College of Business, Hospitality and Tourism Studies

Department of Accounting
ACC801- Business Research Methods
Alternative Assessment 2
Weighting: 20% - Case Study
Semester1, 2021
th
Due Date: 27 May 2021 (time: 11.59pm)

Case Study: 1. (10 Marks)

The ability to come up with business idea can be transformed into a viable business where
ideas supported by feasibility and a business plan can be sold to interested investors firms,
and interested parties for a lump sum or a management contractor, are as agreed business
ideas, if introduce at the right time, when demand for search service are a product
introduced by the ideas is expected to surge, can lead to a very profitable business.
Business ideas are always available through different sources; however, it’s the application
applied on this ideas, and timing makes all the different in failure or successes. After
discussing some good business ideas, Babu and Hari have decided that their best option is
to open a small cafe. They believe that their background and experience in the hospitality
industry will help them to succeed. Hari is keen to start up the business straight away and
has already found what he things is a good location. How where, Babu is not sure and won
to spend more time researching the market before they commit to anything. Babu can see
the benefit in being fully prepared before infesting time and money in to starting the
business.

Questions:

(i) Explain why you think Babu and Hari should conduct market research before
starting their business. What could they find out by researching their Market? 5
marks (500 words)
Starting any business with an idea while looking good on paper is not a simple process and
success is often not guaranteed. The food service industry and in particular the café
business is one that is a highly competitive market in itself. The competition is to bind the
customers and the customers only become loyal if the taste, quality, quantity, variety,
ambiance and pricing of the cuisine that is offered appeals to them. The customers also
look at the types of services that a café or restaurant would offer such as take away
options, ability to offer a wine and dine experience, location of the business in itself and the
suitability as a family restaurant along availability of parking spaces. These factors while
appearing to have little value add by in the consumers eyes.

In addition to the factors given above Babu and Hari also have to take into account other
various factors such as operating costs which include the hiring of kitchen cooking staff,
chefs, waiters, cleaners, café fit out, rent, wages, training, sourcing of vegetables,
insurance and the ability to be financially sound to operate for a few months without relying
on the income from the sales of the business. There have been various businesses that
have started and failed due to not having ample knowledge on these factors. It is therefore
important for Babu and Hari to conduct this research prior to as experience as a staff and
operating a business are two different elements. Above all they would need to be able to
make their food quality and variety stand out in the market place to achieve success.

By researching their market they would be able to find out the competition level that they
would be facing particularly in terms of the number of restaurants, pubs and coffee shops
are operating, the different types of cuisines that are offered in the location that they are
considering opening in, the prices that the competition offers as well as the preference of
the consumers in terms of the different types of delicacies options that are available that is
if the customer is a vegetarian or a non – vegetarian, the pricing that the competition has
and most importantly the size of the paying customers in that particular market segment.
For example if they are considering opening in the city area, would their target audience be
office workers, shoppers and would they have customers dining in the evenings. Similarly if
they are considering opening in a mall then other factors such as the mall opening hours
would need to be looked at.

(ii) Describe some methods that Babu and Hari could use to learn more about the
potential customers, competitors and business locations. 5 marks (500 words)
Researching for any business would be a exercise in it self which would include the quality
and quantity of the sample data. In order to be able to achieve their dream of opening a
café Babu and Hari would need to do a detailed analysis. Some of the methods that they
could utilise would be as follows:
They could develop questionnaires which would probably be the best well
to get a feel of the consumers and obtain information from a large number
of people in the given area that they would be looking at operating in. The
informaton derived from the participants who would fill out the
questionnaires would reflect their views or feelings privately without them
having to worry as to what the reaction of the researcher may be. worrying
about the possible reaction of the researcher. This method would most
likely give accurate and true data to Babu and Hari to help in their
endeavour. The next method that they could utilise would be in the forms
of interviews conducted from customers who have just had a meal or
probably on their way to lunch or dinner as well as other businesses in the
area.

Babu and Hari would also have to become participants or customers

themselves so as to have a feel of the quality of food that the competition
offers, when is a busy time and the number of customers that dine in as
opposed to taking takeaways. This would also give an idea of the type of
food the customers would prefer. For example on Monday’s most Hindu
customers do not consume meat hence the restaurants offering vegetarian
cuisines would be busy.
1)

Case Study: 2 (10 Marks)

Durai joined in organization for a fortnight and he had conversation with Raj. Durai was
hired as company counselor; felt that he was fed up with Raj’s team of non-performa. There
had been two major merger and the responsibilities had increased somewhat. When Durai
went to meet Shankar Jha, the bright star who had joined six months back, he has reported
absent and seemed to be suffering from tension and angina pain. The band III executive
was also being with company for 5-15 years and yet had not been able to make to band II
position. They were laid back, extremely, critical and yet surprisingly not moving. Raj is also
making some structural changes suggested by Vasthu expert to nullify the evil spirits. The
company had a great infrastructure, attractive compensation packages and yet the place
reeked of apathy. It was like a stagnant pool of best talent. Was it possible to undertake
operation cleanup.

Questions:
 (i) Critically formulate research problem and objective. 5 marks (500 words)
(ii) Suggest a theoretical framework and develop a working hypothesis for this study.
5 marks (500 words)

The End*******