Download Fisher MBA Elective Course - Fisher College of Business

M&L 847 Analytical Methods in Marketing
Spring Quarter 2009
MW 3:30 pm – 5:18 pm, Gerlach 365
Instructor: Larry M. Robinson
636 Fisher Hall
Ph.: 614-292-0680
Email: [email protected]
Office Hours: Monday & Wednesday, 10 to 2, Tuesday 3 to 5, & by appointment
Course Description:
Marketing research is an organized way of developing and providing information for decision making
purposes. The quality of the information depends on the care exercised in executing the various steps
of the marketing research process. The steps include problem formulation, research design, data
collection, data analysis, and reporting of findings.
Emphasis will be given to secondary and primary research methods, including qualitative and
quantitative tools. The course is focused on a managerial perspective for identifying marketing
information in a cost effective and timely way to assist managers to address substantive marketing
problems. Examples of problems and opportunities considered in this course include:
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marketing research methods/processes for analysis of marketing problems (Goldlion case)
measurement of quality and customer satisfaction (The Coop case)
ethnographic research determine how a product/service fits into a customer’s life (Peapod case)
marketing research in industrial design (Oxo International case)
trade-off research methods to determine what customers value most (Clark Equipment case)
methods to simulate/forecast sales potential for a new product (Nestle’s Contadina Pizza case)
marketing research in scenario analysis for a new product (Zenith HDTV case)
lead user research methodology for new product design breakthroughs (3M Corp. case)
For each of these research methods there will be a case, a reading, and for several of the research
methods there will be a guest speaker for the session following our discussion of concepts and a case..
Course Objectives:
1. To develop ability to define problem and opportunities so that research can be used to improve
decisions made by marketing managers
2. To develop a fundamental understanding of information sources and uses in decision making
by marketing managers
3. To introduce qualitative and quantitative research methods, including design considerations
associated with each method
4. To understand data analysis techniques to develop fact-based findings and recommendations
needed to improve decisions made by marketing managers
The course is aimed at the manager who is the user of marketing research and who is responsible for
determining the scope and direction of research conducted by the company.
How we will achieve the objectives:
We will use a combination of readings, cases, guest lectures, class discussion, a group case consulting
report and three projects to achieve the objectives. The course is organized by topics, including:
 marketing research overview/research design
 typical marketing research subjects
 basic research methods, secondary research, data mining, focus groups, depth interviews,
surveys, and trade-off choice analysis techniques
 specialized research methods, such as lead user research, ethnographic research, customer
communities, and virtual focus groups.
There will be four deliverables in this course, including: one group case consulting report, one group
secondary research assignment, one individual secondary project and one group project.
 The group case consulting report will be done by a three person team for one of the cases to be
discussed in this course.
 The group secondary research assignment will be done by a three person team. The project
purpose is to use one of two dunnhumby data bases to do an analysis of a product or customer
type within the Kroger Plus Card data bases provided to us for our use. This is a classic
example of using data which already exist to analyze problems and/or opportunities
 The individual project will use secondary sources to identify information about a specific
marketing problem or opportunity.
 The group project will be done by a three person team. The group project will focus on the
entire research process from problem identification to research design, to data collection, data
analysis, summary of findings, and presentation of recommendations.
The course site on Carmen includes articles and notes about marketing research and slides from your
instructor and slides from guest presentations. The home page of the course web site will be updated
following each class session to provide guidance on preparation for the next session of the course.
Grading:
The course has 120 possible points. Your highest 100 points will be used to determine your grade.
