Kellogs: Growth in the Business - Research Proposal Example

Table of Contents Introduction 2 Type of Research 2 Method to collect data 4 Target Respondents 5 Sample Size & Selection Method 5 Changes due to time constraint 6 Conclusion 7 References 8 Introduction Kellogs which performs in the cereal and snack industry is looking towards identifying the shoppers attitude and behavior towards their cereal and snack and is looking towards conducting a research so that valuable information regarding the manner the customers conceives the brand can be determined. Further, Kellogs through this process wants to determine the factors which have an influence on their buying habits and is looking towards ensuring that the business is able to make the required changes so that the business is able to prosper. This report thereby looks to present the type of research that Kellogs needs to look into along with the target respondents, time frame, the method of collecting information and other information which will help Kellogs to understand the consumer perception towards the brand. Type of Research Kellogs has an opportunity to look towards qualitative and quantitative research while looking to find out the attitude of the customers towards the brand. Before deciding the type of research that the business looks to conduct it is important to understand what each method means. “Qualitative research is understanding the human behaviour and looking for reasons which will help to find why a certain things happen” (Luntz 2010). Quantitative research on the other hand looks into “statistical information and draws findings based on those” (Luntz 2010). Thus, there are underlying differences in the manner in which the business looks towards identifying the method they are going to use so that the best possible result can be achieved. This helps to underline the difference as the fact that qualitative research looks towards the conclusive part and then tries to find the underlying variables that are affecting them. This helps businesses to understand the different aspect of the business which has relevance on the customer attitude. Quantitative research is further defined as a mechanism through which exploratory data is explored to find conclusive evidence so that the manner in which the underlying variables act can be found out (Wee, 2001). This thereby makes it important that the business looks towards identifying the type of research that will provide them the maximum advantage. Kellogs while looking to determine the manner in factors which have an effect on the customer’s attitude and behavior towards their cereal and snacks needs to look towards understanding the underlying variables that have an impact on the customer attitude. Since, the final result is known and the company knows that different factors have an influence on customers in a different way so identifying the variables which have an impact on their perception is a priority (Day, 2005). Kellogs on the mechanism and requirement should look towards conducting a qualitative research which will look towards identifying the underlying variables that have an effect on the consumer attitude and behaviour towards the cereal and product. This has been backed by a study which states that quantitative research is loosing relevance to qualitative research as finding the variables which have an effect on buyer’s perception and using different sampling methods through focus groups and questionnaire has increased the manner reach and relevance of data that is gathered (Frank, 2008). Thus, Kellogs should look towards using qualitative research so that the underlying variables which have an effect on consumer behavior can be easily identified. Method to collect data Kellogs have different options that they can look towards using while gathering the data pertaining to the variables that have an effect on consumer perception towards the brand. Kellogs needs to identify the manner in which they will be able to gather maximum information which is valuable and provide the required direction that the business is looking for and wants to achieve through the objective Kellogs based on the nature of research can look towards focus group, depth interviews questionnaires mailing, projective techniques, and random sampling methods to gather the valuable information regarding the research (Yoon & Jain, 2008). This makes it important that Kellogs understand the mechanism through which they will be able to gather valuable information from a large number of respondents so that the variables which have an effect on consumer attitude can be determined in a proper way. Based on the different alternatives that Kellogs has the most feasible option will be to conduct either interviews or questionnaire mailing as it will help to ensure that valuable data is gathered. Using interview as a method will ensure that information is gathered at the spot and any queries are solved at the same time. Questionnaire mailing on the other hand will help to ensure that a large number of respondents are contacted and will help to gather information based on large number of people which will help to understand the underlying variables better (Mahoney, 2010) and will help to understand the factors which have an effect on the behavior and attitude of the shoppers towards the brand. Target Respondents