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IMT-03
Subject Code: IMT-03
Subject Name : Marketing Research
Objective:
1. Understanding the scope of business research and entire business research process.
2. Providing a fundamental treatment of business research that stresses the importance of research methods
in business.
3. Imbibing the knowledge of the changing research methodologies and information technologies which have
dramatically changed the nature of business research
Contents :
NATURE AND SCOPE OF MARKETING RESEARCH
Need to know the Customer, Definition and Meaning of Marketing Research, Applications of Marketing
Research, Marketing Research Suppliers and Services
THE MARKETING RESEARCH PROCESS
Research Brief, Research Proposal, Types of Research Methods, The Main Data Collection Stage, Survey
Methods, Questionnaire Design, Pilot Stage, Data Analysis and Interpretation, Report Writing and
Presentation, Scientific Method
TYPES OF RESEARCH DESIGNS
Exploratory Research, Descriptive Research, Experimental Research
VALUE OF INFORMATION
Secondary Data, Primary Data, Questionnaire Construction, Types of Questionnaires
SAMPLING
Sampling Design Process, Types of Sampling
PROCESSING OF DATA
Tabulation of Data, Analysis of Data, Univariate Analysis, Multivariate Analysis
ATTITUDE MEASUREMENT
Attitudes as Evaluations, Methods of Measuring Attitudes, Scales of Measuring Attitudes, Multidimensional
Scaling
SEGMENTING THE MARKET
Customer Value Proposition, Non Segmented Markets, Purpose of Segmentation, Segmentation and
Market Entry, Process of Market Segmentation: Target Marketing, Segmenting Consumer Markets,
Combining Segmentation Variables, Segmenting Organizational Markets, Evaluating Market Segments and
Target Market Selection
PRODUCT RESEARCH
Concept Testing, Test Marketing, Real-time Product Research, New Product Research.
ADVERTISING RESEARCH
What should be Measured?, When and how to Measure?
SALES ANALYSIS AND FORECASTING
Potential Market, Available Market, Served Market and Penetrated Market, Company Sales Forecasts,
Sales Budgets, Sales Quota and Sales Control, Sales Forecasting Methods
APPLICATION OF MARKETING RESEARCH IN INDIA
Market Research Society of India (MRSI), Television Ratings, Indian Insights.
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Notes:
a. Write answers in your own words as far as possible and refrain from copying from the text books/handouts.
b. Answers of I
st
Set (Part-A), II
nd
Set (Part-B), III
rd
Set (Part C) and Set-IV (Case Study) must be sent
together.
c. Mail the answer sheets alongwith the copy of assignments for evaluation & return.
d. Only hand written assignments shall be accepted.
A. First Set of Assignments: 5 Questions, each question carries 1 marks.
B. Second Set of Assignments: 5 Questions, each question carries 1 marks.
C. Third Set of Assignments: 5 Questions, each question carries 1 marks. Confine your answers to 150
to 200 Words.
D. Forth Set of Assignments: Two Case Studies : 5 Marks. Each case study carries 2.5 marks.
ASSIGNMENTS
FIRST SET OF ASSIGNMENTS Assignment-I = 5
Marks
PART A
1. Discuss the nature and scope of Marketing Research. Identify some problems in different areas
of Marketing where Marketing Research can be helpful.
2. Is a research design always necessary before a research study can be conducted? In what may
do exploratory, descriptive and causal research design differ? Explain with the help of an
example.
3. A marketing manager needs to find the causes for the decline in market share of his company.
The manager decides to conduct marketing research. How should he go about finding a supplier
of research services?
4. a) Distinguish between a Focus Group Interviews and an in-depth interview.
b) In which cases would an In-depth Interview be more applicable than a Focus Group Interview?
5. a) What do you understand by selecting samples from the universe?
b) Discuss the various methods of probability sampling. Use examples to illustrate cases in which
each of the methods would be most applicable.
SECOND SET OF ASSIGNMENTS Assignment-II = 5 Marks
PART B
1. State whether you agree or disagree with the statement Correct identification and clear definition
of the research problem are more crucial to the success of a market research study than
sophisticated research techniques . Justify your answer with suitable examples.
2. Discuss the various steps in Questionnaire design.
3. What sampling scheme you will muse in following situations?
a. A study to find out preference and people for shampoos in urban market.
b. A survey to study the potential users of microwave oven in Delhi.
c. A survey to study the usage of laptops in the small office segment-All India Level.
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4. Explain the process of new product development and highlight the role of marketing research in
developing a product.
5. Write short note on the following :
a. Data Gathering techniques.
b. Product Research.
