MKTG 7 7th Edition Lamb Solutions Manual

MKTG 7 7th Edition Lamb Solutions
Manual
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CHAPTER 9 Marketing Research
This chapter begins with the learning outcome summaries, followed by a set of lesson plans for you to use to
deliver the content in Chapter 9.
• Lecture (for large sections) on page 3
• Company Clips (video) on page 5
• Group Work (for smaller sections) on page 6
Review and Assignments begin on page 9
 Review questions
 Application questions
 Application exercise
 Ethics exercise
 Video Assignment
 Case assignment
Great Ideas for Teaching Marketing from faculty around the country begin on page 21
We’ve also created integrated cases that cover the topics in Chapters 6 through 9.
• Four Loko on page 26
• Mary Kay Inc. on page 30
Chapter 9 ♦ Decision Support Systems and Marketing Research 1

LEARNING OUTCOMES
9-1 Explain the concept and purpose of a marketing decision support system
A decision support system (DSS) makes data instantly available to marketing managers and allows them to manipulate
the data themselves to make marketing decisions. Four characteristics make DSSs especially useful to marketing
managers: They are interactive, flexible, discovery oriented, and accessible. Decision support systems give managers
access to information immediately and without outside assistance. They allow users to manipulate data in a variety of
ways and to answer “what if” questions. And, finally, they are accessible to novice computer users.
9-2 Define marketing research and explain its importance to marketing decision making
Marketing research is a process of collecting and analyzing data for the purpose of solving specific marketing problems.
Marketers use marketing research to explore the profitability of marketing strategies. They can examine why particular
strategies failed and analyze characteristics of specific market segments. Managers can use research findings to help keep
current customers. Moreover, marketing research allows management to behave proactively, rather than reactively, by
identifying newly emerging patterns in society and the economy.
9-3 Describe the steps involved in conducting a marketing research project

The marketing research process involves several basic steps. First, the researcher and the decision maker must agree on a
problem statement or set of research objectives. The researcher then creates an overall research design to specify how
primary data will be gathered and analyzed. Before collecting data, the researcher decides whether the group to be
interviewed will be a probability or nonprobability sample. Field service firms are often hired to carry out data
collection. Once data have been collected, the researcher analyzes them using statistical analysis. The researcher then
prepares and presents oral and written reports, with conclusions and recommendations, to management. As a final step,
the researcher determines whether the recommendations were implemented and what could have been done to make the
project more successful.
9-4 Discuss the profound impact of the Internet on marketing research

The Internet has simplified the secondary data search process. Internet survey research is surging in popularity. Internet
surveys can be created rapidly, are reported in real time, are relatively inexpensive, and are easily personalized. Often
researchers use the Internet to contact respondents who are difficult to reach by other means. The Internet can also be
used to conduct focus groups, to dispute research proposals and reports, and to facilitate collaboration between the client
and the research supplier. Text-message-based research and giving consumers blogging assignments are new trends that
give marketers quick feedback (text-messaging) or in-depth information over time (blogging).
9-5 Discuss the growing importance of scanner-based research

A scanner-based research system enables marketers to monitor a market panel’s exposure and reaction to such variables
as advertising, coupons, store displays, packaging, and price. By analyzing these variables in relation to the panel’s
subsequent buying behavior, marketers gain useful insight into sales and marketing strategies.
9-6 Explain when marketing research should be conducted

Because acquiring marketing information can be time consuming and costly, to acquire additional decision-making
information depends on managers’ perceptions of its quality, price, and timing. Research, therefore, should be
undertaken only when the expected value of the information is greater than the cost of obtaining it. Implementing a
Customer Relationship Management system is integral to maintaining a functional marketing decision support system for
deciding if marketing research should be conducted.
9-7 Explain the concept of competitive intelligence

Intelligence is analyzed information, and it becomes decision-making intelligence when it has implications for hte
organization. By helping managers assess their competition and vendors, competitive intelligence (CI) leads to fewer
surprises. CI is part of a sound marketing strategy, helps companies respond to competitive threats, and helps reduce
unnecessary costs.
2 Chapter 9 ♦ Decision Support Systems and Marketing Research
TERMS
behavioral targeting (BT) experiment nonprobability sample
BehaviorScan field service firm observation research
central-location telephone (CLT) focus group open-ended question
facility frame error primary data
closed-ended question InfoScan probability sample
competitive intelligence (CI) mall intercept interview random error
computer-assisted personal management decision problem random sample
interviewing marketing information research design
computer-assisted self-interviewing marketing research sample
consumer-generated media (CGM) marketing research aggregator sampling error
convenience sample marketing research objective scaled-response question
cross-tabulation marketing research problem scanner-based research
database marketing measurement error secondary data
decision support system (DSS) mystery shoppers survey research
ethnographic research neuromarketing universe
executive interview
LESSON PLAN FOR LECTURE
Brief Outline and Suggested PowerPoint Slides:
Learning Outcomes and Topics PowerPoint Slides

LO1 Explain the concept and purpose of a marketing 1: Decision Support Systems and Marketing Research
decision support system 2: Learning Outcomes
9-1 Marketing Decision Support Systems 3: Learning Outcomes
4: Marketing Decision Support Systems
5: Marketing Decision Support Systems
6: Database Marketing
LO2 Define marketing research and explain its 7: The Role of Marketing Research
importance to marketing decision making 8: The Role of Marketing Research
9-2 The Role of Marketing Research 9: The Role of Marketing Research
10: Management Use of Marketing Research
LO3 Describe the steps involved in conducting a 11: Steps in a Marketing Research Project
marketing research project 12: Exhibit 9.1: The Marketing Research Process
9-3 Steps in a Marketing Research Project 13: The Marketing Research Project
14: Secondary Sources of Data
15: Advantages of Secondary Data
16: Disadvantages of Secondary Data
17: The New Age of Secondary Information: The
Internet
18: Marketing Research Aggregators
19: Planning the Research Design
20: Primary Data
21: Disadvantages of Primary Data
22: Survey Research
23: Forms of Survey Research
24: Questionnaire Design
25: Questionnaire Design
26: Observation Research
27: Exhibit 9.3: Observational Situations

Learning Outcomes and Topics PowerPoint Slides
28: Observational Research
29: Ethnographic Research
30: Virtual Shopping
31: Experiments
32: Sampling Procedure
33: Types of Samples
34: Probability Samples
35: Nonprobability Samples
36: Types of Errors
37: Collecting the Data
38: Analyzing the Data
39: Preparing and Presenting the Report
40: Following Up
LO4 Discuss the profound impact of the Internet on 41: The Profound Impact of the Internet on Marketing
marketing research Research
9-4 The Profound Impact of the Internet on 42: Impact of the Internet
Marketing Research 43: Advantages of Internet Surveys
44: Uses of the Internet by Marketing Researchers
45: Methods of Collecting Online Surveys
46: Advantages of Online Focus Groups
47: Web Community Research
48: Text Message-Based Research
49: Blogging Assignments
50: Role of Consumer-Generated Media in Marketing
Research
LO5 Discuss the growing importance of scanner-based 51: Scanner-Based Research
research 52: Scanner-Based Research
9-5 Scanner-Based Research 53: Scanner-Based Research
LO6 Explain when marketing research should be 54: When Should Marketing Research be Conducted?
conducted 55: When Should Marketing Research be Conducted?
9-6 When Should Marketing Research Be 56: Ex 9.6: A Simple Flow Model of the CRM system
Conducted?
LO7 Explain the concept of competitive intelligence 57: Competitive Intelligence
9-7 Competitive Intelligence 58: Competitive Intelligence
59: Sources of Competitive Intelligence
60: Chapter 9 Video
61: Part 2 Video
Suggested Homework:
• The end of this chapter contains assignments for the Nederlander Organization video and for the Marriott
International case. There are also part-based cases and homework assignments on Four Loko and Mary Kay Inc.
• Each Chapter Prep Card contains numerous questions that can be assigned or used as the basis for longer
investigations into marketing.
LESSON PLAN FOR VIDEO

Company Clips
Segment Summary: The Nederlander Organization
The Nederlander Organization is at the forefront of using technology to understand its customers and the ways that those
theatregoers purchase tickets. This video clip discusses specific ways the Nederlander Organization collects data and
then leverages that information to the benefit of the customer.

