Question

1. Discuss the role of marketing research in helping Intel devise the "Intel Inside" and "Leap ahead" campaigns.

2. Intel would like to increase the preference for Intel chips among PC users in the individual user as well as business user segments. Define the management decision problem.

3. Define an appropriate marketing research problem corresponding to the management decision problem you identified in question 2 .

4. Intel would like to gain a better understanding of how businesses select PC and network communications products. What type of research design should be adopted?

5. Discuss the role of the Internet in obtaining secondary data relevant to the marketing research problem you defined in question 3 .

6. Discuss the role of qualitative research in understanding how businesses select PC and network communications products. Which qualitative research techniques should be used and why?

7. If a survey is to be conducted to determine businesses' selection criterion for choosing PC and network communications products, which survey method should be used and why?

8. Design a questionnaire for determining businesses' selection criteria for choosing PC and network communications products.

9. Develop a suitable sampling plan for conducting the survey identified in question 7 .

10. If Intel were to conduct mall-intercept interviews to determine consumer preferences for an ultra-light notebook that uses a newly designed chip, describe the fieldwork process that should be used.

11. If Intel were to conduct a survey in social media to determine consumer preferences for an ultra-light notebook that uses a newly designed chip, what fieldwork-related issues would be involved?

Answer 1

1- Marketing research is the systematic and objective process of gathering information to aid in making marketing decisions. This process includes specifying what information is required, designing the method for collecting information, managing and implementing the collection of data, analyzing the results and communicating the findings and their implications . The main objective of research is to facilitate the managerial decision-making process for all aspects of the firm’s marketing mix: pricing, promotion, distribution and product decisions. Marketing research can be used for problem-identification and also for problem- solving. Problem-identification research is used to identify problems upon which are not apparent to an organization and could possibly arise in the future. It involves market potential research, market share research and also image research (i.e. the perception of your brand in the eyes of the consumer). In the Intel Corporation’s case market research uncovered that customers were not upgrading their microprocessors to do a lack of awareness about updated technology. Problem-solving research is undertaken to solve immediate problems which could affect the current running of an organization. It involves segmentation research, product research (i.e. packaging), pricing research, promotion research (i.e. the effectiveness of an organizations advertisements) and distribution research (i.e. where to locate retail outlets). Through the use of marketing research, it showed that would be most effective for the corporation to cross market with its technology partners as it would help consumers understand the products that Intel helped develop. Without the use and adoption of marketing research the Intel Corporation never would have been able to increase customer awareness in both the individual and business user markets. Marketing research has allowed Intel to create a brand which is based around a commodity (i.e. their microprocessor) .

2- The marketing decision problem is defined as a situation in which management has to decide on which cause of auction to take. It includes the organisation asking themselves about ‘What should we do?’ and ‘Which is the best option?’ . It is of the utmost importance for companies to correctly because if you have defined a problem incorrectly, there is nothing a corporation can do in the research process to overcome the error. The decision problem is action orientated as it is concerned with the possible actions upon which the decision maker could take.

Intel Corporation’s management decision problem is “What can the Intel Corporation do to increase their market share for Intel chips among PC users in both then individual and business user segments?”. The management decision problem determines the best way firms can communicate with both individual and business users who may potentially purchase personal computers which contain the Intel microprocessor

3- Defining the management decision problem is one of the most important steps, because only when the problem is defined both clearly and accurately identified can the research project be conducted properly. By defining the marketing research problem sets the course of the whole entire research project. The management decision problem and the marketing research problem are important interrelating components which are part of the marketing research process.

For example:  If the management decision problem involves ‘should the price be cut in response to a price-cut by a competitor’, the marketing research problem is to determine the buyer behaviour at different levels of price.  If the management decision problem involves ‘should the product “X” be introduced in the market?’, the marketing research problem would be to assess the probable market size and share for product “X”.  If the management decision problem involves ‘what should be done to increase the market share of product “Y”?’, the marketing research problem is to determine the relative strengths and weaknesses of “y” vis-à-vis those of the competitors.

The marketing research problem is information orientated as it wants to determine what information is needed to make the best decision. The research problem involves determining what information is needed and how the information can be obtained both effectively and efficiently. An appropriate marketing research problem for Intel Corporation would be to determine the various needs of both individuals and businesses who use microprocessors in their personal computers and the extent to which current microprocessor offerings were satisfying those needs.

5- secondary data is a type of data which is easily available because this type of data is already prepared by other researchers. The internet plays very important role in obtaining secondary data because you can use online sites, articles, news, blogs to know the customer's views, competitor's information, market trends etc . you can get results of polls which already been done on social media to make business decision making.

For example- if Intel wants to set the pricing then it can use internet to know the competitor's pricing like AMD processor's pricing then put effective pricing on its products.

*by HomeworkLib policy, i can answer only one question out of many question like you posted but i tried to answer 4. can you post the rest separately. thanks