Information for Decision-Making - Assignment Example

Student Name: Tutor: Title: Information for Decision making Course: Information for Decision making Introduction Managers require information for the introduction of products and services that create value in the customer’s mind. Value perception is subjective and what customer may be impressed about this year may be different from what they require the following year. Common knowledge cannot be used to deduce attributes that create value (Hartmut, Scranton & Spiekermann, 2012). Data has to be collected and analyzed. Marketing research plays this important role for managers. Any organized effort to gather information about customers or markets is referred to as market research. Market research is more often than not used interchangeably with marketing research although experts may want to draw a distinction between the two. Marketing research is a crucial component of business strategy. Marketing research is the systematic gathering, recording, and analysis of quantitative and qualitative data about issues relating to the marketing of services and products (Malhotra, 2002). This research proposal seeks to establish if there is any difference between online gamers and offline gamers. This research proposal will be important in decision making at Castle Bingo. Problem definition Castle Bingo is the major trading arm for Castle Leisure. They celebrated Centenary year after incorporation in 1911 since its inception in 1856. It is one of the oldest private companies found in South Wales. Castle Bingo has eight bingo clubs located in South Wales namely Merthyr Tydfil, Bridgend, Nantgarw, Neath, Uskway, Newport, Swansea, Morriston: also Newport Road and Canton in Cardiff; this has made it to become the market leader in the Welsh bingo market. Marketing research is vital for providing important information on the characteristics of the market as well as new trends in the behavior of customers. New markets have to be discovered as well as serving market niches in the market. This information can only be divulged if a comprehensive marketing research is carried out. Castle bingo is interested in knowing the number of customers who are online gamers and those who are offline gamers. This research seeks to establish whether the online gamers are the same people who are also offline gamers at Castle Bingo leisure clubs. Development of hypothesis and research design Castle bingo has to understand the composition of its customer in order to tell where more marketing and promotional activities need to be done. The initial success of Castle bingo as an entertainment center has come from membership drives for the purpose of built clubs which provides the modern bingo player with conformable seating, stylish surrounding, money for bar offering and money catering. In effort to continue impressing customers with best delivery of services, it is good to understand the customer base and number of offline and online customers. Both qualitative and quantitative data has to be collected in order establish the real figures of online and offline customers and whether the same online customers are the ones who participate in offline activities. The research design will start by preparation and testing of questionnaire to determine their validity. A structured questionnaire will be required to gather qualitative information about the customers (Young, 2005). The questions on the questionnaire have to be tested with a pilot study to remove any kinds of ambiguities. Ambiguities have to be ironed out in order to avoid confusion in data collection and interpretation of questions. The sample size will have to be determined. Sample of the population of customers has to be established. Castle bingo has eight bingo clubs located in south Wales. Number of customers from each club can be determined through the membership that has been registered with Castle Bingo. 20% of all the customers in every club will be sampled on 1:1 gender basis. The sample will consider other aspects such as occupation and age (Wild & Diggines, 2010 Random sampling will be done on the stratified location in the eight clubs. After testing preparing and testing of questionnaire as well as determining the sample size, the next task will be to mail the questionnaires to respondents (Armstrong, Brodie & Parsons, 2001). The respondents will be given three weeks to fill the questionnaire and send back the results. A focus group identified in one of the clubs will be used for determination of validity of the questionnaire questions through a pilot study or test. The objective of the research: To find out the difference between the on-line gamers and online gamers. The positive hypothesis will seek to confirm that that there is a difference between the online customers and offline customers (Kolb, 2008). The null hypothesis will state that there is no difference between the online customers and the offline customers. H1: Online customers are different from the offline customers. H0: There is no difference between the online customers and offline customers Methodology It is important for Caste bingo to understand the type of its customer base in order to strategize and plan on how to market its services to the public. Castle bingo is the main arm of trading for Castle Leisure. It is one of the oldest private companies in South Wales following its inception in 1911 and becoming a trading company in 1856 (Nigel, 2007). Modern bongo clubs have been established by Castle bingo in main population centers in South Wales and it is a market leader. For successful planning and strategic alignment of objectives of the company, it is important for the marketing offer to have full information about clients so that they precisely choose means of communication that