Philip Morris USA - Research Paper Example

? Marketing Research - Marlboro Cigarettes - Total Number of Words: 2,699 Introduction PM USA is the number one cigarette manufacturer in the United States (Borio, 2012). In order to grab the biggest market shares in the cigarette manufacturing industry, PM USA was able to establish at least four other best-selling cigarette brands such as Parliament, Virginia Slims, Basic, and L&M (Cigarette Zoom, 2012; Source Watch, 2012; Toll & Ling, 2005). As one of PM USA’s most saleable cigarette brands in the United States, the Marlboro brand was able to capture at least 42% of the enitre US market shares for cigarettes (Seeking Alpha, 2012; Philip Morris USA, 2012). Source: Philip Morris USA, 2012 As one of the most famous cigarette brands around the world, Marlboro uses the image of a typical American cowboy as a part of its product positioning strategy (Randazzo, 2006; Hyland et al., 2006). Since the company was able to successfully establish a strong cigarette brand, a lot of cigarette smokers are patronizing the brand regardless of gender, race, social status, and nationality (Philip Morris USA, 2012). Despite the serious economic slow growth in the United States, smokers continue to purchase Marlboro cigarettes in exchange for a premium price (Waldemer, 2012). In line with this, this particular market research study will focus on determining the significance of having a strong brand with the continuous patronage of its customers to the brand. Purpose of the Research Study Conducting a market research project is a significant part of a successful marketing study (Caporella, 2012; Hamel, 2012). For this reason, this research study will purposely design a research survey questionnaire that uses open-ended, closed-ended, scaled responses (i.e. nominal scales, ordinal scales, interval scales, and ratio scales) that will enable the researcher gather primary research data that could help us determine the significance of having a strong brand on the continuous patronage of PM USA on Marlboro brand. After executing a real-life marketing research study, the student is expected to make use of unlimited charts, graphs, and tables when presenting the research survey results. Problem Statement This study will attempt to identify different variables and/or other marketing dimensions that contribute to the impact of the Marlboro brand on the mindsets and perceptions of the students. Using a research survey study approach, the students’ attitude and behaviour with regard to the Marlboro brand will be examined based on their familiarity with the Marlboro brand, their perception with regard to the product quality, brand image, and value for money. Basically, a marketing researcher should carefully study factors that can affect consumer behaviour (Perner, 2012). By knowing factors that can affect consumer preferences with regard to a particular cigarette brand (i.e. Marlboro brand), marketing managers will be able to easily come up with useful and more effective marketing strategies that can motivate and convince the target consumers to adapt to the brand. Since this study will attempt to identify different variables and/or other marketing dimensions that contribute to the impact of the Marlboro brand on the mindsets and perceptions of the students, the research findings presented in this study will help the marketing researchers gain a better understanding of how the Marlboro brand affects the students’ purchasing decisions and evaluation. Research Question How does the Marlboro brand affect the mindsets and perceptions of the students who smoke? Research Objectives In response to the main purpose of this study, the following research objectives will be used as a guide throughout the research study. 1. To be able to design a research survey questionnaire that uses open-ended, closed-ended, scaled responses (i.e. nominal scales, ordinal scales, interval scales, and ratio scales) suitable for addressing the research study question; 2. To identify different variables and/or other marketing dimensions that contribute to the impact of the Marlboro brand on the mindsets and perceptions of the students; and 3. To determine how the Marlboro brand affects the mindsets and perceptions of the students who smoke. Research Methodology As a part of conducting a primary research study, the researcher will make use of ‘explanatory non-experimental research’ questionnaires (Belli, 2008). As explained by Johnson (2000), ‘explanatory non-experimental research’ is a type of quantitative questions that normally use ‘yes’ or ‘no’ questions followed by asking open-ended questions such as ‘how’ or ‘why.’ In most cases, a researcher uses an open-ended question to enable the researcher to gather a more subjective response from the selected research survey participants. Using this particular research study approach, the researcher can provide each of the research survey participants to share their own opinion or thoughts with regard to each question asked. Likewise, the use of open-ended questions after a close-ended question will give the researcher the opportunity to determine whether or not the particpants is answering the survey questions in a logical and reasonable manner. As a form of deductive approach in research, survey studies normally make use of statistic measurement as part of generating the primary research survey data. In line with this, Creswell (2003) explained that the use of this approach in research often leads to the development of post-positivist claims, and the process of