Category: Market Research

Idea generation

Today, business conditions are dependent on knowledge and technology, which have created high rates of competitions. As a result, organizations have realized that they do not possess all solutions, relevant information, and expertise for their problems. Luckily, some have noted that valuable knowledge resides in external sources. Based on this realization, many companies have embarked on exploiting knowledge and expertise outside their boundaries.

Professionals have linked crowdsourcing to creation of new ideas, solving technical issues, innovations, reducing costs of product development, and time for developing new products. Firms have used crowdsourcing to generate new ideas from a large crowd instead of using few in-house individuals. In fact, others have created idea contests with rewards in order to get new concepts. However, it is appropriate to define the problem as precise as possible before initiating an idea contest.

Firms must provide motivational materials for the crowd to participate in the idea generation. The crowd notes that the outcome must be more than the time and effort spent in the contest (Simula and Vuori 5). Consequently, firms have organized expensive reward systems for participant as witnessed during the LG idea contest.

Crowdsourcing contests can result into generation of too many ideas to the extent that an organization can fail to utilize or develop them effectively. While other researchers have noted that crowdsourcing concept is still in its initial stages, others have dismissed it as ineffective concept.

On the contrary, some studies have indicated that crowdsourcing ideas were the best in terms of originality relative to ideas from experts (Simula and Vuori). Therefore, businesses should use crowdsourcing to generate new ideas and solve business problems.

Market research

In market research, crowdsourcing has been useful for gathering information from a large crowd in various parts of the world. The crowd can deliver the desired results in a timely manner and at relatively low costs. Most Web sites that provide crowdsourcing services usually pay their crowds a small fee (as low as US $0.03) in order to respond to their questions.

Web sites for crowdsourcing that handle market research have increased. However, professional researchers question the kind of information collected from the crowd. It is also necessary to note that crowdsourcing has not replaced the traditional market research firms that handle complex research.

Others have noted that crowdsourcing may not be the best approach for conducting market research. It is important to note that crowds get rewards for taking part in the survey. As a result, one may wonder whether the motivating factor could influence the outcome. In most cases, it is difficult to determine whether the participant is a representative of the target population.

This is critical because organizations use market research results for generalization. Therefore, the issue of generalization and representation of the target population is a major factor that marketers must account for before using crowdsourcing. Still, firms may also find it difficult to select a crowd to participate in their market research.

However, carefully selected participants may provide the best response and knowledge that is not available within the organization. They can provide a wide range of ideas on marketing issues that can transform a brand. The challenge is that the crowd may lack the expertise, motivation, creative thinking, and the intellectual ability that is necessary for generating effective idea and solution (Poetz and Schreie 245).

Works Cited

Poetz, Marion and Martin Schreie. “The value of crowdsourcing: Can users really compete with professionals in generating new product ideas?” The Journal of Product Innovation Management 29.2 (2012): 245-256. Print.

Simula, Henri and Mervi Vuori. “Benefits and Barriers of Crowdsourcing in B2b Firms: Generating Ideas with Internal and External Crowds.” International Journal of Innovation Management 16.6 (2012): 1-19. Print.

Business Type

Wunderman Thompson is an American advertising company with its headquarters in New York. The business delivers end-to-end solutions that produce ground-breaking work by using its expertise throughout the entire customer journey, including media, commerce, consulting, customer relationship and experience, and technology (Wunderman Thompson, n.d.). In its role as a market research firm, Wunderman Thompson Agency primarily researches what motivates consumers and what motivates brands through a rigorous and multifaceted research methodology to pinpoint the characteristics a brand must possess, the stories it should tell, and the experiences it can create to inspire people.

Respondent’s Background

During my interview, I connected with C. C., a trends analyst at Wunderman Thompson. As the trends analyst, C. researches market trends across multiple industries and crafts weekly stories that break down what current research means for brands and consumers. The main reason I settled on C. is because I had come across several articles written by her where she interviews experts across industries and conducts research to showcase valuable insight for their clients. By being both a writer and researcher, she blends creativity and professionalism which I find is interesting. C. has been with Wunderman Thompson for about two years and credits the interviews she often does with industry experts as her favourite part of the job. One prominent research she has done for the company is on how brands and agencies can thrive in the digital realm of the metaverse. Moreover, her work on how digital creators and users can become owners and how social media will be decentralized features greatly in her research.

Types of Surveys the Company Conducts

Wunderman Thompson uses a wide range of tools to conduct its surveys. The company utilizes different segmentation types of surveys where it directs targeted survey questions to existing and prospective customers based on their common attributes such as lifestyle and brand preference or usage. Moreover, it also uses customer loyalty surveys to analyze why customers are loyal to a specific brand or product. Finally, there is competitor analysis that helps the company derive reports to understand their clients’ competitors and examine how a target market views a client’s products or services compared to the competition. Using technological tools such as the Internet and media, Wunderman Thompson is able to conduct its research efficiently.

Qualitative Research Versus Quantitative Research

C. says she prefers to perform integrated research because it offers robust and complete results. This is because it offers valuable perspective and can be combined to generate actionable insights, unlike either qualitative or quantitative research that when used in isolation offers incomplete results.