Grade components include:
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Class Contribution:
20 points
Group case consulting report 20 points
Individual secondary project 20 points
Group data mining project…..20 points
Team project
20 points
Final exam
20 points
Total:
120 points
Your grade will be modified by dropping the lowest 20 points to get your highest 100 points. If your
lowest score is in class contribution, it will count as 0% as opposed to 20%. If your lowest score is on
the assigned group case analysis, it will count as 0% as opposed to 20%. If your lowest score is for the
group secondary data analysis project, it will count as 0% as opposed to 20%. If your lowest score is
for the individual secondary project, it will count as 0% as opposed to 20%. If your lowest score is on
the team project, it will count as 0% instead of 20%. If your lowest score is on the final exam, it will
count as 0% as opposed to 20%. The final grade will be determined by your highest 100 points with
this breakdown:
>93%=A
90 to 92.99$=A87 to 88.99=B+
84 to 86.99=B
<84=BEach student team will write a consulting report for one of the cases to be discussed in class. The
teams will be formed by students after the first class session. The assigned case for your individual
consulting report will be given to your team at the second class session.
Class contribution:
Three criteria will be used in reaching a judgment about your class contribution:
1. Depth and Quality of Contribution
The most important dimension of class contribution concerns what it is you are saying. A high quality
comment reveals depth of insight, rigorous use of case evidence, consistency of argument, and
realism.
Depth of insight—good comments are never trivial or obvious. They are not mere facts. They are
facts in conjunction with one another, bringing the class to a deeper level of understanding
Rigorous use of case evidence—assertions must be supported to be powerful. You should constantly
by looking to use qualitative or quantitative case information and analyses to diagnose the problem, to
support your position, or to challenge someone else’s conclusion and action plans.
Consistency—reflects the degree to which your argument is tied together.
Realistic implications—not every comment should be about the action plan. However, useful
comments tend to have implications for action.
To perform well on these criteria, it is important you come to class with a definite action plan and be
prepared to help your classmates appreciate the appropriateness of your plan.
2. Moving Your Peers’ Understanding Forward
Great ideas can be lost through poor presentation. A high quality presentation of ideas must consider
the relevance and timing of comments, and the flow and content of the ensuing class discussion. It
demands comments be concise and clear, conveyed with a spirit of involvement in the discussion at
hand.
Relevance—concerns the timing, fit, and placement of your comments. A relevant contribution joins
seamlessly with previous comments to build a coherent, focused discussion. Irrelevant comments
(either by topic or timing) can cause the discussion to digress through previously charted grounds, or
to change focus prematurely, resulting in disjointed communication and a fragmented learning
experience. Effective listening, a good sense of timing, and a willingness to either integrate the work
of others or challenge their ideas are the skills that lead to relevance. Occasionally, someone makes a
comment that changes the course of discussion. This can be effective too, but only if the comment is
properly timed.
Clarity and Conciseness—clarity involves speaking with urgency, vividness, and persuasiveness. To
be concise, make your best point in the shortest possible time. A long comment is not by definition a
good comment. Similarly, a good point buried in two poor points, tends to get lost.
Involvement—concerns the energy, interest, and enthusiasm you bring to class. Involvement shows in
thoughtful listening, concentration, tracking of the discussion, and a poised readiness to contribute
selectively. Involvement is discriminating: having a hand in the air regardless of the question posed or
the topical discussion underway signals you are not involved. However, noticing when class
discussion has gotten bogged down on a small point and finding a constructive way to move the
discussion forward often is a valuable form of involvement.
3. Frequency
Frequency refers to the attainment of a threshold quantity of contributions that is sufficient for making
a reliable assessment of comment quality. The logic is simple: if contributions are too few, one cannot
reliably assess the quality of your remarks. However, once threshold quantity has been achieved,
simply increasing the number of times you talk does not automatically improve your evaluation.
Beyond threshold, it is the quality of your comments that must improve. In particular, one must be
especially careful that in claiming more than your fair share of “airtime”, that quality is not sacrificed
for quantity. Finally, your attempts at participation should not be such that the instructor must “go
looking for you”. You should be attempting to get into the debate on a regular basis.
