MKTG 344: MARKETING RESEARCH

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1 MKTG 344: MARKETING RESEARCH Instructor Navdeep Sahni Office: E315 Phone: Office hours: by appointment Course Assistant Jennifer Smith Office: W308 Phone: Classroom TBA Meeting time: Tues/Thurs from 8:00am to 9:45am DESCRIPTION This course aims to help students ask interesting and relevant marketing questions, select the appropriate research methodology, and make comprehensive evaluations of the research output. The main objectives are to equip students with 1) a familiarity with marketing research frameworks and terminology, 2) an understanding of both the value and limitations of the most widely-used research techniques, and 3) sufficient hands-on experience with research tools so that students can answer their own marketing research questions. The course is designed to help managers to use research effectively in addressing substantive marketing problems such as: market segmentation, product targeting and positioning, forecasting market demand, designing promotional campaigns, pricing, and developing new products. To achieve the course objectives we use a combination of lectures, guest lectures, case discussion, and exercises. Additionally, there is a course project that provides the students with the opportunity to integrate the steps in the marketing research process discussed in class. Class sessions will be devoted to probing, extending, and applying material covered in the readings. Analysis of cases will form the basis for applying the concepts in real-world situations, and you are expected to come well prepared for these class discussions. An important aspect of the course involves getting "hands-on" experience with marketing research problems through the exercises and the project. 1

2 REQUIREMENTS Class participation. Almost every session of the course will involve interaction in the form of class discussion. We expect each student to be prepared at all times to comment in any class session. To reinforce this expectation, we reserve the right to randomly select (i.e., cold call) students at the beginning of the session (to open the class) and throughout the ensuing discussion (whether or not the student's hand is raised). The basis for assessment of performance is quality, not quantity. Thus, a single comment (succinctly delivered) that moves the discussion in a productive direction or offers a useful critical insight will be weighed more positively than comments that simply serve to take up air time. Attendance is a necessary (but not sufficient) condition for an acceptable participation grade. Each student is entitled to one absence that will not affect his or her grade (although we would appreciate notification in advance if at all possible). A student who finds that he or she must miss a second class can arrange with the instructor to make up the assignment. Any additional unexcused absence will be penalized in the class participation grade. Exercises. During the term, students will be asked to complete an exercise and submit the results the day before the class in which the results will be discussed. These due dates are explicitly noted in the Outline of Assignments. Two of these exercises will be graded: the Conquistador Beer case (which requires students to determine which of several different market research studies to buy in order to decide whether it makes sense to purchase a beer distributorship in southwestern Oregon), and a positioning exercise (in which students use market research data to develop and launch a new brand of trail mix). A third exercise, Gas Cooktops (in which we collect data from students to illustrate the use of conjoint analysis), will be counted as part of the class participation grade if the student completes the exercise. Students may work in teams or alone on the two graded exercises; the Gas Cooktops exercise is an individual assignment. Group project. Students will form teams (minimum three, maximum five) to complete a course project. Each team is asked to do the following: 1. Identify an interesting marketing research question. Please keep the scope manageable; this should be something that can be completed well within a 10-week time frame. 2. Collect data to help you answer this question. We expect that most groups will use this opportunity to design and field an online survey. However, this one source of data may not be sufficient, and groups may also decide to employ other methods (e.g., running a focus group, collecting secondary data, and/or running an experiment) as appropriate. 3. Analyze the data and write up the results. Each team will also present its findings to the rest of the class at the end of the term. The most interesting marketing research questions are diagnostic in nature; in other words, the course of action one decides to take depends upon the answer to the question (which is unknown or at least uncertain at the outset). Also, when choosing a project, keep in mind that it cannot be so secret that it cannot be shared with the instructor and the rest of the class. While the student team working on the project can be subject to non-disclosure (it is up to the members of the group whether they are willing to sign NDAs), both the presentation and the write up must be freely available to everyone in the class (sometimes this can be accomplished by disguising sensitive information). 2

3 In an attempt to keep student attention focused on the projects (so that everything is not left until the last minute at the end of the term), we are planning a couple of touch points during the term. 1. Students should form groups and submit a one-paragraph statement of the marketing research question at the beginning of our fifth class session (Thursday, April 18). 2. On Tuesday, April 30, we will use the regular class session as a project workshop during which time we will pre-test the teams online questionnaires. Each team must bring a draft version of its questionnaire to class (either an online version or several hard copies). Based on the feedback received in this workshop, teams will revise their questionnaires and launch them online no later than the start of class on Tuesday, May On Tuesday, May 28, we will use the regular class session as a second project workshop. Teams can use this opportunity to get questions answers about their analyses, check out their conclusions, and/or test preliminary versions of their presentations. The final versions of the project write up and presentation will be due at the beginning of class on Tuesday, June 4. For the final presentations, the amount of time available for each group will depend upon the number of groups presenting, but in all likelihood it will be no more than five to ten minutes. Each team must therefore manage its time effectively. Members of the class should expect to provide feedback on all presentations other than their own. Please note that not every member of the team needs to play a role in the presentation, and all members of the team will receive the same grade. The written project report should follow this format: 1. Executive summary (limit: one page) 2. Project write up (limit: 2000 words) 3. Exhibits, charts and/or tables, references (limit: 5 pages) 4. Appendices; e.g., online survey, focus group scripts, research design protocols (no limit) Grading. The components above will be combined as follows in order to determine the overall course grade: Class participation: 30% Exercises: 30% Conquistador exercise: 10% Positioning exercise: 20% Group project write up: 30% Group project presentation: 10% 3

