Category: Marketing Research

Introduction

Reliability and Validity

Every research carried out should be tested for reliability and validity. Reliability is defined as the extent to which a given or taken measure will give reliable results. Three different reliability tests can be taken on research. They include; test-retest reliability, alternative forms reliability, and internal consistency reliability. The test-retest reliability is used to test whether the research results are similar if the same research is carried out under similar conditions.

Pearson coefficient is used to assess the stability of the repeated measures. In alternative form reliability, repeated results from research carried out using different forms are tested to see the similarity of the results. Finally, the internal consistency reliability is used to test how an individual measure is converted into a composite measure. This type of reliability test can be assessed by applying correlation performance on the two halves of a test. When carrying out research, one can increase reliability by increasing the size of the sample. An example of reliability is seen when measuring the weight of an individual where one believes that the weighing machine gives the same value each time the person steps on it.

Validity in research is used to test whether the research carried out has measured what it was intended to. There are five types of validation tests, which can be done on research. They include content validation, criterion validation, construct validation, internal validation, and external validation. Content validation is used to check how the research contents relate to the variables that are going to be studied. It seeks to answer questions on how well the research questions are representative of the research variables.

Criterion validation is used to test if the research criterion being used is relative to other criteria. Construct validation is used to test for the underlying constructs that are being measured. It tests for convergent validity, discriminant validity, and nomological validity. Internal validation is used mostly in primary research designs and is used to check for the relationship between the dependent and independent variables.

External validation is used to check if the results obtained from experimental research can be generalized. An example of validity is seen in a study where a researcher measuring whether leisure activities have an adverse effect on the performance of secondary school students conducts a survey to determine how many undergraduates drive on their way to school and then comes up with a correlation between the two. Validity is used to imply reliability. This is because a valid measure must always be reliable. On the other hand, reliability does not always mean the same as validity because a reliable measure does not necessarily imply that it is valid.

Discussion

Know what makes an effective questionnaire. If I were to give you a questionnaire that needed work, could you revise it?

A good questionnaire should consist of several things if it going to be effective when carrying out research. The first thing a questionnaire should contain is a good introduction. When you are beginning a survey, you should have an introduction that details your objective in such a way it grasps the attention of the potential respondents. If you are doing an online survey, then to avoid respondents failing to complete the questionnaire you should have instructions on how to complete the questionnaire and an estimate of how much time it will require to complete the questionnaire.

The questionnaire should ask questions that are relevant to the survey and should always be objective. If the questionnaire asks too many personal questions, then the respondent will most probably decline to answer the questionnaire or give false information. It is best if the questionnaire asks the important questions first followed by the demographic questions. This is important especially if you are carrying out an online survey because the respondent may abandon answering the questionnaire.

The questions in the questionnaire should be organized into logical groups. This makes it easier for respondents to answer the questions and saves a lot of time. The language used in the questionnaire should be easy to understand. If the questionnaire uses unclear or ambiguous language then the respondent may give misleading results. The questionnaire should always try to avoid the usage of technical terms and jargon since this might frustrate the respondent and make them abandon the survey.

The responses in the survey should be randomized to avoid the survey running the risk of order bias in responses. As a rule, the questions in the questionnaire should be short, simple, and to the point. After the survey, it is always important to thank your respondent for taking part in your survey. This helps foster a good relationship between you and the respondent, as you may need them to complete other surveys in the future.

Explain the difference in Correlation and Causation

There is a lot of confusion between the usage of the words correlation and causation. In theory, the two can be easily distinguished. In causation, one incidence leads to another while in correlation; one incidence connects or links with another. An example of causation is whereby cigarette smoking leads to lung infection whereas an example of correlation is whereby smoking is connected with alcoholism. If one occurrence leads to another, then they are highly correlated but any two occurrences happening together may not be because of causation. Correlated incidents may be due to an ordinary cause.

For instance, the idea that red hair is linked with blue eyes originates from a common hereditary specification. A correlation may also occur due to the presence of causality. This is seen where smoking is not only linked with lung cancer but in reality, causes it. Causality is established through a controlled study where two sets of persons comparable in nearly every aspect are given two distinct sets of incidents and the result is compared.

If the two sets of persons have considerably distinct outcomes, then the distinct outcomes may have led to distinct results. One can typically create correlation unless the results are tremendously remarkable. In general, people should be cautious of their own prejudice. The media winds up a causal association among correlated occurrences when causality is not even reflected by the study. It is therefore clear that when there are no apparent reasons for agreeing to causality.

People should only recognize the correlation. Two occurrences happening in close immediacy do not mean that one led to the other even if this appears to make ideal sense. Generally, it is very difficult to determine causality between two associated events. In disparity, there are several statistical tools to determine a correlation that is significant statistically.

If I give you a company and its traits (product, audience/customers, etc), you should be able to tell me how to collect data from their audience/customers (i.e. through internet survey, through phone calls, etc.)

Collecting data from a company’s audience and customers can be done via internet surveys, individual phone calls, and conferences. The technology for the internet survey is young and developing. Conducting an internet survey was in the past perceived as a long process that needed familiarity with internet programs. Today, software packages and internet survey services have made internet survey research much simpler and quicker.

The advantages of internet surveys include the ability to contact individuals in faraway locations, the capacity to reach partakers who are difficult to access, and the expediency of having automatic data collection which decreases the researchers’ time. The limitations of the internet survey include doubts over the strength of the data collection and sampling concerns, issues surrounding the research design, execution, and assessment of the internet survey (Wiid & Diggines, 2009).

An individual phone call is another method of collecting data from a company’s audience and customers. The utmost advantage of this method is its speed and minimal costs. In constructive circumstances, about five personal phone calls in a company can be done in a day via the telephone. However, there are certain circumstances where individual phone calls may not be appropriate methods of data collection.

For instance, if the respondents require several factors to test their opinions, it is difficult for them to keep in mind five or more issues. In addition, the absence of personal contact hinders the company from evaluating the respondents and it is thus not able to achieve an additional feel behind the respondent’s reply. Despite these disadvantages, the pros of individual phone calls in data collection are substantial and the technique is likely to persist in making crossroads against other methods (Aaker, 2010).

Conferences as a method of data collection involve inviting the company customers for a talk and compensating them for their time. Improvements in information technology and methods of data collection in a company have resulted in the accessibility of big data sets in companies. Through conferences, the company has an exceptional opportunity to examine the data collected and obtain intelligent and helpful information. They provide an opportunity for the presentation of the current company proceeds including software and other systems. However, this method is time-consuming and may lead to bias.

In the research, what do measurement scales and attitude measurement mean? Support your thought and give examples

Measurement scales refer to the nature of the postulations made concerning a particular variable and its properties. The measurement scales mostly used in marketing studies can be divided into comparative and non-comparative scales. In Comparative scales, the respondent indicates differences between two or more manufacturers, services, trade names, and other stimuli. Examples of comparative scales include paired assessment, dollar metric, and scales used in line marking.

Non-comparative scaling involves the valuation of a single product. This valuation is free of the other variables that the researcher is interested in. This scaling may also be described as monadic since it is more extensively used in business marketing research. Non-comparative scales include constant rating scales and Likert scales (Wiid & Diggines, 2009).

Attitude measurement refers to the measurement of a consumer’s predilection concerning a certain good or service. If it is positive, then the customer is likely to buy the good or service. Attitude measurement is composed of elements such as beliefs, expressive feelings, and customers’ willingness to react. Beliefs involve measurement of the products potency and economy. Expressive feelings involve the likes and dislikes concerning a product. These three factors when merged together result to an image of the good or service in the consumers’ brain. Several techniques such as Disguised, Non-disguised, Structured, and Non-structured are employed in attitude measurement.

References

Aaker, D. (2010). Marketing research. Chichester: John Wiley.

Wiid, J. & Diggines, W. (2009). Marketing Research. Cape Town: Juta.

Factors that determine the choice of fast-food restaurants to take their meals

From the market research, various factors have been analyzed as factors determining the choice of fast food restaurant for one to eat. In America, one out of 4 Americans living in towns they are feasting fast food restaurants because of various factors. However, the industry’s force for consolidation, homogenization and many other factors have contributed to customers looking for other factors that they choose when they want to consume in a restaurant. The factors that have been emulated in this research include the cleanliness of the fast-food restaurant that the consumers consume. the other factor that has been considered in this case is the type of services offered by restaurant in question. The price of the food offered in this restaurant as well as quality which the customers consider when selecting fast-food restaurants to take their meals. However some customers also consider the convenience of the location of the restaurant.