The group case consulting report is based on analysis of a case which will be discussed in class. You
will do a problem definition, will make recommendations to the decision maker, will support the
recommendations, including identification of risk and risk mitigation strategies, will explain why
competing alternatives were not recommended, and will include implementation guidance for the
recommendations.
The group secondary data mining assignment purpose is to develop a research question and analyze
customer or product data to develop insights that lead to recommendations for the product brand
manager or category manager or Kroger store manager to improve top line and / or bottom line results.
You may use either of two data sets from dunnhumbyUS. A secondary research analysis of either data
set requires developing a hypothesis which can be tested with the data set. One data set has 2,500
Kroger Plus card users (52 weeks of data). The other data set has product sales data at store level (400
stores for one year).
The individual assignment will be a secondary research analysis on a problem or opportunity faced
by a marketing manager. Your assignment is to identify information that already exists about the
problem or opportunity and to summarize the existing information to make it useful to a marketing
manager who faces the problem or opportunity. Your individual assignment can be a review of
secondary data for a product category. You will use information from such sources as Mintel, Factiva,
Lexis-Nexis, or other sources for information about what is “hot” and what is “not”. This assignment
will be discussed at the second class session on April 1.
The team assignment will be a research project that requires data collection, either survey or
experimental, from respondents. You will need to gather some data; however time and money
constraints will limit the amount of data your group actually collects. You will use whatever data you
are able to develop to simulate your final results. Your problem should be chosen by the third session
of the course (April 6). Your team will have three team members. The final report from your team will
include a written and oral presentation including:
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Executive Summary
Intro with description of problem, statement of research purpose and research objective
Description and justification of the research strategy
Brief outline of the data gathering process and analysis done with the data
Discussion of key findings (from your simulated results), recommendations and conclusions,
including limitations of the study
The report and group presentation will be judged on content, quality of research, and writing quality.
A sample report will be posted on Carmen. An evaluation sheet used in grading the written reports will
also be posted on Carmen.
The class schedule for the course:
March 31: Intro to course.
Reading: “Marketing Research: Listen and Learn”, Chapter 3, Marketer’s Toolkit: The 10
Strategies You Need To Succeed (Harvard Business School Press, 2006 (posted on Carmen)
Case Study: Goldlion: Winning Over Hong Kong’s HIP Generation HKU758
Reading: Marketing Research Industry Sample Proposal (posted on Carmen)
April 1: Secondary Research capabilities at Fisher College of Business Library; discussion of
individual secondary project possibilities
Guest Speaker: Meri Meredith, Business Librarian, Fisher College of Business
April 6: Research Methods Using Data Mining of Existing Secondary Data
Guest Speaker: Matt Nitzberg, dunnhumby US
April 8: Intro to Qualitative and Quantitative Primary Research
Reading: Fareena Sultan, “Marketing Research”, Harvard Note 9-592-013
Case Study: The Coop: Market Research, Harvard Case 9-599-113
April 13: So You Want to Do A Focus Group?