Technology and Data Analysis in Market Research

C. gathers, processes, and analyzes data using a range of technologies and analytical methods. The company uses artificial intelligence to aid in making the most informed business decisions and data analysis software to execute analyses.

Measuring Return on Investment (ROI) Of A Market Research Project

The respondent establishes specific objectives and goals for the market research in order to discover key performance indicators (KPIs). The KPIs, such as improved sales, market share, customer happiness, or cost savings, will aid in determining the ROI of the research.

Technological Advancements in Market Research

There have been several technological advancements in market research especially in automation of data collection and analytics. However, what the respondent sees as an emerging trend in market research is virtual and augmented reality. In application the emerging technological tools will be used to conduct immersive research studies; therefore, allowing researchers to understand consumer behavior and preferences in a realistic setting.

References

Wunderman Thompson. (n.d.). Wunderman Thompson. Web.

Introduction

Heineken is a brewing company within the global beer industry. The company operates all over the world with the main brewery operating from Europe and other networks distributed all over the world including in the US. The latest brand they produced is known as Heineken Premium light which is sold on an off and on-premise basis within the global market.

The beer brand provides the need for most domestic light drinkers since it also has most preferred taste of their life. The manufacture of Heineken Premium light brought a new dimension within the beer industry in the United States market.

This was accompanied by re-positioning of other beer brands such as Amstel Light which also provided consumers with some level of comfort making the brand popular within the world market. The new brands introduced in the market brought competition to another level reinforcing on the fame of the brand within the market.

Heineken has operated Subsidiary Company within the US for the last two decades, which is since early 1990s. The company is located in New York City and manufactures some of the best beer brands such as; Heineken Lager, Heineken Light, Newcastle Brown Ale, Tecate, Amstel Light, Dos Equis, and Tecate Light.

Heineken decided to introduce most of its products within the US market owing to various reasons one of them being the fact that consumers in the U.S. became so much attracted to special beer brands like those offered by Heineken.

In the current world, consumers would wish to get value for every money they spend, hence the need for quality products. Such a desire has created a wide market segment for Heineken products. The quality of the products has earned Heineken favour with the US market (Heineken USA, 2010).

Background of Heineken Company

The demand for quality beer has made Heineken USA one of the most popular bear brands within the global market. Their wide range of products and high demand for their products led to adjustment of prices of which helped in maintaining the company’s image.

Various brands such as Mexican brands got promoted within the US market by making efforts to raise their profile specific brands invested in being Dos Equis Larger and Tecate. Through these investment, Heineken became a renown distributor from FEMSA for less than ten years. Hence, granting Heineken USA an opportunity towards sustainable growth and development of the various brand (Katz, 1991).

Heineken Brand Portfolio within the market include products such as; Heineken Larger, Heineken Premium Light, Amstel Light, Tecate Light amongst others. There is enough evidence from secondary sources showing that in America beer makes the first choice drink for many.

Recent surveys reveals that the percentage of Americans who drink beer reaches approximately 64%, the rate of drinking population within the United States is on the rise for the last ten years. Statistics from secondary sources reveal that there is an average of 4.5 beer drinks per week owing to health related matters. A good percentage of the population prefer drinking beer than wine (Tremblay and Carol, 2005; Harney, 1995).

Targeted consumer segment

Highest percentage of beer consumers are the young to middle-age group (Weinberg, 1999). This is since the aging population are known to shift their taste so quickly to wine. Heineken strategizes to utilize entertainment quotas for the purposes of reaching the middle-age population.

Young ladies as well as women are however linked to taking mixed drinks. The company strategizes on rebranding so as to reach every population segment, including off-premise consumption and at the same time appear appealing to the population (Elzinga, 2005).

Reasons for the target segment within the US

Heineken targets urban dwelling youths since they are considered heavy consumers. The target population are considered spend thrift. Entertainment was chosen as means of reaching the middle-age since they take such moments for luxurious purposes.

Thorough management of customer requirements within the rich beverage market environment requires modification to be done on product life cycles mainly through virtual operation of identified supply chains (Cachon and Fisher, 2000). Heineken’s distribution channel should have the ability to seamlessly respond to changing demand as well as consumer requirements with minimal losses.

Theory and practice supports the use of truly integrated supply chain since it’s capable of assisting firms in achieving significant value at minimal cost. At the same time it’s also capable of creating value for those within the supply chain. Reaching ultimate point of an integrated supply chain is difficult, owing to the presence of multiple lines of definitions describing the concept.

Desk Research

Secondary sources will be used for the purposes of refining the objectives and at the same time providing base for other stages within the research domain. The desk research will gather required information on the world and US trends on the usage of beer over the past years.

The statistics will be useful source of information indicating the status within the marketplace. There will be need to identify the various brand names and at the same time reveal any important information on the various competing brands.

Problem Statement

Some Heineken beer brands in the US market include; Bud Light, Budweiser, Coors Light, Miller Lite, Natural light, Busch Light, Miller Genuine Draft, Miller High Life, and Michelob Light. Heineken being of European origin is held in high esteem in the US beer market despite its high prices.

The news gazetted in Forbes magazine led to growing interest in the US market. The magazine indications gave important data on annual beer consumption in the whole world (Elzinga, 2005).