From this research, the most important factor among the five factors under consideration is the type of services that the restaurant offers. Out of the sample of 100 people that were interviewed in this case, twenty-seven percent of the people said that the type of service the restaurant offered is important and very important. i.e. 12% for very important and 15% important. The price of the food offered and the convenience of location of the restaurant both scored 26 % under the category of important factors to consider. However the convenience of the location scored higher in terms of percentage of very important factors to consider when selecting a restaurant as compared to the price. It polled 12% as compared to 11% in the price however the two factors play an important role in determining the fast-food restaurants to choose. It means that a customer may choose a fast food restaurant either on the grounds of convenience or price depending on situation at hand at that time. Price is very important because without money in your pocket one will not choose a restaurant on any ground. When it comes to important factors price scores 16% while convenience scores 11%. This is less the same because the difference is less the same on either side. However, these factors will interchange with each other depending on the levels of income of the customer. If the customer’s level of income is higher then price will not be as important as compared to convince of the location.

The other factor that plays an important role in determining the type of restaurant the customer will patronize for his lunch breakfast and other meals is the cleanliness of the fast food. It is important to note that no person will patronize any restaurant with a dirty environment. This is because of the fear of dangerous microbes and infectious diseases that may reside in a dirty environment. This factor has been given 24% in two categories in the two categories of important and non-important factors but looking at it critically it scores 20% as important factor to consider when selecting a fast industry to take your meals. No other factor has scored 20% in any category except this factor. It also scores 28% as important neither important nor unimportant. This factor score more than 50% from the category of wither important upwards all other factors scores less than 50%. This shows how important this factor is. Out of 100 people sampled more than 50% believed that cleanliness is important. While less than 50% believed that cleanliness is not important in the selection of a restaurant to take their meals. However looking at the factor of the type of service offered in the restaurant it scores 44%. The graph below shows how sensitive each factor is to choose the restaurant patronize

Lastly, the factor of quality of food scores 21% in the first two categories of important and very important factors making it the last factor under the factors that were in consideration in the research. This is because probably the customers once they have a convenient place which is clean with a good service definitely they will assume the food served is of high quality. It is important to note that in selecting a service in any market especially in the fast food industry quality type of service, convenience are price is given the price. No customer will patronize a restaurant with known poor services. It can be observable that this factor gives the most excellent restaurants without these factors the restaurants may be of pathetic nature.

A lot of facts emerge from this research on the factors that determine types of restaurants to be patronized by the customers. In the past there have been food poisoning due to the type of food that is offered by fast food industries at the same time some have been offering junk food at this era of obesity. However since the enactment of 2010 healthy people act, this has stopped and now the customers believe that each restaurant is required by law to observe quality. Therefore they have changed the factors they consider most important in selecting the restaurant. This is why in this case they have given type of service, price, quality convenience of the location and cleanliness as factors to consider since the acts take care of other factors. It can be observed also from this market research that majority of the people patronize restaurants for breakfast and dinner. This shows that they have confidence in the type of food offered by these restaurants.

Perceptions of Wendy’s competitors

From the research, we have four competitors for Wendy under consideration. The competitors that have been selected include, McDonald’s, Checkers, Burger King, and Arby’s.

The customer’s perception of the four competitors has been rated in terms of price, preference, quality, cleanliness, and service offered. The customers have given more preference to Burger King Restaurant as compared to Wendy’s. 28% of the sample preferred Burger King as preferred and very much preferred restaurant. Under the same category 26% preferred McDonald’s while Wendy had 24%. This means that most customers under the sample had preferred Wendy as the third option in selecting a fast-food restaurant.

Looking at perception in terms of each of the mentioned factors, McDonald’s is considered by 60% as having a good quality and above while checkers has 50% Arby’s 54% and Burger king 66%. In the same case Wendy has 62%. This means that the customers perceive the quality of burger king as higher than the quality of Wendy’s. The same case Wendy has a higher quality food as compared to McDonald’s according to this analysis. McDonald which 60% states that the type of food offered is of quality are less than that of Wendy’s. The other restaurants in the same category are offering food that is considered by few as of quality as compared to Wendy. The quality of food which is considered by customers should be trouble-free. Food poisoning or contamination is one of the serious issues that affect many restaurants across the world more so in the United States. There are several reasons that affect the quality of food in a restaurant. This includes contamination of food bacteria, parasites and poor cooking techniques. The cleanliness of the people cooking the food is also another factor that affects the quality of the meal that will be served to the customers. It is the responsibility of the restaurant to ensure that food served to the customers is clean, the environment is clean and food is handled with hygienic practices. However, in this case, all restaurants have kept this safety a measure what the research is trying to do is to find out the perception of those customers in relation to the quality of food. This research has shown that there is a higher perception of the quality of food offered by burger king as compared to Wendy’s. The chart below shows how the preference of the among the customers.

Another factor that the customers consider is cleanliness. How do customers perceive cleanliness of Wendy in relation to other restaurants under this case? Considering good and excellent as a basis of rating the perception of customers towards cleanliness, this research shows that 32% of McDonald’s customers said that the cleanliness of the restaurant was good while 19% said it was excellent. This brings it up to 5%. The same group of customers gave Wendy 57% i.e. excellent they were 23% customers while good 34% of the customers in the sample. It means that there is a perception that Wendy offers a clean environment which is better than McDonald. On the same basis, burger king was given 55%, 1i.e 20% and 25% for good and excellent respectively. They also gave checkers 47% i.e. 26 and 21% respectively and Arby’s gave 53%. It means that Wendy is perceived to be offering the best cleanliness environment as compared to the competitors. in a nutshell, they have observed that Wendy is the cleanest among the five competitors. Cleanliness is a critical issue in the fast food industry and any perception in relation to cleanliness will affect the business drastically. Cleanliness should be maintained by having good cleaning schedule, good food temperatures clean storerooms, and clean staff members.

Food in restaurants should be kept away from biological, chemical and physical hazards that will put the food to be unclean. However, bacteria are the main biological contaminator and it causes a lot of food poisoning that is reported in most fast food industries, cooking a lot does not kill these germs, therefore, cleanliness in handling the food should be given a paramount importance. Customer’s perception of the restaurant level of cleanliness depends on the past history as to how many cases have been reported of food poisoning. Therefore, this analysis has indicated that the customers have a good perception of the cleanliness environment of Wendy as compared to the other restaurant. However one should note that this is a mere perception but not a reality check.

Perception in terms of service offered by the restaurants shows that there are some competitors who are doing well as compared to Wendy. McDonald’s is considered to have good and excellent of 56%.Burger King is considered to have 45%, checkers is 48% and Arby is 53%. On the same note Wendy has 46%. This means that the service of Wendy is perceived by many of the customers to be lower than that of all the competitors except burger king. The type of service that is offered by a restaurant determines how often the customer will patronize the business. And in this case majority of the customers under the category of good and excellent are viewing this restaurant as having low service as compared to the rest.

In terms of price, McDonald’s is perceived to have a good and excellent price by 48% of the customers, Wendy by 45% burger king by 40%, checkers by 46% and Arby’s by 43%. It means that the competitors are having a good price in terms of the two categories as compared to Wendy. However considering the other category of either good not bad price, you will find that McDonald has 73%, Wendy 70%, Burger King 61%, checkers 62% and Arby’s 58%. Considering these three categories of excellent, good and indifferent you find that McDonald’s is perceived to have a good price followed by Wendy, this makes Wendy the second restaurant in terms of price.

Lastly, when considering the convenience of the location of the restaurant McDonald is considered by 74% of the customer patronizing the restaurant as convenient while the 26% considered it to be somehow poor and poor location on the same note, seventy-four considers Wendy to be in a good location i.e. indifferent, good and excellent category while 26% view the location of Wendy’s outlets as somehow poor and poor. On the same level 75% of customers consider burger king to be well located as compared to 25%. 73% of the customers sampled viewed checkers to be well located while 17% stated the restaurant to be poorly located. The same case applies to Arby’s where 69% believed the restaurant was well located as compared to 31% who viewed it to be poorly located. This perception will determine consumption of food.

