978-1111826925 Chapter 8 Solution Manual

subject Type Homework Help
subject Pages 7
subject Words 2906
subject Authors Barry J. Babin, Jon C. Carr, Mitch Griffin, William G. Zikmund

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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
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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.
© 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or
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Chapter Eight: Secondary Data Research in a Digital Age 106
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
© 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or
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Chapter Eight: Secondary Data Research in a Digital Age 107
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
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duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
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Chapter Eight: Secondary Data Research in a Digital Age 108
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?
© 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or
duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
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Chapter Eight: Secondary Data Research in a Digital Age 109
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?
© 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or
duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
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Chapter Eight: Secondary Data Research in a Digital Age 110
© 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or
duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.

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