainment, and communication, as well as breaking
down the ads Flow of Attention and Flow of Emotion. The methods
used to pre-test advertisements are based upon either qualitative
or quantitative criteria, in which the most common methods used to
pre-test advertisements are concept testing, focus groups, consumer
juries, dummy vehicles, readability, theatre and physiological
tests. Measuring attention is very important in pre-testing, where
the data tells where customers look at and which parts of the ad
they ignore, and which is also used to identify weak spots within
an ad to improve performance, to more effectively edit 60s to 30s
or 30s to 15s, to select images from the spot to use in an
integrated campaigns print ad, to pull out the key moments for use
in ad tracking, and to identify branding moments. While
post-testing is conducted after the advertising, either a single ad
or an entire multimedia campaign has been run in-market, in which
the focus is on what the advertising has done for the brand, for
example increasing brand awareness, trial, frequency of purchasing.
Furthermore, post-testing provide either periodic or continuous
in-market research monitoring a brands performance, including brand
awareness, brand preference, product usage and attitudes, and
simply track changes over time, while others use various methods to
quantify the specific changes produced by advertising, either the
campaign as a whole or by the different media utilized. Overall,
advertisers use post-testing to plan future advertising campaigns,
so the approaches that provide the most detailed information on the
accomplishments of the campaign are most valued. Thus, different
types are conducted as part of post-testing advertisements, and
recognition is a necessary condition for effective advertising. Q5.
Write short on the following. a) Advantages and disadvantages of
open ended and closed ended
questions. Ans. Advantages of Open-Ended Questions:
Open-ended questions allow respondents to include more
information, including feelings, attitudes and understanding of the
subject which allows researchers to better access the respondents'
true feelings on an issue.
Open-ended questions cut down on two types of response error, do
not allow respondents to disregard reading the questions and just
"fill in" the survey with all the same answers.
-
Because they allow for obtaining extra information from the
respondent, and can be used more readily for secondary analysis by
other researchers than can surveys that do not provide contextual
information about the survey population.
Disadvantages of Open-Ended Questions:
If open-ended questions are analysed quantitatively, the
qualitative information is reduced to coding and answers tend to
lose some of their initial meaning.
Because open-ended questions allow respondents to use their own
words, it is difficult to compare the meanings of the
responses.
The response rate is lower with surveys that use open-ended
question
than with those that use closed-ended questions. Advantages of
Closed-Ended Questions:
Closed-ended questions are more easily analysed in which every
answer can be given a number or value so that a statistical
interpretation can be assessed.
Closed-ended questions are also better suited for computer
analysis.
Closed-ended questions can be more specific, thus more likely to
communicate similar meanings.
In large-scale surveys, closed-ended questions take less time
from the interviewer, the participant and the researcher.
Disadvantages of Closed-Ended Questions:
Closed-ended questions, because of the simplicity and limit of
the answers, may not offer the respondents choices that actually
reflect their real feelings.
Closed-ended questions also do not allow the respondent to
explain that they do not understand the question or do not have an
opinion on the issue.
b) T-test and z-test. Ans. Z-test and t-test are basically the
same, since they compare between two means to suggest whether both
samples come from the same population. However, there are
variations on the theme for the t-test, like if one has a sample
and wish to compare it with a known mean (e.g. national average)
the single sample t-test is available, but if both of the samples
are not independent of each other and have some factor in common,
i.e. geographical location or before/after treatment, the paired
sample t-test can be applied.
- There are also two variations on the two sample t-test, the
first uses samples that do not have equal variances, while the
second uses samples whose variances are equal. Data types that can
be analysed with z-tests are data points which should be
independent from each other, and Z-test is preferable when n is
greater than 30, in which the distributions should be normal if n
is low, if however n>30 the distribution of the data does not
have to be normal. Data types that can be analysed with t-tests are
data sets which should be independent from each other except in the
case of the paired-sample t-test, where: n
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CASE STUDY I Rex Contact Lens Company Contact lenses are a
modern way of correcting vision. The market has grown rapidly and
changed tin character in recent years. Prices have remained high,
but Rex Contact Lens Company came up with a plan for selling
contact lenses by mail, a system that would permit it to sell at a
much lower price than was currently available. Before making the
investment necessary to develop this new channel of distribution,
Rex wanted to make a better forecast of possible sales than it had
made up to date, and it chose to use the survey method for the
forecast. Two thirds of the total retail market was estimated to be
replacement sales. The average life of a contact lens was thought
to be about one year. If 20 million wore contacts and replaced each
lens once a year the total replacement market was 40 million lenses
a year. Rexs concept was for a mail-order replacement service for
contact lenses. Catalog sales wore booming in many product areas.
