Management Problem
The Chestnut Ridge Country Club is a famous outstanding country clubs and it has a distinguished
reputation in the Elma, Tennessee, area. This club offers golf facilities, dining and banquet
facilities for the customers, and the board of directors of Chestnut Ridge Club committed that the
club will provide best facilities and services in the area. However, the board of directors care about
the quantity of the membership of Chestnut Club has been experience decreasing and they also
think that the membership applications at other three competing country clubs (Alden, Chalet and
Lancaster) in the Elma were not experience similar declines. In order to find the reasons of reduce
for membership applications, the board of directors find the professional research firm to do the
study of country club in Elma, Tennessee.
Research Problem & Objectives
The marketing research problem is to help the board of directors of Chestnut Ridge Country Club
realized that why the decline in the amount of people seeking membership is occurring. The
specific objectives of the research are: (1) to outlines areas in which Chestnut Ridge fared poorly
in relation to other clubs in the area; (2) to determine people’s overall perception of Chestnut
Ridge; and (3) to provide recommendations for ways to increase membership application at the
club. The researchers think that the useful information will be provides from membership of
Alden, Chalet and Lancaster country clubs because these memberships understand more deeply
about the levels and types of services and facilities about country club; they have had opportunities
to become members of Chestnut Ridge. Therefore, their answers may explain why they choose to
different club rather than Chestnut Ridge.
Research Methodology
i. Research design
The researchers used a literature search on country clubs but they did not discover any useful
information. Moreover, the board of directors do not know any hypothesis about why the
membership application of Chestnut Ridge Country Club has been decreasing, the researchers
use the exploratory research to identify possible reasons. Through exploratory research can be
beneficial in many research projects when researchers do not have a starting point. The form
of research design that is used in the Chestnut Ridge Country Club’s case study is descriptive
research. Descriptive research uses surveys that are considered conclusions. The research team
make up a survey that is based on information they gained through contract with members
from the country clubs.
