Marginal Utility Analysis in Human Resources Management

How to Conduct Market Research

How to Conduct Market Research Free Online Research Papers How to Conduct Market Research Definition: Marketing research is the systematic and objective identification, collection, analysis, and dissemination of information for the purpose of assisting management in decision making related to the identification and solution of problems and opportunities in marketing. Research carried out in order to understand customer/consumer interest in a particular product or service. Marketing research, or market research, is a form of business research and is generally divided into two categories: consumer market research; Consumer marketing research studies the buying habits of individual people Business-to-business (B2B) market research, which was previously known as industrial marketing research; it investigates the markets for products sold by one business to another. Importance Marketing research provides information regarding consumer needs to the marketing managers, so that they can be able to implement marketing strategies and programs intended to satisfy those needs. Marketing research enables a firm to spot and identify the size of potential markets that are abroad. This therefore enables the firm to export the right amount of its products: not so much and at the same time not so little. This increases the chances of a firm succeeding in international markets. With respect to existing products in the market, marketing research enables a company to know if it has been able to satisfy customer needs and whether any changes regarding the product are necessary. Steps in Market research 1. Defining market problems 2. Set objectives, budget and timetables 3. Select research types, methods and techniques 4. Design research instruments 5. Collect data 6. Organize and analyze data 7. Presentation and reporting of findings 1. Defining market problems: The first step is being able to identify and define the problems and opportunities ahead. The issue will likely be recognized by one or more management Examples of problems might be poor company image, lack of awareness of the company and its products or services or even a bad reputation of the company. 2. Set objectives, budget and timetables: This involves being able to come up with a defined set of objectives that have been based on facts collected in the previous step. It also entails being able to determine the amount of resources that would be needed for the market research and a comprehensive, reasonable time frame for the whole research process. 3. Select research types, methods and techniques: This step Involves choosing between two types of research schemes i.e. primary research or secondary research. Primary research is based on information that had not existed before i.e. original information, whereas secondary research involves the usage of already existing information. Secondary research is faster and less expensive. These methods and techniques may include Based on questioning: ââ€" ª Qualitative marketing research generally used for exploratory purposes small number of respondents not standardized to the whole population statistical significance and confidence not calculated examples include focus groups, in-depth interviews, and projective techniques ââ€" ª Quantitative marketing research generally used to draw conclusions tests a specific hypothesis uses random sampling techniques so as to infer from the sample to the population involves a large number of respondents examples include surveys and questionnaires. Techniques include choice modeling, maximum difference preference scaling, and covariance analysis. Based on observations: ââ€" ª Ethnographic studies -, by nature qualitative, the researcher observes social phenomena in their natural setting observations can occur cross-sectionally (observations made at one time) or longitudinally (observations occur over several time-periods) examples include product-use analysis and computer cookie traces. See also Ethnography and Observational techniques. ââ€" ª Experimental techniques , by nature quantitative, the researcher creates a quasi-artificial environment to try to control spurious factors, then manipulates at least one of the variables examples include purchase laboratories and test markets Marketing research techniques come in many forms, including: ââ€" ª Ad Tracking periodic or continuous in-market research to monitor a brand’s performance using measures such as brand awareness, brand preference, and product usage. (Young, 2005) ââ€" ª Advertising Research used to predict copy testing or track the efficacy of advertisements for any medium, measured by the ad’s ability to get attention, communicate the message, build the brand’s image, and motivate the consumer to purchase the product or service. (Young, 2005) ââ€" ª Brand equity research how favorably do consumers view the brand? ââ€" ª Brand name testing what do consumers feel about the names of the products? ââ€" ª Commercial eye tracking research examine advertisements, package designs, websites, etc by analyzing visual behavior of the consumer ââ€" ª Concept testing to test the acceptance of a concept by target consumers ââ€" ª Coolhunting to make observations and predictions in changes of new or existing cultural trends in areas such as fashion, music, films, television, youth culture and lifestyle ââ€" ª Buyer decision processes research to determine what motivates people to buy and what decision-making process they use ââ€" ª Copy testing predicts in-market performance of an ad before it airs by analyzing audience levels of attention, brand linkage, motivation, entertainment, and communication, as well as breaking down the ad’s flow of attention and flow of emotion. (Young, p 213) ââ€" ª Customer satisfaction research quantitative or qualitative studies that yields an understanding of a customers of satisfaction with a product or service. ââ€" ª Demand estimation to determine the approximate level of demand for the product ââ€" ª Distribution channel audits to assess distributors’ and retailers’ attitudes toward a product, brand, or company ââ€" ª Internet strategic intelligence searching for customer opinions in the Internet: chats, forums, web pages, blogs where people express freely about their experiences with products, becoming strong opinion formers ââ€" ª Marketing effectiveness and analytics Building models and measuring results to determine the effectiveness of individual marketing activities. ââ€" ª Mystery Consumer or Mystery shopping An employee or representative of the market research firm anonymously contacts a salesperson and indicates he or she is shopping for a product. The shopper then records the entire experience. This method is often used for quality control or for researching competitors products. ââ€" ª Positioning research how does the target market see the brand relative to competitors? What does the brand stand for? ââ€" ª Price elasticity testing to determine how sensitive customers are to price changes ââ€" ª Sales forecasting to determine the expected level of sales given the level of demand. With respect to other factors like Advertising expenditure, sales promotion etc. ââ€" ª Segmentation research to determine the demographic, psychographic, and behavioural characteristics of potential buyers ââ€" ª Online panel a group of individual who accepted to respond to marketing research online ââ€" ª Store audit to measure the sales of a product or product line at a statistically selected store sample in order to determine market share, or to determine whether a retail store provides adequate service ââ€" ª Test marketing a small-scale product launch used to determine the likely acceptance of the product when it is introduced into a wider market ââ€" ª Viral Marketing Research refers to marketing research designed to estimate the probability that specific communications will be transmitted throughout an individual’s Social Network. Estimates of Social Networking Potential (SNP) are combined with estimates of selling effectiveness to estimate ROI on specific combinations of messages and media. 4. Design research instruments: A basic type of a research instrument is a questionnaire. A good market research questionnaire should be kept simple, beginning with general questions and moving towards more specific questions. 5. Collect data: Collection of data is an important activity and should be done by experienced researchers. In most cases untrained researchers may be biased towards interviewers. Common data collection methods include computer assisted telephone interviewing, mail surveys, internet surveys and the like. 6. Organize and analyze data: Analysis of data includes the editing, coding and tabulation of the responses. This is normally done with the help of office suite tools or specific research analysis programs. 7. Presentation and reporting if findings: Once the information has been analyzed, it should be presented in an organized manner to the business decision makers especially in the sales and marketing departments. All of these forms of marketing research can be classified as either problem-identification research or as problem-solving research. A company collects primary research by gathering original data. Secondary research is conducted on data published previously and usually by someone else. Secondary research costs far less than primary research, but seldom comes in a form that exactly meets the needs of the researcher. A similar distinction exists between exploratory research and conclusive research. Exploratory research provides insights into and comprehension of an issue or situation. It should draw definitive conclusions only with extreme caution. Conclusive research draws conclusions: the results of the study can be generalized to the whole population. Exploratory research is conducted to explore a problem to get some basic idea about the solution at the preliminary stages of research. It may serve as the input to conclusive research. Exploratory research information is collected by focus group interviews, reviewing literature or books, discussing with experts, etc. This is unstructured and qualitative in nature. If a secondary source of data is unable to serve the purpose, a convenience sample of small size can be collected. Conclusive research is conducted to draw some conclusion about the problem. It is essentially, structured and quantitative research, and the output of this research is the input to management information systems (MIS). REFERENCES: (2008). Retrieved 2008, from Wikipedia: www.wikipedia.com/market research Etzel/Walker/stanton. (2007). Marketing (14th ed.). New York: Mcgraw-Hill Irwin. Kress, G. (1988). Mraketing research . New Jersey: Preita hall. McNeil, R. (1998). Business to business market research. London: kogan page ltd. Research Papers on How to Conduct Market ResearchAnalysis of Ebay Expanding into AsiaResearch Process Part OneInfluences of Socio-Economic Status of Married MalesThe Project Managment Office SystemOpen Architechture a white paperIncorporating Risk and Uncertainty Factor in CapitalBionic Assembly System: A New Concept of SelfDefinition of Export QuotasMarketing of Lifeboy Soap A Unilever ProductMoral and Ethical Issues in Hiring New Employees