Wendy’s customer profile

Inc considering the customers’ profile for Wendy they have been categorized into the following categories; Level of income, age, employment status, marital status and family size. From the research 35% of the sample patronizing Wendy’s restaurant were male while 65% consisted of females. Among these people, 71% were married, 23% had never been married and 6% were divorcees. The research also found out that, 14% of the sample were from a family of one person 10% from a family of 2, 26% from family of three, 29% from a family of four and 21% from a family of 5 or more people. The chart below shows the distribution in terms of marital status.

The customers who patronized the restaurant were also grouped in terms of age and it was found out that 85% of the customers were between the age of 25 and 40. While 6% were between the age of 18 and 24, 5% between the age of 21 and 60 while over the age of 60 were 4%. This is because people over the age of 60 are having complications with the type of food consumed because of blood pressure heart disease and obesity. However people between the age of 25 and 40 is the working-age with extra disposable income that can be spent for food. This group of people has busy schedule and they do not have time to go and cook. They will prefer where food will be cooked and that is in restaurants. People between the age of 18 and 24 are students therefore they do not have money to patronize restaurants in large numbers.

In grouping Wendy’s customers in relation to their levels of education, you find that 19% had not reached high school level but 8% were graduates from high school, 29% had college education, and 14% had graduated from colleges. This is because the level of education one has will influence the consumption pattern, the amount of income received for consumption and the degree of outgoing of a person. A person of less than high school is expected to have less income if not in high income therefore there is little available for consumption. People who have graduated from colleges will tend to have a busy schedule and they will only patronize restaurants when necessary since of the busy schedules. However, people with some college education and high school education will have extra disposable income by the fact that they have some education that will enable them to get white of blue-collar jobs and they are in lower levels of management thus they have more time to patronize restaurants as well as money.

Another category that has to be used in analyzing Wendy’s customer profile is employment status and levels of income. Among the customers that patronize Wendy’s restaurant, 35% had full-time employment, 6% had part time employment, 49% were students, 5% homemakers and 5% unemployed. It means that students were the main customers for the restaurant that is why they formed a large part of the sample. It should be noted that some students will have extra disposable income if we are students at the same time employed. However other students come from well-to-do families, and they do not have time to go and cook food for the family and therefore they will opt instead of going to cook. The graph below shows how income and customers are distributed for Wendy:

2% of the customers had less than $30,000 as annual income while those with less than 50,000 dollars were 14%. Those more than $ 50,000 but less than $75,000 were 61%. Those who had less than $100 but more than 75,000 were 19% while the rest were 4%. It should be noted that majority of the consumers for the food in this restaurant were people with incomes of 50 to 75 percent. This is simply because they are the majority and these people fall in the middle-level management where they have a lot of work and they do not have time to go to cook. At the same time the money is enough to spend to buy food.

Recommendations

Wendy should concentrate on targeting people with an income of more than 50,000. They should also ensure that people who are employed and partly employed are a target for the restaurant because these are the groups with extra disposable incomes. They have already enough students patronizing the services of the restaurants. They should move away from income earnings groups. They should also change the menu to target people between the age of 41 and above because this group has extra income especially the retirement benefit which they can use in patronizing the services of the restaurants. They should also encourage many males to patronize their restaurants by changing the menu to cater to both categories.

Relationship between fast food selection factors and frequency of fast food purchasing

There is a direct relationship between fast food selection factors and frequency of fast food selection in the income. You find that those restaurants which are preferred by the customers because of the factors of selection are frequently patronized by the restaurants. For example, most customers considered quality as a great attribute in the selection of restaurants to patronize. This would ensure that the customers frequently purchased the fast-food rated as the best. It shows that from this research that 51% of the customers buy food frequently from burger king for 50% from Arby’ 46% from Wendy and 51% from McDonald’s. The graph below shows the relationship between the factors of food selection and the frequency of purchase.

From the graph one notes that there is no specific relationship between the frequency of purchase and end factor. However the relationship that can be depicted is a direct relationship between some factors like cleanliness and the frequency of purchase.

The factors as shown in the graphs above have each different relationship. Price has an inverse relationship, cleanliness the same while service and quality have an direct relationship.

References

Armstrong G. & Kotler P. (2007). Consumer Markets: Influences on consumer behavior, Principles of Marketing.

Bland JM, Altman DG (2003); applying the right statistics: analyses of measurement studies. Ultrasound Obstet Gynecol.

Kotler, P. (2005) Principles of Marketing. New York.Melbourne Press.

Kotler, P & Armstrong, G (1996) Principles of Marketing, (7^th Edition), Prentice Hall.

Richard, S. (2002). Methods used in social research. Oxford: OUP.

Richardson, K. (1999). Qualitative research methods. Educational Research Review, 70, 50-78.

Robson, C. (2000). The Handbook of Research Methodology. Oxford: Blackwell.

Roger A Kerin and Robert A Peterson.(2001); Strategic marketing problems. NJ: Pearson International, 2001.

Roselyn, P. (2000). Best approaches to research. The art of research, 18, 123-134.

Stacey M (1979) Methods of social research, Pergamon Press, London.

Wickham p (2001) Strategic entrepreneurship 2^nd Edition, financial Times. Prentice Hall.

Winer, R.S. (2007). Marketing Management, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ.

A global rental car firm decides to develop a customer retention program and motivate its heavy users to continue being loyal to the company by offering them appropriate incentives.

Why is it important to create a marketing research plan for designing the retention program?

The main objective of this marketing research plan is to maintain the existing clients of the business. The main reason for the sustainability of the customers is to increase the profitability of the firm as well as to generate a future growing stream of revenue (Kotler & Armstrong, 2005). Moreover, the firm aims to build a reliable relationship with its existing customers in order to provide products that suit their needs.

What type of information does the company to design the retention program?

The marketing department will gather information on the product attraction, the customers purchasing behavior as well as the suitable promotional techniques that can be applied.

Where will this information be obtained?

The marketing department will conduct primary research and gather data from the existing customers who are purchasing the company products. The marketing department will further get information from surveys that they will conduct via the e-mails, mail questionnaires or through the mobile applications such as text messages. The information will then be stored in the data base for further analysis (Wenzel, 2012).

References

Kotler, P. & Armstrong, G. (2005). Principles of marketing. Beijing, China: Tsinghua University Press.

Wenzel, A. (2012). The entrepreneur’s guide to market research. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO.

Introduction

Over the years, the use of social media networks has evolved from being merely a social platform for connecting with lifelong friends to an essential part of everyday activities. Nowadays, social media networks help to make relevant connections for specific purposes (Valenzuela, Namsu, and Kee 875). The guideline on a focus group for social media use, on which this research is based, provides insight into a student’s experience with the use of social media for social networking.

It also shows the nature of the relationship between various tools of social media and individuals (Valenzuela et al. 890). This guideline explains how a focus group should test out ideas through obtaining relevant feedback and exploring social media areas of interest of the student population. This guideline is found suitable for the topic of the present research.

Focus Group Overview: Purpose, Goals, and Objectives

The purpose of this focus group is to gather information from the student population, mainly regarding their preferences and opinions on the use of social media. The identified social networks used by the student population include Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat. The goal of this focus group is to find out current social media trends, gather information on the trending conversations and topics in various social networks, and understand how students react to them.

The additional purpose of the focus group is to find out the preferences of the students and their feelings about the use of social media (Roblyer, McDaniel, Webb, Herman, and Witty 137). The focus group will shed light on the current competition between social media networks and the content strategies, which they employ to make students prefer a certain social media network. Apart from that, this focus group will help to work out a student’s wish list that social media networks need to introduce to enhance their further popularity. The key objective of this focus group is to determine how the use of social media networks influences the experiences and self-identity of students; it also determines students’ behavioral patterns for social media activity (Kaplan and Haenlein 60).

Description of Participants

Ten students from the student population are selected to participate in this focus group. The sample group is suitable since it allows a researcher to employ the technique of snowball sampling (Stewart and Shamdasani 50). After confirming the attendance of one participant, a researcher asks them to look for other individuals interested in participating in a focus group. The activity takes at least 60 minutes.

