Research your fans

Case: The Big 12 Tournament

Case Situation

• The Big 12 Basketball Tournament is annually held in either Dallas, Texas or Kansas City, Missouri.

• Like other league championships (e.g., SEC in Atlanta or Nashville), committees from competitive host cities offer proposals to host a tournament.

• Dependent upon the benefits offered to the league and its fans, the league officials determine the host cities.

• Given the financial benefits to the city, the Dallas Host Committee (DHC) is interested in creating more opportunities for the Big 12 tournament to be held in Dallas.

• In order to better understand how to serve Big 12 fans in Dallas, the DHC has asked you to help design research to aid them in their bid to host more Big 12 tournaments.

What steps should be taken to solve the problem?

1. Understand the consumption context: multiple service sequences

2. Understand the client

3. Define the research problem

#1 Understand the consumption context: multiple service sequences

Fans attending the Big12 tournament will experience a variety of different service deliveries from the time they arrive in Dallas to the time they leave.

• Develop a flow chart that depicts the service sequences they will most likely encounter.

• Why would the DHC be concerned about each sequence?

Airport

What will fans evaluate?

Airport

Transportation

Lodging

Restaurants

Arena parking & access

Arena facility

Arena exit

Victoryfest

Airport service

Car rental, DART, Highways, directions

Lodging packages/ info

Restaurant availability/ info

Arena parking & access/ info & service

Arena facility/ info & service

Arena exit/ traffic mgt & info

Victoryfest/ info & service

#2 Understand the client.

• What is the role of the Dallas Host Committee? Visit www.dallassports.org

• Based on the information found on the website, what do you think they might want to know?

#3 Define the problem. Really.

1. Define the problem

2. Develop hypotheses.

3. Collect data.4. Analyze data.5. Derive

conclusions.

• The men’s tournament is held at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, one of the finest arenas in the country. The women’s tournament is held about 2.5 miles south on I-35 at the older Reunion Arena.

• In your meeting with the DHC, they explain that they are afraid that fans who aren’t familiar with Dallas may experience problems with transportation or lodging, have difficulty finding the information they need, or encounter some other service problem once they get to the arenas. The DHC is unsure if the information they provide fans helps fans have a more satisfying tournament experience. They wonder if some aspects of the experience in Dallas could be improved by the next round of bids for hosting the tournament.

• How would you define the research problem?

What are the research objectives?

1. Do fans have access to the information they need while in Dallas for the tournament?

2. How do fans perceive the service quality provided in conjunction with the tournaments?

3. Are fans who accessed Dallas Host Committee information online more satisfied than those who did not?

4. How does this tournament location compare to other Big 12 tournament sites (viz., Kansas City) with whom the DHC competes?

#4 Hypothesize about relationships between variables.

Perceptions 1. Transportation (Airport, Highways,

DART)2. AAC3. Reunion Arena 4. VictoryFest5. Wayfinding around Dallas and the

arenas6. Hotel Packages

Behaviors– Intentions to return to future

tournaments at AAC or Reunion.Segments:

– Frequency of tournament attendance (1st time….every year).

– Those who accessed DHC website.

– Those who used information from DHC.

– City/state of origin (OK, TX, NE, MO, IA)

1. How might the perceptions of the six areas (transportation, AAC, Reunion, etc.) differ between fan segments?

2. Develop hypotheses that follow one of these formats:– If fans _______, then they will

_______.– The greater the _______of

fans, the greater (less) fans will _______.

3. Based on your hypotheses, what kind of study do you suggest? – Exploratory– Descriptive– Causal

If they really wanted to know what people thought about the arena experience, which of these might differentiate the AAC

& Reunion?Access

The physical approach to the food service area, including finding your way to the food you want and the clarity of in/out lines.

AestheticsThe appearance & ambience of the food service area, including the appearance of the facilities, food & drink, and service staff.

Attentive-helpful How well service employees help, including the impression you get of their wanting or willingness to help you.

AvailabilityThe availability of service employees and the availability (stock) of food & drinks; includes the employee/customer ratio and the amount of time each employee has to spend with each customer.

CareThe concern, consideration, sympathy, and patience shown the customer, including how well the employees make you feel at ease and emotionally (rather than physically) comfortable.

CleanlinessThe cleanliness and neatness of the food service area, including the service environment, facilities, equipment, serving areas, and employees.