Institution Environment of Finance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Institution Environment of Finance - Essay Example The channeling of funds between the two groups mentioned can only happen accurately in the presence of particular participants and via main routes such as financial intermediaries or through the use of organized financial markets. - Mishkin and Eakins (2006) discuss that financial intermediaries can substantially reduce transaction costs that can be defined as the time and money spent in performing financial transactions for instance the exchange of assets, goods or services. One major difference between 'deposit-taking institutions' (DTIs) and 'non-deposit-taking institutions' (NDTIs) is that deposit-taking institutions are organizations such as banks and building societies, whose liabilities (assets to lenders) are primarily deposits. These can be withdrawn at short (sometimes zero) notice and usually form part of the national money supply. Non-deposit-taking institutions are organizations such as life assurance companies whose liabilities are promises to pay funds to savers only in response to a specified event. Unless the specified event occurs, it is very difficult to withdraw these funds and there is usually a considerable financial penalty for savers who do so. Similarly, contributions to a pension fund cannot be easily withdrawn until the pension falls due for payment. While the difference between Discretionary financial saving and Contractual financial saving is that discretionary is a day-to-day decision to acquire financial assets of varying kinds and in varying quantities. While contractual is the regular acquisition of a financial asset of a kind, of an amount and on a date specified in a contract. Question 3 How do money markets differ from capital markets Who are the main users of money markets Basically the difference between the capital markets and money markets is that - Capital markets are for long term investments, - Companies are selling stocks and bonds in order to borrow money from their investors to improve their company or to purchase assets. Whereas money markets are more of a short term borrowing or lending market where - Banks borrow and lend between each other, as well as finance companies and - Everything that is borrowed is usually paid back within thirteen months. Another difference between the two markets is what is being used to do the borrowing or lending. In the capital markets the most common thing used is stocks and bonds, whereas with the money markets the most common things used are commercial paper and certificates of deposits. Traditionally, differences of maturity have been used, as in Table, to create a distinction