Objectives

The main objective is to examine the overall attitude towards the use of Heineken within the Global market environment.

1. To examine how Heineken beer is used within domestic settings.
2. To identify consumer attitude towards Heineken and other competing brands.
3. To identify the various promotional platforms which could be used for the purposes of launching the beer in new markets.

The objectives will in detail follow the distribution of the beer from arrival in the market until consumption or disposal in some other ways. There research through the objective will seek to establish the number of people using beer and the kind of brands they currently like using and the reasons behind every use and the constituent of every target audience.

The other objective will seek to introduce the product in new markets and identify the groups that majorly use beer hence giving idea on the quantities consumers are likely to purchase and whether the market is ready for any price increment.

There will be establishment on the other kinds of beer consumers are aware about. Finally there will be concern in identifying the brand that looks appealing to most promising segments within the market.

The research proposal will cover three stages which include inspection of the available sources to obtain statistics and information on usage figures. Then there will be qualitative research providing in-depth information on the use of beer in the domestic market, various consumer reactions towards the brand and the possibility for the use of Heineken brand.

Methodology

Qualitative Research

The objectives will be answered through the application of detailed qualitative information. The research will focus on exploring and establishing the nature of consumer reactions towards Heineken brand and at the same time quantitative research used in establishing the nature of impact of consumer attitude towards the brand.

Qualitative research will seek to answer questions such as whether beer is majorly used in public joints or at home, the kind of brand accepted in the market, consumer awareness on the new and old beer brands, the groups of people most likely to purchase the brand and quantities they consume on a daily basis.

The impact of the brand name on consumers and preparedness to pay higher prices will also be established (Strauss and Corbin, 1990).

Qualitative research provides ways through which the researcher presents his/her point of view on research issues including experiences. Qualitative research is always suitable for answering questions examining general human behaviour, motives as well as hindrances.

Qualitative research seeks to critically analyze very important issues used in identification of research problem, development of the tentative answers to the formed theories and development of good and applicable concepts. Researchers in every field are expected to have diverse theoretical experiences that mainly govern their specific areas of research. Hence leading to diverse results owing to different qualitative approaches used (Black, 1994).

Qualitative research always aims at producing vivid description of the phenomenon in question, and at the same time gives conclusive interpretation of the meaning of phenomenon in question.

Qualitative research method also aims at developing concepts from the analyzed data and ultimately link them to appropriate theories. The interview guide used in this process is normally semi-structured and focus on the areas bearing much controversies within the market segments (Black, 1994).

Qualitative research involves inquiry processes that help in understanding social and human aspects within a defined environment. It assists in building an understanding on the manner in which people see and build their lives as important processes, the relationships involved and finally interpret the existing relationships within the context of social environment (Black, 1994).

This research will seek to establish the relationship between the research objectives and findings from the interview. However Grounded theory has been used for the purposes of interpreting data collected.

Collecting, interpreting and understanding of data is done best in grounded theory, where the collection of data, its analysis and theory stand in reciprocal relationship whereby the area of study is proved relevant by the research undertaken (Strauss and Corbin, 1990).

Rationale for using in-depth interviews

In-depth interviews will be utilized as a way of assisting in gaining an understanding from respondents and interpreting their interactions based on the entire beer market. Usually, in-depth interviews are flexible and easy to understand since they are generally open-ended, neutral, sensitive and very clear to the respondent.

The structure provided by the method allows for open conversations which provide detailed information about the interviewees’ general experiences. In-depth interviews will be utilized to assist in deep understanding of the social and physical settings of the market environment, the traditions within the US market, values, effects and roles practised by participants.

Using in-depth interviews will enable collection of sufficient and crucial data information. This is one of the ethical concerns which also reinforces trust between the interviewer and the interviewee and make the respondents to be willing to contribute more and more (Strauss and Corbin, 1990).

For the case of this study empirical research design will developed in order to help in exploring theoretical views discussed. Individual calculations will be measured based on the interviews conducted and previous data collected and statistically analyzed.

Database from previous company records having track details on the nature of the effect of policies market trends and environment will also be analyzed. Meta analysis will be conducted so as to incorporate all the effects of public policies on inequalities within the industry from previous decades (Strauss and Corbin, 1990).

Quantitative Research

There is a proposal of utilizing telephone study through the use of questionnaire on CATI. This is since the method proves to be very cost-effective considering the procedure of contacting relevant respondents. Use of telephone would also ensure accurate selection of participants.

Qualitative research will quantify the percentage of beer consumers and at the same time establish the kind of brands people like. Percentages for both spontaneous and prompted awareness will also be established. Classification of data will provide detail information on the group of people who buy and use beer and the prices they are ready to pay per brand.

Units of analysis

Various supply chain logistics problems facing multi-site companies like Heineken can be complex. This is since it involves multiple stakeholders as well as various constraints across the entire enterprise. The complex nature of the supply chain sometimes complicates production lines making definition of products difficult.

Complications run from definitions, means of transport, nature of goods to be purchased, facilities to be involved in processing and the kind of business components to be incorporated.