THIRD SET OF ASSIGNMENTS Assignment-III = 5 Marks
PART C
1. Amul is planning to launch a new flavour of ice cream and wants to get a snapshot of the potential
market. The ice cream has coconut-white chocolate flavour and is aimed at the premium market.
What type of research design is appropriate? Develop the research questions and hypothesis.
2. Discuss in detail various methods by which sales forecasting can be done.
3. Distinguish between Semantic Differential scale and Liker scale. Give examples.
4. Discuss the methods of pre-testing and post-testing of advertisements.
5. Write short on the following.
Advantages and disadvantages of open ended and closed ended questions.
T-test and z-test.
Null hypothesis.
FOURTH SET OF ASSIGNMENTS Assignment-IV = 2.5 Each Case Study
CASE STUDY - I
Rex Contact Lens Company
Contact lenses are a modern way of correcting vision. The market has grown rapidly and
changed tin character in recent years. Prices have remained high, but Rex Contact Lens
company came up with a plan for selling contact lenses by mail, a system that would permit it to
sell at a much lower price than was currently available. Before making the investment necessary
to develop this new channel of distribution, Rex wanted to make a better forecast of possible sales
than it had made up to date, and it chose to use the survey method for the forecast.
Two thirds of the total retail market was estimated to be replacement sales. The average life of a
contact lens was thought to be about one year. If 20 million wore contacts and replaced each lens
once a year the total replacement market was 40 million lenses a year.
Rexs concept was for a mail-order replacement service for contact lenses. Catalog sales wore
booming in many product areas. And the proposed plan would fit with this national development.
A catalog would be prepared with pictures and descriptions of contact lenses and their
advantages. A toll free number would be provided for quick service. Lenses would be shipped in
sealed bottles within 24 hours of receipt of order and overnight delivery would be available at extra
charge. Customers would mail in orders with payment or provide credit card identification for
phone orders. Customers for a single contact lens were projected much lower than the current
market level 0 and in addition, this low cost would reduce or perhaps eliminate customer need for
insurance.
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Before going further, Rex set about to make an improved forecast for sales. They conducted a
survey among wearer of both regular glasses and contact lenses to determine their attitudes
towards the proposed mail order sales; the services they would want, the different kinds of
contacts they were interested in (hard, soft, extended wear, gas permeable, tinted, bifocals); and
the probability they would order lenses by mail.
Questions:
1. Which data collection method would you prefer? Why?
2. How would you analyze the data gathered from this study?
3. Design a suitable questionnaire.
CASE STUDY-II
JINGLE BELLS
Coca-Cola
Drink Coca-Cola was the first theme out of the gate. Delicious and Refreshing came along in the
late 1880s, most likely appearing on an oilcloth sign attached to a soda fountain awning. Since then,
those two words have worked hard for Coca-Cola in about a trillion different ways. Before long, theme
lines began to make definite statement about the product. In the early 1920s, Thirst Knows No
Season helped consumers think of Coca-Cola as more than a summertime drink. Later that decade,
It Had To Be good To Get Where It Is added prestige. And Just Around The Corner From
Everywhere emphasized widespread availability. In 1929, the most famous commercial slogan of its
time The Pause That Refreshes marked a return to promoting coke simply as the quintessential
quencher, Into the Age of Aquarius, when Things Go Better With Coke captured the lively spirit of
the times.
By then, the world had become much more sophisticated dining on frozen dinners and dressing
modern. This was reflected by Cokes breakthrough TV commercials in colour. Have a Coke And
A Smile was unleashed in 1979 among a flurry of disco music (which only made it sound better),
More recently, Coke had to have twice the themes since there was twice the Coke. In 1985, one
campaign had to position Coke (previously known as New Coke), and another had to differentiate
Coca-Cola classic from its sister product and competitive brands. The big winners? Catch The
Wave for the junior model, and for the original formula. Red, White and You conjured images of
Americana. After All, Coca-Cola classic had just established itself as a national treasure on par with
the entire state of Florida. These days, its Always Coca-Cola.
With so many different themes, jingles and slogans added to its name over the decades, Coke was
utterly confused as to which theme strikes the right chord with Cokes audience (basically everyone
over the age of 12 who drinks liquid). Coke primarily wanted to identify if at all there lies any
difference among the appeals rendered by the jingles- Market research thousands of people
surveyed, poked and prodded questioned How does this jingle appeal to you?
1. Some marketers are of the belief that advertising Coke through Aguilera has shown much
larger sales of Coke as compared to cities which believe and practice endorsing Coke via non-
Aguilera advertisements. Write a research proposal for conducting a research to verify this
statement.