Respnse Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Respnse - Essay Example To speed up delivery and installation at customer sites, I had insisted that service engineer be attached to this team, which was sanctioned by the Executive Director. Our internal quality processed required that the externally sourced goods be verified and checked before installation at customer sites. This activity was controlled by the service manager. He would deliberately delay the process, as je was upset that I had transgressed into his sphere of power. Entertainment expenses as part of marketing activities was only permitted for managers. Since I had the additional responsibility of liaison with public sector and government agencies, I was given a special concession for entertainment bills, with the requirement that the bill be countersigned by the Executive Director before reimbursement. Scrutiny of bills before passing it on to accounts for reimbursement was the responsibility of the HRM deputy manager. She would call me for verifications each time a bill was presented, per ked at a benefit that she did not enjoy, though we were in the same grade. 3. Do â€Å"organizational politics† have a place in effective leadership, or are they consistently counter-productive to leadership effectiveness? Discuss.

Final Paper Week 8 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Final Paper Week 8 - Assignment Example nto five different categories namely Power (sense of wining or accomplishment), Love and Belonging (feeling of receiving love, give love, or accepted by others), Freedom (sense of autonomy, independence or having personal space), Fun( sense of pleasure and enjoyment) and Survival (basic needs of food, shelter, or sexual fulfillment). RT asserts that these essential human needs should be met in order for an individual to operate optimally. According to Dr. Glasser, every person is always struggling to achieve these needs and some of the needs are often met without the knowledge of an individual (Murdock, 2013). For instance, reaching out to support group or socializing with workmates and friends or family members is an effective way of satisfying the need for love and belonging and most of people may not be aware of this fact as they consider it an ordinary occurrence. The fact that every person is always striving to attain all the five basic needs is the central construct of Reality Therapy. This is also a clear justification that all human beings are always in control of what they want in their lives in the quest to meet their basic needs and it does not matter whether their actions help them achieve their basic desires. Murdock (2013) asserts that it is unfortunate that most individuals act inappropriately in their pursuit to achieve the basic needs and thus the issue of individual choice arises, as it is believed that it is through choices that one makes his goals attainable or not. It is noteworthy that achieving the need for love and belonging is the primary goal of most individuals as people always want to feel connected and accepted before they pursue other goals. This claim can be justified by the fact that one of the key goals of RT is to assist people reconnect with individuals they consider part of their quality world. According to RT, individuals are mainly motivated to achieve their needs but the needs for significant relationship often

