978-1259709074 Chapter 10 Part 2

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Chapter 10 – Marketing Research Marketing 6th

McGraw-Hill Education.

Chapter Case Study: Swim, Lift, Play—But Also Donate: Using Market Research

to Redefine the YMCA

1 What kinds of market research has the Y conducted?

The Y conducts quantitative research to gather data to investigate what people perceive when they think

of the Y. The goal is to show, with data, facts, figures, and graphics, how programs run by the Y and

2 Which questions has the Y sought to answer with each different type of market research it has

conducted?

A national survey assessed the Y’s program awareness, why it offered the programs, and customer

3 Who are the main stakeholders that the Y is attempting to reach with the information it has

gained through its market research?

4 Are there other types of market research that the Y could conduct in the future to answer

other important questions? Give some examples of both the questions it still faces and the

research methods it could use to answer them

The Y can utilize various secondary and primary research methods:

Secondary data might come from free or very inexpensive external sources such as census data,

information from trade associations, and reports published in magazines. Firms also can purchase more

specific or applicable secondary data from specialized research firms. Finally, secondary sources can be

Additional Teaching Tips

This chapter explores how information systems create greater value for the customer. The research

process is one of the main concepts in this chapter as well as introducing the student to research

vocabulary and concepts.

This chapter is one that quite often students don’t like. They have difficulty in applying the research

vocabulary and understanding the research process. Students can often regurgitate the process but when

asked how it applies they are often confused. A teaching tip on understanding how information systems

can create value is to have students write down a product website they often visit and why they visit it (the

value they find in the website). Have them partner up in class and exchange papers. The partner will then

think of ways (using the book as an aid) that information systems can add value to that website. A

discussion between the partners after this exercise often leads to clarity of how information systems

Chapter 10 – Marketing Research Marketing 6th

McGraw-Hill Education.

create greater value to the customer and the instructor can write some of these on the board during

classroom discussion.

Online Tip: This exercise can be easily transferred to a discussion posting in the online forum where

students are partnered up in the same way (or perhaps they can answer anyone’s post that hasn’t had a

reply yet) resulting in a short summary paper addressing how information systems create value.

The second concept is the research process. Again, students can often regurgitate the process but can’t

apply the concepts or the research terminology. After a discussion on vocabulary and concepts led by the

instructor, students can learn this process by applying critical thinking. This can be done either in groups

or as a class (for the online forum it can be a virtual team exercise). Assign either the class or the

teams a problem to solve (usually one that is widely understood by students) that is marketing based and

has students use their critical thinking to apply each step of the research process and use 3-5 terms

(such as exploratory, causal, descriptive).

Some examples of assigned research topics: (1) Will moving the pizza from the back to the front of the

college cafeteria result in more pizza sales? (2) Will offering an additional incentive to students to return

used book to the bookstore (instead of selling them on Amazon.com) provide more buy-back opportunity

for the college? The important aspect of this exercise is to keep the problem market-related and have

students use the vocabulary words correctly and understand how the process can lead to the solving of

marketing-related issues.

Connect Activities

Activity

Type

Learning Objectives 10–

Nike: Understanding Female Customers

Case Analysis

Superior Razors: The Marketing Research Process

Click & Drag

Kraft: Marketing Research Behind Ritz Toasted Chips

Video Case

AutoTrader.com: Using Marketing Research

Case Analysis

Dunkin’ Donuts: Market Research and Bakery

Sandwiches

Video Case

Using Market Research to Redefine the YMCA

Case Analysis

ISeeIt Video Case: Market Research Process

Video Case

Nike: Understanding Female Customers

▪ Activity Type: Case Analysis

▪ Learning Objectives: 10-03, 10-04

▪ Difficulty: Medium

▪ Activity Summary: This case describes Nike’s efforts to understand its female customers. Students

are asked questions applying chapter concepts to the case.

Activity

▪ Introduction: Nike is one of the most recognized brands in the world, predominantly for its apparel

and athletic shoe products. In recent years, Nike has failed to cater to the needs of its female

customers compared to smaller athletic brands. To investigate why the firm wasn’t capturing the

Chapter 10 – Marketing Research Marketing 6th

McGraw-Hill Education.

female market share, Nike conducted research to better understand the female market. Nike wanted

to use this research to build a better product offering that was attractive to women. Review the case

that follows and answer the questions regarding Nike’s research techniques.

