Marketing Research Assignment
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Group Final Research Project
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Table of Contents
Problem Definition ......................................................................................................................... 3
Overview of The Coca-Cola Company ................................................................................... 3
Background to the problem..................................................................................................... 4
MDP: ................................................................................................................................................. 5
MRP .................................................................................................................................................. 5
MRO’s ............................................................................................................................................... 5
Rationale of the MRO’s .............................................................................................................. 5
Method ................................................................................................................................................ 6
Research Design .......................................................................................................................... 6
Method of Administration ........................................................................................................ 7
Sampling Technique ................................................................................................................... 8
Evaluation .......................................................................................................................................... 9
Ethical Considerations .............................................................................................................. 9
Potential Limitations ............................................................................................................... 10
Timeline ....................................................................................................................................... 11
Rational Link to MRO’s ............................................................................................................ 11
Appendix .......................................................................................................................................... 12
One ................................................................................................................................................. 12
Focus Group – Moderators Guide ............................................................................................ 12
General Introduction ............................................................................................................... 12
Directions ..................................................................................................................................... 12
Group Interaction ................................................................................................................................ 12
Game – “Fact or Fiction” ................................................................................................................... 12
Dialogue of required topics to cover .................................................................................. 13
Closing Questions and Answers ..................................................................................................... 16
Reference List ................................................................................................................................. 17
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Problem Definition
Overview of The Coca-Cola Company
The Coca-Cola Company (TCCC) is the world’s largest beverage company and operates
in more than 200 countries (The Coca-Cola Company, 2011). TCCC has more than 3,500
beverage products and manufactures concentrate, beverage bases, and syrups and sells
these ingredients to bottling operations(The Coca-Cola Company, 2011). Marketing
activities primarily consist of print and televised advertisements, online programs,
retail store displays, sponsorships, contests and package design (The Coca-Cola
Company, 2011). The focus of TCCC is on the creation of beverages and marketing them
in order to effectively meet the diverse and dynamic needs and desires of consumers
globally (The Coca-Cola Company, 2011). TCCC prides itself on being innovative and
claims that this is what sets them apart from their competitors (The Coca-Cola
Company, 2011).
TCCC is close to world dominance of the soft-drink beverage industry (Chaurasia, 2005).
In the U.S.A TCCC captures 44 per cent of the market compared to Pepsi’s 31 per cent, it
also outperforms Pepsi 3 to 1 overseas and boasts the world’s five leading soft-drink
brands (Chaurasia, 2005). Pepsi is still a fierce competitor to TCCC and is now
emphasising its efforts abroad by focusing on emerging markets such as China, India
and Indonesia (Chaurasia, 2005). These markets comprise of half the world’s total
population (Chaurasia, 2005). With their young demographic, exploding incomes and
underdeveloped soft-drink market they represent major potential for TCCC and Pepsi
(Chaurasia, 2005).
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Background to the problem
Few brands can boast the long term success of TCCC (McElhatton, 2011). Now
celebrating its 125th anniversary there are many aspects of TCCC to admire:
idiosyncratic packaging, global distribution and consistent advertising (McElhatton,
2011). However, there are many challenges in the global marketplace (Washinski,
2011) and TCCC’s other beverage products have not matched the popularity of its core
product; Coke (McElhatton, 2011). TCCC’s mission is to deliver long-term sustainable
growth and value for stakeholders (Washinski, 2011) and its principal marketing
challenge is concerned with maintaining consumers’ attention (McElhatton, 2011).
TCCC was an international brand by 1900 and by 1926 created a “Foreign Department”
in order to distribute Coca-Cola globally (Daft,2000). This was regarded highly
successful and TCCC was a very successful global corporation following the Second
World War (Daft, 2000). TCCC claims this success was determined by their locally
minded attitude and complimented by a decentralised business model
whereresponsibility was held solely with the managers in the individual organisations
(Daft, 2000). During the mid 1980’s TCCC began to move to more centralised operations
sanctioning more efficient services and reduced costs (Daft, 2000). Eventually, the rapid
pace and uncertainty of global markets combined to create a “second wave of
globalisation” (Daft, 2000:p607). Various societies and governments now respond to
globalisation with hesitance, and guard their politics, culture and brands from overseas
threats (Daft, 2000). Following all the benefits from TCCC’s initial wave of globalisation,
they had undermined their image of being a truly local brand which resulted in
decreased volume growth and a drop in revenue (Daft, 2000).
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MDP:
Should TCCC introduce a new product to increase their market share in the beverage
industry?
MRP
What are consumers’ attitudes towards TCCC’s current product range?
MRO’s
1. To explore consumers’ attitudes towards TCCC’s current product range.
2. To compare consumers’preference of the TCCC’s current product range
to competitors in the beverage industry.