How Spreadsheets can Solve Complex Problems

How Spreadsheets can Solve Complex Problems Explain how spreadsheets can be used to solve complex problems (P1) Task 1: Generate a report explaining how spreadsheets can be used to solve the following complex problems giving examples to support your explanation Cash flow forecasting Cash flow forecasting is used to see what comes into a business and what goes out. This estimates amounts of cash that comes in and goes out during a period of time. A cash flow forecast will show what the firm is spending its money on.   Ã‚   Cash flow forecasting can be used in spreadsheets as you can use formulas on it to calculate sums and there is less errors whilst using it. It saves time you can calculate things quicker on it rather than doing it one by one. You can conditional format on it which sets rules and highlights the rows you need highlighting. This cash flow sheet shows the money coming and going out between a time. It shows money that comes in each month of the year and how much goes out for things like expenses, wages and so on. When you input data into the cells it will automatically calculate the data with the formulas in the cells. They can then use this years cash flow sheet and compare it to next years seeing if there is any difference. Budget control Budgetary control is how well you utilise budgets to keep track of costs under control and operations in a certain time period. Budget control is a process for managers to put financial and performance targets in place with budgets, compare the final result, and adjust performance when it is needed. Organisations will use budget control to keep costs under control so they dont over spend. This budget control shows the budget limit which is $5,000 and they have spent $3,000 leaving them with $2,000 available. This show that they have spent $1,000 on internet, $500 on postage and $1,500 on rent. It has calculated the total and has shown how much they have left to spend. What-if scenarios What-if scenario is the way businesses use a planning and modelling technique to get various projections for outcomes based on selectively changing the inputs. Scenario planning lets a business to be prepared for dramatic situations more quickly and act effectively because they have made strategies to use. In this spreadsheet, there are 11 people who have taken the test. The people who have an average of over 15 have passed and the ones who have an average of less than 15 have failed. The people who have passed are coloured in green and the people who have failed are in red. The colours displayed are according to the what-if scenario. Sales forecasting Sales forecasting is the process of predicting sales in the future. An accurate sales forecast enables companies to make informed business decisions and predict short-term and long-term performance. Companies can base their forecasts on past sales data and economic trends. If a business is creating a sales forecast on paper they will get many errors in calculations as they have to enter the data and calculate it manually. If a business uses excel to make their sales forecasts they will find it easier as there will be less errors and it will calculate automatically without any errors. Payroll projections In any businesses or organisations, they will have a system which will work out the wages for the staff and this system also calculates taxes payed according their wage. In other words, it shows how much to pay workers and employees during a week, month or other period. In this payroll projection sheet, you can see the included amounts that the business will pay its employees. This is based on the hours that they are working regularly, vacation/holidays hours, sick hours, gross pays, taxes, net pay etc. This is easy for a business to use at it will automatically adjust the wage according to the hours they work. Statistical analysis Statistical analysis is the collection of data, presenting large amounts of data and exploring data to find   patterns and trends. They can use average, mode and median to calculate the overall figures. After the data has been collected you can present it in different formats such as graphs and tables. Once the graph has been completed you are bale to analyse it for underlying patterns and trends. In statistical analysis, a business or an organisation can solve complex problems by entering different sorts of formulae to calculate the average, mode, median or total of a cell. Trend analysis Trend analysis is an analysis that will let businesses to predict what will happen with a stock in the future. Trend analysis is based on data from the past about the stocks performance given the overall trends and patterns of the market and certain indicators within the market. Trend analysis gives out ideas and records on past income, expenses and net cash flow of the past so they can use this to improve the production of their businesses. This graph show the amount of money a brand makes within a month. We can see which brand has the least and highest amounts by looking at the graph chart. By using graphs and charts it becomes more organised and shows who has made profit and who has lost money. Discuss how organisations can use interpretation methods to analyse data (D1) Comparisons of data Organisations can use many interpretation methods to analyse data. They can compare data from using SUM, AVERAGE, COUNT, SUMIF, ROUND, SUBTOTAL, RAND, RATE, MIN, MAX, SYD FV etc. Sum The sum is a formula which will allow you to add different values from different cells. This makes it easier for you as it will allow you to add big numbers together without any errors. The calculation is done automatically. For example = SUM (B4:B12) =SUM (B9:B12, D4:D17) Average The average or arithmetic mean is the calculation of 2 or more different values. Where number 1 may contain a cell reference or range that you want as an average. And number2 can be optional numbers that can go up to 255 max. The average normally refers to the mean value of a variety of numbers in a set that is found by adding all the numbers in the set and then dividing the answer by how many numbers there was in the set. Count The count function counts all the cells that contains numbers and it will put all the numbers in a list of arguments. The use of count function is to get a number field in a range of numbers. For example; we can enter a formula or function that would count the from B1:B27 =COUNT (B1:B27) Sum IF The use of SUMIF function is to add up the values in a range that would meet the task or criteria that you choose. For example, if you want to add/sum only the values that are larger than in a column, you can use the formula =SUMIF (C2:C25,>5) or you can just click on any option from conditional formatting. Round The round function rounds a number to an any decimal point you want. For example, if cell E2 contains 55.86987, and you want it to be rounded to two decimal places then you can use this formula =ROUND (E2.2) then your number will be rounded to 55.86. Subtotal A subtotal is a list or database in a spreadsheet where it only contains subtotals from cells of larger cells. Once you have created a subtotal you can then edit or modify it by using the subtotal function which is SUBTOTAL (function, ref2, [ref3],). Trend analysis Trend analysis is the movements and the course of a trend that can suggest not only what has happened in the past but it can also predict what will happen in the future. The objective of the trend analysis is there to answer questions by assessing changes in a collection of values of a variable. This can things such as the changes in the profit made daily for a specific product. Businesses can use trend analysis in spreadsheets by using graph charts that would allow people to easily see the trend analysis of the business and it will be able to be understood quicker. They can also see where the business is making profit and where it is making loss. Purpose of Trend Analysis Business leaders can make mistakes, and these mistakes can cost them. Trend analysis is a helpful tool that leaders use to limit the risk of tactical, operational and financial tactics. This tool   can let leaders make decisions linked to trends that suggest the success of one opportunity compared to another. By doing this they cause less room for error and businesses will be more successful. Charts and Graphs: Many businesses and organisations use different types of charts and graphs to determine whether if they are going to experience a loss or profit by adding all monthly or yearly expenses. These charts can include pie charts, line chart, brick chart, bar box and vertical bar graph etc. Pie Charts: Line charts: Series 1: Loss: 3% Profit: 4.5% Series 2: Loss: 1.9% Profit: 3% Series 3: Loss: N/A Profit: 5% Bar box: Category 1: Series 1: 4.2% Series 2: 2.4% Series 3: 2% Category 2: Series 1:2.5% Series 2: 4.3% Series 3: 2% Category 3: Series 1: 3.5% Series 2: 1.8% Series 3: 3% Category 4: Series 1: 4.5% Series 2: 2.8% Series 3: 5%