In many cases, different departments or divisions within company’s trade, marketing and operation planning have a hand in these decisions, but communication among these entities is not always clear or consistent, and each may optimize to their own objectives without regard for others. Hence the results drastically affect the level of profitability within companies like Heineken (Fisher, 1997).

Heineken could gain flexibility by quickly realigning the demand mix within the market for the purposes of fulfilling US market demand for beer. Switching and at the same time coordinating costs may present potential barriers towards flexible operations. Switching costs can be reduced if all supply chain partners standardizes their products and processes globally which presents some degree of challenges.

Coordination costs can be significant for global integration of cross-functional supply processes. A well-structured global demand forecasting and planning process is an important mechanism for global coordination across functions. Regional representation ensures that all relevant sectors are considered with same level of importance.

Heineken Company is a globally integrated company having regional representation hence requires costly resources, information and infrastructure. Globally integrated information systems are critical in reducing communication costs within the market hence making relevant information readily accessible and at the same time reducing coordination costs (Fisher, 1997).

Forces of globalization and commoditization in business within beer industry are not easily controlled. Globalization and commoditization have created challenges for companies appearing competitive within the beer industry. During the industrial revolution, companies looked for new markets, diverse sources of raw materials and new sources of labour.

The ascertained revolution was engineered by globalization making the market wide open only for companies to develop by utilizing advantage of economies of scale. Management authorities understood the reasons as to why they could not just focus on supply chain operations in the process of creating efficiencies.

The challenge comes in integrating beer supply chain by the use of overall corporate business strategy, and to use the supply chain as a catalyst for business transformation.

However, information integration is used to refer to the sharing of information amongst members of the supply chain. The ability to relate closely with customers, partners, and co-workers is crucial for the success. The ability to develop strategies between different formats is critical in the pursuit of the Heineken’s mission.

This involves all kinds of data capable of influencing the actions and performances of other members of the supply chain. Representation of all data items should be understood and the same data item should have the same definition across multiple applications both within and outside the firm. To make the integration process worth the effort, the data should be of high quality, timely, accurate and relevant.

Population Sampling

Random sampling method will be applied in this research involving non-systematic collection of samples from population within the US market. Advantage of this method is that it gives opportunity for participation of significant section of population. The approach provides avenues necessary for obtaining candid outcome. Beer taking community will be given equal opportunity to participate in the study.

However, the sampling size used within this method will be indefinite despite assisting in building conclusive results from data collected. Coding and analysis will enable researcher decide where to collect data and the type of data to be collected. The sampling will be based on purposive and on judgemental basis which will ensure involvement of participants relevant to the field of study.

Three hundred interviews will be conducted in various consumer segments. The aim will be to give spread of responses where differences can easily be established.

The consumers will be drawn from different population segments. Proportional sampling technique will be applied in the process of selecting the sample size from each segment. The population of this study will be 300 beer consumers, drawn from different segments within the US population.

Table 6: The sample quotas will be set as follows.

Procedure

Questionnaire to be used will be developed and sent to Heineken Company head quarters for approval purposes. The questionnaire will touch various points and include questions such as; what kinds of beer brands do the company have?

What other competitive brands are in the market? Which group of people mostly use the beer brand? What is the projected rate of consumption and buying habit within the market? Are the consumers ready to pay highly for the brand?

The questions will be pre-coded where possible, open-ended questions will be utilized for the purposes of obtaining detailed information. Code frames will be used based on the responses within the range of first 10%. Computer analysis will be utilized, where frequency distribution tables will be applied.

Data will be summarized and presented in form of tables and charts within which mean, standard deviation, frequencies and percentages will be shown. Evaluation of the collected data will be followed by statistical analysis; the data will be weighted for the purposes of harmonizing the data with current national figures.

Analysis will be preceded by complete check for completeness and consistency. Descriptive statistics will be utilized in the process for thorough questionnaire analysis.

Data will be verified through undertaking supplementary interviews, checking company records and channels of distributions. At the same time estimates from fellow competitors within the beer industry will be useful while at the same time reviewing historical data on performance trends. Client-approved kind of interview questionnaires will be used to cover broad spectrum of topics.

Reporting

There will be need to submit and interim report detailing qualitative process undertaken. Then there will necessity to call brief meeting with the company management team. After which the presentation will be prepared in power-point detailing all findings. The analysis will entail the use of charts and tables summarizing all the sections of the research.

Ethical Concern

Interview was conducted amongst the same individuals to establish on the validity of their responses. Before the start of the interview, each interviewee will be requested to sign consent form after carefully reading and accepting with the written conditions.

The interview process will be audio-taped and transcribed for confidentiality purposes. Each respondent was given a code name which was used instead of their real names; this ensured that there was no possibility of linking individuals to any information given.

Timetable

The table presented shows the suggested amount of time the research study is expected to take. The time factor shown is directly correlated with the deadlines set within the briefs. However, weekly reports will be sent for verification making it easier writing the weekly summary and at the same time making necessary adjustments,

Table 7: Proposed Timetable

Budget

The budget proposed for the whole research work excludes any VAT. The cost per section provided is inclusive of any assumptions contained within the proposal. However, the budget is open to any adjustments that may arise in the process of the study.