Guest Speaker: Marty Saperstein, CEO, Saperstein and Associates
April 15: Ethnographic Marketing Research:
Reading: Jennifer McFarland, “Margaret Mead Meets Consumer Fieldwork”, Harvard Management
Update Newsletter, 2001. Article Reprint Number: U0108C
Case Study: Relating to Peapod: The Role Peapod Plays in the Lives of its Customers, Harvard Case
9-502-050
April 20: Sales Forecasting Scenarios
Case Study: Nestle’s Refrigerated Foods: Contadina Pasta & Pizza (A), Harvard Case 9-595-035
April 22: Sales Forecasting Scenarios
Guest Speaker, Joseph Sebranek, Director, Client Consulting, BASES, A.C. Nielsen Company
accompanied by associate: Paul Lavelle
April 27: The Role of a Marketing Research Department in a Consumer Durable Goods
Company
Case Study: Zenith: Marketing Research for HDTV, Harvard Case 9-591-025
April 29: The Role of a Marketing Research Department in a Financial Services Company
Guest Speaker, Harlan Wahrman, Director, Marketing Research, Northwestern Mutual Life
Insurance Company
May 4: The Role of a Marketing Research Department in a CPG company
Guest Speaker: Paul Nichols, Senior Marketing Research Analyst, The Scotts Company
May 6: Trade-off Analysis Applied to Marketing Research:
Reading: Robert J. Dolan, “Conjoint Analysis: A Manager’s Guide”, Harvard Business Note 9-590059
Case Study: Clark Material Handling Group-Overseas: Brazilian Product Strategy, Harvard Case 9590-081
May 11: The Role of Marketing Research in Industrial Design
Case: Oxo International, Harvard Case 9-697-007
May 13: The Role of Marketing Research in Industrial Design
Guest Speaker: Chris Rockwell, CEO, Lextant Research
May 18: Marketing Research in Industrial Design
Guest Speaker: Raj Shroff, Business Director, Fitch and Joe Moya, Studio Director, Product
Development, Fitch
May 20: Lead User Research Methods
Reading: Scott D. Anthony, “Let the Users Take the Lead”, Strategy & Innovation, May-June, 2005,
pp 3-5. Harvard Article Reprint Number S0505E
Article: Stefan Thomke and Ashok Nimgade, “Note on Lead User Research” Harvard Business School
Note 9-699-014
Case Study: Innovation at 3M Corporation, Harvard Case 9-699-012
May 25: Memorial Day Holiday
May 27: The Role of a Full Service Marketing Research Supplier
Guest Speaker: John Gongos, CEO Gongos Associates—a top 50 Marketing Research Firm
June 1: Presentations, Group Projects
June 3 Presentations: Group Projects
June 8-11 Final Exam - Date and Time TBD
Discussion questions for cases:
March 31: Goldlion: Winning Over Hong Kong’s HIP Generation:
1. What marketing management problem(s) does Goldlion have in 2007 in Hong Kong?
2. What stages do new customers go though on the path to becoming loyal to a company’s
products or services using the Awareness Interest Trial Repeat model?
3. What information does Goldlion need to understand each of the stages?
4. Imagine yourself as the research manager at Goldlion. Write a research proposal for Goldlion.
See “Marketing Research Industry Sample Proposal” on Carmen site as a guide. Include:
research approach (qualitative/quantitative), research methods (focus groups, depth interviews,
surveys on line or telephone), and sampling frame(s) (targets, sample size, sample selection)
5. Design an interview guide for an in depth interview, discussion guide for a focus group and
questionnaire for a survey based on your proposal in question 4.
April 8 The Coop:
1. Does The Coop need to invest in marketing research?
2. How much should The Coop spend if they choose to invest in marketing research?
3. Which programs should they fund?
April 15 Relating to Peapod:
1. What was the Research Objective of the Peapod ethnographic study? What research questions
were explored in the study?
2. What was the research design? How were subjects selected? What information was developed
about each subject?
3. What did Peapod learn about Beatrice, Lester, Mitch/Clarisse, Veronique, and Leticia?
4. What can/should Peapod do with the information gained in this study?
April 20 Nestles Refrigerated Foods: Contadina Pizza (A):
1. What were the research objectives of the pre-BASES, BASES I, and BASES II studies?
2. How did the BASES research fit in with the Nestles product development process?
3. What other market research did Contadina do during the product development process for the
pizza product? What were the results?
4. What were the results of the BASES studies and how were the results used by Contadina in the
product launch?
5. Should Stephen Cunliffe launch a Pizza product? If so, which option? How large of a market
should he expect? What market share could he expect?
April 27 Zenith: Marketing Research for HDTV:
1. What was the research objective given to Bruce Huber by CEO Jerry Pearlman?
2. How much of existing information about TV buyers can be used to assess the market for
HDTV?
3. What are the forecasts for HDTV demand for 1992-2000? How to define pessimistic, most
likely, and optimistic scenarios? How to use historical information about other innovations to
help forecast adoption rate?