The Avocado Essay -- Botany

The Avocado The avocado is a member of the Laurel family, Lauraceae. Other members of this family include sweet bay, cinnamon, camphor and sassafras. In Central America several wild species of Persea grow. It has been concluded that cultivated forms must have been developed in Mexico and Guatemala at a very early stage of mans history. Two native names for the avocado are still used in America. The nahuatel term was "ahua-cacua-huitle" from which other Central American names like ahuacatl (which is the common Aztec idiom) alcuahte and aquacate have been either derived or shortened. Corruptions of the original name include "abacata" (Portugese) and "alligator" (English) pear. In South America the fruit is called "Palta" derived from the Indian tribe of Ecuador inhabiting the province Palta. Archeological diggings prove it to have been introduced into the Tehuacan area of S. Central Mexico before 7000 possibly as long as 10,000 BC; from a more humid habitat. Remains of avocados came from almost all levels of the Coxatlan cave, beginning with the phase labeled Ajverado (before ?000 BC). The influence of selection on fruit size is not evident until the Santa Maria phase, represented by artifacts from between 900-200 BC. There was evidence that the tree was not only in cultivation, but that it had been actively selected for increase in the fruits size sufficiently long to prevent the large fruited forms from being completely swamped by the wild, small fruited forms since a System of open pollination must have prevailed at the time. Since it takes about seven years for a seedling avocado to bear fruit and the trees continue to bear for about 70 years or longer, the period of selection prior to the demonstration of larger cotyle... ...estroys small roots and can kill a plant. Avocados have had an important role to play in the history of man since men started leaving some sort of foraging trail. In the last 100 years the evolution of the tree as a crop plant has proven to reward us with a diverse selection of potential traits which will be exploited to their fullest potential, if we are all lucky. References The Prehistory of the Tehuacan Valley Vol. I, Douglas S. Byers, 1967. pg 230-240. Tropical Crops, Purseglove, 1974. pg 193-198. Handbook of Tropical Food Crops, Franklin W. Martin, 1984. pg 247-249. Edible Plants of the World, E. Lewis Sturtevant, 1972. pg 414. Useful Plants of Neotropical Origin and Their Wild Relatives, Heinz Brucher, 1985. pg 229-231. Useful Plants of Brazil, Mors and Rizzini, 1966. pg 25. Origin of Cultivated Plants, DeCandolle, 1959. pg 292.