Information Technologies for Fast Food Firm - Research Proposal Example

Author Instructor Module Date Information research for fast food firm In current competitive market, there is great dynamism in consumer behavior. Managers require updated information to win over competition as well as introduction of services and new products which creates value in customers mind in order to satisfy their needs. However, perception of value is rather subjective, what customers require this year may be slightly different from that of next year or season (McQuarrie The Market Research Toolbox). Therefore, attributes that add value especially in fast food industry cannot be simply deduced from common knowledge. Managers in organizations are expected to conduct frequent needs assessment and evaluation of firm’s marketing strategies as well as maintaining high quality in its products. For this reason’s market insights conducted by consultancy firms becomes a necessity. The market insight entails collection and analysis of data with the goal of elucidating facts and offer direction for line managers to implement business plans (Meredith and Mantel). Overview of “The fast food firm” According to the firm’s audited financial reports, its growth rate has dwindled by a margin of 5% from 20% the previous year to 15% this year. The main problem the firm is facing includes lack of an elaborate marketing strategy to popularize its products and makes sales. All efforts by the owner to popularize company products have been futile. Therefore, owner is seeking alternatives on how to utilize his property and catering skills to save jobs for his employees and investing. Available properties include land and building that houses the business and there is a spacious parking lot (Meredith and Mantel). Case questions I. Research Needs This proposal will run a market research through exploratory, descriptive and causal research survey for purposes of information gathering in order to establish the market size and performance trends of chicken meal and other franchise food products. The gathered information will form the basis of formulating the organization’s decision making processes. As a consultancy find we strive to establish, 1. Willingness and ability to act on the information, 2. The accuracy of information, 3. The level of indecisiveness existing in the organization without the information, 4. Variation in possible outcomes, 5. Risk assessment and eventual aversion, 6. response by competitors on the change in business strategy, and 6. Cost effectiveness in terms of money and time (McQuarrie The Market Research Toolbox). Methodology Problem definition. The challenges in the fast food chain currently will be defined through formulation of questions by translating management decision problems into marketing problems with the aim of outlining possible scenarios on research outcomes and how they will enable the decision maker initiate action plan. (Meredith and Mantel). Research design In this case analysis exploratory and descriptive research will be conducted. While exploratory research will seek to set goals through formulation of problems and gaining insights in order to remove impractical ideas before setting hypotheses, Descriptive research will delve into fast food industry to uncover information about franchise fast food (chicken meal) consumption within the firm’s market segment, determination of demand, and prediction of future demands. Under descriptive research longitudinal studies will be carried out with set objective of establishing time series and monitoring of brand-switching behaviour (McQuarrie The Market Research Toolbox). Secondly, a cross-sectional analysis will be conducted through cohort analysis to ascertain if there is any similarity in experiences within the same time interval from other fast food firms. Results from cohort analysis will provide an avenue for long-term forecasting of chicken meal demands. Finally, causal research will be carried out to determine cause and effect relationships between all variables by conducting field experiments (Meredith and Mantel). 2 Research Plan Data identification and sources Secondary data will be gathered from previously surveys intended for other purposes but were found to be relevant to this study. The fast food’s internal data on accounts records, supply chain, sales invoices, and warrant cards as well as firm’s external publications and commercial data will form the bulk of secondary data. Since the data collected through secondary means may not perfectly fit into specified research questions, primary data for the purposes of descriptive research will be drawn directly from the source (McQuarrie The Market Research Toolbox). In this case, the consultancy firm endeavors to gather information on socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of the firm’s locality, opinions and attitudes of customers within the geographic location, conduct survey on psychological lifestyle characteristics of people in the segment, their knowledge and awareness on chicken meal and other franchise products in terms of sales leads, motivation and behaviour (Casley and Lury). Data collection measures, formulation of questionnaires Data will be collected through formulated questionnaires and conducting of interviews targeting consumers. Secondly, interviews will be carried out from Federal government agencies engaged in food industry inspection and regulation to identify the current state and trends in the sector. Information in questionnaires will have intend of analyzing (Casley and Lury). 