Business Investigation Methods for American Express Travel Agency - Essay Example

?The company that I intend to research is American Express travel agency, which is one of the largest travelling agencies in the world. It is better known for its revolving credit cards and charge cards. The company also publishes magazines such as Food & Wine, and Travel + Leisure through its American Express Publishing unit. The travel agency that American Express operates has thousands of locations worldwide, and its Travellers Cheque Group is the largest issuer of traveller’s cheques across the globe. It operates the world’s most wide-spread travel network, serving customers and businesses (Hoover, 2011). Like any other business, it is crucial for American Express Travel Agency to find out two things: 1) whether or not the customers are satisfied with the services, and 2) the nature and/or level of the dissatisfaction. Business research brings up a number of challenges for managers in a global economy. Research is a process through which information is turned into knowledge. This knowledge is vital because it is essential to the decision-making process. The amount of information available to managers to make decisions has exploded in the recent years. Business research is made up of a number of inter-dependant components. The core of the business involves serving the consumers through participating in a value-addition process with give-and-take as its essence. Therefore, business research is a function that is concerned with gathering, analysing, interpreting and reporting information so that the corporate decision makers can perform their tasks more effectively. The scope of the business research is far-reaching, and the areas of phenomena that the researchers study are increasing quickly (Hair, Celsi, Samouel, Page, 2011). The main purpose of the market research is to identify the needs and wants of the customers, find out how these needs and wants can be met, and how we can distinguish ourselves from the competition (Authenticity Consulting, 2011). Often, it is seen that corporations want to know everything about their programs, services and products. The research plan that is adopted often depends on the information that needs to be collected in order to make vital decisions about the product portfolio. The more focused a company is on what it wishes to find out through the market research process, the better the results are. Also, the time taken to collect the relevant information will be shorter, as the time taken to collect irrelevant information is eliminated. There is an opportunity cost regarding the breadth and depth of the information that one wants to collect. Generally, it is seen that the more breadth the information has, the less depth one will get. On the other hand, if a company wants to research on a specific aspect of a product or service, vital information about the other aspects might be lost in the process (Authenticity Consulting, 2011). The two types of marketing research available to any business include primary research and secondary research. Secondary research focuses on gathering information or data that is already available, mostly by studies performed previously by government agencies etc. This kind of information is already available in the libraries as well as on the Web. There are a number of advantages and disadvantages of using secondary research. It might not always be relevant as it was collected for another purpose. Moreover, it might be out-dated or inaccurate if it is very old or wasn’t collected by a relevant source. However, on the upside it is not as expensive as the primary research and it provides guidelines for a customized primary research to be carried out later. Hence, it is a basis for the design of primary research. Secondary research is essential for travelling agencies such as American Express travelling agency because it can provide them with the necessary statistics that are essential for decision-making. The statistics could include the number of people who go on a holiday, their preferred destination, as well as the amount they are willing to spend on vacations etc. This information will help the company move forward towards the primary research and pin-point the exact aspects of the secondary research they want to expand their understanding about. Primary research is the research that is tailored according to the wants of the company and aims to provide them with the exact information that they need. Primary research aims to deliver more specific results than secondary research, which is especially essential if a business wants to launch a new product. For a travelling agency such as American Express Travel Agency, primary research is essential because it will give them a clear view-point of where they stand at present, and what the customers expect of them in the future. It will also pin-point their weaknesses, which can help them greatly in improving their service portfolio in order to attract more customers (Epson, 2011). The various methods of primary research include interviews, surveys, questionnaires, focus groups etc. On the other hand, secondary research methods include commercial market research organizations, the government, competitors, trade publications and the general media etc. Both these types of research methods pose their own advantages and disadvantages. We will now continue to analyse and justify which of the methods mentioned above will be the most suitable for a travel agency. According to a study by McNamara, there are levels of information that can be gathered by clients of a business. These include reactions and feelings, learning, changes in skills, and effectiveness. Moreover, the overall strategy in selecting basic business methods is to get the most information out of the customers in the most cost-effective and realistic fashion possible (McNamara, 2011). In order to find the most effective market research method, one has to consider the following questions: 1. What information would the business need to make a current product or program? 2. How accurate will the information be? 3. Will the methods get all of the needed information? 4. What additional methods could and should be used if more information is needed? 5. Will the information appear credible to the decision-makers? 6. Will the nature of the audience conform to the decision-makers? 