College of Business, Hospitality and Tourism Studies

Department of Accounting
ACC801- Business Research Methods
Alternative Assessment 2
Weighting: 20% - Case Study
Semester1, 2021
Due Date: 27th 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.

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*******