978-1111826925 Chapter 8 Solution Manual

QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW AND CRITICAL THINKING/ANSWERS

1. Secondary data have been called the first line of attack for business researchers. Discuss this

description.

Secondary data can be obtained quickly and at a relatively low cost. Thus, the first place to start

2. Suppose you wish to learn the size of the soft-drink market, particularly root beer sales,

growth patterns, and market shares. Indicate probable sources for these secondary data.

The information about soft drink and root beer sales and competitors’ market share is available

from many syndicated sources of secondary data. The Nielsen retail store index reporting data

3. What is push technology?

Push technology is an Internet information technology that automatically delivers content to the

researcher’s or manager’s desktop. It uses “electronic smart agents,” custom software that filters,

4. Identify some typical research objectives for secondary-data studies.

The text states there are three general categories of research objectives: fact-finding, model

The simplest form of secondary data research is fact-finding. Applications of fact-finding include

Model building is more complicated than simple fact-finding and involves specifying

relationships between two or more variables, perhaps extending to the development of descriptive

Database marketing is the practice of using CRM databases (i.e., customer data bases with

customers’ names, addresses, phone numbers, past purchases, responses to past promotional

104

duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.

Chapter Eight: Secondary Data Research in a Digital Age 105

offers, and other relevant data such as demographic and financial data) to develop one-to-one

5. How might a researcher doing a job for a company such as Pulte Homes

(http://www.pultehomes.com) or David Weekley Homes (http://www.davidweekley.com/) use

secondary data and data mining?

Secondary data can be used to assess demographic shifts in population so that these builders can

6. What would be a source for the following data?

For any of the following, using search engines such as Google or Yahoo! provide many sources.

b. Maps of the U.S. counties and cities

Rand McNally’s Commercial Atlas and Marketing Guide is published annually. In this source,

c. Trends in automobile ownership

The R. L. Polk Company (http://www.polk.com) publishes information on the automobile field,

d. Divorce trends in the United States.

e. Median weekly earnings of full-time, salaried workers for the previous five years.

duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.

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f. Annual sales of the top ten fast-food companies.

g. Top ten websites ranked by unique visitors

Top ten web sites ranked by number of unique visitors are provided by Juniper Media Metrix. It

h. Attendance at professional sports events

Searching “sports attendance” in Google returns many sources. For example,

7. Suppose you are a business research consultant and a client comes to your office and says, “I

must have the latest information on the supply and demand of Maine potatoes within the next

24 hours.” What would you do?

Students can look to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, or they can just do a search of “Maine

8. Find the following data in the Survey of Current Business:

Students can find this information by starting at the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of

Economic Analysis at http://www.bea.gov. The quickest way to get the data is to click on

a. U.S. gross domestic product for the second quarter of 2008 and the first quarter of 2011

b. Exports of goods and services for the second quarter of 2008 and the first quarter of 2011

c. Imports of goods and services for the second quarter of 2008 and the first quarter of 2011

duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.

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9. [Ethics Question] A newspaper reporter finds data in a study that surveyed children that

reports that a high percentage of children can match cartoon characters with the products they

represent. For instance, they can match cereal with Captain Crunch and Ronald McDonald

with a Big Mac. The reporter used this to write a story about the need to place limits on the

use of cartoon characters. However, the study also provided data suggesting that matching

the cartoon character and the product did not lead to significantly higher consumption.

Would this be a proper use of secondary data?

The reporter obviously is selectively choosing data to make a “sensational” story. If a researcher

reported only findings that the client wanted to hear, this would be very unethical. Full disclosure

RESEARCH ACTIVITIES

1. Use secondary data to learn the size of the U.S. golf market and to profile the typical golfer.

Students’ sources for this information will vary. For example, according to the Golf Channel’s

website (http://www.golfchannelsolutions.com/markets/usa) there are 26.2 million golfers in the

2. [Internet Question] Where could a researcher working for the U.S. Marine Corps

(http://www.marines.com) find information that would identify the most productive areas of

the U.S. in which to recruit? What would you recommend?

Census data is useful because the U.S. Marine Corps is interested in recruiting young men and

women, so knowing where large concentrations of this demographic are located are useful.

3. [Internet Question] POPClocks estimate the U.S. and world populations. Go to the Census

Bureau home page (http://www.census.gov), navigate to the population section, and find

today’s estimate of the U.S. and world populations.

Simply search “POPClock” on the Census website. On December 31, 2011, the U.S. population

4. [Internet Question] Try to find the U.S. market share for the following companies using less

than 30 minutes to do so:

Home Depot

duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.

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Burger King

Marlboro

How difficult is the task? Why do you think it is difficult?

This task is actually more difficult than it appears on the surface, and providing a number as an

answer here will probably not be the same as what students will estimate. For example, to

determine market share, one needs to determine the company’s sales and divide that by the

5. [Internet Question] Use the Internet to learn what you can about Indonesia.

a. Check the corruption index for Indonesia at http://www.transparency.org.

b. What additional kinds of information are available from the following sources?

Go to http://freetheworld.com/member.html and click in Indonesia.

From Free the World.com, Indonesia’s level of economic freedom in 2009 was 6.5 and ranked 84

The CIA’s World Factbook web site is very easy to use, and students can find considerable

6. [Internet Question] Go to Statistics Norway at http://www.ssb.no. What data, if any, can you

obtain in English? What languages can be used to search this Web site? What databases

might be of interest to the business researcher?

This site can be accessed in nine different languages besides the Norwegian language: English,

7. [Internet Question] Go to Statistics Canada at http://www.statcan.gc.ca. What languages can

be used to search this Web site? What databases might be of interest to the business

researcher?

duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.

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8. [Internet Question] Suppose you were working for a company that wanted to start a business

selling hand-made acoustic guitars that are reproductions of classic vintage guitars. Pricing is

a big part of the decision. Secondary information is available via the Internet. Use eBay

(http://ebay.com) to identify four key brands of acoustic guitars by studying the vintage

acoustic guitars listed for sale. Since the company wishes to charge premium prices, they

will model after the most expensive brand. What brand seems to be associated with the

highest prices?

Students can go to eBay and search “vintage acoustic guitars,” and a long list will come up. It

CASE 8.1 Demand for Gas Guzzlers

Objective: To demonstrate the availability and usefulness of secondary data.

Summary: Major hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico in 2005 damaged oil rigs and refineries,

contributing to a spike in oil prices. Some felt those events were the long-expected trigger that

would kill off demand for SUVs and other gas-guzzling vehicles, but they were only partly right.

According to data from Automotive News, sales of SUVS had already been falling before these

events, and automakers had been shifting ad dollars away from these products. Before the

hurricanes, CNW Market Research noted that consumers had for the first time placed fuel

economy ahead of performance when ranking factors for choosing a new vehicle. The National

Automobile Dealers Association however, surveyed consumers and learned that price was most

important, followed by make and model, performance, and fuel economy. General Motors

gathers data from shoppers who visit websites such as http://kbb.com to look up information.

Questions:

1. From the standpoint of an automobile company, what sources of information in this article

offer secondary data?

2. Suggest two or three other sources of data that might be of interest to auto companies

interested in forecasting demand.

3. Online or at your library, look for information about recent trends in SUV purchases. Report

what you learned, and forecast whether SUV sales are likely to recover or continue their

decline. What role do gas prices play in your forecast?

duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.

Chapter Eight: Secondary Data Research in a Digital Age 110

duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.