Research for Marketing Decisions

Guidelines for Course Project (2014-15)

Introduction

The aim of the project component is to enable participants to develop skills in

recognising research requirements, commissioning market research studies and

evaluating studies carried out by others. The project will be carried out on a focal topic

(brand /company) of the group’s choice. It is expected that the project will be carried out

in a professional manner with due consideration to ethics involved in marketing research.

The submissions in this project are spread out so that the initial planning work is done

early enough to provide sufficient time for data collection and analysis. The project will

carry a weightage of 30% of the course marks. Each submission will be evaluated.

Project deliverables

The project may be focused on any one of the following:

• New introduction (new product/service/retail outlet)

What should the new product/service/retail concept be like; Need gap; target

segment; which benefits/ features are likely to be valued by customers; what

should the positioning be like; what should the rest of the marketing mix be like?

• Evaluation of a company’s marketing strategy

Value proposition offered by company; Segments currently being catered to; how

appropriate is the current positioning; how effective are the current product,

pricing, promotional and distribution strategies; level of customer satisfaction

relative to alternative brands; what changes are required in marketing mix?

• Evaluation of a brand/company on an important marketing issue

In depth analysis of any one of the following issues for a company/brand using

appropriate theoretical frameworks:

o Brand positioning/repositioning/revitalization

o Advertising strategy

o Product acceptance /usage/

o Value perceptions / Pricing

o Customer satisfaction / loyalty /recommendations

A list of RMD projects done by PGP students of previous batches is given in the

appendices.

Please choose a brand/topic for which research among a student (or young) population

is appropriate. This will enable easy access to respondents for interviews/focus

groups/surveys.

2) The project must include both exploratory and descriptive/conclusive research:

• Exploratory research:

o Secondary data analysis AND

o Qualitative research

• Descriptive /Conclusive research:

o Survey OR

o Experiment

3) Qualitative research must be carried out using any one or more of the following:

• Focus group discussions

• In-depth Interviews

• Laddering

• Projective techniques

• Brand Concept Mapping

• Direct Observation

4) Quantitative data must be analysed using:

• Tabulation, Frequencies/ Chi Square/ ANOVA and

• Any one or more of the following multivariate analysis techniques- Discriminant,

Logistic, Factor, Cluster, Regression, Multidimensional scaling, Conjoint analysis

SUBMISSIONS

Submission 1 [3 marks out of 30]

a) Choose a brand / company

b) Choose a topic : New product launch/ marketing strategy evaluation/ examination of a

specific marketing issue

c) Describe what you wish to study:

• Marketing decisions that you think are important (Management decision

problems)

• What information is required in order to take above decisions (Market

research problems)

o Components of the market research problems OR

o Research questions

Page limit is 3 pages. You can submit by e-mail to avinashgm@iimb.ernet.in

Submission 1 is due- Wednesday, 31st Dec 2014 by 10.00 am

Submission 2 [6 marks out of 30]

A report giving the highlights of the exploratory research phase

• Highlights from analysis of secondary data

• Highlights from qualitative research

• Transcripts* (Focus Groups, Depth interviews)

• Output of other qualitative techniques(if used)

• Revisions/ Additions to Submission 1 if any

* Transcripts may be submitted either in typed form or as sound and visual files

Submission 2 is due-Tuesday, 20thJanuary 2015 by 10.00 am before session #10

Submission 3 [5 marks out of 30]

• Flow chart

• Questionnaire

• Coding sheet

Submission 3 is due– Thursday 5th February 2015 by 10.00 am

Final submission [10 marks out of 30]

• Final report* containing one page abstract that mentions management decision

problem, research issues / research problems, research design(s), methodology

used, information sought, sample details, major findings, and learning from the

study

• Details of each section mentioned above

• Your recommendations for focal brand /company

• Annexure containing data analysis outputs, tables

• Questionnaire and coding sheet

• Raw data collected during survey tabulated in an SPSS data file (on a CD)

* The final report must be submitted in the form of a printed, bound report.

. Final submission is due at the beginning of session 18 (date to be notified)

Note: Final PPT presentation in Sessions 18-20 carries 6 marks out of 30

Appendix 1

RMD Projects done by PGP 2013-15 batch

Brand/Company Topic

Shoppers Stop Evaluating marketing strategy

Axe deodorant Brand revitalization

Nokia Brand revitalization

Brand ‘Ajay Devgan’ Brand revitalization

Nestle Alpino Improving sales and market share

Brand ‘BJP’ Strengthening the brand among youth

Tata Nano Evaluating marketing strategy

Sunfeast Dark Fantasy Increasing market share

Aam Aadmi Party Evaluating acceptability amongst youth

Nokia Brand revitalization through Lumia

Vespa Evaluating marketing strategy

Linked in Evaluating marketing strategy

‘Chaat’ store Feasibility of launching a chaat store chain in Bangalore

Shaadi.com Product acceptance and usage

Micromax Increasing market share in smartphone segment

Appendix 2

RMD projects done by PGP 2012-14 batch

Brand/Company Topic

Bridal gown boutique Evaluating feasibility of launching a bridal gown boutique in

Bangalore

Kingfisher beer Determining customer satisfaction for Kingfisher relative to

international beer brands

Google + Increasing brand acceptance and market share

ITC’s corporate brand Impact of diversification and sustainability on ITC corporate

brand equity

Coptex Brand revitalization of Cooptex

Chai Point Evaluating marketing strategy

Ikea Launch in India: what needs to change from their international

strategy

Johnson and Johnson Evaluating marketing strategy of baby care products I the

context of new competitors

Meru cabs Feasibility of launching an economy cab service in Bangalore

Blackberry Improving market share in India

AMD microprocessors Enhancing brand value in India

Windows 8 Evaluating marketing strategy

Fiama Di Wills Evaluating marketing strategy

Volkswagen India Evaluating advertising effectiveness

Microsoft Feasibility of launch of tablet in India