The focus group should emphasize the issues related to the use of social media networks. A self-assessment survey should be held to record the activities and the reported data. It is essential to consider a situation where there may be no-shows to find a solution to the problem of low attendance. Inviting a bigger number of participants than was planned can solve this problem (Stewart and Shamdasani 72).

The activity of the participants is performed by selecting one participant randomly from the target group to evoke responses. The moderator of the focus group should have a plan for tallying responses, and he or she should also ensure that all the students participating have time and an opportunity to answer at least one question. Incentives offered to the participants, who confirm their attendance, should increase effectiveness. The incentives should motivate participants to complete a questionnaire on social media and make them attend a 60-minute focus group. An important problem for the focus group is the space set-up.

The event can be held in a place with a round table or with chairs set up in a circle, depending on the number of participants. It is important for each participant to sign-in when they arrive, and this is considered informed consent to participate in the focus group. Check and ensure that all the equipment is put in its place and functions. The equipment includes writing materials, surveys, recording devices, and informed consent. For a moderator, it is important to take notes on each participant’s thoughts and record observations from the responses.

Topics

Churchill and Iacobucci (58) state that the topics relevant to this focus group revolve around the usage of social media networks by the student participants. The line of questioning and the received responses mostly reflect various strategies used by social networks for improving their users’ experience. Among the questions listed in the survey are: how participants use social media network platforms, how they use instant messaging networks, and how they utilize social media products and services. The use of social networking by students and the evoked responses from the topics vary because the identified social media networks have shortcomings in the products and services they currently offer.

Social Media Networks Usage

The relevant questions, which the participants are required to answer, should be formulated in such a way, which makes them debatable. The participants are asked to identify the social media networks, which they have been using for communication with their friends and family members within the last two weeks. The social media methods they can select include phone calls, text messages, social networking platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn, and e-mail. The participants are also asked to name the social networking website that they have been visiting frequently in the past week; the options include Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, Orkut, and LinkedIn.

The participants are asked to give their preferred social media website and state how frequently they access it. The options for the answers include multiple times a day, once a week, a few times a week, about once a week, and about once a day.

Specific Use of Social Media Networks

The participants are questioned about each of the identified social media networks they selected and the frequency of usage. They are asked about the content that they have posted on Facebook for the past week. This includes sharing personal photos and posting content on Facebook pages and groups.

The participants are also given questions about the instant messaging services that they have been using for the past one week. They are questioned about their experience with the use of Facebook instant messaging and asked how frequently they share their photos through Instagram or Snapchat. The participants are also allowed to give a review on the type of content they have been frequently searching via social media networks for the past one month.

The options for the possible answers include products or services, news, medical information, places, events, travel ideas, and other people. The moderator will be writing down all the responses evoked and the observations made by the participants (Churchill and Iacobucci 36). All the activities are recorded for further analysis of the usage of social media by students (DeAndrea, Ellison, LaRose, Steinfield, and Fiore 17).

Works Cited

Churchill, Gilbert A., and Dawn Iacobucci. Marketing Research: Methodological Foundations. Cincinnati, Ohio: South-Western College Pub, 2010. Print.

DeAndrea, David C., Nicole B.Ellison, Robert LaRose, Charles Steinfield and Andrew Fiore. “Serious Social Media: On the Use of Social Media for Improving Students’ Adjustment to College.” The Internet and Higher Education 15.1 (2012): 15-23. Print.

Kaplan, Andreas M., and Michael Haenlein. “Users of the World, Unite! The Challenges and Opportunities of Social Media.” Business Horizons 53.1 (2010): 59-68. Print.

Roblyer, M.D., Michelle McDaniel, Marsena Webb, James Herman and James V. Witty. “Findings on Facebook in Higher Education: a Comparison of College Faculty and Student Uses and Perceptions of Social Networking Sites.” The Internet and Higher Education 13.3 (2010): 134-140. Print.

Stewart, David W., and Prem N. Shamdasani. Focus Groups: Theory and Practice. Vol. 20. New York City, New York: Sage Publications, 2014. Print.

Valenzuela, Sebastián, Namsu Park and Kerk F. Kee. “Is There Social Capital in a Social Network Site? Facebook Use and College Students’ Life Satisfaction, Trust, and Participation.” Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 14.4 (2009): 875-901. Print.

Introduction to the concept and position of marketing research

Marketing management requires enough and related information to enable planning and achieving winning decisions about a marketing scheme. The marketing manager’s experience in the milieu of marketing, coupled with the data obtained from marketing research and other sources within the organisation aids guide decision-making in union with other departmental managers (Stevens, 2006).

As such, in order to enable collection of information required for making objective marketing decisions, the marketing manager has to borrow a lot from an intuitive knowledge of marketing research. This research paper explores a number of themes in the role of secondary data in marketing research.

Marketing research is a technical process of collecting and processing information to aid decision-making in marketing management. As the adage goes, knowledge is power. Such phrases are being echoed in the business milieu. Knowledge is obtained from information, which comes from data, which comes from marketing research. The world is increasingly becoming a multifarious place. Changes are happening at an alarming rate, and with the growth of information technology, consumers are open to more and more information on which to ground their decisions (Zikmund & Babin, 2009).

Marketing research can be categorized as basic or applied. Basic marketing research is more general and simply is geared towards obtaining and generating information about aspects of the marketing system. There is little or no emphasis on how to utilize or relate this information in the marketing management process after the research is completed. The research is not usually meant for a particular organisation but serves a broader function. This category of research is grounded on a supposition and a theory and is carried out methodically and entirely (Smith & Albaum, 2005).

Contrary to basic research, applied research is aimed at enabling management make informed decisions about a particular aspect. This research is done to resolve a specific problem and is more precise to the organisation (Hair, et al, 2005).

Apart from the two broad types of marketing research, there are three other categorizations of marketing research according to the key roles they play. The first one is descriptive research. This type of research shows a contemporary situation. The emphasis is on offering the specific organisation with past and cotemporary data about the consumer, industry, and environment and the effects or significance of this data to the company under study.

The second type of marketing research according to function is diagnostic research. This research diagnoses the impact of a particular event in a given circumstance. For instance, this could be the cause and effect of developing a novel stratagem, or even a mere price change (Wenn, Stevens, & Loudon, 2006).

The third type of research based on the role it plays is predictive research. This is used to foretell the results of new plans under development. Emphasis is laid on predicting the future and singling out new avenues to leverage (Malhotra, 1996). Generally, marketing research plays two main roles. First, it offers the organisation with information concerning consumer demand for products and services. Secondly, it awards customers with the opportunity to express their views and needs, hence, affecting decision-making to ascertain they have access to the products and services they want (Wiid & Diggines, 2010).

One of the fundamental phases of the marketing research process is the collection of data. There are mainly two types of data used in a marketing research. These include primary data and secondary data. Primary data are particularly gathered to work out the marketing problem or chance facing management (Grover & Vriens, 2006). This type of data is gathered from scratch by use of surveys, observation or experimentation. On the other hand, secondary data are data that previously exists, as the information had been formerly collected for some other purpose, not for the particular study. Examples of secondary data include sales records, periodicals, books, cost information, distributor’s reports, as well as government agencies’ reports (Smith & Albaum, 2005).

Secondary data are categorized according to its source: internal and external data. The organisation overseeing the research report comes up with internal or in-house data. These data include data collected from invoices, financial analyses, sales reports, and research surveys that were formerly conducted by the organisation. Internal secondary data are gathered by the organisation during its normal business transactions. It is not gathered to resolve the particular marketing problem.

On the other hand, external secondary data are preferably gotten from original publications as they usually offer information concerning the data collection technique, the range of the survey, and the sample size used during the study (Partzer, 1995).

Why organisations should spend time gathering secondary data prior to undertaking primary research

Organisations should spend time gathering secondary data prior to undertaking primary research primary data due to a number of reasons. The first step in data collection is to determine whether data already exists that can illuminate the problem and or solve it. This can go far in saving a significant amount of time and resources, because primary data is time-consuming and dear. In addition, secondary data can be used for various ways.