Kellogs has to look towards ensuring that they target the correct section of the society so that valuable information pertaining to the research is gathered from the correct sources. Since, Kellogs looks towards identifying the shoppers’ attitude and behavior towards their cereal and snack needs to ascertain that their target customer is correctly identified based on which the research is to be carried out. Kellogs need to look towards ensuring that they target the house wives, singles household and individuals who purchase the products for their daily consumption as their attitude and perception determine the product and brand that the household is going to consume. This makes it important that Kellogs looks towards targeting households and working females along with single individuals working and consuming the product or a similar brand. Kellogs while looking towards identifying their target audience for the research needs to ensure that people from all age group and background is included so that the situation doesn’t get skewed and provides complete justification to the research. This will help to ensure that Kellogs is able to correctly position their product and will help to understand the perception of the customer towards the product which will thereby ensure that the research provides the correct finding. Sample Size & Selection Method Kellogs while looking to conduct the research should ensure that they are able to target the maximum number of possible respondents. The only care that Kellogs needs to ensure is that while looking towards identifying their target audience for the research needs to ensure that people from all age group and background is included so that the situation doesn’t get skewed and provides complete justification to the research. Further, Kellogs have to ensure that they people from different age groups are included so that it helps to understand the variables affecting people from each group (Krasnikov and Jayachandran, 2008). This will help Kellogs to develop their marketing strategies accordingly and will ensure that they are able to target the correct customer base. The method of selecting data should be done randomly where from the entire population people are chosen in such a manner that it represents the entire population. Care and precaution should be taken to ensure that while selecting the required sample people from all section are provided complete representation so that the finding derived is for the entire population and provides the required findings which will help Kellogs in determining their future strategies Changes due to time constraint Kellogs which is looking towards interviews as well will help to rely mostly on questionnaire mailing due to time constraint. Since, questionnaire helps to ensure that maximum information is gathered at the minimum time possible so it is important to use this method wisely. The risk that Kellogs has in using this method is that people don’t respond to the questionnaires or take it seriously so a mechanism has to be devised where people fill in the questionnaire correctly and having some gifts or free samples will be effective at this time (Bristow & Frankwick, 1994). Using questionnaires will help Kellogs to ensure that they are able to gather the information that will help the business to conduct their research in an effective manner will help to provide a situation where Kellogs is able to achieve the desired results Conclusion Kellogs thereby has to look towards identifying the underlying variables by conducting a qualitative research using either questionnaire mailing or interviews so that the consumer perception and attitude towards the brand is identified. Conducting the research carefully and ensuring that the correct audience is targeted will help Kellogs to ensure that they are able to develop strategies based on it which will help them to ensure efficiency and growth in the business over a longer period of time. References Bristow, D. and Frankwick, G. 1994. Product manager influences tactics in marketing strategy development and implementation. Journal of Strategic Marketing, 2 (3), pp. 23-27 Day, M. 2005. Why is market research important. Retrieved on May 20, 2012 from http://www.articlesbase.com/marketing-articles/why-is-market-research-important-8603.html Frank, L. 2008. Focus Group Research in American Politics. Voices of Victory, 1, Retrieved on May 20, 2012 from http://www.pollingreport.com Krasnikov, A. and Jayachandran, S. 2008. The relative impact of marketing, research and development, and operational capabilities on firms performance. Journal of Marketing, 72 (4), pp. 367-378 Luntz, F. 2010. Qualitative Research Analysis. Retrieved on May 20, 2012 from http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-6494016/Bridging-the-gap-between-research.html Mahoney, J. 2010. World Politics the New Methodology of Qualitative Research, 62 (1), Retrieved on May 20, 2012 from http://www.projectmuse.com Wee, T. 2001. The use of marketing research and intelligence in strategic planning: key issues and future trends. Marketing Intelligence and Planning, 19 (4), pp. 138-164 Yoon, C. and Jain, A. 2008. How to conduct marketing research for information products and services. Retrieved on May 20, 2012 from http://www.ev-114859-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html Read More