3. To determine what attracts consumers’ to TCCC’s product range.
Rationale of the MRO’s
This research is concerned with TCCC’s competition in the global marketplace and is a
situation analysis of TCCC in order to clarify a potential problem and whether
introducing a new product will be a success. Exploratory research can indicate which
product TCCC should introduce to its product range and the best ones to pursue
(Zikmund et al., 2007). This research is useful to gauge future direction for TCCC in
order to rectify the research problem (Zikmund et al., 2007).
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Method
Research Design
This report will be conducting exploratory research to understand consumer’s attitudes
towards TCCC’s current product range, their preferences between TCCC and
competitors and what attracts them towards these products. Exploratory research
provokesfurther understanding of a marketing concept and crystallises a problem that
is qualitative, rather than providing a quantitative measurement (Zikmund et al.,
2007).Qualitative research will enable TCCC to achieve these objectives.
According to Ruyter and Scholl (1998, p8) “Qualitative research does not measure, it
provides insight.This insight can be gained through a process consisting of analysis and
meaningful integration of views expressed by respondents”
Exploratory research has the potential to uncover potential elements of the TCCC
current product range that are deemed unfeasible (Zikmund et al., 2007).
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Method of Administration
The method of administration that will be employed for this qualitative research is a
focus group (FG).
Greenbaum (1988, p10) defines a focus group to be:
“A focus group consist of a discussion about a topic of particular interest to a client
organization amongst eight to ten people led by a trained moderator.”
A FG is an unstructured, free-flowing group interview, whereby the relevant research
topic is discussed amongst the respondents (Zikmund et al., 2007). The moderator
leading the group needs to be highly skilled in moderating as well as having a thorough
understanding of the topic being discussed (Zikmund et al., 2007).
The moderator’s role in a FG is vital. They are to guide, but not lead, the group
discussion into relevant topic areas relevant to the current research problem (Zikmund
et al., 2007). The moderator should become familiar with the different personalities in
the group before progressing to the relaxed discussion. This enables the moderator to
gage which personalities may require more ‘probing’ then other (Zikmund et al., 2007).
The probing technique requires the moderator to ask further questions to
produceadditional information from respondents (Zikmund et al., 2007).
A FG technique was selected for TCCCsresearch design to provide the company with
insight into consumer’s attitudes towards theirs and competing products and to
generate potential product ideas and company direction. The relaxed structure of
questioning and the free flow of conversation and idea generation made it an ideal
choice for TCCC to thoroughly explore topic areas. Similarly, the technique allows for
numerous topic areas to be discussed, for example, TCCCs entire product range
compared to competition.
Please see appendix one for TCCC moderators guide.
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Sampling Technique
TCCC has such a diverse range of consumers therefore the sample frame for the
research will be from the yellow pages in Newcastle Australia. According to Fletcher
and Crawford (2011) Newcastle has similar characteristics to the average of Australia.
To obtain a realistic indication of the population the sample technique will be
probability sampling and the sampling procedure that will be used will be stratified
sampling. It involves selecting strata of the population, which are mutually exclusive
from one another. Morgan (1996) states that in regards to focus groups segmenting the
sample, therefore selecting strata, can generate discussion of participants who are
similar to each other and it can build a comparative dimension to the project, such as
data analysis. This can include segmenting the sample by age and sex. Participants may
feel more comfortable in the focus groups with people of the same sex and age. The
Focus group for TCCC will be separated into the strata of both sex and age. Males and
females from the ages of 16-54 will be target population participating in the focus
groups in order to discuss attitudes towards TCCC and competitors. The strata’s will be
proportionate to the population, so that it is a true representation of the population.
This form of sampling will be effective in generating discussion on attitudes towards
TCCC and its competitors.
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Evaluation
Ethical Considerations
Through conducting market research there are several ethical issues that it raises which
the TCCC need to consider and monitor. Michaelides and Gibbs (2006) identify that the
issue with ethics in market research revolves around the relationship between the
general public, respondent, client and the researcher. The marketing research process is
focused on creating knowledge that consumers can end up becoming a tool used for
increasing consumption. They also identify that ethics need to not just be applied to the
outcomes but the ethics of the outputs as well. This means that TCCC should not take
advantage people through market research but they should not exploit them by creating
needs to increase its profit.
The ethical concerns of focus groups are recognised by Smith (1995). He identifies that
focus groups do not have close personal involvement and they are short-term. Focus
groups are interactive and an individual’s input exists in a social context, sometimes
participants may over share personal information to both the researcher and
participants. This raises privacy issues between participants. Another issue is that the
processes can become stressful for participants and the moderator should be aware of
how they feel after the session. The researcher should not put the participants in a
harmful situation, both physical and psychological.