▪ Concept Review: Marketing research consists of a set of techniques and principles for systematically

collecting, recording, analyzing, and interpreting data that can aid decision makers involved in

marketing goods, services, or ideas. Marketing research is a critical function of any business decision

process. When marketing managers attempt to develop their strategies, market research can provide

valuable information that will help them make segmentation and positioning decisions.

Follow-Up Activity

Visit the Nike Women YouTube channel and see how Nike has implemented the findings of their research

in its marketing communications: https://www.youtube.com/user/NikeWomen.

One of the most popular ads is “Voices” from 2012, which can be found in the “Popular Uploads” section

of the page.

Superior Razors: The Marketing Research Process

▪ Activity Type: Click & Drag

▪ Learning Objectives: 10–01

▪ Difficulty: Medium

▪ Activity Summary: This case asks the student to classify different steps in a marketing research

project according to the step of the marketing research process each one represents.

Activity

▪ Introduction: The marketing team at Superior Razors, a producer of a national brand of men’s

shaving products, has conducted research to find out how well the company is doing in comparison to

its competition and to hypothesize how it will fare in the near future. Read about the research project

and then assemble the marketing research process as instructed.

▪ Concept Review: Firms invest billions of dollars in marketing research every year. Why do marketers

find this research valuable? First, it helps to reduce some of the uncertainty under which they

constantly operate. Successful managers know when research might help their decision making, and

they take appropriate steps to acquire the information they need. Second, marketing research

provides a crucial link between firms and their environments, which enables firms to be customer

oriented because they build their strategies using customer input and continual feedback. Third, by

constantly monitoring their competitors, firms can respond quickly to competitive moves.

Kraft: Marketing Research Behind Ritz Toasted Chips

▪ Activity Type: Video Case

▪ Learning Objectives: 10-02, 10-03

▪ Difficulty: Medium

Chapter 10 – Marketing Research Marketing 6th

McGraw-Hill Education.

▪ Activity Summary: This video case describes a research project that led to the introduction of Ritz

Toasted Chips, a snack product from Kraft. After the video ends, students are asked questions about

the video and related course concepts.

Activity

▪ Introduction: What is the difference between a cracker and a chip? Kraft asked that very question as

it decided to launch Ritz Toasted Chips, an extension of their Ritz cracker brand, originally launched

in 1934. Kraft needed to do market research to understand what would be the best product to create

and introduce to the market.

▪ Concept Review: Because research is both expensive and time consuming, it is important to

establish in advance exactly what information is required to answer specific research questions and

how that information should be obtained. It is important to ensure that the potential benefits of

answering the research questions exceed the cost of conducting the research.

▪ Video: The video is presented to the student below the introductory information. The video plays

embedded on the page, after which questions are presented.

Follow-Up Activity

Internet research challenge: Have students find some websites for consulting companies that perform

marketing research for consumer packaged goods companies like Kraft. Note the wide range of different

kinds of studies performed.

AutoTrader.com: Using Marketing Research

▪ Activity Type: Case Analysis

▪ Learning Objectives: 10-01, 10-02, 10-03, 10-04

▪ Difficulty: Medium

▪ Activity Summary: This case describes a marketing research project undertaken by Autotrader.com

to understand the influences on consumers shopping for a car. Students answer questions applying

chapter concepts to the case.

Activity

▪ Introduction: Imagine you are responsible for making next year’s media buys for a large automobile

dealership. You have your choice among traditional media, like television and newspaper advertising,

and Internet-based channels, like social networking sites and automotive sites. How do you decide

which types of advertising are most likely to build sales? The online automobile dealer

AutoTrader.com recognizes that convincing car dealers to advertise on its site requires proof that

their media dollars will be well spent. To convince dealers, AutoTrader.com uses marketing research

to better understand consumers’ car buying behavior.