4 GUEST SPEAKERS On two occasions we will have an outside speaker to share his perspective and experience relating to a particular marketing research topic: SPEAKER ADAM SIMONS Clorox BACKGROUND Adam Simons is a Business Insights Lead at the Clorox Company in Oakland, CA. He currently oversees insights and consumer strategy work for the Glad Joint Venture (a partnership between Clorox and Procter & Gamble), and sits on the Glad Leadership Team. Before that, Adam led work for Clorox s Corporate Innovation group. He has marketing and insights experience across a variety of industries such as hospitality, technology, health care, financial services, and consumer packaged goods. ALLAN THYGESEN Google Allan manages Google s advertising revenue from millions of small and medium-sized business customers worldwide. Earlier, Allan was a managing director and partner in the U.S. venture and growth funds of The Carlyle Group, where he led investments in startups in many sectors, including e-commerce, mobile advertising and imaging, and an executive in several technology companies, including interactive TV leader Wink Communications (NASDAQ IPO), consumer video editing pioneer Gold Disk (sold to Pinnacle), personal computer manufacturer Everex (NASDAQ IPO) and global medical device manufacturer Radiometer A/S (public, sold to Danaher). RESOURCES Readings and Reserve material. There is no required text for the course. Instead, we will use a combination of articles and readings that can be found either in your syllabus packet or online. In addition, we have placed the following optional background reading material on Reserve: Payne (1951) The Art of Asking Questions. A classic treatise (now 60+ years old) on the subject of writing good questions. Bradburn, Sudman and Wansink (2004) Asking Questions: The Definitive Guide to Questionnaire Design (Revised Edition). A somewhat more contemporary treatment than Payne s. 4

5 Malhotra (2007) Marketing Research: An Applied Orientation (Fifth Edition). A pretty good example of a standard, managerially oriented marketing research textbook; this is what $150+ will get you nowadays. Lattin, Green and Carroll (2003) Analyzing Multivariate Data. Interested in a mathematical understanding of how the methods we discuss in class actually work? For the tiny percentage of you who answer yes to that question, this book is for you. Data analysis software. In addition to your course packet, we have asked you all to get a license to use Minitab 16 (Student Edition). This license gives you permission to use the student version of the product for a period of six months, and is very reasonably priced. It is much more functional than the data analysis tools available in Excel, is much easier to use than Excel add-ins, has better statistical graphics options than Excel, and makes it easy to transfer data to and from a spreadsheet. Most of the resources required to understand how to use Minitab (e.g., User s Manual) are available online; we will also have one class session devoted to using Minitab for descriptive data analysis. Online questionnaire and subject pool. We expect that each student team will use Qualtrics (an online survey tool available to the GSB community) to develop and launch a questionnaire to collect data for the group project. Rather than have you all survey each other (and your friends in the MBA program), we thought it might be a good idea to give you some direct experience with online subject pools. The GSB has agreed to reimburse each group up to $100 for paid subjects recruited through Amazon s MTurk (an online pool of workers who can be hired to complete various human intelligence tasks). More details will be distributed during the term with instructions for setting up accounts, fielding your surveys, and getting reimbursed for subjects. CLASSROOM CONDUCT Because every faculty member has somewhat different expectations as to classroom conduct and norms for individual behavior, we would like to outline a few of ours at the outset. 1. If possible, please let us know in advance if you must miss a class. 2. As a courtesy to everyone, please arrive to class on time. We will generally run the class without a break and make use of the entire 105 minute period. If there is some reason why you must leave in the middle of class, please let us know in advance. 3. To help us learn your names as quickly as possible, we plan to use a seating chart (which we will pass around on the second day of class). We would also find it helpful if you would use your name card in each class. 4. To avoid distractions, please do not make use of any wireless devices while in class. The use of laptops is permitted (and encouraged during sessions in which we discuss analytical methods), but not for the purpose of connecting to the Internet or checking Unless an assignment is designated as an individual assignment, group work is not only acceptable but also encouraged. However, at no time should you use notes or papers prepared by others for courses where these materials might have been taught. Such use is considered a violation of the Stanford Honor Code. 5

6 M344 CLASS SCHEDULE TUESDAY THURSDAY (4/4) Introduction to Marketing Research Read: Andreasen Backwards Marketing Research (4/9) Problem Definition and Research Design Case: The Coop (4/16) Qualitative Research Guest Speaker: Adam Simons, Clorox (4/23) Questionnaire Design Read: Silk Questionnaire Design and Development, pp. 1-2, (4/30) Project Workshop I Pre-test questionnaire (4/11) The Value of Marketing Research Exercise: Conquistador Beer Due: Case write up (4/18) Measurement Read: Silk Questionnaire Design and Development, pp. 2-6, (4/25) Conjoint Analysis Read: Qualtrics Conjoint Analysis Due: Cooktop Conjoint Exercise (5/2) Test Marketing New Products Case: TrueEarth Healthy Foods (5/7) Descriptive Data Analysis Using Minitab 16 (5/14) Cluster Analysis Read: Lattin, Green and Carroll Cluster Analysis (5/9) Factor Analysis Read: Lattin, Green and Carroll Principal Components Analysis (5/16) Mapping and Segmentation Case: Ontela Picdeck (5/21) Digital Marketing Analytics Guest Speaker: Allan Thygesen, Google (5/23) Positioning Exercise Due: Positioning Exercise write up (5/28) Project Workshop II Analyze/discuss preliminary project results (5/30) New Research Methods Case: Finale and Survey on the Spot (6/4) Group Project Presentations and Course Summary Due: Final project reports 6