Table 8: Proposed Budget

Reference List

Black, T. R. 1999 Doing quantitative research in the social sciences: Anintegratedapproach to research design, measurement, and statistics. ThousanOaks,CA, SAGE Publications, Inc.

Cachon, G & Fisher, M. 2000, ‘Supply chain inventory management and the value of shared information,’ Management Science, Vol 46 no 8, pp. 1032-1048.

Elzinga, K. 2005 Beer: The Structure of American Industry, edited by Walter Adamsand James Brock, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, Pearson Hall.

Fisher, M. L. 1997, ‘What is the right supply chain for your product?’ Harvard Business Review, vol 75 no 2, pp.105–116.

Harney, A. K. 1995 Malt Beverages, Washington, D.C.: Office of Industries, United States International Trade Commission, USITC Publication.

Heineken USA. 2010, The Company history products brands. Web.

Katz, P. 1991. Brewing Industry in the United States; Brewers Almanac. The Beer Institute, Washington, D.C.

Strauss, A & Corbin, J. 1990 Basics of qualitative research: Grounded theory procedures and techniques, London.

Tremblay, V & Carol, H. 2005 The U.S. Beer Industry: Data and Economic Analysis, Cambridge, Massachusetts, The MIT Press.

Weinberg, R. 1999,’Watching the Market,’ Modern Brewery Age, vol 48. no.11, pp 4-30.

Introduction

Halo is an upcoming firm that sells phone case to its customers. It is a branch of Young Enterprise Company. The decision to specialise in the phone cases was reached after careful market research. The market research revealed that mobile phone users were in dire need of phone cases to help in protecting this gadget. Some individuals spend a lot of money on buying expensive phones. However, such phones do not last long because of constant handling.

The latest models of Smartphone with large screen were at greater risk of damage, especially when they fall. The only way of addressing this problem was to come up with various designs of cases that can help to reduce wear and tear of the phones even in cases when they fall (Cook 2005, p. 140).

Halo was started out of the desire to fill a market gap that had existed for a very long time. The demand for products in this special niche was growing as the leading phone manufacturers started introducing various models to meet the dynamic needs of the customers. In order to meet the objectives in the market, the stakeholders have clearly identified officers responsible for various activities. At the top management level, there is the managing director.

His main function is to ensure that strategic goals are clearly defined and that the interests of the shareholders are met. The administrator is the principal assistant of the managing director, responsible for the internal operations activities. Each of the departmental heads is responsible for various planning and managing activities in their departments. They include finance director, operations leader, and marketing director. The top leadership of this new firm have developed a working plan that makes it possible for departmental heads to have closely coordinated management structure.

Reflective Analysis of How Halo Company was Developed

Halo Company was founded after a series of meetings of various stakeholders who were interested in addressing a market gap that had been identified. We were motivated by the constant complains of people around us about the need to have effective phone cases. After a series of meetings, we decided to launch our own research in order to understand the specific needs of the market. The following are the objectives that the team wanted to achieve through that market research.

• To determine the specific needs of the customers in the market.
• To find out if these needs are met by the existing players in the industry.
• To determine the expected clients who will be interested in buying these products.
• To identify various approaches to payments that the clients will be willing to use
• To identify changes that may affect the product either in its design, material used, or its cost.

To operate successfully, the management had to get detailed information about the market (Jain 2011, p. 67). The above objectives will enable the firm to have basic knowledge about the local market. After conducting market research, the team moved to the next step of identifying the individuals who were to be responsible for various management duties at the firm. The following offices identified.

• The managing director.
• The administrator.
• The marketing director.
• The operations officer.
• The finance director.

These offices were necessary in order to facilitate specific operations of the new firm. The name Halo Company was arrived at through a series of brainstorming sessions and wide consultations.

Product

It took time for the team members to come up with a specific product for the new firms. Some team members wanted this new firm to start by offering two or three different types of products. After a series of consultative forums, the team accepted that the firm should specifically concentrate on the production of phone cases. There was an agreement that the firm may expand in its product offerings at a later date when it will be necessary.

Market Research

According to Anderson (2004, p. 48), when conducting a market study, it is important to identify the most appropriate type of research that will help in collecting the relevant information from the field. Because of the nature of information needed by this new firm, a mix of primary and secondary research will be necessary (Walker 2012, p. 113). The researchers will use secondary market research to understand the history of the firm. Secondary research will take the form of a literature review.

Reviewing of the exiting literature will help the researchers to understand the past events that affected the industry, the trends that have defined operations of the players, the level of competition, and some of the environmental challenges that the existing players face. According to Grigoroudis and Siskos (2010, p. 67), in some industry, the relationship between rival firms is very frosty and characterised by mistrust. In other industries, rival firms have very close relationship geared towards a mutual benefit for all the players. Having knowledge about the nature of the industry prepares a firm for the expected eventuality (Knight 2006, p. 25).

A firm should know whether it is getting into a friendly market or a highly hostile market. Such information can only be retrieved from secondary sources that have documented the industry. Books, journal articles and newspapers will be important to understand the history of the industry (Novikova 2009, p. 49). Newspapers will be important at this stage, especially those that reported on issues relating to the industry.

