Special Study Project Management Report - Essay Example

?Special Study Project Management Report of Research Project How iPhone Maker Apple Competes Across the Smartphone Market 2. Research Objectives To study the marketing strategies of and the perceptions of consumers about the Apple iPhone. 3. Research Background The Apple iPhone was launched in 2007, taking the wireless communication industry into a revolution of their products through the introduction of Smartphone technologies. The iPhone hit the market with an intense level of interest creating a fervent anticipation which promoted the phone to a high level of sales. The marketing of the iPhone was done in tandem with the branding that Apple had in place, providing a platform from which to launch the revolutionary product. There are many iconic products in the world, but few have had the power and impact that has been witnessed in the iPhone. The way in which Apple creates a mythology about its brands and the effect that this mythology has upon the perception of the products made by Apple is of great interest. Many companies would want to mimic or surpass this type of powerful branding. Therefore, studying the way in which the product has been marketed to the public is a powerful tool for understanding how such a phenomenon can occur. 4. Research Design Two types of data contribute to the further understanding of the topic of this research study. Primary and secondary researches were explored in order to more fully understand the objectives of the study as they have been framed by the research questions. Primary data was determined through the use of a questionnaire that would be distributed to appropriate participants. The secondary data was taken from resources that have information that would add perspective to the topic of this study. This data was taken from internet resources as well as books and journal articles. The secondary research was conducted through the lens of exploratory research, defined by Beri (2008) as creating a focus on ideas that pertain to the concepts within the study. In researching the previously established concepts that pertain to the topic, new ideas can be generated towards discovering new aspects to the study. The data was approached through the grounded theory for qualitative research. The research was coded for its commonalities from which memos will be created in order to organize the discovery into concepts that can be analyzed for their content. In comparing the contents of the research, a hypothesis will then be considered as it is revealed through the data. Although this methodology seems backwards, it provides for the emergence of themes, rather than forcing a preconceived idea and then seeking data to prove or disprove the concept (Strauss 1999, p. vii). 5. Research Resources Analysis The research methodology is essentially qualitative in nature. It does not involve a statistical analysis of the success rate of the marketing campaign of Apple for iPhone. The research is focused on the qualitative understanding of the marketing technique employed by Apple and the effectiveness of this technique expressed in terms of customer feedback and views, and the level of customer satisfaction. To this end, the resources utilized would be in the form of questionnaires sent via email, and filled out in person by customers selected randomly in a marketplace. The second part of the study involves a review of the existing research on the topic through the examination of published journals and articles. Through a cognitive analysis of results obtained from this two-pronged study, and comparison of the established and new research on the subject, a conclusion would be drawn about the marketing methodology and its effectiveness of Apple for iPhone. The questionnaires designed for this purpose will have to be open-ended so that they present flexibility to the volunteers to fully express their views. Questions that reflect preconceived ideas about the marketing strategy will be discarded. To this end, a list of all the possible questions will be prepared, from which only the suitable questions will be selected. This is important as this is a qualitative research, and so it should be based on unbiased resources that do not project the views or ideas of the researchers in order to minimize the chance of adulteration and error in the study. Another technique to minimize error in a qualitative research is to increase the number of data sets. Hence, this study will focus on questionnaires filled out by 50 volunteers, so that a wide range of opinions and ideas can be gathered. 6. Time Frame Two time frames should be appreciated with regard to this study. The complete study, including the process of data collection, its analysis, and the write up, spanned over a period of three months. Out of these three months, three weeks were dedicated to the actual collection of data through questionnaires sent via emails and filled out in person by volunteers in different public places. The latter time frame can be termed, for the purpose of further referencing, the resource collection period. This resource collection period was further divided into two phases: Week 1: in this week, a total of 50 emails were sent containing the questionnaires that were carefully prepared to minimize any chance of bias. In one week, 22 emails were returned which contained the answers to those questions. That left 28 questionnaires to be filled. Week 2 and 3: in the second phase of resource collection, the remaining 28 questionnaires were taken to marketplaces and other public places to be filled out in person by volunteers who were willing to take part in the study, and who affirmed that they owned and used Smart phones. Hence, the data collection lasted for 21 days. 7. Limitations of the Study The results of this investigation should be viewed with regard to the limitations of this study. The limitations concern with two factors of the investigation: the volunteer pool, and the time period of data collection. This study involves 50 questionnaires willed by 50 volunteers, whether online through email, or in person in several public places. As already discussed, this is a qualitative investigation, and it is imperative to involve a large pool of subjects to be investigated in order to minimize the chance of adulteration in the results. This investigation could have been improved by involving more volunteers, so that it could better depict the views of the customers of iPhone. Although 50 is an acceptable number of volunteers for this purpose, it does leave room for improvement. It was beyond the resources of this investigation to enlarge the source pool, due to time constraints, as discussed below. Although the total time period of this study was three months, which is quite adequate, given the nature and scope of this investigation, the actual time period allocated for the collection of data was only three weeks or 21 days. Data collection is the most important part of this investigation, as the objectives of this study depend upon the data in the form of views of the customers regarding the marketing policy of Apple for iPhone. Since this is not a theoretical study about the marketing techniques, rather a field analysis of the effectiveness of that technique, more time should have been allotted for the data collection, so that more volunteers could have been included in the study, improving the results. More time was needed for the processing of the increased volume data set, which was not afforded; hence, a compromise had to be made regarding the number of participants in the study. When using emails for data collection, a low turn over rate is expected; that is, there is a high probability that the participants will not reply to the emails, or that the emails would not contain usable information for the study. This was a potential problem with this investigation. It became an actual problem, when out of 50 emails, only 22 emails containing usable information were returned. To rectify this problem, the number of emails sent could have been increased. However, that led to another potential problem wit the investigation. The medium of emails for data collection is risky, as there is a chance for the participants to deem the sent emails as spam, and even take action against it. It is illegal to send spam through electronic media, so it is imperative to take the permission of the participants before sending out emails. This limits the number of online participants as it involves gathering email addresses through reliable and authentic sources and only with the permission of the participants. Hence, only 50 emails could be sent out for this investigation. 8. Learnt from the Study This study shows that the value of a product is as much about the perception that is created about the product as it is about the actual value of the product. Apple has used the power of its brand to create a product that does such a vast number of things that the functionality of the cell phone has been taken into a whole new level of experience. It created the demand for the product and provided functions that were both useful and interesting to implement into daily life. More than this, the product launch was done in such a way to create high levels of anticipation, another function of perception. The inference of the way in which Apple designed its entry into the wireless communications industry is that perception is at least as important as the actual product. The product needed to be great, but the perception of its meaning to society had to be even greater. Managerial implications that can be taken from this study is that creating high functioning products, services, and manufacturing details must be balanced with high levels of public perceptions about the company. Read More