The Problems Faced by the Dealers of the UK Motor Market - Essay Example

?Principles of Management Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Question 3 Question: 2 5 Question: 3 7 Question: 4 9 References 11 Question What did Dr. Wang mean by ‘your job as a management master’s degree student is to use theory to help to explain and even solve management problems’? Dr. Wang with his words, “your job as a management master’s degree student is to use theory to help to explain and even solve management problems”, tried to signify that the report that has been written by Amina was not up to the level he had expected from a student who is undergoing MBA. He expected a much more mature and professional writing from Amina. Dr Wang also told Amina that her writing was very much descriptive and not even properly organized. However, Dr. Wang also depicted that the context of the research was written very much evidently and the research problem was also apparent. The research which was carried out by Amina was about the problems faced by the dealers of UK motor market. While doing the project, Amina has devoted her time to collecting the data rather than properly analyzing it, as stated by Dr. Wang. Amina has mainly focused on the retail motor markets of UK, but the actual requirement was not met in the draft version of the assignment. The actual requirement of the project was to assess how organizations develop or modify their marketing strategy in the context of unexpected competition from the new players or new product launches by the existing ones. The supervisor has also added that Amina provided too many descriptions about the retail motor market of United Kingdom, which is irrelevant to the context of the project. He expected Amina to consider, for example, marketing mix elements such as product strategy, price strategy, place strategy, promotional strategy, etc. This was certainly the original requirement of the project. She also failed to provide information regarding the literature used while carrying out the research. One of the other biggest errors which was pointed out by the supervisor in the perspective of Amina’s project was that she did not mention any alternative means of collecting data and information. Dr. Wang has expected that Amina will surely provide some necessary information about the secondary data collection, but the fact is that she has only stressed how she has interviewed the sales managers and senior sales managers of the main manufacturers who are handling the car dealers. She has mainly described the way or the procedure used in order to collect the data. After the conversation with the supervisor she thought that the Dr. Wang had been a bit unfair to her and thought that her project was not as inferior as he had. She even discussed the incident with her roommates about how she has been a victim of prejudice. But with the course of time Amina realized that it was absolutely her own fault and there is nobody else who to blame. She recalled what her tutors told about the way of carrying out a research project. Actually the tutors of the institution advised the students that they should start the writing process at an early phase so as to maintain a logical flow of the project and to be able to deliver or submit the project on the stipulated time fame. The teachers also advised to separate sections about the distinguished aspects of the project to merge them together at the end, keeping the proper logical sequence. And finally she understood what Mr. Wang meant by his words ‘your job as a management master’s degree student is to use theory to help to explain and even solve the management problems’. She understood that story telling like a business journalist is much easier task as compared to what she is currently undergoing. In other words, academic work is much more complex and painstaking task. Question: 2 How might Amina improve her findings section? The findings section of a project holds utmost importance, as this is the only section which reveals the outcomes of the projects. This section illustrates the main findings of the project. The content of this section will solely depend upon the methods or the chosen methodology of conducting the research. A quantitative research will lead to a number of graphs and charts; qualitative research, on the other hand, will lead to descriptive or lengthy statements. The finding of the project leads to the project result. And the rationale for the results section is presenting and illustrating the findings of the project (Ruf, n.d.). Since recommendations are always not needed for a project, findings section of a project is considered as one of the vital alternatives and an important part in the development of a dissertation. There are some situations when findings are considered as the best alternatives. These situations happen: When there are considerable resource propositions (Queensland Government, n.d.) When there are a number of available options for corrective actions and there are also not even enough information about the most practicable and viable option. The following are the recommendations by which Amina can improve the mentioned segment of the project. The findings of the data should be in proper order and according to the sequence of the project. It should be able to depict the proper structure of the project. In other words, findings should be illustrated in a logical sequential manner so that one finding can relate to the next finding. There should not be any addition of information about findings according to self assessment. All the illustrated findings must be in real. This will help in the analysis section of the report, and any false information may lead to wrong assessment. Amina should describe the findings in such a way that it is clear and apparent to supervisors and controllers what kind of research was carried out. It should remain absolutely clear to the reader whether the study was about a case study, an experimental study, or a co-relational study. In other words, it would be the best policy to state the type of research study while describing the findings. For example, since this study was experimental in nature, Amina could start her findings as follows, “In the experiment conducted, the main findings are…” The description of the findings of the study can be presented by making use of bullet points. If bullet points are present, it will also help the reader to understand the matter more quickly than the present form. Amina has discussed the results of her findings in a descriptive way, as stated by the supervisor. Therefore, in order to make it short and significant, she may use the mentioned tool. One of the major aspects which come into play before writing the findings of the study is the need to point out whether the findings of the assignment are statistically important. If the findings of the project are not at all statistically essential, they should not be used as findings. It is highly recommended that Amina should make use of graphs, charts, and other types of pictorial representation for representing the data and information in pictorial format along with some relevant descriptions. This will aid the users in understanding the findings with more ease. In order to make the findings section of assignment more interesting, Amina must add some interesting facts about it. If some unusual data and information are provided in this