generating a more concrete and generalized information is made possible each time the research survey respondents respond to the survey questions as provided in the research survey questionnaire. Eventually, the gathered information will provide the researcher with a more solid and in-depth figures concerning the synopsis and patterns of the research questions being tested upon (Patton 2002, p. 16). Most of the past and current research studies are using the scientific-based quantitative research method in order to develop a more credible research finding to each of the research questions being tested in the survey (Martinez et al., 2007). Since the process of analyzing pure quantitative research findings could make the researcher speculate on the gathered statistical information, several research studies suggest that the use of pure positivist approach in research should be combined together with phenomenological approach in research to avoid distorting the research study conclusion (Martinez et al., 2007; Ritchie and Lewis, 2003; Hopmann, 2002; Patton 2002, p. 16; Leong, 1985). For this reason, the researcher decided to incorporate the use of open-ended questions in the research survey questionnaire design. Although the use of phenomenological research method will not give the researcher a generalized idea concerning the said research topic (Yin, 2003), one of the advantages of using phenomenological approach in research is that this particular research method makes the researcher able to come up with a more descriptive explanation behind each research questions. When analyzing the actual data gathered in the primary study, it is important to carefully analyze the descriptive response of each research survey respondents (i.e. personal thoughts, rationale, beliefs, and feelings) (Patton 1990, p. 67). Doing so can make the researcher have the opportunity to identify gaps or potential relationship between the research question(s) and the personal experiences of each research survey respondents (Maykut and Morehouse 1994, p. 68). As a result, the application of phenomenological approach in this study will make the researcher base the final study conclusion on empirical study. To enable the researcher come up with accurate research findings, the development of research questions should be in accordance with the selected research topic. For this reason, it is essential on the part of the researcher to carefully examine and analyze the type of research questions that will be included in the research survey questionnaire (Richard, 2006; Morse and Richards, 2002). To ensure that the researcher will be able to develop an accurate and reliable research survey questionnaire, the researcher spent extra time trying to review the research survey questions before approaching qualified research respondents to participate in the study. Target Population, Site Setting, Sample, and Sample Procedure The target population for this study is composed of 30 research survey respondents. In order to avoid gender biased research findings, the researcher will purposely distribute the quantitative and qualitative research survey questionnaire to a total of 15 male and 15 female students who are currently enrolled at _____________(insert name of university). Since the main purpose of this study is to determine how the Marlboro brand affect the mindsets and perceptions of the students who smoke, qualified research survey respondents for this study include only those students who were able to develop a smoking habit. Between the 4th and 8th of June 2012, the researcher conducted the actual research survey study within the school premises of ____________. Using purposive sampling (Dane 2011, p. 122), the researcher initially approached each prospective research respondent. To ensure that the research respondents are highly qualified to participate in this study, the researcher intentionally asked whether or not they smoke. After a short period of 5 days, the researcher was able to gather and invite a total of 30 research survey respondents. Acquiring Data and Analyzing the Gathered Data from the Research Survey Questionnaire The use of accurate and precise research questioning is the secret behind accurate and valid research study results (Morse and Richards, 2002). Therefore, each of the research questions asked in the survey questionnaire was made in accordance with the main purpose of this study. To generate a generalized background about the research survey respondents, questions 1 to 3 will ask demographic questions related to gender, monthly income, age, and marital status. The researcher will compute basic statistical measurements using the Microsoft Office Excel software (i.e. frequency, mean, mode, median, variance, and standard deviation). In line with this, nominal measurement aims at categorizing or putting into classification the research information (Anderson, Sweeney, and Williams 2005, p. 28; Senft 2000, p. 23). In this study, questions 4 to 11 were intentionally designed to obtain nominal scales. As part of measuring nominal values, the researcher will count the quantitative results using frequency tallying. Ordinal measurement aims at measuring the quantitative data by ranking the values (Gravetter and Wallnau 2009, p. 667). For this study, question number 12 was designed for ranking purposes. As part of measuring ordinal values, the researcher will count and order statistics such as mode and median (Anderson, Sweeney, and Williams 2005, p. 29). On the other hand, interval measurement measures the “intervals