These teaching notes combine activities that you can assign students to prepare before class, that you can do in class
before watching the video, that you can do in class while watching the video, and that you can assign students to
complete as assignments after watching the video in class.
During the viewing portion of the teaching notes, stop the video periodically where appropriate to ask students the
questions or perform the activities listed on the grid. You may even want to give the students the questions before
starting the video and have them think about the answer while viewing the segment. That way, students will be engaged
in active viewing rather than passive viewing.
PRE-CLASS PREP FOR YOU: PRE-CLASS PREP FOR YOUR STUDENTS:

• Preview the Company Clips video segment for • Have students familiarize themselves with the following
Chapter 9. This exercise reviews concepts for LO1, terms and concepts: marketing research, marketing
LO2, LO3, and LO4 research process, marketing research problem,
• Review your lesson plan. marketing research objective, management decision
• Make sure you have all of the equipment needed to problem, open- and close-ended questions, research
show the video to the class, including the DVD and a design, primary data, and secondary data.
way to project the video. • Ask students to define and provide a detailed example of
• You can also stream the video HERE a marketing research problem and a management
decision problem.
VIDEO REVIEW EXERCISE
ACTIVITY
Begin this session by asking students to explain the difference between a marketing research problem
Warm Up and a management decision problem.
• Segue into a review of the importance of marketing research to marketing decision making.
• Have students form teams of up to four members. Ask each team to brainstorm several ways they
can capture data about customers (e.g., frequent shopper program, credit card databases, internet
research, surveys, etc.).
In-class • Move from team to team and prompt them with additional questions. Examples include “How will
Preview you turn that data into useful, valuable information?” and “What are the risks of not collecting
data, or collecting the wrong data?”
• Have teams remain in place to watch the video segment about The Nederlander Organization.
• Review the Company Clips questions below and make sure students are prepared to discuss them
with their group after viewing the video.
1. What are some of the methods mentioned in the video that The Nederlander Organization
Viewing uses to gather primary data?
2. In what way does The Nederlander Organization use secondary data?
(Solutions
below.)
• Have the student teams re-form to respond to the viewing activity. Again, move from team to team
to respond to questions or redirect discussion.
Follow-up • Take-home activity: Have each student reread the book section on questionnaire design and then
design their own questionnaire on a product or service of their own choosing to be turned in later.
Solutions for Viewing Activities:
1. What are some of the methods mentioned in the video that The Nederlander Organization uses to gather
primary data? How does the company leverage that data?
The Nederlander Organization has several ways it gathers information about its theatregoers. Students could mention
monitoring activity from the Broadway direct newsletter, Audience Rewards program, as well as people opting in to
receive the newsletter.
The Nederlander Organization uses its primary data to re-target customers and send out targeted marketing messages (as
in the Evita example). It also gives its renters access to segmented information gathered from its newsletters, web site,
and audience rewards program so they can appropriately program and market shows. It also allows the Nederlander

Organization to make informed decisions about what shows to lease space to because they can evaluate what shows will
appeal to specific markets.
2. In what way does The Nederlander Organization use secondary data?

The primary use of secondary data mentioned in this clip is using the contact information gathered by Ricky Martin’s fan
club, and using that to sell tickets to Evita. The Audience rewards mailer is also considered secondary data, because
people who signed up for that program did so for a different show, but their contact information is being used by Evita.
LESSON PLAN FOR GROUP WORK
In most cases, group activities should be completed after some chapter content has been covered, probably in the second
or third session of the chapter coverage. (See “Lesson Plan for Lecture” above.)
• For “Class Activity – Pepsi/Coke Taste Test,” provide the information and the questions asked by the class
activity.
• Application questions 6, 8, and 12 lend themselves well to group work. For those activities, divide the class into
small groups of four or five people. Each group should read the question and then use their textbooks, or any
work that was completed previously, to perform the exercise. Then, each group should discuss or present their
work to the class.
Class Activity – Pepsi/Coke Taste Test

Part One
First, ask each student to select either the letter M or Q. Next, ask them to select a number from 1 to 4. Tally the results.
How did the Pepsi/Coke taste test evolve? In the late 1970s, Pepsi was looking for a creative promotion for its big
problem area: the southwestern United States. Pepsi’s national market share was 17 percent at the time but only 8 percent
in the Southwest. Pepsi decided to stage a blind taste test using a sample of loyal Coke drinkers in the Southwest. Pepsi
had the volunteers taste test two colas—one labeled M (Pepsi) and one labeled Q (Coke)—and state their preference.
In this test, more than half the Coke drinkers chose the product labeled M (Pepsi). Pepsi advertised the results in a
promotion in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, and sales of Pepsi doubled. The promotion was so successful that Pepsi
introduced it into seven other market areas.
At this point, Coca-Cola announced that Pepsi’s taste test was biased and unfair. Coca-Cola pointed out that variables
other than taste were affecting volunteers’ choices. One extraneous variable is that people have a natural preference for
the letter M over the letter Q. As a result, the preference for product M could be based on taste or could be a
subconscious preference for the letter.
In extensive testing, when people were asked to pick either Q or M, 78 percent chose M and 22 percent preferred Q.
When people were asked to chose a number from 1 to 4, 70 percent chose 2 or 3, and only 30 percent chose 1 or 4. How
do your class results compare?
Part Two
Before Coke introduced its reformulated “New Coke” in 1985, it conducted almost 200,000 blind taste tests with
consumers. The results:
New Coke (55 percent) chosen over original Coke (45 percent)
New Coke (52 percent) chosen over Pepsi (48 percent)
However, after New Coke was introduced, it failed miserably in the market. The original formula was reintroduced a few
months later as “Coca-Cola Classic.”
You can replicate the taste test comparing Coke Zero, Coca-Cola Classic, and Pepsi as follows:
1. Get 40 small paper cups and label 10 with the letter R, 10 with S, 10 with T, and 10 with the letter W.
2. Outside the room have a student volunteer randomly assign Coke Zero, Coca-Cola Classic, and Pepsi to the
letters R, S, and T. Write down which soft drink goes with which letter.
3. At the start of class, select 10 students as taste testers. The subjects should be regular consumers of non-diet
cola (at least six 12-ounce bottles in the last month). Place the students at the front of the classroom.
4. Outside the room, the student volunteer should be filling each cup with the appropriate soda. Fill the W cups
with water.
5. Put an R, S, T, and W cup in front of each student, and hand each student a copy of the Cola Taste Test Form
provided.
6. To eliminate order bias, have three of the students begin the taste test with cup R, three with cup S, and four
with cup T. Have them take a sip of water between colas and continue to sample and test in any order they
wish. They can resample as needed to fill out the questionnaire.
7. Have a student tabulate the answers during class and share the results at the end of class. The form could even
lend itself to cross-tabulations (between preferences and answers to questions 5 or 6) if the sample were larger.
Cola Taste Test Form

1. In comparing the tastes of R and S,
____ I prefer R.
____ I am indifferent between R and S.
____ I prefer S.
2. In comparing the tastes of S and T,

____ I prefer S.
____ I am indifferent between S and T.
____ I prefer T.
3. In comparing the tastes of T and R,

____ I prefer T.
____ I am indifferent between T and R.
____ I prefer R.
4. Which of the following brands are R, S, and T?

a. Coke Zero is ____
b. Pepsi Cola is ____
c. Coca-Cola Classic is ____
5. During the past month, estimate your consumption of the three colas so that they total 100 percent:
Coke Zero _______ percent
Pepsi Cola _______ percent

Coca-Cola Classic _______ percent
Total 100 percent
6. How many 12-ounce cans or bottles of sugared cola have you consumed in the past 30 days?
____ 6 or fewer ____ 13 to 24
____ 7 to 12 ____ 25 or more
REVIEW AND ASSIGNMENTS FOR CHAPTER 9
REVIEW QUESTIONS
1. Explain the difference between marketing research and a DSS.
Marketing research is the planning, collection, and analysis of data relevant to marketing decision making. A
decision support system (DSS) is an interactive, flexible information system that enables managers to obtain and
manipulate information as they are making decisions. Marketing research may be used to gather information that
would be input into a DSS. Both are needed to make good strategic decisions, and both work hand-in-hand.
2. The task of marketing is to create exchanges. What role might marketing research play in the facilitation of
the exchange process?
Marketing research will help a firm develop products and communication that aid in the exchange process by
ensuring that the company is meeting the needs of the customers.
3. Give an example of 1) the descriptive role of marketing research, 2) the diagnostic role, and 3) the predictive
function of marketing research.
Descriptive marketing research examples should describe gathering and presenting factual statements. Diagnostic
marketing research examples should describe projects that explain data. Predictive marketing research examples
should describe answering “what if” questions.
4. Marketing research has traditionally been associated with manufacturers of consumer goods. Today, we are
experiencing an increasing number of organizations, both profit and nonprofit, using marketing research.
Why do you think this trend exists? Give some examples.
Students will need to explain that every type of firm should be endeavoring to serve their customers better, and one
way to do this is to understand customer wants and needs. Students will come up with a variety of firms, such as
medical groups or hospitals, that are doing active market research.
5. Why are secondary data sometimes preferred to primary data?
Secondary data is readily available and much less expensive than primary data. Often the secondary data will save a
company from doing unnecessary primary research and guide the development of primary studies.
6. What is a marketing research aggregator? What role do these aggregators play in marketing research?
Companies whose role it is to acquire, catalog, reformat, segment, and resell reports already published by large and
small marketing research firms. Their databases of research reports are more comprehensive, so therefore more
useful. Their databases are easier to search and their deliveries speedier, allowing a narrower search—especially
useful for the small- and medium-sized clients, a segment that would have been unable to afford the expense of a
commissioned, full report.