4. Should Zenith do the aspect ratio study?
5. What additional research should be done to assess the market potential and consumer
preference for HDTV?
May 6 Clark Material Handling Group:
1. What was the objective of this research project with John Morton Company?
2. What was the research design?
3. What were the results of the research?
4. What should David Richards recommend to senior management at Clark?
May 11 Oxo International:
1. Why had Oxo outsourced its industrial design process for new products?
2. Why did CEO Paul Saxton think it “might be time to rethink the make or buy decision at
OXO”?
3. What was the relationship with Smart Design? How well did the relationship work for Oxo?
What issues, if any, need attention?
4. What would you recommend to CEO Saxton?
May 20 Innovation at 3M:
1. How has the Medical Surgical Markets Division (MSMD) of 3M analyzed market
opportunities in the past as they developed new products?
2. What is Lead User Research and how does this methodology differ from what the MSMD has
done in the past?
3. Review the four stages of the Lead User Research process for this project, including the four
recommendations.
4. What should the team recommend?
Assignment for Team Research Project
The project will be implemented and a report written by your three person team. You can choose your
own problem/situation/topic. However, you must use a field research strategy that requires data
collection from respondents. You will need to gather some data, however, given time and cost
constraints you will limit the amount of data you actually collect. You will use the data you collect to
simulate your final results.
The problem should be chosen and approved by April 8. The reasons for my approval are to make sure
the project deals with a marketing decision and that there is no overlap with other team projects.
Topics could deal with such topics as:
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Concept research for a new product or service
Channel development (existing or new channels)
Market assessment for a product or service brand or category
Pricing study for new or existing product or service
Positioning or repositioning of a brand
Market segmentation study –such as segment identification, benefits sought be specific
segments, which segments are best fit for the product or service
You could define a problem or opportunity based on the work experience of a team member. Or you
could develop a project based on some development reported in the local or national business news.
After approval of your team project topic, you will write a 2-3 page report, briefly describing the
problem/opportunity, objectives of the market research, and the research strategy. That report is due by
April 15.
An interim report, summarizing work to date and tasks to be completed will be due April 29. The final
report will be due on June 8. Your team will deliver a class presentation on June 1 or on June 3.
The written report will follow the outline that is shown in the example project which is posted on
Carmen. The example project includes:
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Executive summary (maximum of two pages)
Intro with description of the problem/opportunity, statement of the research purpose, and
objective of the research
A description and justification of the research strategy
A brief outline of the planned data-analysis
Discussion of your key findings (from your simulated results), managerial recommendations
and conclusions, including limitations of the study
The body of the report should be a maximum of 20 pages plus any appendices or exhibits. The report
will be judged in terms of content, quality of research, and writing quality.
Your report will be graded using this evaluation sheet:
PLEASE MAKE SURE YOUR TEAM CLEARLY MARKS EACH OF THE FOLLOWING
EIGHT SECTIONS OF YOUR REPORT
1. Executive Summary (max 2 pages)
2. Introduction with a description of the problem/opportunity, a statement of the research purpose
and objective(s) of the research
3. Secondary Data and Qualitative Analysis, including secondary data used and how it helped you
in planning your research.
4. Quantitative Research, including interview method (personal, telephone, web, mall intercept,
or other method) and justification for the method chosen
5. Sampling Plan and Sample Size, including sampling method used and why it was used
6. Questionnaire, including initial version, pretest results, and final version
7. Data analysis, including analysis plan, actual analysis (question summaries, charts, exhibits)
and how well the analysis addresses the research purpose and objectives
8. Discussion of results and conclusions, including communication of quantitative results in
words
Each of these eight sections will have a maximum score of 12 points. In addition, a maximum of four
points will be awarded for overall style, flow of paper, and consistency of writing. So, the final grade
will be a maximum score of 100 points.