between scale points” (p. 30). To be able to measure intervals between scale points, questions 13 to 19 were designed using a five-point Likert scale using numeric code 1 as strongly agree and 5 as strongly disagree. As part of measuring interval values, the researcher will focus on identifying the mean (Rosenthal 2012, p. 23). To critically analyse the gathered qualitative data, the researcher will separately list down qualitative or descriptive research survey results. Basically, the use of this strategy will make it easier for the researcher to analyse the gathered qualitative data. Research Findings To avoid gender biased research findings, the researcher equally distributed the research survey questionnaire to a total of 15 male and 15 female students who are currently enrolled at _____________ (insert name of university). The majority with 22% of the total research survey respondents are receiving below US$100 per month. The rest of the 7% and 1% of the total research survey respondents are receiving between US$100 to 500 and US$501 to 1000 a month. With regard to age, the majority with 18% of the total research survey respondents are between 21 to 25 years old followed by 9% and 3% who are between 18 to 20 years old and 26 to 30 years old respectively. (See Figure I – Summary of Month Income on page 9) Figure I – Summary of Month Income With percentage value of 21%, the majority of research survey respondents are frequently smoking. Only 8% and 1% admit that they sometimes or rarely smoke. When asked whether or not the research survey respondents smoke and whether or not they prefer filtered cigarettes to non-filtered, all of them said ‘yes.’ With regard to smoking the Marlboro brand, the majority with 26% of the total research survey respondents revealed that they do smoke Marlboro cigarettes whereas the rest of the 4% said ‘no.’ Even though the majority with 26% of the total research survey respondents smoke Marlboro cigarettes, only 18% of the total research survey respondents are loyal to the brand. This explains why 12% of the total research survey respondents admit that they still smoke other cigarette brands. The other cigarette brands that the research survey respondents are smoking include Marlboro (26%), L&M (4%), Cambridge (3%), Parliament (2%), Benson & Hedges (1%), Lark (1%), and Virginia Slims (1%). When asked what motivates the research survey respondents to purchase Marlboro cigarettes, the majority with 21% of the total research survey respondents said that they purchase the Marlboro brand as a sign of social prestige, whereas the rest of the 4%, 3%, and 2% of the total research survey respondents said that they patronize the Marlboro brand due to the strong influence of their friends, the presence of local advertisements on TV, magazines, billboards, etc., and self-preference reasons respectively. (See Figure III – Summary of Other Brands that the Research Survey Respondents are Smoking and Figure IV – Summary of Factors that Motivates the Research Survey Respondents to Purchase Marlboro Cigarettes) Figure III – Summary of Other Brands that the Research Survey Respondents are Smoking Figure IV – Summary of Factors that Motivates the Research Survey Respondents to Purchase Marlboro Cigarettes When analyzing research survey questions that require ranking, computing for median means locating the middle value that separates the greater from the lesser halves of the data set. On the other hand, computing for mode is possible by choosing the most frequent value available within the given data set. Question number 12 requires the research survey respondents to rank ‘1’ as their preferred brand and 10’ as their least preferred brand among the 10 identified cigarette brands (i.e. Marlboro, Basic, Benson and Hedges, Cambridge, Dave’s English Ovals, L&M, Lark, Parliament, and Virginia Slims). Based on the quantitative research findings, the mode values show that the Marlboro brand ranks number 1 among the research survey respondents followed by L&M (bimodal values = 2 and 4), Cambridge (mode = 3) and English Ovals (mode = 4). This particular research finding strongly suggests that the Marlboro brand is strongly patronized by students who smoke. In measuring interval values, the mean values, variance, and standard deviation were computed for questions 13 to 19. When asked whether or not the price of Marlboro cigarettes is high, the mean value is 1.40 (variance = 0.37 and standard deviation = 0.61). It means that the majority of research survey respondents agree that the price of Marlboro cigarettes is relatively high as compared to other cigarette brands. When asked whether or not the research survey respondents smoke Marlboro cigarettes as a status symbol, the mean value is 2.13 (variance = 0.4 and standard deviation = 1.20). It means that smoking Marlboro cigarettes can be a status symbol but not all the time. With regard to being attracted to Marlboro advertisements, the mean value is 1.97 (variance = 1.10 and standard deviation = 1.05). It means that the majority of research survey respondents agree that they are attracted to Marlboro advertisements. However, most of the research survey respondents have almost a neutral stand with regard to the idea that the Marlboro brand gives the best value for their money. With a mean value of 2.30 (variance = 1.28 and standard deviation = 1.13), not all research survey respondents are loyal to the Marlboro brand. Even though the majority says that the Marlboro brand will always be their first choice (mean = 2.47; variance = 2.72 and