7. Ethnographic research is a new (and expensive) trend in marketing research. Find an article on ethnographic
research. Read and summarize the article. What is your opinion of ethnographic research? Do you think it
will be the wave of the future? Explain your reasoning.
Students’ answers may vary widely as they express their opinions of ethnographic research.
8. Describe the advantages and disadvantages of online surveys.
Advantages of Internet surveys include speed, low cost, creation of longitudinal studies, cost effectiveness of short
surveys, the ability to reach large audiences, and eye appeal. Disadvantages include skewing of online survey results
because of the composition of people active online does not necessarily mirror the general population. Therefore,
sampling error may occur.
9. Why has scanner-based research been seen as “the ultimate answer” for marketing researchers? Do you see
any disadvantages of this methodology?
Scanner-based research provides an accurate, objective picture of the direct causal relationship between different
kinds of marketing efforts and actual sales. Many non-scanner marketing research projects involve gathering
attitudinal data—that is, asking respondents what they might do or how they think. Scanner-based research does not
rely on such subjective answers; it tracks behavior, not opinions or attitudes. One disadvantage to scanner-based
research is that it may not be appropriate for the type of information you are trying to gather. For instance, if you
wanted to know what consumers thought of a new product idea, scanner-based research would not help. Another
disadvantage is that there is no simple way of gathering information on why consumers buy certain products, only
what they buy. Scanner-based research may not be able to isolate certain marketing efforts if there are many
activities going on at once.
APPLICATION QUESTIONS
1. In the absence of company problems, is there any reason to develop a marketing decision support system?
A company needs to be proactive and stay ahead of any problems. The marketing decision support system can be an
early warning system for a company. A company cannot assume there will never be problems.
2. Write a reply to the following statement: “I own a restaurant in the downtown area. I see customers every
day whom I know on a first-name basis. I understand their likes and dislikes. If I put something on the menu
and it doesn’t sell, I know that they didn’t like it. I also read the magazine Modern Restaurants, so I know
what the trends are in the industry. This is all of the marketing research I need to do.”
Although students’ answers will vary, they should address some of these points: Making correct decisions is as
important to small firms as it is to larger ones; managers at any level need information to make better decisions; for
the small firm, the task is how to provide that information within a reasonable cost range; the owner cannot assume
he knows what customers like without asking them. There may be several reasons they do not buy a new menu item.
3. Critique the following methodologies and suggest more appropriate alternatives:

a. A supermarket was interested in determining its image. It dropped a short questionnaire into the grocery
bag of each customer before putting in the groceries.
b. To assess the extent of its trade area, a shopping mall stationed interviewers in the parking lot every
Monday and Friday evening. Interviewers walked up to persons after they had parked their cars and
asked them for their ZIP codes.
c. To assess the popularity of a new movie, a major studio invited people to call a 900 number and vote yes,
they would see it again, or no, they would not. Each caller was billed a two-dollar charge.
a. The supermarket should have short intercept interviews or phone interviews in order to get more participation.
If it does decide to hand out questionnaires, someone should explain and ask for each customer’s participation.

b. They are surely going to scare customers by casually approaching them and asking for their ZIP codes. Perhaps
uniformed security officers could do this, but it would be easier and safer to ask people their ZIP codes at the
exit doors of the mall.
c. People are not going to be willing to pay to vote for a movie. Exit interviews are the way to go for this one. Or
just wait and watch box office receipts.
4. You have been charged with determining how to attract more business majors to your school. Write an
outline of the steps you would take, including the sampling procedures, to accomplish the task.
The first step is to define the problem or questions that this research needs to examine. The next step, planning the
research design, specifies the method that will be used to collect data. Then the sampling procedures that best fit the
situation are selected. Next the data are collected, often by an outside firm. Data analysis then takes place, and the
results are interpreted. Subsequently, a report is drafted and presented to management. A follow-up on the
usefulness of the data and the report is the final step.
5. Discuss when focus groups should and should not be used.
Focus groups are used when a researcher needs detailed information or needs to brainstorm. The group dynamics of
a focus group may mean that a response from one person will stimulate ideas and more comments from others.
Focus groups should not be used if the researcher just wants standard question–answer information.
6. Divide the class into teams of eight persons. Each group will conduct a focus group on the quality and
number of services that your college is providing to its students. One person from each group should be
chosen to act as moderator. Remember, it is the moderator’s job to facilitate discussion, not to lead the
discussion. These group sessions should last approximately 45 minutes. If possible, the groups should be
videotaped or recorded. Upon completion, each group should write a brief report of its results. Consider
offering to meet with the dean of students to share the results of your research.
This is a project question and results will vary.
7. Go to http://www.strategicbusinessinsights.com/vals/presurvey.shtml and take the VALS Survey. Report on

how marketing researchers are using this information.
Students’ reports will vary.
8. Divide the class into teams. Each team should go to a different opt-in survey site on the Web and participate
in an online survey. A spokesperson for each team should report the results to the class.
This is a project question and results will vary.
9. Detractors claim that scanner-based research is like “driving a car down the road looking only in the
rearview mirror.” What does this mean? Do you agree?
This is a major disadvantage to scanner-based research: it gathers information on the past but may not be able to
predict the future. Students can argue for or against this statement:
FOR the statement: Past purchasing behavior does not necessarily predict future behavior. Consumers may be
sensitive to promotional activity, competitive activity, and even impulse purchasing. Scanner-based research does
not provide reasons why consumers purchase certain products, so inaccurate conclusions may be drawn from their
buying behavior.
AGAINST the statement: Scanner-based research can predict future buying behavior. For instance, if a consumer
purchases a certain brand of baby formula on a regular basis, it can be predicted that he or she will continue
purchasing this brand due to brand loyalty. It can also be predicted that the purchases will disappear after one year
when the baby is old enough to drink cow’s milk. It can also be predicted that, within a few months, the consumer
will be buying chunkier baby food in microwavable containers. Scanner-based research may only report what’s
happened in the past, but history often predicts the future.
10. Why do you think that competitive intelligence (CI) is so hot in today’s environment?
With the level of competition in today’s business environment, firms that are to survive and prosper must be aware
of the events and entities that will affect their profitability.
11. Prepare a memo to your boss at United Airlines and outline why the organization needs a CI unit.
Students’ responses will vary depending on the specific reasons that the student chooses to target. Some of those
factors might be safety, regulation, competition, fuels prices, and so forth.
12. Form a team with three other students. Each team must choose a firm in the PC manufacturing industry.
Next, each team will go to the Web site of the firm and acquire as much competitive intelligence as possible.
Each team will then prepare a five-minute oral presentation on its findings.
Students’ results will vary depending on the firm they have chosen. However, they should be able to glean some
product, marketing, and financial information.
13. Why do companies hire mystery shoppers?
Mystery shoppers are researchers posing as customers who gather observational data about a store. Companies also
hire these shoppers to study customer-employee interactions. Mystery shoppers also:
• Enable an organization to monitor compliance with product/service delivery standards and specifications
• Enable marketers to examine the gap between promises made through advertising/sales promotion and
actual service delivery
• Help monitor the impact of training and performance improvement initiatives
• Identify differences in the customer experience across different times of day, locations, product/service
types and other potential sources of variation in product/service quality
APPLICATION EXERCISE
For its Teens and Healthy Eating: Oxymoron or Trend? study, New York–based BuzzBack Market Research focused on
snacking. Among its findings: Teens eat an average of three snacks per day, and breakfast is the meal they skip most
often. Though scads of snacks are stacked on store shelves, when it comes to healthier treats targeting adolescents, it’s a
bit of a teenage wasteland. BuzzBack asked 532 teen respondents to conjure up new foods they’d gobble up. The
following are some of their ideas:
• “Travel fruit. Why can’t fruit be in travel bags like chips or cookies? Canned fruit is too messy. Maybe have a
dip or something sold with it, too.” –Female, age 17
• “A drink that contains five servings of fruits and vegetables.” –Male, age 16, Caucasian
• “I would invent all natural and fat-free, vitamin-enhanced cookies and chips that had great flavor.” –Female,
age 16
• “I would make fruit-based cookies.” –Male, age 16, Caucasian
• “Low-carb trail mix, because trail mix is easy to eat but it has a lot of fat/carbs.” –Female, age 15, Caucasian
• “I would create some sort of microwavable spaghetti.” –Male, age 16, Caucasian
• “Something quick and easy to make that’s also cheap. I’ll be in college next year, and I’m trying to find things
that are affordable, healthier than cafeteria food, and easy to make.” –Female, age 17
• “Good vegan mac n’cheese.” –Female, age 18, Caucasian
• “A smoothie where you could get all the nutrients you need, that tastes good, helps you stay in shape, and is
good for you. Has vitamins A, B3, B12, C, ginkgo. Packaging would be bright.” –Female, age 16, African
American
• “A breakfast shake for teens. Something easy that tastes good, not necessarily for dieters like Slim Fast, etc.
Something to balance you off in the morning.” –Male, age 18
SOURCE: Becky Ebenkamp, “The Market Is the Message,” “What If Teenagers Ruled the R&D Roost?” Brandweek, July 11, 2005, 16 and 17.

Activities
1. You are a new-product development specialist at Kraft. What guidance can you get from the BuzzBack study?
2. Choose one of the suggestions from the above list of healthy snack concepts. Imagine that your company is
interested in turning the idea into a new product but wants to conduct market research before investing in product
development. Design a marketing research plan that will give company managers the information they need before
engaging in new-product development of the idea. (Hint: Use steps 1–3 in Exhibit 8.1 as a guide.)
3. Once you have finished your plan, collect the data. Depending on the data-collection methods you have outlined in
your plan, you may need to make adjustments so that you can collect actual data to analyze.
4. Analyze the data you collected and create a report for your company either recommending that the company pursue
the idea you chose or investigate another.
Purpose: To show how marketing research supports all of the marketing functions.
Setting It Up: This exercise is well suited to small group work in class. Once groups have made their lists, have groups
come together to share their results as a class.