section, it will surely aid in getting the attention of the supervisors. If Amina could describe some of the negative findings along with the set of positive findings, it will create an impact, and this course of action will help to serve the purpose. Question: 3 What do you think Amina has to do to get Dr Wang’s full approval for submission of her MBA project for assessment? Amina is considered as one of the most attentive and hard working student of the class. She works very hard in order to complete her MBA with excellent grades. While undergoing the lessons of MBA, she needs to submit the final project report for evaluation. The topic on which she was carrying out her research study was about the marketing strategies employed by the car dealers of United Kingdom in the context of the new trends of UK’s new car buyers in importing their automobiles from different parts of the continental Europe. She has worked day and night for completing the project report and was quite confident about her report when she submitted it to her supervisor Dr. Wang. But unfortunately her supervisor did not like the way she had written it. He also added that the he expects high level of writings from an MBA student, that the present writing is far below the expected standards, and, to obtain the final degree, she needs to work harder. The supervisor also added that the report which has been written by Amina is incoherent and was not to the point. However, he mentioned that the content of the project was absolutely mentioned according to the requirement of the assignment. The main criticism, according to Dr. Wang, was that Amina had spend much time to make a research regarding the UK retail motor car industry but she did not focused on the marketing theories, which were the essential requirements of the assignment. Amina has clearly stated the problems which are being faced by the UK retail car dealers, but the only thing she lagged was literature, i.e. the application of marketing theories. Amina’s interest in cars has been cited as the primary reason for her casualness as regards the marketing theories and stressing and focusing on the car dealers only. Now, to get full approval from Dr. Wang for the submission of her MBA project for assessment, she needs to undergo the following course of actions. There are some necessary changes which are needed to be made in the project in order to satisfy the supervisor. The theoretical changes which should be altered include focusing more on the marketing theories and using the theories in the context of UK retail car dealers. The marketing hypothesis such as marketing mix, marketing analysis tools, and data analysis tools must be consulted while writing the report. For example, it can define marketing mix as the set of elements by which consumers can be potentially satisfied and where the firms have the control over the strategies (Brown, 1991, p.24), and can correlate by its application in the concerned industry. It is also recommended for Amina to write a detailed research methodology by which she can clearly illustrate the way research has been conducted. There was an error in the conclusion part, as pointed out by the supervisor. Therefore, this also needs to be rectified. In order to do so, she must follow the instructions as given by Dr. Wang. Amina must present the conclusion in a detailed manner, thereby depicting all the necessary information and outcomes of the project. The writing portion of the project also needs to be modified. The entire content of the project must be written in a professional way, as, according to Dr. Wang, the writing portion is below the level of expectation and he expects more from an MBA student. She also needs to alter the findings section, where she may use bulleted points for describing the findings of the project. This will also help in illustrating the findings in a structured form and, therefore, assist in a clear understanding by readers. If the above recommendations are properly pursued and implemented, there is ample opportunity for Amina to receive Dr. Wang’s full approval for the submission of the project. Question: 4 How do you suggest Amina now approaches the rewriting of her report? Since the draft of the project, which was presented by Amina to her supervisor, received negative response, she must now find new approaches to complete her research report. In order to do so, she should follow these recommendations for rewriting her project. A proper project scheduling needs to be undertaken for carrying out the project. In order to schedule the project, Amina can make use of Gantt chart. A Gantt chart demonstrates the relationships of the project tasks and also shows the estimated times (Pyzdek, 2004, p.42). Project scheduling will help Amina to set a goal for herself and can move accordingly. This will also ensure timely completion of the project. After scheduling the project, she must identify the possible problems she might face while conducting the research. The possible problems can be from any part; for example she might feel that data can be insufficient; she might face a problem while collecting and analyzing data or even financial constraints. Once the problems are identified, she can find solution accordingly and can develop different strategies which she can implement during the time of crisis. For making the report more structured, Amina must segregate all the different parts of the project, and at the end of the project the different parts should again be joined. This will also help in conducting the project in a structured form and proper schedule. And while writing the project report, Amina must make use of more pictorial representations of data. This will aid in understanding the report with more ease. Amina must frequently consult with her supervisor to clear her doubts and to receive valuable suggestions for writing the project. It is also recommended that Amina must frequently present the draft version for ensuring that she is moving in the right direction. It is also highly recommended that Amina must consider consulting her text books of marketing theories, which will help her out during the course of study. She must consider studying theories like marketing strategies, marketing mix elements and its features, and some analysis tools in the context of her project. It is very much important to have a revision on theories like Porter’s five forces model, which will be used while analyzing the project. The final recommendation is that Amina must make sure that all the technical portions of the project are absolutely accurate. To make it, she must use a check list and match it accordingly prior to the final submission of the project. Some of the important tasks which should be given high priorities include a thorough proof reading and making sure all the sources are properly referenced. References Brown, S. W. (1991). Service Quality: Multidisciplinary and Multinational Perspectives. Virginia: Lexington Books. Pyzdek. (2004). The Six Sigma Project Planner. New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill Education. Queensland Government. (No Date). Presenting findings & report writing. Retrieved from http://deta.qld.gov.au/publications/strategic/evaluation/pdf/presenting-findings.pdf. Ruf. (No Date). Writing Research Papers. Retrieved from http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~bioslabs/tools/report/reportform.html. Read More