standard deviation = 1.65), the fact that there is a strong tendency for them to purchase other cigarette brand in case Marlboro cigarettes are not available in the market means that PM USA can easily lose their existing customers due to alternative products (mean = 4.13; variance = 0.81 and standard deviation = 0.90). Conclusion and Recommendations Due to the presence of alternative cigarette brands, smokers can easily shift from one brand to another. For this reason, the marketing manager of PM USA should continuously develop new and effective marketing strategies that will encourage its existing customers to stay loyal to the Marlboro brand. For PM USA to be able to attract more students to patronize the Marlboro brand, the company should make use of brand extension as a way to reach out for price-sensitive customers. Aside from the use of online advertisements and offering promotions, it is necessary to conduct brand studies that are more suitable for the lifestyle and preferences of the students. Appendix I – Research Survey Questionnaire Part 1: Demographic Information 1. Your gender male ? female ? 2. Your monthly income below 100 ? 100-500 ? 501-1000 ? 1001-2000 ? 20001 + ? 3. Age 18 – 20 ? 21 – 25 ? 26 – 30 ? 30+ ? Part II: Nominal Questions 4. Do you smoke? ___ Yes ___ No 5. Do you smoke Marlboro brand? ___ Yes ___ No 6. Are you loyal to Marlboro brand? ___ Yes ___ No 7. What motivates you to purchase Marlboro cigarettes? 1) Local Advertisements on TV, magazines, billboards, etc. 2) Influence of a friend 3) Prestige in smoking the brand 4) Self preference 8. Do you smoke other cigarette brands? ___ Yes ___ No 9. Which among the following cigarette brands do you smoke? (Please check after the brand name) 1) Marlboro 2) Basic 3) Benson & Hedges 4) Cambridge 5) Chesterfield 6) Commander 7) Dave’s 8) English Ovals 9) L&M 10) Lark 11) Merit 12) Parliament 13) Players 14) Saratoga 15) Virginia Slims 10. What kind of cigarettes do you usually smoke? (Please check after the brand name) ___ Filtered ___ Non-Filtered 11. How often do you smoke a cigarette? ___ Frequently ___ Sometimes ___ Rarely ___ Never Part III: Ordinal Measurement 12. Please rank which among the following cigarette brands you prefer most. (Please rank 1 as your best choice and 15 the least choice) ___ Marlboro ___ Basic ___ Benson & Hedges ___ Cambridge ___ Dave’s ___ English Ovals ___ L&M ___ Lark ___ Parliament ___ Virginia Slims Part IV: Interval Measurement Strongly Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly disagree agree 13. The price of Marlboro cigarette is high. ? ? ? ? ? 14. I smoke Marlboro cigarettes as a status symbol. ? ? ? ? ? 15. I am attracted to Marlboro advertisements. ? ? ? ? ? 16. I consider myself loyal to the Marlboro brand. ? ? ? ? ? 17. Among any other cigarette brand, Marlboro brand will always be my first choice. ? ? ? ? ? 18. I will not purchase other cigarette brand if the Marlboro brand is available in the market. ? ? ? ? ? 19. Marlboro brand gives the best value-for-money. ? ? ? ? ? Part V: Open-Ended Question 20. What kind of marketing strategy do you think the marketing manager of PM USA should use in order to attract more college students to patronize the Marlboro brand? _________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ *** Thank you! *** Appendix II – Summary of Research Survey Findings Part 1: Demographic Information 1. Your gender male (n=15) female (n=15) 2. Your monthly income below 100 (22) 100-500 (7) 501-1000 (1) 1001-2000 (0) 2001 + (0) 3. Age 18 – 20 (9) 21 – 25 (18) 26 – 30 (3) 30+ (0) Part II: Nominal Questions 4. Do you smoke? (30) Yes (0) No 5. Do you smoke Marlboro brand? (26) Yes (4) No 6. Are you loyal to Marlboro brand? (18) Yes (12) No 7. What motivates you to purchase Marlboro cigarettes? 1) Local Advertisements on TV, magazines, billboards, etc. (3) 2) Influence of a friend (4) 3) Prestige in smoking the brand (21) 4) Self preference (2) 8. Do you smoke other cigarette brands? (12) Yes (18) No 9. Which among the following cigarette brands do you smoke? (Please check after the brand name) 1) Marlboro (26) 2) Basic (0) 3) Benson & Hedges (1) 4) Cambridge (3) 5) Dave’s (0) 6) English Ovals (0) 7) L&M (4) 8) Lark (1) 9) Parliament (2) 10) Virginia Slims (1) 10. What kind of cigarettes do you usually smoke? (Please check after the brand name) ___ Filtered (30) ___ Non-Filtered (0) 11. How often do you smoke a cigarette? ___ Frequently (21) ___ Sometimes (8) ___ Rarely (1) ___ Never (0) Part III: Ordinal Measurement 12. Please rank which among the following cigarette brands you prefer most. (Please rank 1 as your best choice and 15 as the least choice) (See Summary on page ) Part IV: Interval Measurement Part V: Open-Ended Question What kind of marketing strategy do you think the marketing manager of PM USA should use in order to attract more college students to patronize the Marlboro brand? 1. Competitive pricing 2. More advertisements 3. The manufacturer can make use of brand extension to reach out for price sensitive customers. 4. Marketing Mix... Analyze carefully the market prices of other strong cigarette brands. 5. Conduct brand studies... 6. Focus more on communication/advertising. 7. Carefully examine the specific needs of its target customers. 8. Maintain the brand image of Marlboro. 9. Offer promotions. 10. Examine how other cigarette brands are able to capture their target customers. 11. Make use of Internet advertisements. 12. Carefully study the lifestyle of its target customers. 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