is effective. Apparently, there are both offline and online customers that participate in gaming. It is crucial for budget allocation purposes for the company to know the composition of its customer base. Online customers can get information about new prizes and jackpots through internet advertising while offline customers can be communicated to through social media such as newspaper, magazines, periodicals, newsletters, and other audio-vision means like Television and Radio. To make the work of planning easier and systematic, it is important to know where the most customer base of the company is. Are offline customers more than online customers? Where are the greatest returns of the company come from, online or offline? In order to confirm how many customers are both online and offline and how many are just online or offline, a research survey has to be conducted. The online customers have to participate in online survey in order to determine whether they are also engaged in offline activities in the games organized Castle Bingo. Objectives of survey: To determine how many customers are both offline and online To establish the time when offline customers take part in gaming To establish the time when online customers take part in gaming Data collection and recording Gathering of data will involve both secondary data and primary data. Secondary data will be gathered from news paper, magazines, government sources on demographic, occupation and gender. Secondary date will provide background information about the background of Castle Bingo and general leisure activities in South Wales and whenever Castle bingo clubs are located. The secondary data will be a guide to the researchers on how to apply their skills and knowledge in gathering of data. Bias among the researchers that will affect collection of data will be avoided through training and thorough preparation of the researchers. Validity of data gathering tools like tape recorders, video recorders and cameras will be established to remove any error and ensure accuracy and effectiveness (Kotler & Gary, 2007). Trained researchers will be used to avoid interference with the collection of data through personal bias. Primary data will be collected through filling of questionnaire, face to face interviews, online surveys, and observation. Face to face interviews will be limited in order to save time but will seek to establish the attitude of customers towards Castle bingo and whether or not they are offline customers or online customers. Data analysis and report writing The collected data will be thoroughly analyzed and a comprehensive report written to the management of Castle Bingo detailing the findings of the report. The data will be analyzed to decipher bother quantitative and qualitative inference with regard to the composition of its customer base. Data representation tools will include bar graphs, pie charts, line graphs for trend, chi-square and customer rating or ranking. The analyzed data will be used to write a final report that will be presented to the management of Castle Bingo. Timetable of events May June July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov Dec. Jan Fed March Questionnaire preparation Testing of questionnaire Sending of questionnaire Pilot study Online survey Collection of data Analysis of data Report writing and presentation The above table represent how the tasks will be accomplished either independently of concurrently. The market research is estimated to take about eleven months or less than that depending of the pace of accomplishment of each of the task. It will require cooperation of the management of Castle Bingo and the researchers for the success of this research. The pace of accomplishment of the entire research will depend on how fast individual tasks will be accomplished. The report will be report will be written after the entire research has been accomplished and all data analyzed thoroughly. Conclusion Marketing research is very important determining the characteristic of the market. Managers rely on the information on the market to make important strategic decisions and daily operations. Castle Bingo has to know whether the online players and the offline players are the same people or different people. Decision making in the company will be easier when they understand the composition of the market and how to run their promotional and sales activities in future in order to increase the market share. This marketing research proposal outlines and describes the various activities and tasks that will be required in collecting information about the market composition. It will require funding and support from the administration of Castle Bingo to accomplish the objective of the research which seeks to identify the difference between the online gamers and offline gamers. It will take around eleven months or there about to accomplish the tasks outlined in the research proposal. References Armstrong, J. S., Brodie, R.J. & Parsons, A.G., 2001, Hypothesis in Marketing Science: Literature Review and Publication Audit, Marketing Letters 12 (2): 171–187. Hartmut, B., Scranton, P., & Spiekermann, U., eds. 2012, The Rise of Marketing and Market Research, New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Kotler, P. & Gary, A. 2007, Principles of Marketing Pearson, Prentice Hall, New Jersey. Malhotra, N. K. 2002, Basic Marketing Research: A Decision-Making Approach, Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Nigel, B., 2007, Marketing Research, Tools and Techniques. Oxford University Press, Oxford. Young, C. E. 2005, The Advertising Handbook, Ideas in Flight, Seattle, WA. Kolb, B., 2008, Marketing Research: A Practical Approach, SAGE, London. Wild, J. & Diggines, C., 2010, Marketing Research, Juta and Company Ltd, New Delhi. Read More