This exercise was inspired by the following Great Idea in Teaching Marketing:
Matthew D. Shank, Northern Kentucky University

Fred Beasley, Northern Kentucky University
UNDERSTANDING THE IMPORTANCE OF MARKETING RESEARCH

(OR WHY DO I HAVE TO TAKE THIS CLASS?)
What three words best describe how students feel about marketing research before entering the course? Do hard, boring,
and unnecessary come to mind? In order to combat these negative expectations, an in-class exercise can be used in the
first class meeting to hopefully change students’ attitudes towards marketing research.
The exercise begins by asking students to list and describe the basic functions of marketing. This task may be facilitated
by providing the students with any product or service (e.g., athletic footwear, cars, universities) and asking what
functions should be performed to successfully market this product or service. After discussing the functions, the students
are told to list all of the potential research activities needed to support each of the marketing functions. The typical list of
functions and some of the related marketing research activities are shown below:
Basic Marketing Functions Examples of Research Activities

Promotion Planning Ad Effectiveness
Media Research
Sales Promotion Effectiveness
Distribution Planning Retail Image Studies
Site Location Analysis
Price Planning Price Elasticity
Demand Analysis
Product/Service Planning Brand Image Research
Package Design Studies
Test Marketing
Scope of the Organization Concept Testing
Market Development Studies
Consumer Analysis Satisfaction Studies
Attitude and Usage Studies
Environmental Analysis Secondary Data Collection Competitive Analysis
Marketing Management Target Market Identification
Positioning Studies
Segmentation Studies
The broad purpose of this in-class exercise is to stress the importance of marketing research and set the tone for the
semester. More specifically, the exercise has the following benefits:
• Serves as a review of the basic marketing functions
• Provides the students with a basis for developing a list of questions for their initial client meeting (Note:
students conduct research for businesses in the community)
• Positions research in the context of the overall marketing discipline
• Explores the critical link between research and the basic marketing functions

ETHICS EXERCISE
John Michael Smythe owns a small marketing research firm in Cleveland, Ohio, which employs 75 people. Most
employees are the sole breadwinners in their families. John’s firm has not fared well for the past two years and is on the
verge of bankruptcy. The company recently surveyed over 2,500 people in Ohio about new-car purchase plans for the
Ohio Department of Economic Development. Because the study identified many hot prospects for new cars, a car dealer
has offered John $8,000 for the names and phone numbers of people saying they are “likely” or “very likely” to buy a
new car within the next 12 months. John needs the money to avoid laying off a number of employees.
1. Should John Smythe sell the names?
This dilemma is particularly tricky because it involves the interests of John as both a marketing research provider
and as an employer. The situation does not specifically state that the people in the survey were promised privacy as
part of their participation in the survey. That would be one reason to support John selling the names. Survey
participants surely did not participate in the project, however, expecting to hear a sales pitch from a new car dealer
shortly thereafter.
2. Does the AMA Code of Ethics address this issue? Go to http://www.marketingpower.com and review the
code. Then, write a brief paragraph on what the AMA Code of Ethics contains that relates to John Smythe’s
dilemma.
The AMA Code of Ethics does have verbiage requiring marketers to “apply confidentiality and anonymity in
professional relationships with regard to privileged information.” If the list of names and the survey results are
considered privileged, then John is bound by the Code not to sell the names. In addition, the Code prohibits
marketers from taking advantage of situations to maximize personal welfare in a way that unfairly deprives or
damages others. And it also prohibits selling under the guise of marketing research (known as sugging). Although
John did not explicitly do this, if John were to sell the list of names, sugging would be the eventual result.
VIDEO ASSIGNMENT: The Nederlander Organization
1. Using information collected for Ricky Martin’s fan club would be considered:
a. primary data
b. meeting the research objective
c. secondary data
d. survey research
ANS: C
The Nederlander organization using this information to market Evita would be considered using secondary data,
because the information was originally gathered for Ricky Martin’s fan club’s use.
2. The Nederlander Organization uses flexible pricing to offer its customers the shows they want at the prices they can
afford. One way they do this is by monitoring supply and demand of ticket sales for different show times and by
attendance rates. The best way to process this information is
a. by using central knowledge.
b. through a decision support system.
c. by identifying the marketing research problem.
d. by purchasing information from a marketing research aggregator.
ANS: B
The best way for the Nederlander Organization to collect, analyze, and use the information needed to set flexible
pricing would be to use a DSS because it allows decision makers to manipulate the information in the way most
useful to solving the question at hand.

3. Broadway Direct offers a collection of people who have signed up to receive a newsletter about Nederlander
theatre events. Most of these individuals also purchased tickets to see a show at a Nederlander owned theatre. If
used as a sample for a marketing research project, Broadway Direct would be a
a. judgment sample
b. probability sample
c. observation research
d. convenience sample
ANS: D
Because the sample is people who chose to sign up or already purchased tickets from one organization, and the list
would be easy to obtain, this group would be considered a convenience sample.
4. When the Nederlander Organization “retargets” recipients of email pre-sale blasts (such as the one used for Evita)
based on whether they clicked “buy tickets” and did not make the purchase, they are
a. using behavioral targeting to send follow-up messages.
b. using behaviorscan to understand why they didn’t purchase tickets.
c. performing observation research on email marketing success and failure.
d. demonstrating how virtual shopping can use personal selling techniques.
ANS: A
This type of data collection is a type of observation research that monitors consumer online activity and adds that
information to a profile—behavioral targeting—and using that profile to segment the market and send targeted
marketing messages.
5. When someone opts in to receive Broadway direct newsletters, what step in the CRM system are they fulfilling for
the Nederlander organization?
a. They are helping Nederlander understand its interactions with the current customer base.
b. They are helping Nederlander capture customer data based on interactions.
c. They are helping Nederlander identify its best customers.
d. They are helping Nederlander leverage stored information.
ANS: B
By opting in, customers are providing Nederlander with customer data based on how they interact with the
company.
CASE ASSIGNMENT: Marriott International
After booking over $2 million in gross revenue between August 2008 and the end of the year, the initial success of
Marriott Mobile, the version of Marriott International’s Web site for mobile devices, made clear to the firm the benefits
of tapping into the m-commerce space. Although the mobile site had existed since 2005, it had up to that point
functioned only as a directory for Marriott’s 13 chains and over 3,000 hotel properties. Prior to these upgrades, mobile
users would have to go to the main Marriott Web site or call the actual hotel to book new reservations or change existing
ones and manage their Marriott Rewards accounts. The upgrades rolled out with the August relaunch had been designed
to increase functionality, and based on the response, the hotel chain, a long-time favorite destination of business
travelers, was looking for new ways to improve its mobile services.
Choosing to launch a mobile site, as opposed to a smartphone app, was an important strategic decision in itself. For
starters, a general mobile site would not be limited to use on just one type of handset, which in turn would also make it
more accessible to owners of handsets more popular in global markets. The site approach over the app approach allowed
Marriott to gather a broader data set on who was using the site on what mobile devices. Over time, Marriott was better
able to direct its app strategy, as it eventually chose to create a booking app for the BlackBerry, a smartphone often more
popular with business executives, before creating one for Apple’s iPhone.
While Marriott had access to other substantial resources for research, the company felt that specifically creating a
mobile-based feedback system would provide some important advantages. “One of the benefits of [the mobile survey
approach],” says Gina Villavicencio, a senior manager in Marriott’s eCommerce division, “is immediacy.” For example,
mobile-based feedback would allow Marriott to connect with customers right as they were using the mobile platform, as
opposed to receiving feedback about their mobile experiences days or even weeks after the fact. Although certain
disadvantages might exist, such as the need to keep answers short, the immediacy of the data more than made up for it.

Marriott designed the survey with speed in mind. Says Villavicencio, “We wanted a quick way to determine what
our mobile customers are looking for, which is precisely what the [mobile survey] allowed us to do.” For customers, the
survey and the questions were kept purposefully short, a feature that would make users who might be on the go more
likely to respond. Questions focused on site functionality, usage patterns, and feedback on a new city guide function.
Only one question offered the option of an extended response. For the hotel chain, researchers were able to collect
feedback from over 700 respondents in only about 30 days.
Overall, survey feedback helped Marriott better respond to customer needs and create and implement a more
functional mobile service. Survey feedback clearly indicated that users found the new city guide feature a plus. As
Villavicencio commented, “The feedback was overwhelmingly positive. In fact, we also benefitted from a halo effect
where those who clicked on the city guide link rated the mobile experience higher.” Surveys helped Marriott get a clearer
picture of customers’ usage patterns as well. Surprisingly, one-third of respondents took the survey while at home—not
while on the road—which underscored the increasing penetration of mobile usage and the importance of the mobile
platform in reaching consumers.
As Marriott has continued to develop its mobile platform, ultimately the numbers really tell the story. In its first full
year, following the August upgrade, Marriott Mobile booked a total of $34.6 million in gross annual revenue and is
expected to see double-digit growth in the future. And new site features are clearly drawing in potential customers. In
February 2010, Marriot Mobile ranked 14th for unique visitors to mobile travel sites—591,000 according to Nielson
Online—and it ranked 1st among mobile hotel sites. One of the most important gains for Marriott, though, was
establishing a basis on which to build initiatives for gaining mobile customer feedback in the future.
Sources: Joseph Rydholm, “How Marriott International Tapped Mobile Research to Get Feedback on Enhancements to
Its Mobile Site,” Quirk’s Marketing Research Review, June 2010, www.quirks.com/articles/2010 /20100603.aspx;
Mickey Alam Khan, “Marriott Generates $1.5M revenue in Mobile Web Bookings,” Mobile Marketer, December 29,
2008, www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/commerce/2358.html; Katie Deatsch, “Marriott Books Sales with an
Upgraded Mobile Site,” Internet Retailer, June 30, 2010, www.internetretailer.com/2010/06/30/marriott-books-sales-
upgraded-mobile-site.
Open-ended questions
1. Look at the characteristics of survey research outlined in Exhibit 9.2, and analyze Marriott Mobiles, mobile
feedback system with respect to these characteristics.
Cost: while no relative cost was indicated in this piece, costs should decrease for future uses as having the system
already in place eliminates initial set-up expenses.
Time span: fast
Use of interviewer: no
Management control over interviewer: N/A
General data quality: moderate to high. While the shortness and briefness of the interview creates some limitations, the
immediacy of feedback makes up for many of those limitations with regards to Marriott’s purposes in seeking
feedback. Ability to collect large amounts of data: low to moderate. While the survey itself was limited in respect
to content, Marriott was able to connect with a decent-sized sample of respondents.
Ability to handle complex questionnaires: low.
2. What are some of the disadvantages of the mobile-based survey that Marriott created?
One of the most significant disadvantages would be the lack of in-depth feedback. The quick survey only offered one
open-ended question, and using so many closed-ended questions could leave out important feedback options. A person
taking the survey might have an important concern or suggestion, but if it isn’t explicitly addressed in the questions
provided, the survey would not be capable of effectively capturing that person’s feedback.
3. If you were in charge of mobile marketing at Marriott International, what research methods would you use to
build on Marriott’s existing programs and further develop Marriott Mobile?
Answers will vary.

