Fundamentals of Research

John Gabriel L. Dagala

Delano Troy B. Estacio

Armina R. Negrete

Jomel M. Pecardal

BS Entrepreneurship 3-3
Chapter 1: The Problem and its Setting

Introduction

Milk tea refers to several forms of beverages found in many cultures, containing

some combination of tea and milk. Beverages vary based on the amount of each of

these key ingredients, the method of preparation, and the inclusion of other ingredients

(varying from sugar or honey to salt or cardamom). Instant milk tea powder is mass-

produced product.

Local variations include:

 Bubble Tea, also known as pearl milk tea or boba milk tea, a Taiwanese tea-

based drink invented in Taichung in the 1980s.

 Cambric tea, a sweetened hot-milk beverage, often made with a small amount of

tea.

 Hong Kong style milk tea, black tea sweetened with evaporated milk originating

from the days of British colonial rule in Hong Kong.

 The tarik, a kind of milk tea popular in Malaysia and Singapore.

 Masala chai, also known as masala tea, is a spiced milk tea drunk in the Indian

subcontinent.

 Thai tea, a sweet tea popular in Southeast Asia.

 Royal milk tea, a Japanese preparation that involves decoting tea in milk.
 Drinking tea is a Taiwanese pastime that verges on the edge of obsession. For

breakfast, lunch, and dinner there’s a variety of tea to perfectly complement any food

and suit any palate. But when it comes to an afternoon drink or something to sip on

while wandering through the local night market, nothing beats a pearl milk tea. While it

might sound like a rather odd shade of paint suitable for dental surgery waiting rooms,

it’s actually an incredibly tasty drink that is more like a snack than a beverage. And why

is that? Well, that would have something to do with the score or so of tapioca balls

floating around in the bottom of the cup. Served with an oversized straw, this drink can

be any variety of tea, at any temperature. The only prerequisite is that vendors must

pack the bottom half of the cup with the jelly-like pearls, or what many call bubbles.

Coco Milk Tea began in 1997 with their first branch in Taipei. Their business was

long and many supported to their products. In 2005, they had 100 stores in Taiwan.

There was a first Coco branch in Suzhou, China in 2007 and the next year they had 200

stores. From 2008 to 2009 they have 350 branches and accelerates expansion in

China. In 2010, they also had branches in overseas markets. In 2011, they also opened

their doors to Hong Kong and New York and opened their doors to Thailand, Indonesia

and Los Angeles. In 2013 they have 1,500 branches worldwide and have also opened

the branch in Philippines and South Africa. In 2014, South Korea and Canada have also

opened. In 2015, they celebrated the Coco 2000th branch and opened their doors to

Australia. And in 2016, they have branches in London, UK and Hanoi Thailand.
 Until now, the buyers are increasing in these products especially for teenagers or

millennial people because it is trending and able to afford anyone who likes this product.

Not only is the product's satisfaction you can get as well as the benefits of their product

is worth it.

Drinking tea is a Taiwanese pastime that verges on the edge of obsession. For

breakfast, lunch, and dinner there’s a variety of tea to perfectly complement any food

and suit any palate. But when it comes to an afternoon drink or something to sip on

while wandering through the local night market, nothing beats a pearl milk tea, Taiwan’s

(unofficial) official drink. While it might sound like a rather odd shade of paint suitable for

dental surgery waiting rooms, it’s actually an incredibly tasty drink that is more like a

snack than a beverage. And why is that? Well, that would have something to do with the

score or so of tapioca balls floating around in the bottom of the cup. Served with an

oversized straw, this drink can be any variety of tea, at any temperature. The only

prerequisite is that vendors must pack the bottom half of the cup with the jelly-like

pearls, or what many call bubbles.

Although there are several tea vendors that claim to have been the first to create

this now world-famous drink, the most credible is Liu Han-Chieh of Chun Shui Tang

Teahouse in Taichung. In the early 80s, he noted that Japanese people enjoyed

drinking cold coffee and so he tried out the idea with tea. His cold teas were so popular

that his business expanded and he opened several new branches throughout the city.

The bubbles or pearls arrived on the scene in 1988 when during a meeting Liu poured
some tapioca balls into his iced teas. Everyone loved it, and so the national drink was

born.

Another popular theory is that Tu Tsong He of The Hanlin Teahouse invented

the drink on a whim. He used white tapioca balls which resembled pearls which is

allegedly where the name originated. Wherever it started, there’s no doubt that it took

the Taiwanese tea industry by storm and forced many traditional vendors to adapt their

menus to include this new and popular drink.

Theoretical Framework

In a business you need to know the side of a business establishment and its

connection to the customers and products you have. What product can do for a

community. Is this just what a person needs or wants? We have prepared a framework

and how we can interpret this image will help our research.

Nowadays, there are so many product types you can earn even if you are just at

home or one of your hobbies will be your business. In our generation today, Milk Tea is

known and trending especially for today's youth. At this cheap price, anyone can buy

this product but behind this business, there are many questions or doubts about having

this kind of business.

In the flowchart presented by our group, we can say that in the process of a

product can be identified. You will also know how powerful the word of mouth is as part

of an advertisement of a product. You said, others will say and say more. That's how

fast a product is advertised especially if it's trending in our generation now.

In additional and to support the marketing strategy of Coco Milk Tea, one of the

best target of this business are the student, young professionals and young at heart.