1. business processes and policies unique to franchise fast foods 2. cost effectiveness 3. variation in consumer demands 4. availability of fast food products within consumers reach and related factors 5. the need for interoperability among fast food chains and within the whole food industry Relationship between variables (Devereux and Hoddinott). Independent Variables                                                         Dependent Variable Determination of representative sample size The sample size Population category Population frequency Population percentage Sample Size Federal Government agencies marketing managers catering employees consumers Total Research time table Activity Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Status Exploratory survey XX Completed Descriptive research XX In progress Data collection XX Pending Data Analysis & presentations XX pending Report Submission XX pending Analysis and interpretation of data/ Research reporting. Descriptive statistics/ Factor analysis   Factor 1 Factor 2 Factor 3 Variable 1       Variable 2       Variable 3       Column's Sum of Squares:       Source: (McQuarrie The Market Research Toolbox). 3. Obstacles Conducting field research under any circumstances is a complex affair, and conducting survey in the food industry poses a series of unique challenges. However, the approach that will be adopted in this survey combines research methods with tools necessary to obtain data. Some challenges unique to food industry that will be encountered include (Devereux and Hoddinott). 1. Methodology challenges, these are mostly specific technical problems which limit how the topic on food consumption can be designed and carried out. Examples are, sensitivity towards the topic in regard to community needs and living standards, Time and cost, the risk of getting multiple sampling and non-sampling errors (Casley and Lury ; Deveraux and Hoddinott ), absence of specific indicators, The ‘play-safe’ syndrome in an uncertainty situations leading to covering of too many issues due to difficulties in identifying indicators for baseline study (for example to measure gains from consuming chicken meal a researcher may factor on price of chicken meal and the price gaps from potential and actual market prices, it therefore becomes a complex and unbounded assessment), lifestyle and needs society differ greatly, posing the challenge of reducing margin errors in conducting interviews or coding questionnaires (this increases the costs of supervision and training to avoid errors emanating from internal team research, non-responses and respondents’ who are unaccustomed to rigid structure of survey questionnaire ) (Roman et al), finally, there is a challenge where survey staff are tempted to advertise or promote fast food products because of the sectors novelty (Wilson Thinking About the Ethics of Fieldwork). 2. Contextual obstacles characterizes the environment research is conducted as a determinant to applicable methodologies this raises conflicts and tensions, and measurements issues. This is caused by taking different view points by each stake holder in the survey like ideologies, objectives and priorities. The process of resolving and aligning these tensions is expensive but necessary for conducting effective research. This can be highlighted as follows, tensions arising from differences in conducting survey against implementation objectives, if one area is disregarded then there is high potential of frustrating the other (Chambers Putting the First Last). Second, are the tensions between reality and expectations which will form a tug of war one pushing expectations beyond consumer’s reality. Often survey staff tends to consider optimism and enthusiasm promotion in conducting research, thirdly, this survey will encounter cultural and ideological asymmetry in the sample population (Roman et al). Another challenge will emanate from taking constructive against bureaucratic conceptions especially when interviewing employees or officers from Federal government agencies (Wilson Thinking About the Ethics of Fieldwork). Works Cited Casley, and Lury DA. Data Collection in Developing Countries. Oxford: Claredon Press, 1987. Chambers, R. Putting the First Last. London: Intermediate Technology Publications. 1997. Devereux, and Hoddinott J., eds. Fieldwork in Developing Countries. Boulder, Colorado: Lynne Rienner Pub. 1993. Wilson, K. Thinking About the Ethics of Fieldwork. In Devereux & Hoddinott (eds.). Fieldwork in Developing Countries. Boulder, Colorado: Lynne Rienner Pub. 1993. McQuarrie, Edward F. The Market Research Toolbox : A Concise Guide for Beginners. Meredith, and Mantel SJ. Project Management: A Managerial Approach. 4th ed. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2000. Roman, Raul and Christopher Blattman, ‘Research for telecenter development: obstacles and opportunities’ Read More