First, it is used in formulating the decision making-problem. Secondly, it is used in proposing methods and types of data for achieving information needs (Malhotra, 1996). Thirdly, it can be used to monitor the organisation’s external environment; critical factors are the economy and the business, competitors, consumers, technology and suppliers. This data are usually found in secondary sources. In addition, secondary data give the base for final decision-making. At times, there is no adequate time or resources for a primary research investigation. As such, the final decision ought to be made on the grounds of the secondary data. Lastly, secondary data establishes trends in longitudinal research studies (Sarstedt & Mooi, 2011).

Apart from saving time and money, the gathering of secondary data instead of primary data has a number of advantages. First, its mode of gathering is easy compared to that of primary data. This is because it does not involve going top the filed to conduct surveys or experiments. Secondly, it enables the collection of primary data. In addition, it can be more correct than primary data. This is because information on events that happened in the past can be gotten truthfully from secondary sources. Lastly, secondary data offer comparative data that make needed for a more informative analysis of primary data (Grover & Vriens, 2006).

Advantages and disadvantages of secondary data

Although secondary data saves time and money, the gathering of secondary rather than primary data has some inbuilt problems and disadvantages. It may prove difficult to trace the desired data from many resources. In addition, processing or adapting the data to fit the problem may be tedious. It may also be challenging to determine the precision and dependability of the data obtained from secondary sources. In addition to these inherent problems, secondary data in marketing research has a number of disadvantages. First, the secondary data does not automatically apply to the particular problem under study.

This is because the data was gathered for other, different purposes. In order to minimize this limitation, it is crucial for the research to identify the motive behind the initial research in which he or she is drawing his or her data. This will help in avoiding the use of irrelevant data. Secondly, the accuracy of secondary is debatable. This is occasioned by the fact that research errors may have occurred at the initial data collection and analysis. These errors will be carried on to the decision-making process after the completion of the research. In addition, the business environment is highly dynamic; hence, secondary data get outdated quickly.

Another limitation of secondary data is that different sources define and categorize terms and definitions in a different way. This phenomenon is, especially, true in the marketing arena where the same term is defined in different ways. Lastly, secondary data employ different measures. As such, in comparing secondary data from various sources, the researcher ought to note the measure that is used. For instance, one source may use the per capita income of a family while another source may use the mean income per family.

How can the effect of these disadvantages be minimized?

In order to mitigate the limitations of secondary data in marketing research, the researcher requires keeping a few things in mind. The researcher should know who gathered the data. The source of the data is decisive in determining its accuracy. There are a number of trustworthy sources that researches can rely. These include federal agencies, most state agencies, as well as large commercial market research firms. Another consideration to carry in mind when using secondary data is the purpose of the study in which the data was gathered. (Wenn, Stevens, & Loudon, 2006)

Data is usually collected for some reason. Grasping the motive behind the initial research may offer ideas are assessing the quality of the data In addition, in order to minimize the limitations of secondary, it is essential to verse oneself with the information that was collected. The time when the information was collected is also notable as it helps mitigate chances of irrelevance occasioned by outdated data.

In addition, the research should examine whether the information he or she is using is consistent with other information. A lack of uniformity between secondary data sets should be a sign of caution. The researcher should find for the probable causes of the incongruity. This may be in the form of sample size, time factors or sampling style. Where possible, the researcher should evaluate the dependability of the studies as a ground for determining which, if any, study should be deployed for decision-making (Stevens, 2006).

Information available from the Office of National Statistics

As mentioned above, one of the trustworthy sources of obtaining secondary data to use in marketing research is government agencies. One such non-ministerial agency in the United Kingdom is the Office of National Statistics (ONS). This is the administrative department of the United Kingdom Statistics Authority. The office is directly answerable to the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Office of National Statistics was created on April 1, 1996 (ONS, 2011). This followed the merging of the Central Statistics Office (CSO) with the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys (OPCS). The passing of Statistics and Registration Service Act of 2007 saw the United Kingdom Statistics become an independent body April 1, 2008 (ONS, 2011).

The ONS collect and publishes statistics of different kinds such as demographic, economic or social and related to the United Kingdom for both nationwide and local levels. The department acts as the office of the National Statistician. The latter doubles up as the UK Statistics Authority’s CEO and main statistical adviser to the UK’s National Statistics Institute. The headquarters of ONS is in Newport, close to the UK Intellectual Property Office and Tredegar House. However, there still exists another main office in Tichfield in Hampshire, as well as a small office in the country’s capital, London (ONS, 2011).

The main mandate of ONS is to produce and publish varied information concerning Britain. This information is used for social and economic policy-making. It also used to depict a portrayal of the country with as it grows (ONS, 2011). The information is usually produced in means that enable evaluation with other societies and economies. A large portion of the data that policy-makers rely is produced by ONS via combining a decennial population census, samples, and surveys. It also analyzes data created by businesses and firms such as the National Health Service and the record of births, marriages and deaths ONS, 2011).

The ONS collect data from various fields such as population, government, business and energy, economy, and labour market. The department also gets its data from travel and transport, agriculture and environment people and places, as well as children, education and skills. The findings of the ONS are published its findings every year in the Blue Book. This document contains the data concerning homeland and national product, income and expenditure of the U.K. and is accessible as hardcopy and web version too (ONS, 2011).

The ONS are charged with the responsibility of producing various economic and social statistics such as the labour market, the UK balance of Payments, producer and consumer prices, and information related to population and migration. Other statistics produced by ONS include significant events such as births, morbidity, marriages and death, government output and activities, as well as the country’s National Accounts such as GDP, and National Income and Expenditure (ONS, 2011).

Current trends in tourism to the UK by overseas visitors

The United Kingdom is currently rated sixth in terms of the most visited destination by international tourists (Visitbritain, 2011). However, the country is losing this market share. The worldwide economic recession has had a considerable impact on the number of overseas visitors to the United Kingdom. The worldwide economic disaster had an unusually real influence on inbound tourism to the UK.

In the period before July 2008, the United Kingdom was home to close to 9 million business visitors, whereas, in the year before April 2005, the figure was 6.6 million (Visitengland, 2011). The latter figure represented a 26% decline. Contrary to this, over the same period, the number of inbound holiday visitors to the U.K had increased by 1%. Inbound tourism to the U.K reached its peak in 2007. This was after a phase of continued growth (Visitbritain, 2011).

A number of factors affect the current trends in the United Kingdom. One of them is exchange rates. These are closely tied to economic performance. In the last couple of years, the U.K has benefited much from a weak pound. This phenomenon makes the U.K affordable (Visitbritain, 2011). The currency markets remain somewhat unpredictable, with episodic rumours that the Eurozone may mislay some of its members if measures to bring down the size of national debt cannot be fully delivered. Another factor that affects inbound visitors to the U.K is the country’s strengths and weaknesses. The U.K is ranked fourth with regard to its to a holistic nation brand (Marvell, 2005).

Top of the list are USA, France, and Germany. Cultural assets are among the country’s valuable tourism assets. However, the country lags behind in terms of the Welcome perception. It is ranked 13th out 50. Another defining strength is education. The U.K universities are a popular choice for foreign students. They attract more than 50, 000 overseas students every year (Visitbritain, 2011).

The proportion of young visitors in the U.K has been decreasing over the years. This can be tied to the aging population of many key inbound markets. In 1994, 16% of visitors to the U.K were on the age bracket of 16-24. A decade and a half later, in 2009, the share had fallen to 12%. Contrary to this, the proportion of the visitors aged more than 55 rose from 13% to 18% over the same epoch (Visitbritain, 2011).

Conclusion

In conclusion, value has been taking a centre stage in the tourism trends of visitors to the U.K (Visitengland, 2011). Many visitors are adopting a back-to-basics attitude in search of quality at the right price. This is happening amidst the economic ruins. Another trend is social media. This has seen an increase in novel ways of sharing such as online reviews and user-generated content. In addition, mobile phones have seen an increase in visitors due to use of mobile devices in planning and booking trips and accessing location-specific destinations.

References

Grover, R., & Vriens, M., 2006. The handbook of marketing research: misuses, and future advances. London: SAGE.

Hair, J. F., Celsi, M., Samouel, P., & Page, M., 2005. Marketing research within a changing information environment. London: McGraw Hill.

Malhotra, N. K., 1996. Marketing research: an applied orientation. New York: Prentice Hall.