According to Hernon and Whitman (2000, p. 45), the internet has also become an important source of secondary information. The researcher will use reliable websites that have documented issues related to this industry. Secondary sources of information will act as the background of the research upon which the primary research is based (Hinkel 2011, p. 118).

The primary sources of data were very important when capturing the current events in this industry. In order to do this, the researchers went identified a firm that is already existing in this industry. The chosen firm was Phone Casing Inc. in London. The customers, employees and managers of this small enterprise were in a good position to respond to various questions about the industry because it has been in existence for the last five years.

A questionnaire was used to collect data. A sample of the questionnaire is attached at the appendix of this report (Glatthorn 2005, p. 86). The questionnaire had four parts. The first part sought to capture the background information of respondents. The second part dealt with the demography and gender of the respondents and how it affected their capacity to sell various products in the market.

It also helped to ascertain the prevalence of views in various categories in order to ensure that if any differences came about, then they would be captured in their demographic space (Arenius & Minniti 2005, p. 245). The third part dealt with the academic credentials and work experience of the respondents. The motivation for this section came from the understanding that different views of the employees on various environmental issues differed, based on age and academic credentials. The fourth part delved into the specific issues relating to market forces in this industry, the important past events, the current prevailing market forces, and how the firm is dealing with these forces to remain sustainable.

The questionnaire also employed a mix of open and closed-ended questions to capture different aspects of the issues studied. Open-ended questions were used because they give respondents more time to figure out their opinions, which would make them volunteer more information related to feelings, outlooks and comprehension of the subject (Aaker 2009, p. 57). This would allow a researcher to understand the position of respondents as regards to feelings. Open-ended questions minimise some errors that could have been created in the course of research (Kumar 2004, p. 78). Respondents rarely forget answers if given an opportunity to respond freely.

Furthermore, respondents cannot ignore some questions because they must go through all of them. Open-ended questions generate data that can be used in qualitative data analysis. In other words, they allow secondary data analysis. On the other hand, closed-ended questions are analysed easily. That is why they were used in this study. Each response can be coded for statistical interpretation (Bell, 2005, p. 17).

Closed-ended questions are compatible with computer analysis package. The technique is more specific meaning that its answers are consistent in all conditions (Leedy 2010, p. 31). This aspect is impossible with open-ended questions because each respondent is allowed to use his or her own words. Finally, closed-ended questions take less time to administer, unlike open-ended questions, which are detailed hence time-consuming. Data collected were analysed using statistical tools.

The sample used in the research

According to Cramer (2003, p. 43), when conducting research, it is important to define the same that will be used. As a firm that is getting into a new market, it will be appropriate to use a large sample size in order to get the diversified views of the people in the market. However, several constraints such as time and resources to be used limited the number of respondents (Badenhorst 2007, p. 56).

The researchers used a sample of 100 respondents. This number was manageable, given the existing constraints. The researcher selected fifty male and fifty female respondents. In each stratum, the researcher went further to have both young and old respondents in equal number (Hakim 2000, p. 87). This means that the number of young respondents was fifty, and the number of old respondents was also fifty. Those below 35 years were considered young, while those above this age were considered old. This was necessary to help capture the divergent views of customers and individuals working in this industry (Temporal 2010, p. 75).

In order to ensure that each stratum had the expected proportion of participants, the researchers used stratified sampling. In each of the sub-strata, simple random sampling was used to select individual participants.

Business Plan

Our business plan had to be based on the research findings that were conducted. The team members decided to consult the parent firm, Young Enterprise, in order to develop a comprehensive business plan. However, we developed a proposed plan that would be modified by the parent firm to align the new firm’s activities with that of the parent firm. In the plan, the main product was identified as a phone casing, and the target market would be the locals at Plymouth.

Funds would be generated through the sale of shares to the group members. The issues of capital generation and marketing strategies are discussed in the sections below. The managing director was assigned the task of reaching out to the parent firm with our proposals in order to get approval or modification to our plan.

Marketing Strategy

The analysis proved very important in helping this team to identify the target market and the potential of various customer segments (Lehmann & Winer 2008, p. 53). It was clear from the analysis of the data that the market for phone cases can be classified into three major segments. The first segment has the rich who are very keen on quality. They are ready to pay high prices as long as they are assured of high-quality products. They specifically prefer leather cases. They also go for known brands (Keegan & Green 2013, p. 38). The second category is those who want quality products but at considerable prices.

They avoid products that are highly priced. The third segment had customers who are very sensitive on issues about the price. Although they also admire high quality products, they are ready to compromise on the quality as long as they are assured of low product prices (Nash 2000, p. 45). Halo will have three different lines of products to target these three groups. The data also confirmed that there is a potentially that has not been fully tapped in this industry. Halo Company can exploit this opportunity as long as it can deliver quality products that meet expectations of the customers.

Capital

In this new business start-up, it was important to come up with a clear structure on how to get capital to support our operations. We could not rely on the parent firm to provide the resources to start operations. It was agreed that the members will buy shares from the new company. The team faced serious challenges in coming up with the value for each share. Until now, it is not clear how the value of each share should be calculated. However, members agreed to pay £ 181.9 per share to help in raising the capital for the start-up. The team is still working on how to improve this area.