And the proposed plan would fit with this national development. A
catalog would be prepared with pictures and descriptions of contact
lenses and their advantages. A toll free number would be provided
for quick service. Lenses would be shipped in sealed bottles within
24 hours of receipt of order and overnight delivery would be
available at extra charge. Customers would mail in orders with
payment or provide credit card identification for phone orders.
Customers for a single contact lens were projected much lower than
the current market level 0 and in addition, this low cost would
reduce or perhaps eliminate customer need for insurance. Before
going further, Rex set about to make an improved forecast for
sales. They conducted a survey among wearer of both regular glasses
and contact lenses to determine their attitudes towards the
proposed mail order sales; the services they would want, the
different kinds of contacts they were interested in (hard, soft,
extended wear, gas permeable, tinted, bifocals); and the
probability they would order lenses by mail. Questions:
1. Which data collection method would you prefer? Why? Ans. Data
Collection is an important aspect of any type of research study,
and inaccurate data collection can impact the results of a study
and ultimately lead to invalid results. Thus for this case,
quantitative and qualitative data collection methods can both be
used. Rex Contact Lens Company may use the Quantitative data
collection methods which rely on random sampling and structured
data collection instruments that fit diverse experiences into
predetermined response categories, and they produce results that
are easy to summarize, compare, and generalize.
-
Quantitative research is concerned with testing hypotheses
derived from theory and/or being able to estimate the size of a
phenomenon of interest. Yet, depending on the research question,
participants may be randomly assigned to different treatments.
However, if this is not feasible, the researcher may collect data
on participant and situational characteristics in order to
statistically control for their influence on the dependent, or
outcome, variable, but if the intent is to generalize from the
research participants to a larger population, the researcher will
employ probability sampling to select participants.
Paper-pencil-questionnaires can also be sent to a large number of
people and saves the researcher time and money, since people are
more truthful while responding to the questionnaires regarding
controversial issues in particular due to the fact that their
responses are anonymous. Moreover, web based questionnaires, is a
new and inevitably growing methodology is the use of Internet based
research which is often quicker and less detailed. While
qualitative data collection methods, also play an important role in
impact evaluation by providing information useful to understand the
processes behind observed results and assess changes in peoples
perceptions of their well-being. Furthermore, this type of method
can be used to improve the quality of survey-based quantitative
evaluations by helping generate evaluation hypothesis,
strengthening the design of survey questionnaires and expanding or
clarifying quantitative evaluation findings. 2. How would you
analyze the data gathered from this study? Ans. Analysing is a tool
which will help Rex Contact Lens Company in gathering information
about what is happening in the optical industry, what needs to be
changed, how people are reacting and to solve problems related to
change. The company can also use this tool to decide what method to
use in gathering information and to guide them in collecting,
analysing, providing feedback and developing action plans. In order
to make a change, the company would need to gather information to
gain a clear understanding of the situation, issue or problem; to
help others understand the change needed; and to move change
forward, and although information can be a catalyst for change,
information itself will not change behaviour. Yet information can
however, clarify the kinds of behaviours and actions needed to
create the desired outcomes. Rex Company must gather information
during the planning stages and then continue to seek information as
they build commitment, anchor and monitor the change. However,
before they begin to gather information, the following questions
should be taken into consideration:
Why do they need more information and how will it be used? Who
can provide meaningful and relevant information? What method(s)
will be used? What resources and time will be required to collect
and analyse data?
-
Who might be involved in planning, gathering and/or analysing
this information?
How will confidentiality be maintained? How will the summary of
results be shared with those involved (if
applicable)? What concerns might people have about the process
and use of this
information? Once the company is ready to begin use these five
steps for gathering information, they must:
1) Decide on the most appropriate method for getting the
information needed
2) Collect the information 3) Decide what the information says
4) Respond, provide feedback or report as appropriate 5) Plan the
next steps
3. Design a suitable questionnaire. CASE STUDY-II Ans. Contact
Lenses should never be supplied without a detailed and extensive
examination of the eyes carried out by a dedicated Contact Lens
Specialist. The aim of the survey is to gain an insight into how
contact lens wearers currently cope when they use their lenses,
their general health as well as their visual needs both at work and
at play, which all have a bearing on the final choice of lens
design perceived to be most suitable for their individual clinical
needs. Thus, the questionnaire may be formatted like this: 1) Do
you wear:
o Glasses o Contact lens o Nothing
2) Have you ever been in a situation when you would have liked
to remove your
contact lenses and not had a case with solution to put them
into?
o Yes o No
3) Would you be interested in a disposable case pre filled with
solution, which
remains sterile until opened?
o Yes o No
4) How much would you be happy to pay for it?