Marvell, A., 2005. Travel and tourism: AS level for AQA. London: Heinemann.

Office of National Statistics (ONS), 2011.Overview of roles and responsibilities. Web.

Partzer, G. L., 1995. Using secondary data in marketing research: United States and worldwide. New York: Greenwood Publishing Group.

Sarstedt, M., & Mooi, E., 2011. A concise guide to market research; the process, data, and methods. Berlin: Springer.

Smith, S. M., & Albaum, G. S., 2005. Fundamentals of marketing research. London: SAGE.

Stevens, R. E., 2006. The marketing research guide. London: Routledge.

Visitbritain, 2011. Trends in inbound to the U.K. 2000-2010. Web.

Visitengland, 2011. Top ten markets by value. [Online]. Web.

Wenn, B., Stevens, R. E., & Loudon, D. L., 2006. Marketing research: text and cases. London: Routledge.

Wiid, J., & Diggines, C., 2010. Marketing research. New York: Juta and Company Ltd.

Zikmund, W. G., & Babin, B. J., 2009. Essentials of marketing research. New York: Cengage Learning.

Research proposal

The research is about how the practice of marketing has evolved from the time of its inception to the current level. I have also included the expected effects that my research will have on the volume of sales transactions in different Companies. In the proposal, the methods that will be applied to collect and receive data and the tabulation of information from the data received from the research findings have been included. The expected overheads to be incurred in the carrying out of this assignment and the staff that is to be involved in the marketing research have been outlined with their structure of coordination. The various challenges that are anticipated in the carrying out of the exercise with the proposed solutions to the challenges have also been outlined in the proposal. Infixed in my proposal also is the estimated time frame and cost of my research. The approach I have employed herein completely deviates from the approaches used by earlier researchers in the same field. This research is of such importance as it takes on a topic that very little has been researched and written on.

Introduction and Background

Competition is a phenomenon that adds value to all endeavors undertaken by different participants. Trade, just like other disciplines, thrives in conditions that allow competition. Each of the players in the industry of trade has a strategy of having an edge over the business competitors or rivals. With this in mind, a study on the impact of marketing as far as the achievement of business transactions is concerned is a step in the right direction. To help understand marketing better, the underlying factors like advertising and marketing funding that surround the marketing practice need thorough evaluation. There is no healthier way of doing this than to carry out a field research. This research will dig deeper into the fundamental details that concern marketing with a focus on impact of competitiveness in the field of business undertakings. After the finer details on the impact of marketing will be understood, the same will be tried out in companies so that the marketing companies will henceforth refer to the research findings and recommendations.

This research will be carried out so that fundamental questions that have remained unanswered will receive appropriate answers. For purposes of introducing the history of marketing will be looked at so that the present is compared with the past. This is important because it enables one to understand the development stages the marketing practice has undergone in order to be on the current level. The following questions will be important; who were the pioneers of marketing? What factors led to the development of marketing? What effects did marketing have on the volume of sales, the revolution of marketing and the practice at large? What were the methods used in marketing? What kind of impact, if any, did the practice have on the volume of sales? The answers to these questions will stimulate more questions that will touch on the present aspects of our topic of study. For example: what kind of marketing strategies do the outstanding companies employ? Under what conditions are the competitions in the marketing industry? Have the competitions contributed to the development of the marketing practices by industry players and how? Does competition bring any variations in the levels of trade? How do poor achievers perceive marketing in the field of trade? These and many more relevant questions will form the direction and flow of the research. They will all be included in the relevant questionnaires that will be designed and printed by our team.

Review of literature

Literature review can be defined as “the selection of available documents (both published and unpublished) on the topic, which contains information, ideas, data and evidence written from a particular standpoint to fulfill certain aims or express certain views on the nature of the topic and how it is to be investigated, and the effective evaluation of these documents in relation to the research being proposed”. (Hart, C.1998 pp 13)

Marketing has been with us for a long period of time. In modern days, it is extremely difficult to appreciate trade in total isolation of marketing practices. This is perhaps the reason why the study of marketing has become of great interest to scholars and businessmen. Subsequently, the written literature that exists on this discipline has considerably become available. However, the scholarly articles that are with us are not enough as far as the needs for knowledge in this area are concerned. Therefore, efforts towards more research and synthesis of information in this arena are still welcomed. Acting upon this, I intend to institute a research that will go a long way towards providing the extra knowledge that may be helpful to both the scholars and business fraternity.

A research proposal on the impact of marketing on the business transactions will avail the understanding of critical issues in business. This research will exemplify the importance of marketing. It will also evaluate the impact of competition on the volume of trade. Furthermore, the vacuum that exists in the form of knowledge on the topic will be filled.

My research work will be helpful to marketing Executives in designing and implementation of marketing strategies. This will enable the formulation of marketing strategies and standards with international appeal. For most businesses to survive in the marketing of their products, they have to access journals on marketing practices. For example, the Wall Street journals, Fortune, the Financial Times among other publications. The international marketing approach of a company can boost its performance, that is, if it is involved in international trade. The marketing approach addresses a number of issues. First is the environment of the marketing plan in terms of the stability between a consistency and extension approach to the marketing mix essentials in the localization or adjustment approach that is receptive to a country or local differences. Second is the application of marketing activities in a few countries or the distribution of such activities across many countries.

Third, the search for international opportunities requires cross-border harmonization of marketing activities. This is by considering the different activities of the locals with regards to the area of production. Finally, a company’s international marketing strategy and approach will address the issue of worldwide participation of markets. (Hart, C. pp 58). This may be met by various practices of the local country or market. The Executives will also be able to understand and offer advice on the quality of the products from the research findings. For the consumers, the findings will also help them to better their participation in business transactions, particularly in marketing. They will assist in research by providing information on the quality of the products. This will enable the company to reevaluate its input to the product with the aim of effecting the necessary qualitative and quantitative changes accordingly. (Morris, C. pg 71) The poor achievers in marketing will decipher the reasons behind their poor performance and compare to the findings of this research as a benchmark in the designing and implementing of marketing policies. This will ignite in them the desire to do better.

As explained before, the objective of this project is to bridge the information gap left by early research. None of the scholarly articles in existence has a complete cover of materials on this topic. This is not to say that these academic articles are irrelevant. But they do not give the required details on my topic of study. At the end of this research, I aspire to produce a document that will provide meaningful reading on the impact of competition business transactions in the field of marketing. My quest to carry out this project has sprung from reading works of other outstanding scholars. Their insightful literature has provided me with the necessary background that I need for the task at hand. In preparation for this project the book “doing qualitative research-in London” by Silverman, current edition, has been of immense importance. I have similarly gained valuable directions from the work by Babbie E, current edition titled, “the practice of social research”. Ticehurst, G.W & Veal, A. J current edition, on Business Research Methods (a managerial approach) has equally served me well.

Design and methodology/procedure

From the topic of study, it is clear that the research will mostly be carried out on the parties to the chain of supply. This is because the movements of products across the parties act as a link and connection between the producers and the end-users. In the process, there is relevant information that is acquired which is important to the producing company. But the research will not cover the whole outlet parties, I intend to use sampling method where a small size of different parties in a particular level, for example the retailers, are selected for research purposes. As such few people from different provinces will be interviewed. For historical purposes, a review of the past findings and the influence of marketing on the volume of sales of products will be inevitable.

The procedure of collecting data will involve interviews that will be led by a qualified moderator, questionnaires designed to indicate the reactions from the sample population that was involved in the research and report writing. While collecting data, interaction with suppliers, retailers, consumers as the end-users of the products or the parties to the chain of supply will be necessary. In order to collect data that is credible, the sources of information and the information itself should be tested for authenticity. The academic backgrounds of the interviewees and their wealth of knowledge on the topic of study will be tested to ascertain the reliability of the information that they will give. The academic backgrounds can be confirmed by checking with the alma maters claimed. The authentication of information given by the parties in the supply chain can be verified individually. For example, the authenticity of information from consumers or end users can be authenticated by the use of video recordings during the interview sessions. There will be no need to check for authenticity of information collected from institutions like the revenue authority since these are sources with authority.