7. Will the nature of the audience conform to the methods? 8. Who can administer the methods now or is training required for that? 9. How can information be analysed Ideally, the researcher will use a combination of methods, for example a questionnaire to quickly collect a great deal of information and create a pool of different views, and then interviews to get more in-depth data about the answers of certain respondents (Jones, 2011). In my opinion, the most relevant method of marketing research to use in the case of American Express Travel agency would be questionnaires. This will have a number of implications for the organization. The first and the foremost question that the market researcher will ask himself would be the sample size of the research. How many people should you ask? And what sort of questions? Clearly, cost would be a major issue when conducting questionnaires. Moreover, unless used in the right circumstances, it can be a passive method which might turn off the customers. As good way to use it would be combining it with other activities such as purchasing a travel package at American Express Travel agency, where it is mandatory for the customers to answer the questions presented to them. Moreover, to be really effective, it is best to use the questionnaires that have boxes to tick or the strength of the agreement. This has the advantage that it is easier and quicker for the recipient to complete and also allows easy comparison between the answers. It might not have the same depth as a qualitative survey but it will point out the different aspects of the company with which the customers are satisfied and dissatisfied. It is a quick, not to mention efficient way to obtain large amount of information from the customers (Ngo, 2011). Questionnaires can then be followed by focus groups where the customers are asked questions to gain deep insight of how they feel about the services offered by American Express Travel Agency. It will provide the organization to measure the reactions o the customers to the various strategies implemented in comparison to their competitors in an interactive environment. It will identify the service flaws of American Express Travel agency and give them new ideas to improve their services. There will, however, be limitations to this too. For instance, the responses of the participants in the interview might be biased of untruthful considering the circumstances. Some of them might also be intimidated by the moderator, and also be shy or withdrawn and unwilling to participate. Some of the participants may take over the conversation and will not allow the others to speak. At times like these, it will be the duty of the moderator to take charge, and assist the shy members of the focus group to participate. However, if moderated properly, it will mean that the opinions or ideas of the individual groups can be taken or refined and will result in more accurate information, resulting in a greater and more concentrated pool of information. The answers will also be longer and more revealing. The degree of spontaneity is also likely to be greater in the focus group interview. Moreover, the travel agency is likely to identify its popular and unpopular packages, responses to the price levels, review the competitor products, rate their quality and services, relate to the needs of the customers, and in short create a more customer-oriented service portfolio (Khera, 2009). Hence, it can be concluded that market research is crucial for the survival of any business because it gives them a chance to analyse the positives and the negatives of their portfolio as well as their customer services. This will give them a chance to flourish in the long-run and reap the profits from increased customers loyalty and higher market share. References: Authenticity Consulting, 2011, Basic Business Research Methods, 2011. Available at http://managementhelp.org/research/research.html Authenticity Consulting. 2011, Basic Advice About Planning Your Research, Available at http://www.managementhelp.org/research/planning.htm Epson, 2011. Secondary vs. Primary Market Research. Available at http://www.allbusiness.com/marketing/market-research/1310-1.html Hoover. 2011, American Express Company. Available at http://www.hoovers.com/company/American_Express_Company/rffxhi-1.html Hair Jr, F., Celsi, M., Money, A., Samouel, P., Page, M. 2011, Essentials of business research methods. From M.E. Sharpe, London. Available at http://books.google.com.pk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=MpAAnXiBTW4C&oi=fnd&pg=PR3&dq=business+research+methods&ots=BeqdiB0M23&sig=w7vzq-FEfOqrPffmkFz6VBVIw7g#v=onepage&q&f=false Jones, N. 2011, Market Research: Questionnaires. Available at http://www.training-management.info/market-research/questions.htm Khera Communications, 2009. Why is market research useful? Importance of market research. Available at http://www.morebusiness.com/running_your_business/management/Market-Research.brc McNamara, C. 2011, Selecting which business method to use. Available at http://managementhelp.org/research/slctng.htm Ngo, D. 2011, Questionnaire Method. Available at http://www.humanresources.hrvinet.com/questionnaire-method/ QUESTIONNAIRE: Please answer the following questions: 1. During the past year, have did you travel out of the country at least once? A. YES B. NO 2. When you travel out of the country, which means of transportation do you prefer. A. Train B. Bus C. Car D. Plane E. Sea route 3. When traveling, who is most likely to escort you on your trip? A. Parents B. Friend C. Spouse D. Alone E. Other 4. When travelling what is your preferred method of booking service? A. Online B. Agency C. Directly with service provider D. Other 5. Have you heard of American Express Travel Agency? A. Yes B. No 6. Here are the four main brands: American Express Travel, X, Y and Z. Please allocate the rating to each brand from 1-10. 7. What comes to your mind when you come across a Thomas Cook travel agency brand name? 8. What would be your comment on the quality of American Express Travel Agency? 9. According to the Census Bureau, the average yearly income of a household was around $50,000 in 2007, is your income 1. Much higher 2. A little higher 3. Around the stated average 4. Below the stated average End the survey with a polite Thank you. Read More