5) Where would you be most likely to want to buy the case?
o Pharmacy, please specify a name that you have in mind
-
o Convenience Store o From hotel mini bar o From Spa or Health
Club o Others, please specify
6) How frequently do you replace your contact lenses?
o Daily o Two weekly o Monthly o Other
7) If you have had a contact lens related eye infection, what
was the reason?
8) How much difficulty do you have driving in glare conditions
with your contact
lenses?
o Dont drive for reasons other than my vision o None at all o A
little bit o A moderate amount o A lot o So much that I cant do
this activity
9) How much difficulty do you have performing any activity due
to dim lighting
with your contact lenses? o Dont drive for reasons other than my
vision o None at all o A little bit o A moderate amount o A lot o
So much that I cant do this activity
10) During the past month, how often have you experienced
focusing
difficulties with your contact lenses? o Dont know o Not
applicable o Never Occasionally Fairly often Very often Always
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CASE STUDY - II JINGLE BELLS Coca-Cola Drink Coca-Cola was the
first theme out of the gate. Delicious and Refreshing came along in
the late 1880s, most likely appearing on an oilcloth sign attached
to a soda fountain awning. Since then, those two words have worked
hard for Coca-Cola in about a trillion different ways. Before long,
theme lines began to make definite statement about the product. In
the early 1920s, Thirst Knows No Season helped consumers think of
Coca-Cola as more than a summertime drink. Later that decade, It
Had To Be good To Get Where It Is added prestige. And Just Around
The Corner From Everywhere emphasized widespread availability. In
1929, the most famous commercial slogan of its time The Pause That
Refreshes marked a return to promoting coke simply as the
quintessential quencher, Into the Age of Aquarius, when Things Go
Better With Coke captured the lively spirit of the times. By then,
the world had become much more sophisticated dining on frozen
dinners and dressing modern. This was reflected by Cokes
breakthrough TV commercials in colour. Have a Coke And A Smile was
unleashed in 1979 among a flurry of disco music (which only made it
sound better), More recently, Coke had to have twice the themes
since there was twice the Coke. In 1985, one campaign had to
position Coke (previously known as New Coke), and another had to
differentiate Coca-Cola classic from its sister product and
competitive brands. The big winners? Catch The Wave for the junior
model, and for the original formula. Red, White and You conjured
images of Americana. After All, Coca-Cola classic had just
established itself as a national treasure on par with the entire
state of Florida. These days, its Always Coca-Cola. With so many
different themes, jingles and slogans added to its name over the
decades, Coke was utterly confused as to which theme strikes the
right chord with Cokes audience (basically everyone over the age of
12 who drinks liquid). Coke primarily wanted to identify if at all
there lies any difference among the appeals rendered by the
jingles- Market research thousands of people surveyed, poked and
prodded questioned How does this jingle appeal to you? Question: 1.
Some marketers are of the belief that advertising Coke through
Aguilera has shown much larger sales of Coke as compared to
cities which believe and practice endorsing Coke via non- Aguilera
advertisements. Write a research proposal for conducting a research
to verify this statement.
Ans. A Research Paper on Coca Cola Company
-
The Coca-Cola Company Limited is the world's largest beverage
company and is the leading producer and marketer of soft drinks,
and due to the facing of highly competition in the market, the
Company used more than million dollars in the R&D, marketing
and production, in order to design a new product to gain a higher
margin. As such, this research is mainly focusing on how Coca-Cola
Company Limited uses strategies in order to competitive in the
mature market. An example would be advertising Coke through
Christina Aguilera, the famous singer, would gain much larger sales
of Coke as compared to cities which believe and practice endorsing
Coke via non-Aguilera advertisements. Firstly, the issues of the
Company will be identified, and then SWOT analysis of the company
will be conducted. After that, evaluation of alternative strategies
will be stated and finally recommendations and implementation will
be given. Problem or Issue Identification
The non-alcoholic carbonated or non-carbonated drinks have
reached the mature market, and Coca-Cola Co. has to develop
strategies in order to remain in the strong competitive market.
Situation Analysis Strengths
o Global Soft drink industry leader o Brand recognition o Large
varieties of product o Highly distribution o Different age group o
Product Innovation o Growth of market share
Weaknesses
o Competition within the company, as Coca Cola Co. has a wide
range of product line such as Coca Cola Classic, Diet-Coke, Sprite,
POWERade, Dr Pepper, Fanta and Aquarius which will increase the
competition between each other.
o Highly rely on the carbonated beverage o Limited product range
o Vest amount of investment in the marketing campaigns
Opportunities
o Worldwide economic and population growth o Soft drinks
dominate the Australian beverage market
Threats
o Political and economic instability in many developing
countries o Competition in national, regional and global soft drink
companies o Consumer attitudes changes