The next step will be arranging and sorting out in different groups the information collected. This can be classified into categories, for example, the information from interviewees with the positive reaction in one category, those with negative reaction in the other, while those ones unable to be classified in the other. This will make working with the information easy. Selection of the information relevant to the topic at hand will then follow. The most significant part of the whole procedure will be analysis of the data. The data will be analyzed by comparing the information collected with the hypothesis advanced. This can be done by use of variance analysis techniques called the ANOVA or the analysis of covariance, also known as ANCOVA. The entire hypothesis formulated will be compared with the responses collected from the sources.

Opinions on the comparisons will form the fruits of the project. The declarations should be founded on the critical analysis of the information. Conclusions will be synthesized by use of variant techniques. The procedure should be both qualitative and quantitative. As noted by Patton, 1994 “The cardinal principle of qualitative analysis is that causal relationships and theoretical statements be clearly emergent from and grounded in the data” (Patton, 1994). Qualitative investigation is not entirely a process of number of items or statements coming in classes. Its chief aim is usually in the variety of meanings, attitudes, and interpretations inherent in each category.

The questions that were put forward will not have empirical answers. The procedure that will be mostly used will be qualitative analysis of the information collected. Strong analytical and interpretational skills will be needed to assess and establish the pictorial and video representations that will be exciting.

Conclusion

The aim of the study is to satisfy the curiosity and answer questions that interested parties have raised over the above topic. Furthermore, a full and accurate account of the impact of competition on the achievement of marketing by a company is the objective of this exercise. The success of this project will lie in the fulfillment of these goals. In undertaking this research, there are numerous costs that I expect to incur which I intend to receive the necessary budgetary allocations to cover the exercise. This will include, communicating with the concerned candidates for the research, that is, the parties to the supply chain that are established.

For example, the retailers and suppliers. Consumers can also be communicated to by use of relevant medium of communication like Television broadcasting and local dailies, the costs to be incurred while printing of the questionnaires and the transport arrangements of both the staff and the materials required for the exercise. I also intend to have a team that will be assisting me in conducting the research. For this team to be operational without affecting the limited employees that are available from the company, I shall be hiring a competent and well-accredited firm to carry out the research exercise. For this, Infotrak Research Company has been recruited. In addition to the company conducting research, I shall be seeking the services of qualified personnel who shall be responsible for the implementation of the research findings. This means that the vacancies shall be advertised in the necessary media and vacancy notices which will lead

to the conducting of interviews of the applicants. Upon completing the recruitment, the expected costs will also have to include the remuneration of the hired Company, their accommodation and transport arrangements. I will also incur the storage costs of the materials necessary for the assignment. Using the available resources, I will endeavor to conclusively respond to the above demands.

However, I anticipate running into challenges during the research work. Chief among the problems that I have foreseen are; inadequate or poor responses both written and verbal, absence of co-operation from the parties of supply chain, vested interests and distorted information. Since very little has been done on my topic of research it is quite a challenge there is very minimal reference material. As a result there will be more effort and finance in consulting the information that is very vital but not locally available. I also expect to meet security challenges given that I will be venturing into territories that have underdeveloped security systems. The solutions to these problems lie in proper planning. To begin with, awareness should be done before the field research so that the importance and purpose of the exercise are communicated to the prospective respondents well in advance. This will enable the respondents to have a positive attitude towards the exercise. It will also allow the team to be accorded with the co-operation that is required while carrying out the exercise. In addition, large number of questionnaires will have to be circulated so that the responses can be as many as possible.

The size and framing of the questions on the questionnaires should be appealing to anyone that comes across the document. I also intend to conduct a familiarization and code of ethics with the staff that I will be working with. This will enable the team to have a healthy relationship with the respondents. The hired Company is to receive proper clearance and documentation from the Company so that there will be no conflicts and misunderstandings between the hired Company and the respondents. There will be a direct communication between the local authorities and the hiring Company, outlining the nature of research and the expected input from the local respondents. The expected duration and timing of the whole exercise are taken to be three months. The proper dates as of when the exercise is expected to commence will be effectively communicated to the relevant authorities in the area under research. If the methodologies and procedures described above will be faithfully followed, and the proposal can receive proper funding from the proposal, my sincere belief is that the intended objectives shall be achieved. Finally, it should be remembered that, the success of this project will depend on the cooperation of all stakeholders and the respondents under the research area.

References

Babbie, E1987, The practice of Social Research-Belmont, CA, Wordsworth publishing Company, Current Edition.

Hart, C1998, Doing a Literature review, London, Sage Publications.

Morris, C2002, Quantitative Approaches in Business Studies, London, Pitman Publishing Company.

Silverman, D1999, Doing Qualitative Research, London, Sage Publications

The only way to find success is to answer who, how, what, where, and why. It is significant to find out the actual market JavaJoy is targeting in terms of its taste and consumer buying power. JavaJoy has not been able to penetrate deep into the market perhaps due to its high prices, it is therefore important to find out how JavaJoy could cover a wider market by filling the gaps. All this process requires is a sound research based on which strategic planning could be done. It could be almost impossible to conduct the research ourselves as this could bring numerous complexities as we do not have a research department within the company, there are time and money constraints as well. It is therefore very suitable to find a partner who has specialized in conducting the research at a large scale. However, there are numerous other reasons to select a research partner instead of going for the whole research solo.

Selecting a research partner could be difficult especially when you already know a lot about the research process as later arguments can develop between you and the researcher, but it is important to select a research partner as conducting a research on your own (being a part of the company) could bring biases to the research. The key consideration should therefore be the coverage of the research; the research partner has to research a wider market area. It is expected that the researcher would make a sound judgment of selecting a research method that could best provide the analysis, also there should not be any mistake while picking up the samples as any irrelevant sample would not only result in obsolete data but also would be a waste of time. There could be certain other factors important while selecting a research partner, as we may need a long-term help from the researcher in terms of constantly identifying the changing trends in the market while the actual research may still be very limited.

Marketing research process is always helpful in any research whether small scale or large scale, in the present research both the parties would help each other accomplish the task. The researcher may need to know certain facts about the JavaJoy’s target market, such information can only be made available to the researcher if we (as a part of JavaJoy) are aware of what the research is going to involve. The other point is the validity of research; the research is highly likely to be a success if we work together with the researcher as in this case the researcher would even be aware that any inaccuracy of data would be immediately identified putting the researcher’s position at the stake. However, we must also be aware that too much interference in the researcher’s task could worsen the situation. So it can be said that a significant part of research process would be impossible without our help to the researcher.

It could be extremely cost-effective if we decide to research the market ourselves. Firstly, it may require us to employ hundreds of people to collect data and secondly, as we are not specialized in the research process, the research may lead to something which is irrelevant to us and it may just be a total waste of money and time. It is therefore important to employ someone who is specialized in conducting the research at a large scale as this study is going to involve a considerable population and so a careful planning is required.

References

Kotler, P. and Keller, K.L. (2006) Marketing Management, 12^th ed, Pearson Education Inc, New Jersey.

Saunders, M., Lewis, P. and Thornhill, A. (2003) Research Method for Business Students,3^rd ed, Pearson Education Limited, England.

Sekaran, U. (2003) Research Methods For Business: A Skill Building Approach, 4^th ed, John Wilry and Sons Inc, USA.

Test marketing is a stage in marketing research whereby researchers introduce new product together with its marketing plan to a particular group of people in a given population. This developmental stage determines rejection or full launching of a product depending on the response of the sample group. It is an experiment carried out in real market situation of buying and selling without letting the buyers know of their participation in the evaluation exercise. The test runs for several weeks or months depending on the buyers’ response.

Importance of test marketing is to cushion firms from running into losses by launching a product that cannot sell. From the response of the buyers involved in test marketing, managers make decision on whether to launch the product or abandon it.

Field research is a part of marketing research where research happen in real market situation with buying and selling of products but primarily for testing purposes. On the other hand, laboratory experiments involve research in a closed facility under controlled conditions with information coming from documented data.

In field research, researchers are very close to real market situation and can establish how buyers will respond to the product once launched in the market, unlike in laboratory research where researchers bank heavily on documented data. While the data collected in field research is first hand and up to date, laboratory research use documented data that may be outdated due to changing market trends. It is possible to design field research in order to get specific information but it is impossible to design attested data to get particular information in laboratory research. Information gathered in field study is first hand thus eliminates any assumptions but laboratory work contains many assumptions.

