Business Research for Decision Making

Research and Case Analysis

Your research firm has been contacted by the President of the Chocolate Company. Chocolate Company is a new business whose goal is to provide excellent service to its clientele and thereby progressively work toward becoming a global leader in its industry. Currently possessing a small clientele, the President of Chocolate Comapny is seeking to efficiently use his advertisement budget to increase awareness about his company in the hopes of capturing a host of new customers. He has requested your guidance on how he should allocate his funds (for advertisement) to maximize his return on investment (ROI).

The president has heard about the decline of traditional advertising. He calls your attention to the speech by Jim Stengel, Global Marketing Officer for Procter & Gamble Company, in 2004 when he told attendees of the 2004 American Association of Advertising Agencies annual media conference that the "The traditional marketing model we all grew up with is obsolete." (Jim Stengel, 2004). For companies, the key implication of the decline in effectiveness of these traditional methods is the necessity to find innovative ways of embracing new technologies in a manner that fit their corporate goals. The internet and its peer to peer technologies such as chat rooms, forums, instant messaging and file transfer have enabled messages to spread faster and more exponentially than ever before.

The President would like to explore the industry-specific effectiveness of the major method of advertising listed below:

• Television ads

The primary objective of this research effort is to study the comparative effectiveness of the various modes of advertising for your industry (chocolate candy business) and to recommend a course of action for Chocolate Company. ‘Effectiveness' for the purpose of this study is defined in terms of impact of advertising on the purchase decision of the consumer. This work should help to identify opportunities that will directly benefit Chocolate Company, i.e., increased customer base, increased market share, higher revenues, greater profits, etc.

In developing the structure of the research project, you should consider the tasks below:

1. Explore both new and traditional modes of advertising. Discuss the appeal/power and limitation of each.

2. Develop a Research Proposal.

Note on the analysis of advertising research: The types of statistics used to analyze advertising research are no different than in any other area of general research. Suffice to say that research in advertising uses all forms of statistics. Research studies may use simple descriptive or summary statistics such as frequency tables, or measures of central tendency such as the mean, median, mode, standard deviation, and Z-scores. Additionally, advertising research may use statistical techniques such as the t-test, Chi-square, analysis of variance, regression analysis, factor analysis, and cluster analysis.

The President has scheduled an initial meeting with your team to discuss this project. He is scheduled to meet with the CEO after your project has been completed to present the project findings, conclusions and recommendations.

In developing the structure of the research project, you should consider the following topics:

- PROJECT OBJECTIVES AND SCOPE (global, U.S./North America, Atlanta metro, etc.)
- TERMINOLOGY (industry specific definitions)
- RESEARCH ISSUES (problems, research questions, etc.)
- PROPOSITIONS/HYPOTHESES TO BE TESTED (differences in men and women, etc.)
- RESEARCH DESIGN (primary/secondary data, sampling, pre-testing, data collection, etc.)

• Secondary research
• Primary research (key issues, demographics, etc.)
• Survey methods (self-administered, phone/personal interviews, use of internet, etc.)
• Qualitative research (focus groups, etc.)

- SECONDARY DATA SOURCES (databases, internet, industry associations/publications, etc.)
- PARTICIPATION BY XYZ (level of commitment of all team members, etc.)

Other Project Considerations:

- PROJECT TEAM MANAGEMENT/COMPOSITION
- BUDGET AND SCHEDULE ESTIMATES
- POTENTIAL BENEFITS OF THE RESEARCH PROJECT FOR XYZ.
- AGREEMENT ON NEED FOR PRIMARY RESEARCH
- TARGET POPULATION (Global, U.S., Atlanta metro, etc.)
- SAMPLING METHODOLOGY (probabilistic vs. non-probabilistic, expected sample size, etc.)
- SURVEY METHODOLOGY (self-administered via mail/fax, in-person/telephone interviews, use of the internet, etc.)
- QUESTIONS/ISSUES TO BE INCLUDED IN RESEARCH
- QUESTION FORMAT (open end, closed end, combination)
- TYPE OF DATA TO BE COLLECTED (interval/ratio, ordinal, nominal)
- EXPECTED RESPONSE RATES
- ANALYSIS OF DATA TO BE COLLECTED (descriptive and inferential analyses)
- NEED FOR PRE-TESTING
- SCHEDULE FOR COMPLETION.

The assignments on research you have completed so far have taken you through a step-by-step process on how to develop and design formal research. In this capstone assignment, you will use all the knowledge and skills you have developed over the past weeks and apply it to a published research as part of a group activity.

Your work MUST include a reference list. All research should be cited in the body of the paper. Your report should contain a short introduction and conclusion in addition to the body of the paper. Please note that if you have a source in your reference section, you need to cite it in the body of the paper per APA guidelines and vice-versa.

Scholarly Databases may be accessed in the Library. Suggestions are:

• ABI Inform Global
• Academic Search Premier
• Business Source Premier

Our target market is young adults ages 20-35.