▪ Concept Review: Marketing research consists of a set of techniques and principles for systematically

collecting, recording, analyzing, and interpreting data that can aid decision makers involved in

marketing goods, services, or ideas. Marketing research is a five-step process. First, the research

objectives are defined. Second, the study is designed. In the third step, researchers collect the data.

There are numerous secondary data sources and various primary data collection techniques. Next is

Chapter 10 – Marketing Research Marketing 6th

McGraw-Hill Education.

the thorough and methodical step of analyzing and interpreting the data. In the final phase in the

marketing research process, the results are prepared and presented to the appropriate decision

makers, who undertake appropriate marketing strategies. In the research process, there are also

ethical considerations that must be examined.

Follow-Up Activity

Class discussion: Who has recently purchased a car? Do AutoTrader.com’s research findings match

students’ own experiences?

Dunkin’ Donuts: Marketing Research and Bakery Sandwiches

▪ Activity Type: Video Case

▪ Learning Objectives: 10-01, 10-02, 10-03

▪ Difficulty: Medium

▪ Activity Summary: Dunkin’ Donuts decided to expand its offerings by developing a line of bakery

sandwiches. This video case describes their development process. After the video ends, students are

asked questions about the video and related course concepts.

Activity

▪ Introduction: Dunkin’ Donuts saw an opportunity to expand its product mix beyond traditional

breakfast foods by offering bakery sandwiches with fillings such as ham, turkey, and chicken and tuna

salad. The company used marketing research techniques at every step of the development process

in order to ensure that the sandwiches they introduced would meet customers’ needs and could be

made and sold profitably in its locations.

▪ Video: The video is presented to the student below the introductory information. The video plays

embedded on the page, after which questions are presented.

Follow-Up Activity

• The first phase of marketing research for Dunkin’ Donuts was to learn about when people wanted to

eat, what proteins and bakery items they preferred, and what prices they wanted to pay. In small

groups, have the students choose one research method OTHER than a survey and describe how it

could be used to learn more about consumers‘ sandwich preferences.

• Students sometimes have trouble understanding how experiments work. As a class, design a simple

experiment that could be used to compare three different recipes for a ham and cheese croissant

sandwich.

Using Market Research to Redefine the YMCA

▪ Activity Type: Case Analysis

▪ Learning Objectives: 10-01, 10-02, 10-03, 10-04

Chapter 10 – Marketing Research Marketing 6th

McGraw-Hill Education.

▪ Difficulty: Medium

▪ Activity Summary: This case describes marketing research conducted by the YMCA as a first step

in a campaign to change consumers’ perceptions of its purpose and mission. After reading the case,

students answer questions requiring them to apply chapter concepts to the case.

Activity

▪ Introduction: The YMCA conducted marketing research to gain a better understanding of how its

brand was viewed by consumers. This activity is important because marketers are frequently called

on to design and implement marketing research programs. The goal of this activity is to apply

marketing research frameworks to the YMCA’s research activities.

ISeeIt Video Case: Market Research Process

▪ Activity Type: Video Case

▪ Learning Objectives: 10-01, 10-02, 10-03

▪ Difficulty: Easy

▪ Activity Summary: This video case explores how marketing research could be used to help to make

decisions about programs at a coffee shop.

Activity

▪ Introduction: Marketing research is a detailed process by which marketers can improve decision

making by using formal, structured approaches and information. By asking the right questions of the

right people, marketers can gain insights into the wants and needs of customers and take the

necessary actions to grow their businesses. This holds true for Martha at the Coffee Collective. She is

already successful within her local market but she wants to improve her offerings by hosting an open

mic night for local musicians, storytellers and other activities. She decides to have Gabbie and Marco

collect survey data as part of their marketing class assignment to see if her customers would want

this new feature. While Gabbie and Marco both design, collect and analyze information from potential

customers, they find mixed results from their surveys, mostly because Gabbie adopted a more

structured process. After looking at the results, Martha decides not to offer this new feature at the

Coffee Collective and instead focuses on providing the products, service and coffee drinking

experience that her customers have come to expect.

▪ Video: The video is presented to the student below the introductory information. The video plays

embedded on the page, after which questions are presented.