Company Meetings

Company meetings have offered an avenue through which the stakeholders can discuss pertinent issues affecting various departments. In these meetings, members have been able to address issues concerning the Memorandum and Article of Association, sources of funds for the firm, products to be offered, and the target market. The First Review Meeting was held on February 2, 2015. In this meeting, roles and responsibilities of various departmental heads were discussed. At such forums, the managing director is always expected to a give a status report on the progress made towards forming strategic partnership with some of the external players such as the suppliers. Members also get opportunity to share issues affecting their work.

Keeping Relevant Books

The accounts department has the responsibility of keeping all the relevant accounting books in this firm. However, it was agreed that the departmental heads will be responsible for keeping books of account used in their departments for the purpose of verification. This would enhance accountability at the firm and facilitate easy verification of records. The managing director’s office would compile a detailed report of annual performance to help the top management in determining the progress of the firm in the market.

Good Business Practices

The market research that was conducted revealed that customers are very sensitive of the products offered to them in the market. It is the responsibility of this firm to maintain ethical practices in order to avoid negative experiences with the customer. Good business practices starts with the management taking care of the interests of its employees and leading by example in demonstrating that unethical practices should be avoided at all times. The management has always avoided temptations to engage in vices such as bribery because of the need to protect the image of the firm.

Payment of Value Added Tax and Corporate

In order to operate legally, the team realised that they had to be responsible in payment of tax as promptly as required by the law. The firm has already acquired ETR machines to help in ticketing process as one way of being a responsible tax payer. Although the team expects a corporate tax relief within the first two years of operations, the management has put in place structures that will facilitate payment of such taxes in subsequent years.

Evaluation of Effectiveness of Business

It may not be easy to determine the effectiveness of the business within the first few months of operations. However, the firm has been able to achieve some of its objectives within the short period of operations. The business plan has been helpful, but it will be necessary to have some adjustments to reflect the changing market structure. The market research proved very useful in informing the strategy the firm and the communication strategies. The management has been using consultative approach to deal with various problems.

Analysis of Mistakes

The management team appreciates that a few mistakes were made at the initial stages of development. The team did not have a clear timeline of the business plan. The timeline was changed a couple of times due to external pressures. Managing the group dynamics was also another issue that the management will need to address.

Conclusions

Halo is a new subsidiary of Young Enterprise Company that specialises in the production of phone cases. This firm will have its first offices in Plymouth. However, it has plans to expand its operations to various other regions in the country once it is commissioned. Most of the products will be purchased from the top suppliers in a business-to-business trade. Once acquired, they will be sold in the outlets at Plymouth and online platform. However, the management has plans to set up its production plants in order to have a greater control in its supply chain. Although much is yet to be done by the top management unit, the programme has been laid out explaining the role of different stakeholders at the firm. If the firm is able to put into practice some of the findings of this report, then it will be assured of success.

Appendix

The Data Analysisfor Questionnaire

Research Background: Young-Enterprise Company.

Research Method: Questionnaire.

Start time: 07/02/2015 End time: 14/02/2015.

Total collected: 75.

Date and analysis

• Question 1. What is your gender? [Multiple choice]

• Question 2: What is your age? [Multiple choice]

• Question 3. Do you use the phone Cases to protect your telephone? [Multiple choice]

• Question 4. What is your phone brand? (please indicate the specific product model) [Multiple choice]

• Question 5. What kinds of phone cases do you like ? [Multiple choice]

• Question 6. What color of the phone cases do you like? [Multiple choice]

• Question 7. What kind of material would you like for your phone cases? [Multiple choice]

• Question 8. What sort of price do you like to pay for one case? [Multiple choice]

• Question 9. How many cases do you normally buy? [Multiple choice]

• Question 10. How often do you change your phone case? [Multiple choice]

• Question 11. Where do you buy your phone case? [Multiple choice]

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AeroTech, Inc. specializes in conducting aerospace technology research and manufacturing associated products. The position of the firm in the market is not stable, and some of the company’s engineering teams do not demonstrate expected results while affecting marketing and sales (Anderson, Cases, and Exercises 154). The purpose of this paper is to analyze what problems AeroTech has with the focus on specific underlying problems, what data gathering methods to use, and what advantages and disadvantages of the proposed methods should be taken into account.

The Client’s Requests

In this case, Patrick Delacroix, the executive vice president of engineering, is a client who is interested in receiving consultation and assistance for improving the work of the company’s laser systems team headed by Todd Lyman. Delacroix asked Cassandra Wilson, the firm’s organization development consultant, to assist in planning time management and prioritization training for engineers from the laser systems team with the focus on providing them with training in project management. In addition, Delacroix requested to provide management coaching for Lyman in order to develop his skills (Anderson, Cases and Exercises 156). These requests reflected how Delacroix saw the problematic situation in AeroTech, and they represented his priorities in evaluating the faced issues.

Presenting and Underlying Problems

Presenting problems are issues that are usually provided in the form of explanations of situations given by leaders. These problems are initially accentuated by clients seeking assistance because they are easy to become aware of (Anderson, Organization Development 132). In this case, presenting problems are those reported by Delacroix: affected productivity as the inability to release or present products in time and win the market share and inappropriate time management associated with the work of the laser systems team and ignored deadlines. One more associated problem is over budgeting that is typical of the laser systems team. As a result, the productivity of the whole firm is affected, the market share is potentially lost, deadlines for product releases are not followed, and over budgeting is observed.