Commitment Employee's apparent commitment to their work, including the pride & satisfaction they apparently take in their job; their diligence and thoroughness.

CommunicationHow well employees communicate in a way that you understand, including the clarity, completeness and accuracy of information communicated AND the ability of employees to listen and understand you.

CompetenceThe skill, expertise, and professionalism with which the service is performed, including the carrying out of correct procedures, correct execution of customer instructions, degree of product/service knowledge shown by employees, AND the general ability to do a good job.

CourtesyPoliteness, respect and propriety shown by employees; including the ability of employees to be unobtrusive and not interfering when appropriate.

Flexibility The willingness & ability of employees to amend or alter the nature of the service or product to meet the needs of customers.

Friendliness The warmth & personal approachability of employees, including cheerful attitude and ability to make you feel welcome.

Integrity The honesty, justice, fairness and trust in the way employees treat you.

Product quality The taste, freshness and quality of the food & drink, including the appropriateness of the food & drink temperature (hot/cold).

ReliabilityThe reliability & consistency of service, including punctual service delivery and keeping agreements made with you (doing what they said they will do).

ResponsivenessThe speed and timeliness of service delivery, including the speed & ability to respond promptly to requests with minimal waiting and queuing time.

Security/safetyThe personal and financial safety you have in completing transactions with employees; includes the way you feel about the employees when you exchange money for food & drinks.

#5 Collect valid data.

• Review the questions on the following four slides.

• How might these questions get unreliable or invalid responses?

Reliable? Valid?

1. As a Basketball Fan, how would you rate your first Big 12 basketball tournament experience in Dallas?

a. Excellent

b. Good

c. Average

d. Not very good

e. Bad

What if the respondent had attended a tournament in Dallas before? How would he/she respond?

Is “not very good” the precise opposite of “good”? What might be a better choice of words?

Reliable? Valid?

2. Were you pleased with the setup of VictoryFest, in terms of proximity to American Airlines Center and Reunion Arena, as well as information areas provided by the Dallas Host Committee?

– Yes– No

• This is what is called a “double-barreled” question. – What if the fan thought

the location of Victoryfest was fine, but didn’t know about or didn’t care for the information provided by the DHC?

• After you break this into at least two questions, would you rather have a yes/no answer or something in degrees of satisfaction (dissatisfied—satisfied on a 1-10 scale)?

Reliable? Valid?

3. When you arrived in Dallas and throughout your stay, did the Host Committee and volunteers provide you with any and all information that you needed?

• Yes• No

• This is another “double-barreled” question.– Fans could be favorable about

the experience arriving in Dallas, but not throughout the stay (and vice-versa).

• What’s wrong with “any and all information”? How might people interpret the question differently?

• Better:– Did you receive the information

you needed regarding transportation?

– …location of the VictoryFest?– …etc…

Reliable? Valid?

4. How would you rate Reunion Arena in terms of fan experience?

a. Excellentb. Goodc. Averaged. Not very goode. Bad

• Assume that the results showed that the majority of fans believed the experience at Reunion Arena is “average” or worse. How would the DHC know what needed to be improved regarding the experience fans have at Reunion Arena?

• How would using the questions on p.71 and p.75 in your text help pinpoint problems?

Perceived Value

• One thing the host committee is likely to want to know is how people perceive the value of the hotel fan packages.

• Based on measures presented in your text, devise a valid measure.

Perceived Value

The prices for the hotel where I stayed were:

A bad buy---------------------------A good buy

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Not worth the money—Worth the money

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Too high for Not too high

what I got-----------------------------------for what I got

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Perceived value of an event promotion

• Your client wants to know if the value of the VictoryFest adds to fans’ entertainment or enjoyment.

• Based on measures presented in your text, devise a valid measure.

Perceived Promotion Value

The VictoryFest:Has no value to me—Has high value for me

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Adds no value Adds great valueto the tournament---------to the tournament

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Isn’t worth Is definitely attending-------------------------worth attending

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Analysis & Conclusions

• Suppose that you gathered information on event perceptions (right) from fans that attended the Big 12 tournament the last time it was held in (a) Dallas and (b) Kansas City. You also have data on the fans’ home residence and prior tournament attendance.

• How do you think fans’ perceived value might differ on these dimensions?