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RESEARCH FOR MARKETING DECISIONS

Term III, PGP 2011-13 BATCH

Instructor: Patrali Chakrabarty


Office Location: A – 202
Phone: 2699 3319; E mail – patrali.chakrabarty@iimb.ernet.in

1.0. Course Objective

The primary objective of this course is to help students learn the methods, principles, and
theories of modern marketing research and to apply these to practical business settings. Both
concepts and applications will be covered and by the end of the course, the student should be
able to commission an independent MR study. They should be able to:
1. Identify the need and feasibility of marketing research in a business context.
2. Set up a research design.
3. Identify and evaluate efficient methods of data collection and analysis.
4. Analyze and interpret (make sense of) the data in a given context.
5. Master the skills of reporting and presenting their work.

2.0.Pedagogy

This course is a combination of lectures, conceptual discussions, case analysis, lab sessions,
assignments and project presentations.
The lab sessions (and related assignments) have been designed to introduce students to statistical
packages and acclimatize them to relevant analytical techniques.
Participants will be required to complete a project study (present their work and submit report).

Help files and additional Instructions on Moodle

For easing communication off class hours, we will use Moodle (Course Name: “Research for
Marketing Decisions 2011 (sec B & C)”). Students are required to sign up during the 1st week of
class. In addition to availing of regular reading aids and tips for assignments and exams, students
are encouraged to talk to the instructor here. Ask when you’re stuck. Use the discussion threads
to fire up conversations regarding MR.

Important class announcements may also be made here. Hence, you are advised to check the site
regularly (especially on the evenings preceding RMD sessions). Moodle will also be your
submission port for all assignments. Please contact the instructor or Academic Associate in case
of further queries in this regard.
3.0.Evaluation

Components Weights
Quizzes (Q1 & Q2 - 10%, Q3 & Q4 - 15%) 50%
Project Report (2 submissions: Proposal-5%, Presentation-10%, Final
30%
Report-15%)
Case Presentation 15%
Class Participation 5%

Five business cases will be discussed during this course. The cases have been chosen keeping in
mind the module preceding its discussion date. Case briefs (one per team) are due at the start of
the class. Please submit your case brief in Word or PDF format online through the course
website (limit 2mb).

4.0.Textbook

Marketing Research: An Applied Orientation – 6th edition

Naresh K. Malhotra & Satyabhushan Dash


Pearson Hall

5.0.Group Project

The teams are made to go through a design experience of conducting a project study in a
carefully chosen area. The schedule is as under:

i. Submission of –
a. One-page outline giving the title of the project and the project rationale
(before session 10); b. Brief project plan (2 page limit)
i. Methodology – survey or, experiment, or….
ii. Design
iii. Tools – e.g. questionnaire, plan of treatments to be used in
experiments
ii. Final Submission: Report with analysis & interpretation (before session 19).

1. Choose a marketing decision problem. Gain a good understanding of the decision problem
using literature survey, preliminary exploration. Some groups may like to work on real time
decision problems of particular firms in the city in which case they gain on contextual
familiarity more easily.
2. Define the research problem or research hypotheses for the particular marketing decision
problem at hand.

3. Select and develop a robust research design that includes both quantitative and qualitative
methods as appropriate. The research design can be either survey based, exploratory research
based or based on experimentation.

4. Delineate the data collection method, instruments for data collection, sample design. For
survey based research, questionnaire development is due in 1st submission.

5. Collect data.

6. Analyze the data using the quantitative techniques taught to you.

7. Come up with recommendations for the marketing problem through interpretation.

Guidelines for final submission: Complete report

Each report should have the following components:

1. Title page - Title of the project, term and year, names of group members
2. Executive Summary - Not more than two pages. Definition of the decision problem
being considered, the corresponding research problems / research hypotheses and
findings / recommendations.
3. Development of the Marketing problem and research problems - not more than one
page
4. Comprehensive Research Plan - This includes selection of primary and secondary
resources, selection of research approach, sampling, measurement and scaling, data
collection method and rationale, questionnaire design, use of quantitative techniques
to solve specific research problems.
5. Data Analysis - Description and outputs of the techniques used; Interpret results
6. Implications and Recommendations
7. Reference
8. Appendix – Insert tools (e.g. questionnaire, treatment(s) for experiment, etc.) here

Format - 12 point font, double spaced; 1’’ margin on all sides


Use appropriate headings
Avoid footnotes; acknowledgements if any may be inserted as a separate section in the beginning
or end of report.
Project report must not exceed 10 pages (not including Appendix)
6.0.Session-wise Course Schedule

Week
Module (Session) Topic Readings
No.
Chapter 1
1. Introduction

1(1) Introduction Problem definition in Marketing Research – A


Note
Marketing
Chapter 2
intelligence &
1(2)
Marketing Research
Process Case 1.1 (Malhotra & Dash; pg. 772): Dell Direct

2(3) Chapters 3 - 5
Research Design
2(4) Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Silk, Alvin J. and Glen L. Urban (1978), "Pre-
Method –
3(5&6) Test-Market Evaluation of New Packaged Goods:
Experimentation
A Model and Measurement Methodology," JMR,
2. Research Design

15 (2), 171-91.
Case: Johnson Wax: Enhance (A)
Kassarjian, Harold H. (1977), "Content Analysis in
Consumer Research", Journal of Consumer Research,
4(7) Content Analysis 4 (June), 8-18.
Content Analysis of Annual Reports for
Corporate Strategy and Risk

4(8) QRD – 3: Application Case: General Mills Inc.: Yoplait Custard-Style


Yogurt (A)
QRD -4: Scaling, Chapters 8 – 12
5(9&10) Questionnaire Design & Case: General Mills Inc.: Yoplait Custard-Style
Sampling Yogurt (B)

Introduction to SPSS - data preparation (encoding,


Introduction to DA -
6(11) cleaning), descriptives & cross-tabs.
SPSS
Read Chapters 13 - 15

7(12&13) ANOVA & Regression Chapters 16 & 17


3. Data Analysis

Discriminant, Logit, &


8(14) Chapters 18 - 19
Factor Analysis

Cluster Analysis, MDS,


9(15) Chapters 20 - 21
& Conjoint Analysis
Case 3.3 (Malhotra& Dash; pg. 798): Kimberly-
10(16) Practice Session
Clark: Competing Through Innovation
Marketing Research
6. Applications of
10(17) Provision for Guest Lecture

11(18-20) Project Presentations (Read: Chapter 23)

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