Background of the company
In this report, the marketing research is based on a company, Red Voltage. Red Voltage was expanded out to Singapore in 1996 when the company was fully established. The main headquarter of Red Voltage is based in Austria. (Red Voltage, 2015)
Red Voltage is a supplier company which specializes in selling halogen-free pipes. The company supply to different consumers to build up structure such as MRT station, Changi Airport and overseas building like Dubai. (Red Voltage, 2015)
Problem Discovery and Definition
The problem with Red Voltage is having sales decline due to poor services and brand loyalty consumers are complaining hence there are signs of profits decreasing. When there are poor service presented, there will be signs of complains from the consumer.
As Red Voltage is not the only supplier in the industry, consumers might change their mind to look for other suppliers in the industry such as Red Voltage's competitor, Schlemmer. Because of poor services presented, consumer can easily switch to other company as other company can provide them with better services by serving their needs.
Due to all the issues in Red Voltage, this will affect the company to look into their problems and evaluate to improve their service and make amendment to improve the company.
Situation Analysis
In the situation analysis, Red Voltage is the only company that served high quality material and affordable prices to consumers. (Red Voltage, 2015) As the company is not the only supplier in the industry of pipes, their competitor Schlemmer also served high quality material but the cost from Schlemmer is much higher than Red Voltage. (Schlemmer, 2014) As consumers are looking for high quality material with low cost, Red Voltage understands their needs and wants.
Research Objectives
In order to make amendment to the company's problem and improve it, research objectives had been set to have a clearer picture to look into it.
Research objectives 1
• To find out the reasons for sales declining in Red Voltage.
Research Objectives 2
• To find out and recommend solutions to recover sales in Red Voltage.
The objectives set had been a problem in Red Voltage. As there is sales declining in Red Voltage, it is due to poor services provided such as lacking of manpower. The recommendations for Red Voltage to recover their sales are to hire staffs and allocate different responsibility to the staffs.
With new hired staffs, there will not be an issue of lacking manpower. This allows Red Voltage to move steadily and be able to present good services and serve the needs of consumers. Most importantly, the responsiveness level to the consumers will be there.
Research Questions
Research questions are asked in order to make amendment and improve the company's problem and what situation did the company over look in their presence.
Research Question 1
• What are the reasons for the decrease in sales?
Research Question 2
• What are the factors that lead to complains?
Hypothesis
Hypothesis 1
• Due to poor services presented, there are signs of sales declining in Red Voltage.
Hypothesis 2
• Lack of responsiveness is the major reason for the increasing of complains.
Research Design
In this marketing research, exploratory research will be used. Exploratory research is to gain background information, to define terms, to clarify problems and hypotheses and to established research priorities. (Burns & Bush, 2014)
Focus group will be used to conduct exploratory research. By conducting a focus group, the employees and management can be more open-minded with the problems faced in the company and finding out a solution as a team to solve the problem in the company. By having all the information they need, Red Voltage can generate new ideas to make improvement in the company's problem.
Mixed mode survey will be used. In office interview and self-administered survey will be done. In-office interview can help to interview the employees and management by knowing what the reasons are for the lack of responsiveness to consumers which are the major reason for the decrease in profits and increase in complains.
Self-administered survey will be done by the consumers with the questionnaire given by Red Voltage. With the survey, consumers can provide the company with feedbacks and the problems the company over look in their presence.
Qualitative research will be used as the primary information to determine the issues for the company. In addition for the hypotheses, one question is asked.
Questionnaires
1) Your Company's Name: _________________________________
2) What do you think of Red Voltage's service?
A: Excellent
B: Good
C: Acceptable
D: Weak
Please state if answer is D: ________________________________
3) Evaluate on the responsiveness of the employees in Red Voltage.
4) What do you suggest to improve on our services to satisfy your needs in Red Voltage?
Sampling Plan
In the sampling group, Red Voltage will be sampling in two groups. The first group will be the employees and management of the company which consists of one director and six employees. The second group will be Red Voltage's consumer.
In the sampling size, Red Voltage will hold an in-office interview every two months with the employees and management to know more about the situation in the company by asking for feedbacks and updates on the working environment.
There will be self-administered survey allocated to all Red Voltage's old or new consumers every two months for the services presented to them through the company. Red Voltage will try to get 100 results from the consumers every 2 months from the survey given.
Action Plan
The action plan timeline will be as followed for the in-office interview, survey questionnaires for consumers and data collection:
November
• The employees and management of Red Voltage will be preparing the questionnaires for consumers and in-office interview.
December
• In the sampling size as mentioned, there will be an in-office interview for the company and survey for the consumers every two months. Hence, the first in-office interview and survey for consumers will commence in December. Survey will be allocated out to 100 consumers to receive feedbacks for the company.
January
• Data collection will be collected from all the consumers and company to evaluate.
February
• The second in-office interview and survey for consumers will commence in February. Survey will be allocated out to 100 consumers to receive feedbacks for the company.
Assessment - Final report
Length: 2500 words (excluding references and appendices)
Topic: Present the whole research project (briefly recap Stage 1, detail Stage 2) in report form
Use the structure below as a guide.
1. Table of contents
2. Executive Summary
3. Recap of Stage 1
a. Problem discovery and definition (B&B Steps 1-3)
b. Research design (B&B Steps 4-7). Include final questionnaire in your Appendix.
c. Sampling plan (B&B Step 8)
4. Data collection (Topic 6; B&B Step 9, Chapter 11). Discuss how you managed data collection processes and issues, including non-sampling error. Aim for a minimum of 30 complete questionnaires. Enclose a minimum of five (5) completed questionnaires (hard or soft copy) and completed Informed Consent forms.
5. Data preparation (Topic 7; B&B Step 9, Chapter 11). Discuss how you prepared your data and provide evidence of your data file in Excel, SPSS or equivalent. (This information will be treated in confidence.) 5. Data analysis (Topics 8-9; B&B Step 10, Chapters 12-14). Undertake a range of appropriate data analysis.
6. Results (Topics 8-9; B&B Step 10, Chapters 12-14). Present your findings from analysis with narrative, tables and graphs.
7. Conclusions, limitations and recommendations (Topic 10; B&B Step 11, Chapter 16). Draw your conclusions from the results, state the limitations of your study and make recommendations for action and any further research.
8. References
9. Appendices