However, field research is time consuming and expensive compared to laboratory research, which consumes less time and resources. Due to high costs, field research may involve an iota of small sample size, which does not necessarily represent the response of the whole population, but laboratory work utilize attested information from wide range populations. Nevertheless, the merits of field research outweigh those of laboratory work in marketing research.

Probability sampling is a sampling method involving random selection. This means that different units in the sampling process undergo standardizations to ensure they have equal chance (probability) of selection. On the other hand, non-probability sampling does not involve any for of random selection.

Measurement scaling falls under two categories, comparative and non-comparative measurement scaling. Reliability refers to how a given trend will be consistent after several measurements. It is thus possible to extrapolate a reliable trend and use it to predict future market trends. Validity involves determining how a given measuring instrument measures and give precise results of the phenomena under study. However, validation evaluates the measuring tool in relation to the aim of using it. This is because an instrument may be valid in measuring one phenomenon but invalid in measuring another.

Attitude scale is a way of measuring attitudes on assumption that possessing a given attitude leads to consistent patterns of response to given issues or objects. Behavior scale however, deals with how people respond to a given situation based on past exposure to the same situation. These scales are strong indicators of how people will react to a new product. However, they may give misleading results for people may react differently not necessarily depending on their attitude or experience. The assumption of these scales is that people respond to issues depending on their attitudes and experiences.

The process of questionnaire design involve identifying the purpose of the questionnaire, developing research questions and initial review followed by expert interview to gather enough beginning information. Formulation of draft paper follows together with expert review. After revising the draft paper according to expert comments, translation, revision of the questionnaire in all languages and cognitive interview testing follow. Final revision then ensues followed by interviewer training and field-testing. Final revision takes place before printing the questionnaire.

Process of data presentation and analysis: select and review the data to obtain the desired results, edit and clean it removing all errors, construct new detailed error free data and format it for analysis. This gives clean and reliable data.

Measure of central tendency are, mean, mode and median. Mode is the most frequent item; mean is the arithmetic average and median is the mid-point item. Measures of dispersion are; range, variance and standard deviation. Range is arrangement from the least to the highest, variance is the sum of all squared deviations from the mean and standard deviation is the square root of variance.

Statistical significance establishes whether the mean differences observed, occurred due to sampling error, while practical significance determines if the difference is large enough to be of value in determining the fate of null hypothesis.

Dependency is a situation where a system or a person cannot function solely without outside help. On the other hand, interdependency is a symbiotic relationship where two subjects rely on each other and both benefit from the resultant relationship.

This paper provides a critical analysis of the article When Leaders Fail to Execute Strategy: Insights from Marketing Research by Bradley Winn published in the journal People + Strategy. The given article reviews the newest study in the field of strategy implementation. This study was published by Charles R. Greer, Robert F. Lush and Michael Hitt in the journal Academy of Management Perspectives. In their study, the researchers tried to use a marketing approach for HR to implement strategies.

In his article, Winn (2017) points out that the reviewed study is based on the service-dominant logic perspective which is a marketing approach. It is stated that top management uses human resources which should successfully complete the tasks to achieve the goals of implementation. According to the new study, service-dominant logic should be used to improve the chances of successful implementation of the strategy. The author of the article makes an overview of service perspective components which are the base of service-dominant logic.

It is mentioned that many marketing professionals are shifting from product-dominated logic to service-dominant logic. This logic is proved to be positively associated with customer’s expectations and increase strategy implementation. The author provides an overview of the key areas where service-dominant logic can be embedded. According to the authors of the new approach, service-dominant logic is oriented to examining the customer’s needs and building relationships rather than using commercials to sell products. The reviewed study points out that the same approach can be used in the management of human capital to improve strategy implementation.

The author of the article states that executives and leaders are very good at developing new strategies, but cannot implement any of them (Winn, 2017, p. 52). He points out that the reviewed research confirms difficulties in strategy implementation which is stated to be more challenging than a strategy design. The author is rather logical and mentions the statistics according to which over sixty percent of strategies could not be implemented successfully. Still, he fails to provide enough support to his statements. He does not use any other sources which can support his point of view. Winn references only the interview with one of the authors of the new study and the article about the mentioned research.

It appears that the authors of the reviewed study might be right about their suggestions as service-dominant logic is proved to be helpful in many areas. There are constant researches on the nature of service-dominant logic and its practical use. It is possible to say that the newest research by the authors of the reviewed article can provide fresh perspectives on service-dominant logic approach. Although it is impossible to say whether they will be successful enough, there is no reason to state that such kind of approach cannot be used by the executive managers of some companies.

The article written by Winn as an attempt to review a new study in the field of strategy implementation based on service-dominant logic approach seems to be informative and gives a general understanding of the new study. However, the author’s attempts to critique the study are not provided with the arguments that are strong enough to support his position. Still, the author made an informative review asking the right questions about the lessons that can be learned from marketing. It is possible to state that the author should be less emotional in his statements and provide some credible sources to support his point of view.

Reference

Winn, B. (2017). When leaders fail to execute strategy: Insights from marketing research. People + Strategy, 40(4), 52-54

On the whole, marketing research can be defined as the use of various qualitative and quantitative methods in order to derive relevant information about certain marketing phenomena such as the demand for certain products or services (Zikmund & Babin, 2010, p. 5). This is one of the ways in which this notion can be described. Nevertheless, one should take into consideration that there are many other definitions of this term.

It is important to understand the difference between pure and applied marketing research. The first one is aimed at testing or elaborating existing theories or concepts that describe the behavior of potential clients or competitors (Belk, 2007). In other words, such studies are not supposed to serve the interests of a certain organization (MacDaniel, 1998, p. 9). For instance, researchers may try to examine the factors that affect purchasing decisions of consumers. Moreover, they can investigate how buyers evaluate products that are available to them. In turn, applied research is supposed to serve the needs of a particular organization that operates in a certain market (MacDaniel, 1998, p. 9). This is one of the distinctions that should be considered. However, one should take into account that the distinctions between applied and pure research are not always clear. In many cases, theoretical studies can be used for the development of practical guidelines that companies often follow. This is one of the main arguments that can be put forward.

One can say that applied research is most likely to be used in sports because in this case, it should serve the practical purposes of companies.

As a rule, these organizations prefer to conduct empirical studies which can throw light on the preferences of clients or the strategies that can be adopted by other firms. They can carry out both qualitative and quantitative research in order to derive relevant information. For instance, one can mention the use of such methods as surveys, interviews, focus groups, and so forth.

It is possible to argue that the stages of the research process are consistent with the principles of the scientific method. The main principle that marketing professionals should consider is that empirical evidence should be the basis of theories, models, or recommendations. Facts should not be distorted or misinterpreted so that they could fit theoretical assumptions. Such an approach is completely unacceptable for any study that is aimed at examining the behavior of clients. The collection and analysis of data are the most critical steps that a marketing manager should undertake (Zikmund Babin, 2010, p.58). Certainly, marketing research can test a certain conjecture or a hypothesis, but it has to be tested against empirical evidence. Therefore, marketing research should also meet the standards that are set for scientific studies.

Additionally, one can argue that ethical principles also play a vital role in marketing research. Organizations that carry out such studies must uphold the rights of the participants. For instance, one of the main tasks is to receive the informed consent of people. They should know what kind of goals researchers strive to achieve (Schlegelmilch, 1998, p. 391). It should be mentioned that some unscrupulous companies disguise their marketing campaigns as empirical studies (Zikmund & Babin, 2010). Furthermore, researchers should ensure that the confidential data of subjects is not transferred to third parties (Kimmel, 2008, p. 206). These are some of the pitfalls that should be avoided.

Reference List

Belk, R. (2007). Handbook of Qualitative Research Methods in Marketing. New York: Edward Elgar Publishing.

Kimmel, A. (2008). Ethical Issues in Behavioral Research: Basic and Applied Perspectives. Boston. John Wiley & Sons.

MacDaniel, C. (1998). Marketing Research Essentials. New York: Taylor & Francis.

Schlegelmilch. B. (1998). Marketing Ethics: An International Perspective. New York: Cengage Learning EMEA.

Zikmund, W., & Babin, B. (2010). Exploring marketing research. Mason, Ohio: Thomson South-Western.