Underlying problems are issues that should be considered as the key causes of presenting problems. If presenting problems demonstrate symptoms of an issue or a problematic condition recognized by a leader, underlying problems demonstrate what particular aspects caused the development of these issues (Anderson, Organization Development 132). In this case, the conversation between Delacroix and Wilson indicates that the company suffers from some underlying problems associated with the work of the laser systems team.

Firstly, the members of the laser systems team experience the pressure of working in this newly designed environment, the period of adaptation is required, they still feel that their desires to work together were ignored, but they are strictly controlled by Delacroix, and this aspect can contribute to creating stressful environments in addition to regular overwork.

Secondly, the managerial style of Lyman can be inappropriate for working with a team that includes new and tenured employees, he is inclined to complete inaccurate projections, and his approach is not correlated with Delacroix’s expectations. Thus, Lyman can lack appropriate goals set for him by Delacroix in terms of managing the team. The most likely problems, in this case, are the inability of Lyman’s team to cooperate because of its composition and the lack of adaptation, and Lyman’s unawareness of exact goals to complete according to the company’s expectations.

Data Gathering Methods to Use

It is important for Wilson to collect data that can support the assumed underlying problems. The data that can illustrate that engineers from the laser systems team cannot work appropriately because of experienced barriers, pressure, and dissatisfaction are their narratives and opinions regarding the situation in the newly designed team. It is necessary to understand what specific factors influence engineers’ time management and productivity from their personal perspective. Moreover, the data that can illustrate potential problems with Lyman’s managerial style and inabilities to set accurate goals and deadlines are official documents of AeroTech and reports, including the information regarding differences in deadlines and budgets used before and after assigning Lyman as the manager of the project.

In order to collect the first type of data, it is reasonable to conduct the focus group session involving the members of the laser systems team without Lyman. The method of focus groups is selected because it allows for contacting the whole team and initiating debates in order to collect data regarding the atmosphere and communication in the team. The task of Wilson is to schedule a meeting, prepare questions to discuss, and conduct a meeting that can last several hours. Questions formulated for the focus group should be similar to these ones: “How can you describe your experience of working in the laser systems team during the past year?”, “What problems can you identify in the work of the team?”, “In your opinion, what are the causes of these problems?”, “What are strong and weak sides of Lyman’s leadership?” and others.

To gather the second type of data, it is necessary to use unobtrusive measures, including the collection of information from AeroTech’s historical documents and reports regarding the performance of the laser systems team and other teams in terms of following deadlines, using budgets, distributing resources, scheduling, and forecasting among other issues. It is necessary to collect these unbiased and valid data in order to understand what tendencies are observed in the work of teams with the focus on their productivity and contributing to the company’s profits without the impact of Delacroix’s and Lyman’s opinions. Table 1 illustrates the timeline for conducting proposed data gathering with reference to the limited time available for these activities.

Advantages and Disadvantages of the Methods

The key advantages of focus groups are the possibility to collect data from several persons at once and save resources and to gather information in the form of a conversation or debates to provoke participants to declare their opinions. In the context of the discussed case, it is possible to stimulate thinking and analysis of the team’s dynamics during the focus group session for the laser systems team.

However, there are also disadvantages associated with potential avoidance of conflicts during the meeting, dominant thinking of some members of the team, and the impossibility to discuss private issues appropriate for interviews. In addition, the process of analyzing the recorded data can take more time than it was planned initially (Anderson, Organization Development 134). Using these data, it will be possible to plan team building activities, work redesign, and regular negotiations for team members.

Potential advantages of using unobtrusive measures are the possibility to gather data that are not influenced by the interpretation and vision of Delacroix or the team leader. Furthermore, the analysis of documents allows for collecting objective and valid information. These measures are also important to support or not data collected with the help of other approaches (Anderson, Organization Development 136).

There are some disadvantages associated with this method. In this case, the collected data can be inappropriate to some extent to demonstrate how Lyman’s management influences the productivity of the team. Furthermore, much time can be required to collect and analyze these data. Still, this objective information is important to be gathered by the consultant because of leaders’ reliance on subjective conclusions. Further individual assessments should be conducted to assess and influence Lyman’s managerial style.

Conclusion

For the case of AeroTech, data gathering methods should include the use of focus groups and unobtrusive measures. As a result, both subjective and objective data will be collected to make reasonable and evidence-based conclusions regarding the problems observed in the company. The data that will be collected with the help of the selected data gathering methods will be used for planning appropriate interventions for engineers working in the laser systems team and for Lyman.

Team interventions will be oriented to creating positive and collaborative relationships between the members of the team. Work redesign and negotiations can be used as approaches to improving the situation in the laser systems team. Individual interventions for Lyman should include individual assessments to help him adapt his managerial style to the company’s needs.

Works Cited

Anderson, Donald L., editor. Cases and Exercises in Organization Development and Change. 2nd ed., SAGE Publications, 2017.

—. Organization Development: The Process of Leading Organizational Change. 4th ed., SAGE Publications, 2017.