Close-ended questions
TRUE/FALSE
1. Marriott’s decision on creating a phone app allowed it to gather data from every type of handset.
ANS: F
Marriott created a general mobile site, which would not be limited to one type of handset.
PTS: 1 OBJ: 9-3 TOP: AACSB Reflective Thinking

KEY: CB&E Model Research online MSC: BLOOMS Level I Knowledge
2. Marriott Mobile’s purpose is to conduct primary marketing research.
ANS: F
Marriott Mobile is designed to book hotel rooms and other Marriott services. Using it for market research is
not its primary function.

KEY: CB&E Model Research Online MSC: BLOOMS Level I Knowledge
3. If the survey results for Marriott Mobile are used for hotel room design research, the data would be
secondary data.
ANS: T PTS: 1 OBJ: 9-3 TOP: AACSB Reflective Thinking

4. Surveying users of Marriott Mobile about their mobile booking preferences when they were using
the site was a convenience sample, but provided good information for Marriott because those are the users
they were interested in sampling.

MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. What kind of data can Marriott gather by the users of its Blackberry and iPhone booking apps?
a. secondary
b. computer-assisted self-interviewing
c. survey results
d. primary
e. behavioral targeting
ANS: A
It would be secondary data since it is data previously collected for another purpose, i.e., booking.

KEY: CB&E Model Research Online MSC: BLOOMS Level II Comprehension
2. The kind of data gathered from Marriott Mobile made what strategy possible?
a. Creating Mobile Web sites designed for specific handsets
b. Creating the Blackberry app
c. Deciding which apps to create first based on usage
d. Analyzing mobile feedback
ANS: C

Marriott gathered a data set that was better able to direct its app strategy to create a BlackBerry app followed
by an iPhone app.
PTS: 1 OBJ: 9-3 TOP: AACSB Technology

3. Which of the following market research design would seem the most likely technology/methodology that
Marriott used to gather data?
a. personal mobile phone interview
b. mobile intercept
c. mobile executive interview
d. computer-assisted self-interview
e. none of the above
ANS: D
Marriott [Mobile] connected with customers right as they were using the mobile platform.

4. All of the following is true about the Marriott Mobile survey except:
a. questions were open-ended
b. questions were short (i.e., multiple choice)
c. questions focused on site functionality
d. site usage patterns
e. questions about Marriott Mobile’s city guide
ANS: A
Open-ended questions lets the customer respond in his or her own words.

5. The Marriott Mobile survey has which of the following characteristics of ethnographic research?
a. participant observers
b. observers can monitor the electronic devices being used
c. behavioral targeting
d. mystery observers
e. human behavior in its natural context
ANS: E
In ethnographic research, the behavior is observed in its natural context—m-commerce at the mobile site,
which is the natural context here. The electronic devices are the handsets (compare the iPhone research
described in the chapter).

6. That one-third of the survey correspondents took the survey at home showed the increasing penetration
of mobile usage. What most likely would produce this intended result?
a. mobile platform technology
b. report
c. cross-tabulation
d. frame error
e. research experiment
ANS: C
A crosstabulation lets the analyst look at the responses to one question—in this case, the response to where
you are taking the survey—in relation to the responses to one or more other questions—e.g., a response to
whether you are at a PC or using a handset.


GREAT IDEAS FOR TEACHING CHAPTER 9
James S. Cleveland, Sage College of Albany
DISCUSSION BOARD TOPICS TO ENCOURAGE PARTICIPATION
Discussion board questions provided to students to encourage them to engage in thinking and writing about the content
of the Principles of Marketing course usually take the form of a provocative statement to which students are asked to
respond. An example of this would be “All PR is good PR.”
Discussion topics such as this one are abstract and often require that the instructor provide an initial reply to show
students what is expected of them in their own replies. For students with limited work experience, this approach may be
quite appropriate. For adult students with extensive experience as employees and consumers, however, the abstract
nature of such topics can be frustrating.
I have developed, therefore, a series of discussion board questions to use with experienced, adult students. These
questions are designed to encourage them to use their experiences as employees and consumers as doorways to better
understand the course material, and to make their own responses more interesting to themselves and to the other students
in the class who will read and comment on them.
Each question has three parts:

1. First, there is a sentence or two from the students’ textbook introducing the topic. By using the text author’s
own words, students are enabled to locate relevant material in the text more easily, the text content is
reinforced, and confusion resulting from use of variant terms or expressions is minimized.
2. Second, there is a reference to text pages the students should review before proceeding. Since the goal of the
exercise is for students to apply the course content to their own experiences, reviewing the content first is
important.
3. Third, there is a request for the students to think about or remember some specific situation in their experiences
to which they can apply the text material, and a question or questions for them to address in their replies.
Here are additional such discussion board questions developed for Chapter 9 of MKTG7. Each is written to fit the same
text cited above but could easily be rewritten and revised to fit another text.
Series A
1. Marketing research is the process of planning, collecting, and analyzing data relevant to a marketing decision.
2. Review the information on the role of marketing research from section 9-2 of your text.
3. Then describe how your employer uses marketing research or, if you do not think your employer does, how it
could use marketing research.
Series B
1. All forms of survey research require a questionnaire.
2. Review the information on questionnaire design from section 9-3c of your text.
3. Suppose you wished to design a questionnaire that could be used by your employer to do marketing research.
Describe what the questionnaire would be designed to find out and write one good closed-ended question that
could be used on it.

Deborah C. Calhoun, College of Notre Dame of Maryland
SECONDARY RESEARCH DATA HUNT AND MARKETING STRATEGY DEVELOPMENT
The purpose of this assignment is to acquaint the student with the many diverse business information sources available to
them in their college library as well as introduce them to the types of data marketers often use when making a strategy
decision. As you are aware, the ability to locate and analyze secondary data in an efficient and effective manner is
critical to their success as a business student as well as a future business decision maker. It has been said that “To
manage a business well is to manage its future; and to manage the future is to manage information.” Increasingly,
marketers view information not just as an input for making better decisions, but also as an important strategic asset and
marketing tool.
I write a new data hunt every year around one of the cases in the marketing principles text book and assign it relatively
early on in the semester. I have treated it as either a pass/fail or a graded assignment and both approaches seem to work. I
used to suggest to the students which sources might be consulted in completing each question but found certain logistical
problems with this approach. I now provide the students with a list of sources that includes a brief description of some of
the key sources available. A business library tour and a demonstration on accessing information through the Internet and
the various online indexes are also provided. After the students complete the data hunt, I ask them to analyze the case
using the secondary data they have gathered. The students often aren’t very excited about the assignment in the
beginning but many have indicated on course evaluations later that the data hunt was one of the strengths of the course
and a worthwhile learning assignment. The following is an example of the type of questions I include on the data hunt.
Petco Products Data Hunt

1. Who are Petco Products’ competitors in the dog-food and cat-food industry? Identify the competitors by both brand
name and manufacturer. You may wish to supplement your library research with a trip to the local grocery or pet
store. While at the store, note shelf space allocation, types of product offerings, packaging, and pricing among the
brands.
2. Ralston Purina is one of the largest competitors in the dog- and cat-food market. Develop a profile of the Ralston
Purina Company. Include information such as ownership, history, market share (both domestically and
internationally), and marketing practices such as product/brand offerings.
3. What Standard Industrial Codes (S.I.C.) do dog food and cat food fall under? What S.I.C. codes do pet stores and
dog kennels come under?
4. Before investing a significant sum of money into the “First in Show” (F.I.S.-27) dog food product, Petco Products
needs to further investigate the domestic and international pet food industry, in particular the dog food market. What
are the significant trends and what do sales and profitability forecasts look like for both the consumer market and the
pet store/kennel market?
5. Trade Associations and trade journals are excellent sources of industry specific information. The American Pet
Products Manufacturers Association supplied much of the pet ownership information in the case. What is the
address and phone number of the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association? Should Petco Products join
the Association and why or why not? Does your library carry any of the Association’s publications? Name three
other associations Petco may wish to join.
6. The case describes the characteristics of a pet owner nationally. How would you describe dog and/or cat owners in
your area? How do pet owners in your area differ from pet owners nationally?