Drinking milk tea is a new hobby. Aside to fulfill their cravings for that beverages, they

also feel the taste of milk tea and satisfaction. From students, young professional and

young at heart they want to know the true satisfaction in this drink. As we see from other

nature of business, this is one of the best especially food and drinks.
 Marketing &
Word of Mouth Personal Needs Past Experience
Public Relations

Needs / Expectations

Value Customer
Proposition Satisfaction

Experiences

Achievements

One of the problems that we see in a business is the promotion and retention of

a market share in a business. Some business establishments do not know how to

maintain their business or how they can grow their business or because other

companies have similar business content. That's where that word competition comes

into business.
 Almost 50% to 60% are investing in a business, about 40% of the other

materials, outsourcing a brand of product. As general, because of they all have the

same nature of business, their investment shares are different and they also differ in the

raw materials of each company.

Conceptual Framework

Customers Satisfaction and Marketing Strategy of Coco Milk Tea in SM Sta. Mesa

Market

Product

Customer
`
Satisfaction

Word of Mouth

Experience
 Based in our observation regarding to our survey, most of the customer willing to

spend their time with milk tea is from ages 15-21 (as students) and 21-30 (as young

professionals). One of the main reasons why they buy milk tea: For social occasion or

entertainment, it acts as a refreshment and satisfies basic thirst and cravings. For them,

the most important variable to consider to buy milk tea are: the price, quantity or serving

size, quality or taste and visual packaging or advertisement. Suggestion and

recommendation to make them loyal in Milk Tea is to: make price affordable and

reasonable, to improve presentation and packaging, innovates new varieties, and he

health alternative option.

Statement of the Problem

1. What is the profile of the respondents in terms of the following:

- In conducting a survey, the researchers should have a criteria on how to pick

their subjects of the study. This was intended for the study to be organized as the

study is prior to young professionals and students. Students are 15-21 years old

and the young professionals are 21-30 years old. The main respondents of this

study are the customers of Coco Milk Tea SM Sta. Mesa Branch. They were

given survey forms regarding what flavor, price to spend and reasons for buying

milk tea. We chose the respondents through simple random sampling. The

respondents of the study were randomly picked.

2. How do the respondents assess the level of Customer Satisfaction and Marketing

Strategies of Coco Milk Tea in terms of the following:

- Based on the survey conducted, they assessed the Price using the lowest price

option which is 50-100 Pesos. For Product promotion, the Size and Flavor goes

head to head but more respondents chose the increase of size or amount of

servings. It shows on the survey that both young professionals and students are

buying Milk tea to act as refreshment.

3. Is there a significant difference in the respondents' assessment on the level of

Customer Satisfaction and Marketing Strategies of Coco Milk Tea?

- The level of Customer Satisfaction and Marketing Strategies of Coco Milk Tea

are almost the same, though sometimes the customers are not always going to

buy milk tea just because they need to control themselves for their health and

also the budget.

The market for Milk Tea is expanding nowadays and one of the struggles that

Coco Milk Tea facing is how to sustain its market share. According to the book Grab

More Market Share -- How to Wrangle Business Away from Lazy Competitors by Ross

Shafer; there are five important things to remember to gain more market share, the

following are Stay relevant through innovation, Respond to customers fast, Use

customer’s Ideas, Snap up competitors and be more flexible.

 Under this research that we will conduct, we are going to identify the common

needs, wants and expectation in a milk tea house that helps Coco Milk tea to sustain its

market share, establish a distinct brand image and try to break the completion against

coffee shops. By gathering data using survey, we can identify the factors that affect the

buying decision of consumers. Once we identified the factors, we will rank the data and

we can identify the most important factor that affects a consumer’s buying decision. The

most important factor will be applied to Coco Milk Tea Shop to help them to gain more

market share and to create a distinct brand image that even coffee lovers will turn to

Milk Tea consumers.

Hypothesis of the Study

Students are the most costumer of Coco Milk tea and to increase and sustain the

market share of Coco Milk Tea, they should make the price reasonable and affordable

for the students. Students and young professionals are only buying Milk Tea as basic

thirst and cravings quencher.

One way to look at competition is by industry analysis. Competition drives down

rates of return on invested capital. If the rate is “competitive” it will encourage

investment, if not, it will discourage competition. Influencing competition is an industry

and the elements of industry structure. The four forces influencing competition, the

threat of new entrants, threat of substitute products. “Macro” factors like changes in

technology and social factors and “Micro” factors like customers’ or buyers’ changing

needs.
Scope and Limitations of the Study

This study is primarily focused on the assessment of the nutritional value and the

market performance in terms of safety and quality of the product. The researchers aim

to describe the compliance of Milk Tea in handling drink products according to the

policies and protocol implemented.

Significance of the Study

The result of this study would benefit the following people:

Future Researchers: The ideas presented may be used as reference data in

conducting new researches or in testing the validity of other related findings. This study

will also serve as their cross-reference that will give them a background or an overview

of the research about Milk Tea.

Students: This study would serve as the basis in improving the observation about the

product in other to maintain and develop the ideas and skills in business in the near

future.
Definition of Terms

The terms used in this study are defined clear and operationally to provide

common understanding.

 Customer - a person or organization that buys goods or services from a store or

business.

 Hypothesis - a supposition or proposed explanation made on the basis of limited

evidence as a starting point for further investigation.

 Marketing Strategy - a plan of action designed to promote and sell a product or

service.

 Place – a decision outline where a company sells a product and how it delivers

the product to the market.

 Price – is a method of determining the value, a producer will get in the exchange

of goods and service.

 Product – is any good, service, or idea that can be offered to a market to satisfy

a want or need.

 Promotion – refers to any type of marketing communication used to inform or

persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or

issue.

 Respondents - a person who replies to something, especially one supplying

information for a survey or questionnaire or responding to an advertisement.

 Retention - the action of absorbing and continuing to hold a substance

 Satisfaction - fulfillment of one's wishes, expectations, or needs, or the pleasure

derived from this.

 Significance - the quality of being worthy of attention; importance.