Kay Tracy, Gettysburg College
IN-CLASS EXERCISE IN RESEARCH
To illustrate a few of the trials and tribulations of conducting marketing research, I have the students do the following
exercise in class. This exercise is intended to demonstrate, through an experiential approach, how market research should
and should not be conducted.
Students are asked to survey ten of their classmates as to what brand of a personal-use item they own, and to collect
benefit, demographic, psychographic and AIO information from each interviewee. Those students conducting the
“survey” on the same item then meet together, compile the data they have gathered, and, based on the pooled results,
present a short oral report of their findings to the class.
Time Required: One 50-minute class period

Materials: Survey forms for each class member, signs indicating where groups should meet after interviews are
completed
Procedure: Before class, reproduce survey forms for different products based on the format below. You will need
enough different products so that five students are interviewing about the same product. (So, if you have 35 students, you
will need a total of 35 forms, 5 for each of 7 different products.) Substitute products such as toothpaste, stereo system,
shampoo, etc. for the automobile in (1) on the student form below:
MARKETING EXERCISE
Directions
Briefly interview ten of your classmates as to:

1. Which brand of automobile they own
2. Why they own that brand
3. Demographic information (sex, age, fraternity or sorority affiliation, major)
4. Psychographic information (lifestyle)
5. AIO information (favorite type of movie, hobby, music)
After you have interviewed ten individuals, team up with four of your classmates—meet under the sign for the product
about which you are interviewing. Pool the results of your interviews with your research team. Based on the pooled
results:
1. Determine the market segment that the top three brands appear to target (based on demographic data).
2. Do a benefit analysis for the top brand. (Hint: What benefits do people seek from their ownership of a certain
brand?)
3. Prepare a profile of the top brand target market based on the psychographic and AIO data you have collected.
Debriefing
At the conclusion of the various teams’ reports, ask participants if they would care to base a product decision on this
survey. Students are quick to point out the shortcomings of collecting marketing research data in a classroom setting.
They are apt to mention duplication of subjects, social desirability of answers, limited data, failure of interviewers to ask
questions exactly (e.g., “What brand of toothpaste do you like?” rather than “What brand of toothpaste do you use?”),
assumptions on part of interviewer, lack of a random sample, etc. For each of the problems they mention, ask the class to
provide an appropriate solution.

Elwin Myers, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi
COLLECTING, CREATING, AND MARKET RESEARCHING DIRECT MAIL SALES LETTERS
Direct mail advertising continues to comprise a substantial component of the advertising budget. In spite of the large
sums spent on producing millions of pieces of direct mail sales letters, many of those pieces are not read by their
intended readers.
This assignment helps students observe the current writing practices used by direct mail sales letter writers and suggests
ways of improving upon what they observe. The assignment consists of two components; instructors interested in using
the assignment in class may use one or both segments as time and interest permit.
Collecting and Analyzing Direct Mail Sales Pieces
1. Students are required to locate 20 different direct mail sales writing pieces—10 from local advertisers and 10 from
national advertisers. The pieces may be ones received by students, their friends, family, or from the post office trash
receptacle.
2. Students carefully analyze each piece to determine distinctions between local and national advertisers. Students will
notice that the local pieces are more likely to be a single page—often in a postcard format. The national advertisers
are more likely to include an actual sales letter and perhaps several enclosures placed within an envelope.
3. Since many sales letter recipients discard letters unopened, sales letter writers realize the need to include some form
of persuasive message on the outside of the envelopes. Therefore, students should not fail to analyze whether
envelopes include written messages on the outside of the envelope.
Students will notice that some of the written messages may entice or encourage readers to open the envelope while
other messages may distract or annoy potential readers. The better written envelope messages generally contain the
following three elements: 1) a clever verbal or graphic attention getter, 2) a phrase that informs the reader that the
product or service is targeted toward their interests (such as “Attention: For Accomplished Golfers Only”), and 3)
the irresistible word “free” if such an offer is discussed within the letter inside.
4. After examining the sales letters envelopes, students next peruse the sales matter inside the envelope. Although all
enclosed pieces should be inspected, students should concentrate on the actual sales letter itself.
An effective sales letter should be organized as other sales messages: attention, interest, desire, and action. Most
sales letters excel on the first and last sections and flounder on the sections in between.
Conducting Market Research on Student-Written Sales Letters
5. After students have analyzed their 20 sales letters including the envelopes and enclosures, they should be qualified
to identify effective sales letter concepts. Their next assignment is to write a complete sales letter, including
enclosures and an envelope design, incorporating the effective concepts and avoiding the ineffective concepts they
observed during the first part of the assignment.
6. After writing what students think are effective sales letters, their last task is to conduct a marketing research
investigation designed to find out the likely outcome of their creations if they were to be used in a sales campaign.

Gregory S. Martin, University of West Florida
USING SECONDARY DATA FOR MARKETING DECISIONS
Many of us would like our Marketing Principals students to have a direct experience with using market research data as
an input for marketing decision making. Time constraints and large class sizes can make the collection and use of
primary data impractical. (I know, I’ve tried!) Cases can provide a context for the consideration and use of secondary
data, but most deprive the student of the experience of actually doing “research” to develop decision-relevant
information. I’ve found the following exercise to be manageable and at the same time provide some hands-on
experiential benefits. It makes use of one of the most widely available sources of basic secondary market data, the annual
Sales & Marketing Management Survey of Buying Power. The following example assignment is customized for use in
my classes, but variations on the basic format are endless. Students will develop many different variations of the decision
process (e.g., ranking methods, weighting schemes, etc.) that can be discussed and compared in an in-class debriefing
session after completion of the assignment. This discussion does a good job of illustrating the “fuzzy” nature of most
marketing decision processes.
Assignment:
Copies of the Florida section of Sales & Marketing Management Survey of Buying Power are on reserve in the Library.
Use this secondary source of market information to complete your choice of one (1) of the following tasks. Report your
findings in a one-page report.
a. A home electronics company wants to test market a new product in a Florida Metro Area that has a high
proportion of (1) residents age 24 to 31 and 2) household EBIs of around $42,000. Recommend a metro area for
this test market and explain why you made this decision. Be sure to also consider and report median household
EBI, BPI, and an estimate of per capita sales for the retail store group that includes stores selling home
electronics. (Instructor note: Don’t assume that all students understand the concept of “per capita”—many don’t
have a clue.)
b. A growing regional retailer of furniture not currently doing business in Florida wants to expand its market
coverage into two Florida counties by August 1, 2015. The firm’s market planners know from past experience
that a county must have a population of at least 300,000 people to support a store and that the bulk of its sales
are to people between the ages of 27 and 32. Based only on information available in the Survey of Buying
Power, which two counties would you recommend for new stores and why? Be sure to also consider and report
median household EBI, BPI, and an estimate of per capita sales for the retail store group that includes stores
selling furniture.

Michael C. Murphy, Langston University at Rogers University
Jon Shapiro, Northeastern State University at Rogers University
STORYTELLING: METAPHOR GENERATION AS A CUSTOMER UNDERSTANDING RESEARCH TOOL
Traditional market research techniques such as surveys and focus groups often fail to reveal the customer’s hidden inner
feelings that are not easily verbalized or quantified. As a result, storytelling is gaining recognition as a useful tool that
gives marketers a richer insight into consumer behavior and attitudes. Researchers such as Gerald Zaitman—the creator
of Harvard’s Metaphor Lab, have successfully utilized variations of storytelling to aid DuPont and other consumer
product companies.
In our classrooms, storytelling is an informative and entertaining way to help students expose non-verbalized feelings as
well as behaviors associated with product usage. We typically work with a class of 30 and proceed as follows. First, we
divide the class into three groups of 10 students, and assign each group one specific product to analyze. (Products such as
backpacks, athletic shoes, cereals, candy bars, pens, sandals, and automobiles typically elicit student interest.
Merchandise such as perfumes, jeans, and undergarments elicit even more interest due to their inherently hedonistic
nature).
Next, each student is instructed to clip out magazine pictures and to assemble them into a collage that serves as a
metaphor for that student’s experiences and emotions associated with the product. We generally give participants three
weeks to create their collages. This allows them time to purchase (if necessary) and experience the product. We believe
that current usage yields a richer description of product–user interaction than past consumer experience(s).
After three weeks, each student brings his or her collage to class, and is allotted several minutes to display it while
explaining why he or she chose certain clips and what they mean (i.e., to tell his or her collage-related story).
In the next learning phase, each product group of 10 meets outside of class to interpret the metaphorical meanings within
the stories. The final task of each group is to produce a paper detailing product uses, consumer preferences and dislikes,
opportunities, and threats. For this phase, students are typically allotted two weeks.
We think both you and your students will have fun utilizing one of the new emergent tools in marketing research—
storytelling!

PART 2 – Integrated Case Assignments
MARKETING MISCUES
Four Loko Targets Young College Hedonists
Phusion Projects, LLC was founded in 2005 when three friends from Ohio State University had the entrepreneurial idea
to start their own company. From this company came the Four Loko product that caused much panic in the fall of 2010.
While news reports focus on Four Loko’s ingredients—caffeine and alcohol, the real marketing mistake likely came
from the market segment that enjoyed the product. That is, Four Loko had quickly become the drink of choice for college
students across the United States.
The Product
Referred to as an alcoholic energy drink, Four Loko comes in a 23.5-ounce can, with alcohol content of 12 percent
(comparable to four beers). The Four Loko product, in several fruit-flavored varieties, was displayed on store shelves in
brightly colored cans at a retail price of $2.50 to $3.00. In addition to the alcohol, the energy drink is packed with
caffeine (equivalent to that found in a cup of coffee), taurine, and guarana. What sets Four Loko apart from other energy
drinks, however, is wormwood oil. Wormwood oil is the key ingredient in absinthe, a very high-proof spirit believed to
cause hallucinations. The hallucinogenic aspect of absinthe, from the thujone in the oil, resulted in its prohibition for
years in many countries. However, federal regulators now allow absinthe as long as the thujone has been extracted from
the wormwood oil.
Health advocates contend that the caffeine masks the effects of the alcohol that is being consumed when drinking
Four Loko. Thus, a person is likely to consume more alcohol than he or she would normally. Four Loko and other
caffeinated alcoholic beverages have been referred to as “blackout in a can” and “wide-awake drunk.”
The Target Market

Today’s college students grew up with energy drinks on store shelves. From the high school sports field with Gatorade
and Powerade, today’s younger generation easily graduated to Red Bull, Monster, Rockstar, and AMP. As such, this
twenty-something generation was a primary target market for Four Loko. These energy drink consumers could go away
to college and consume their energy drinks in conjunction with alcohol—premixed—and get drunk quickly and cheaply.
The Panic
According to health experts, ingesting caffeine with 12 percent alcohol can lead to a heart attack, especially for someone
fatigued or with a cardiac condition. The alcoholic energy drink could lead to high blood pressure and arrhythmia. Four
Loko gained national attention in the fall of 2010 when nine university freshmen, ranging in age from 17 to 19, were
hospitalized with blood-alcohol levels from 0.12 percent to 0.35 percent (a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.30 percent is
considered potentially lethal). One of the nine students almost died. All nine had consumed Four Loko in conjunction
with drinking vodka, rum, and beer.
Response
In response to the panic around the safety of Four Loko, law makers in numerous states began lobbying for legislation
prohibiting the product, and universities across the nation banned the drink from campus. In the state of Washington, an
emergency ban was put into effect, with the product pulled from store shelves almost immediately.
In a statement released by Phusion Projects, the company noted that it marketed its products responsibly to those of
legal drinking age and shared the concerns of college administrators about underage drinking and abuse of alcoholic
beverages. However, the company held strongly to its belief that combining caffeine and alcohol was safe and provided
examples such as Irish coffees and rum and cola. Plus, anyone could mix vodka and an energy drink such as Red Bull. In
support of Phusion Projects, some commentators expressed concern over the apparent panic surrounding the
consumption of alcohol and caffeine and, in particular, Four Loko. It was noted that the publicity surrounding Four Loko
was probably one of the best forms of advertising—that is, politicians jumped on the ban-Four-Loko–bandwagon, which
resulted in a lot of press for a product targeted to hedonistic young people that then prompted more and more young
people to sample the product.
26 Part 2 ♦ Analyzing Marketing Opportunities

Sources: Phusion Projects, www.phusionprojects.com; Shannon Dininny, “Four Loko Sickened Several Central
Washington University Students,” Huffington Post, October 25, 2010, www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/25/four-
loko-sickened -centra_n_773597.html; Mike Hughlett, “Caffeinated Alcohol Drinks Stir up Legal Concerns,”
Chicago Tribune, August 24, 2009, http://articles.chicago tribune.com/2009-08-24/news/0908230370_1_caffeine-
energy-drinks -alcoholic; Giselle Phelps, “College Students Going Loco for Four Loko Drink,” October 22, 2010,
www.the33tv.com/news/kdaf-loko-alcoholic-energy-drink -health-story,0,3345148.story; Noah Rosenberg, “Maker
Halts Distribution of Alcoholic Energy Drink,” New York Times, November 14, 2010, www.nytimes
.com/2010/11/15/nyregion/15loko.html; Jacob Sullum, “Loco over Four Loko: The Moral Panic behind the Ban,”
Patriot Post, November 24, 2010, http:// patriotpost.us/opinion/jacob-sullum/2010/11/24/loco-over-four-loko-the -
moral-panic-behind-the-ban.
1. Profile the target market for Four Loko.
Age: college student, probably under 21, although should be at least 21 years of age since the product is an alcoholic
beverage
Gender: male or female
Income: college student budget
Ethnicity: any
Psychography: partiers, out for a good time, hedonistic
2. Outline the consumer decision-making process for Four Loko.

•Need Recognition—internal stimuli: student decides he or she wants to party; external stimuli: friends and depiction of
partiers having more fun
•Information Search—internal: recall drinks of choice among college students; external: ask friends with whom student
will be partying and recall hearing about certain drinks
•Evaluation of Alternatives—product attributes: Four Loco provides a cheap party drink
•Purchase—purchase may be made by student (if 21 years of age) or by someone else
•Postpurchase Behavior—the news reports provided information about postpurchase behavior, which is what led to the
negative attention the product received; essentially, postpurchase behavior led to the product being pulled from the shelf
TRUE/FALSE
1. University and governmental policymakers responded to consumer behavior rather than the legality of Four Loko.

KEY: CB&E Model Customer MSC: BLOOMS Level I Knowledge
2. The founders of Phusion Projects went to college together and quickly founded their company after graduation. They did
not need sophisticated market research to know their potential customers.
ANS: T PTS: 1 OBJ: 9-1–7 TOP: AACSB Reflective Thinking

KEY: CB&E Model Customer MSC: BLOOMS Level I Knowledge
3. There is no such thing as “bad press.” The banning of Four Loko increased its sales.
ANS: F
This is only true in the sense that it made for black market sales and publicity for whatever Phusion Projects did next
after it withdrew its sports drink, reformulated it, and marketed it without its original ingredients.

KEY: CB&E Model Product MSC: BLOOMS Level I Knowledge
Part 2 ♦ Analyzing Marketing Opportunities 27

4. When Phusion Projects defended its product and compared it to mixing rum and Coke, it was actually repositioning Four
Loko.

KEY: CB&E Model Strategy MSC: BLOOMS Level I Knowledge
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. What consumer value does the Four Loko address that is in the American tradition of such products as the Egg
McMuffin and the breakfast bar?
a. portability
b. no waiting
c. convenience
d. surprise
e. colorful packaging
ANS: C
Four Loko—unfortunately—allows for customers to buy a drink that premixes alcohol and caffeine..

KEY: CB&E Model Customer MSC: BLOOMS Level II Comprehension
2. Which of the following factors or influences provided a “gateway” to drinking and abusing Four Loko?
a. sport hydrating drinks consumed in childhood
b. social class
c. income
d. college drinking subculture
e. all of the above
ANS: E
The target market, college students, grew up with energy drinks on store shelves. Phusion Projects further design Four
Loko to exploit middle-class lifestyle and income of the market’s youth as well as the daredevil subculture of using
energy drinks and alcohol at the same time.
PTS: 1 OBJ: 6-5–7 TOP: AACSB Reflective Thinking

3. It was the __________, that psychological factor in particular, which made Loko Four seem healthy, even good for you.
a. convenience
b. perception
c. eye candy cans
d. hierarchical need of thirst
e. motivation
ANS: B
Four Loko relies on perception in the vivid, shocking colors encoded of cans that encode athleticism, sex appeal, the
forbidden (the perception of doing an illegal drug), and like subculture values.
PTS: 1 OBJ: 6-8 TOP: AACSB Ethics

4. Four Loko is obviously a product that relies on peer pressure and self-image. Does this product depend on
nonaspirational groups in influencing its consumers? Choose the best answer.
a. No, Four Loko is entirely dependent on its athletic, herbal lifestyle image.
b. Yes, drinking Four Loko separates its largely male athlete consumers from female college students.
c. Yes, Four Loko uses legal wormwood extract and thus disassociates the product from drug addicts.
d. Yes, groups perceived as unhealthy or social pariahs, such as drunken beer drinkers and hard core
alcoholics.
e. No, Four Loko relies more on the consumer achieving the ideal, athletic drinker self-image.

ANS: D
Nonaspirational reference groups, or dissociative groups, influence our behavior when we try to maintain distance from
them.

5. Phusion Products used __________ to make Four Loko attractive to young people mixing and abusing such energy–
alcoholic drink combinations such as Red Bull and Jägermeister.
a. perceptual mapping
b. positioning
c. product differentiation
d. cannibalization
e. niche marketing
ANS: B
Since Jägermeister and Red Bull are competing for the same consumer in this relationship, then positioning is the best
answer here.

6. In the end, Phusion Products had to remove caffeine and other stimulants that masked Four Loko’s inebriating effects.
New variations of the product will be an alcoholic beverage. This is an example of __________.
a. repositioning
b. cannibalization and repositioning
c. cannibalization
d. an FDA ruling
e. a change of product class
ANS: A
The new products, although not the same formulation, would be a reorientation of the brand for drinkers of fruit-flavored
alcoholic drinks, such as wine coolers and the like.

KEY: CB&E Model Strategy MSC: BLOOMS Level II Comprehension

CRITICAL THINKING CASE
Mary Kay Inc. Taps into a Changing Demographic
Founded in 1963 by Mary Kay Ash and her son, Richard, Mary Kay Inc. is a company that has long believed in the
power of women. Dedicated to making life more beautiful for women, the company was founded on the Golden Rule of
“praising people to success” and on the principle of placing faith first, family second, and career third. Before her death
in 2001, Mary Kay Ash received numerous awards that exemplified her personal beliefs, which were embedded as the
heart and soul of the company.
Beauty and Personal Care Products and Direct Selling

While the economic situation is such that consumers are scaling back on spending for high-end nonessential items, many
beauty and personal care products are considered necessities. At the same time, beauty and personal care products do not
have country boundaries—such products are universal. According to one report, beauty and personal care products are a
cornerstone of the direct selling industry and, likewise, direct selling is good for the beauty and personal care products
industry. By 2009, direct sellers were capturing more than $10 billion in annual sales of beauty and personal care
products.
Direct selling is a method of distributing products directly to the consumer via person-to-person selling or party plan
selling and away from permanent retail locations. According to the Direct Selling Association, there are an estimated
15.1 million people involved in direct selling in the United States, with more than 66 million people engaged worldwide.
Interestingly, more than 80 percent of direct sellers in the United States are women. The predominance of women in the
direct selling marketplace has proven especially important for direct sellers like Mary Kay Inc.
Mary Kay Inc.

Mary Kay Inc. develops and manufactures beauty and personal care products for both women and men. The company
spends millions of dollars and conducts more than 300,000 product tests to ensure that Mary Kay products meet the
highest standards of quality, safety, and performance. With products ranging from skin care to makeup to spa and body
to fragrances, the company sells its products through its direct sales force of more than two million independent beauty
consultants in countries such as Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, the Czech Republic, El Salvador,
Finland, Germany, Guatemala, Hong Kong, India, Kazakhstan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Moldova, New Zealand,
Norway, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal, the Russian Federation, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Ukraine, the
United Kingdom, the United States, and Uruguay. The company’s worldwide wholesale sales topped $2.5 billion in
2009.
With women as its primary target market, Mary Kay has stayed abreast of changing buyer behavior. For example, the
company knows that the younger generation expects to touch and experiment with products, so the company offers
products, shades, packaging, and forms that both enable and encourage the potential user to try something new. Although
there are geographic differences among preferences (e.g., Asian women focus on skin care, while Latin American and
some European women are more interested in color cosmetics and fragrances), the company has found that, worldwide,
women are more similar than dissimilar in their preferences.
While the company has been successful product-wise with the younger demographic, Mary Kay Inc. has been
particularly astute at tapping into this changing demographic with respect to its independent sales consultants. The
average age of the Mary Kay consultant is now 36 years old, and the company’s fastest growing segment of consultants
is in the 24- to 35-year-old age group. Representing the future of the company, Mary Kay Inc. can provide these women
with the opportunity to meet any goal they are willing to work toward—whether it is additional income or financial
independence.
Yet, the company recognizes that other direct-selling companies want to harness the power and dynamic of this age
group. These young leaders are known for wanting increased flexibility, unlimited earning power, and the freedom to
experiment in their work lives. There is a vast market opportunity for Mary Kay Inc. in the millennial generation, and the
company wants to take advantage of that opportunity to usher in a new era of direct selling of Mary Kay products.
Sources: www.marykay.com; Lauri Dodd, “Youthful [R]evolution,” Direct Selling News, December 2010, 10–21;
Michael Rice, Ivy Carter, and Rebecca Larson, “Beauty Everlasting,” Direct Selling News, October 2010,
www.directsellingnews .com/index.php/site/entries_archive_display/beauty_everlasting (Accessed February 9, 2011);
Barbara Seale, “Younger every Day,” Direct Selling News, October 2010, 24–33.

1. The younger demographic is important to Mary Kay Inc. both as consumers of the company’s products and
as its sales force. Since the market is one and the same, can the company utilize one marketing strategy targeting
both consumers and sellers? Why or why not?
No, the company cannot use the same marketing strategy to attract both its independent sales consultants and consumers.
While both groups are in the same demographic and thus possess the same demographic characteristics, Mary Kay must
utilize this demographic (and other) knowledge differently in designing a customized marketing strategy for each
purpose (i.e., attracting a sales force and getting people to consume product).
For example, Mary Kay focuses upon the younger demographic’s desire for experimentation by offering a Virtual
Makeover Tool on its Web site and videos on its YouTube channel. These tools are appealing to the younger
demographic when it comes to being a sales consultant too, as it shows that the company is abreast of digital capabilities.
Yet, the company focuses upon the desire for increased flexibility, unlimited earning power, and the freedom to
experiment (same characteristic but tapped into differently) in their work lives when targeting the same demographic for
the sales consultant role.
While both groups are a digitally-driven demographic, the company has to utilize this information in different ways and
design different marketing strategies for the different purposes.
2. What are particular characteristics about this younger demographic that Mary Kay Inc. will have to tap into
in order to capture and maintain the segment’s attention?
• Digitally-driven (technology)
• Desire for experimentation
• Desire for flexibility
TRUE/FALSE
1. Mary Kay relies on consultants and direct-selling, which is essentially one-to-one marketing.

2. The marketing that exists between Mary Kay and its consultants is not B2B.
ANS: F
Mary Kay, vis-à-vis its independent beauty consultants, who are small business, is the producer and distributor in this
B2B role.

KEY: CB&E Model Distribution MSC: BLOOMS Level I Knowledge
3. Mary Kay’s seeking consultants who fit the segmentation of the target market is a form of product user positioning.

4. Mary Kay is not only vulnerable to losing a younger generation of consultants to direct-sellers like itself.

MULTIPLE CHOICE

1. Which of the following segmentations are probably least important to Mary Kay?
a. ethnic
b. gender
c. age
d. family life cycle
ANS: E
All of these demographic segmentation basses are important to Mary Kay, which is an ethnically oriented global
company that sells to females and males clients, seeks to broaden its target market in a younger clientele that tends to
marry later and delay having children.

2. By designing its products to vary, to seem “new” in shade, scent, forms, even packaging, Mary Kay is counteracting
which aspect of a younger generation of users?
a. skepticism
b. disloyalty to brands
c. less income
d. the desire for an “experience”
e. all of the above
ANS: B
Those generations after the baby boomers, such as Generation X tend to be disloyal to brands. Mary Kay now markets its
products to foil that tendency.

3. Mary Kay recognizes geographic and ethnic segmentation. It also sees most women as having similar preferences. These
would probably lead to what strategy?
a. Continue to create product lines specifically for each target market.
b. Produce makeup and the like in the most uniform way possible because women tend not to recognize
cultural differences when it comes to beauty care projects.
c. Treating customers in different countries as reference groups.
d. Pursue a geodemographic segments to target women in even smaller, more diverse markets.
e. Produce products with the same formulations yet intensify marketing to individual cultures and the like.
ANS: E
Even though the trend in global business is toward less variation, firms have little chance of selling products in a culture
that they do not understand.
PTS: 1 OBJ: 6-5 TOP: AACSB Diversity

KEY: CB&E Model International Perspective
MSC: BLOOMS Level IV Analysis
4. Unlike other companies, Mary Kay must compete with other direct-selling firms for ____________ from a business-to-
business perspective.
a. beauty care product customers
b. the same demographic segments
c. a largely female demographic
d. its beauty consultants
ANS: D
Mary Kay recognizes that other direct selling companies want to harness the power and dynamic of consultants in the
younger age group.

5. When a Mary Kay identifies and focuses on the younger age of its largely female clientele, their unlimited earning
power, their preferences for certain product lines, and the like, it is looking at __________.
a. segmentation descriptors
b. target market variables
c. evoked sets
d. consideration sets
e. optimizers
ANS: A
Segmentation descriptors identify the specific segmentation variables.

6. From reading the Mary Kay case, which of the following would be the least important in its approach to one-to-one
marketing?
a. loyalty
b. technology
c. personalization
d. time-savings
ANS: B
For direct selling, technology (in the form of m-commerce mass marketing apps, mobile sites, Web sites, and the like) is
typically the least important marketing tool when it comes to a individualized face-to-face sale.


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Chapter 9 ♦ Decision Support Systems and Marketing Research 1

9-3 Describe the steps involved in conducting a marketing research project

9-4 Discuss the profound impact of the Internet on marketing research

9-5 Discuss the growing importance of scanner-based research

9-6 Explain when marketing research should be conducted

9-7 Explain the concept of competitive intelligence

LESSON PLAN FOR LECTURE

Brief Outline and Suggested PowerPoint Slides:

Learning Outcomes and Topics PowerPoint Slides

Chapter 9 ♦ Decision Support Systems and Marketing Research 3

LESSON PLAN FOR VIDEO

4 Chapter 9 ♦ Decision Support Systems and Marketing Research

PRE-CLASS PREP FOR YOU: PRE-CLASS PREP FOR YOUR STUDENTS:

Solutions for Viewing Activities:

Chapter 9 ♦ Decision Support Systems and Marketing Research 5

2. In what way does The Nederlander Organization use secondary data?

LESSON PLAN FOR GROUP WORK

Class Activity – Pepsi/Coke Taste Test

Cola Taste Test Form

2. In comparing the tastes of S and T,

3. In comparing the tastes of T and R,

4. Which of the following brands are R, S, and T?

Chapter 9 ♦ Decision Support Systems and Marketing Research 7

REVIEW AND ASSIGNMENTS FOR CHAPTER 9

1. Explain the difference between marketing research and a DSS.

5. Why are secondary data sometimes preferred to primary data?

8 Chapter 9 ♦ Decision Support Systems and Marketing Research

8. Describe the advantages and disadvantages of online surveys.

3. Critique the following methodologies and suggest more appropriate alternatives:

Chapter 9 ♦ Decision Support Systems and Marketing Research 9

5. Discuss when focus groups should and should not be used.

This is a project question and results will vary.

7. Go to http://www.strategicbusinessinsights.com/vals/presurvey.shtml and take the VALS Survey. Report on

Students’ reports will vary.

This is a project question and results will vary.

13. Why do companies hire mystery shoppers?

Chapter 9 ♦ Decision Support Systems and Marketing Research 11

12 Chapter 9 ♦ Decision Support Systems and Marketing Research

Matthew D. Shank, Northern Kentucky University

UNDERSTANDING THE IMPORTANCE OF MARKETING RESEARCH

Basic Marketing Functions Examples of Research Activities

Chapter 9 ♦ Decision Support Systems and Marketing Research 13

1. Should John Smythe sell the names?

VIDEO ASSIGNMENT: The Nederlander Organization

14 Chapter 9 ♦ Decision Support Systems and Marketing Research

CASE ASSIGNMENT: Marriott International

Chapter 9 ♦ Decision Support Systems and Marketing Research 15

Answers will vary.

16 Chapter 9 ♦ Decision Support Systems and Marketing Research

PTS: 1 OBJ: 9-3 TOP: AACSB Reflective Thinking

2. Marriott Mobile’s purpose is to conduct primary marketing research.

PTS: 1 OBJ: 9-3 TOP: AACSB Reflective Thinking

ANS: T PTS: 1 OBJ: 9-3 TOP: AACSB Reflective Thinking

ANS: T PTS: 1 OBJ: 9-3 TOP: AACSB Reflective Thinking

PTS: 1 OBJ: 9-3 TOP: AACSB Reflective Thinking

Chapter 9 ♦ Decision Support Systems and Marketing Research 17