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Potential Limitations
A potential limitation of this research technique is the lack of generalizability of the data
collected from the FGs, to the Australian population. Whilst the sampling technique
employed does try to overcome this, the nature and small size of a focus group mean
that the results will not translate to the entire population. (Zikmund et al., 2007)
Kristy & Wood (1999, p189) “Unlike quantitative research, much reliance has to be
placed on the researcher's interpretation of the data collected, rather than on the
suitability or robustness of a particular technique of statistical analysis.”
The subjective nature of the FG is a foundation for potential limitations in the research.
Researcher and moderator bias will act as a potential limitation in this research design.
The predispositions they process will influence how they interpret the data and thus the
results inferred from this data may not be completely accurate.
Smithson (2000, p 105) proposes “Focus groups, then, should not be analysed as if they
are naturally occurring discussions, but as discussions occurring in a specific, controlled
setting.”
This provokes the idea that while many marketers view a focus group to be analysed as
a free flowing, natural conversation, it is actually somewhat artificial and the data
collected from here should be treated accordingly. There is the potential,the views and
opinions of the participants will not be a true and accurate representation of their
attitudes. Participating respondents may feel pressured to provide responses they
assume the moderator wishes to hear, however these responses may not be aligned to
their true opinions.
Respondents in the focus group will naturally possess different personality types
(Zikmund et al., 2007). The stronger, more dominant personalities in the group can
prove to be intimidating to other respondents and so deter the ‘shyer’ respondents from
contributing.
Greenbaum (1988) raises the concern of group conversation being skewed by the
opinion of the dominant respondent. A group ‘norm’ may develop and respondents may
feel pressure to comply with this norm rather than to voice their different opinion. In
this case the data collected will be inaccurate (Greenbaum, 1998).
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Timeline
Step 1: Defining the research
Step 2 & 3: Research Design and Sampling
Step 4: Data Collection
Step 5: Data Preparation and Analysis
Step 6: Report Preparation and Presentation
Rational Link to MRO’s
The MRO’s will investigate consumer attitudes towards products in the beverage
industry. Discussion between the samples in the focus group on desirable and
undesirable product characteristics will be helpful in shedding light on consumer tastes.
This will be constructive in determining if TCCC should introduce a new product into
the highly competitive market. The different age groups may have dissimilar wants and
needs, which can impact on their attitudes towards specific products.
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Appendix
One
Focus Group – Moderators Guide
General Introduction
Good Morning and welcome. My name is Jane Doe and I will be conducting the focus group today on
behalf of TCCC.
Thank you all for joining us. The aim of today is to create discussion and gain feedback (positive and
negative) with regard to the TCCC and their competitor’s current product ranges. Your feedback and
suggestions will enable TCCC to improve the current product range and provide direction for our
future.
Directions
Over the next 2 hours I will be recording the discussion. I encourage you all to contribute as much as
possible as we value all the feedback, both positive and negative.
Group Interaction
Allow the group members to move around the room, make sociable small talk and consume
refreshments and snacks provided. The moderator can use this time to identify participant’s
personality types, i.e. “shy” and “dominant” personalities.
Game – “Fact or Fiction”
Each group member is to write down one true statement and one false statement about themselves.
Participants take it in turn to read out their two statements. The rest of the group guesses which
statement is the “fact” and which is “fiction.” The participant then reveals if the rest of the group
guessed correctly.
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Dialogue of required topics to cover
Soft Drinks – TCCC
Do you know what soft drinks TCCC make? List known products.
What do you like / dislike about each of their products?
Do you like the products: o Taste? Why / Why not? o Price? Why / Why not? o Packaging? Why / Why not? o Beverage size? Why / Why not?
Is the beverage’s nutritional / sugar content an important consideration? Why / Why not?
Why do you purchase TCCC soft drinks?
What factors affects your purchase decision of TCCC soft drinks?
Soft Drinks – Pepsi
Do you know what soft drinks Pepsi make? List known products.
What do you like / dislike about each of their products?
Do you like the products: o Taste? Why / Why not? o Price? Why / Why not? o Packaging? Why / Why not? o Beverage size? Why / Why not?
Is the beverage’s nutritional / sugar content an important consideration? Why / Why not?
Why do you purchase Pepsi soft drinks?
What factors affects your purchase decision of Pepsi soft drinks?
Soft Drinks
In what situations will you purchase soft drinks?
Which brand of soft drink do you prefer? Why?
Energy Drinks– TCCC
Do you know what energy drinks TCCC make? List known products.
What do you like / dislike about each of their products?
Do you like the products: o Taste? Why / Why not? o Price? Why / Why not? o Packaging? Why / Why not? o Beverage size? Why / Why not?
Is the beverage’s nutritional / sugar content an important consideration? Why / Why not?
Why do you purchase TCCC energy drinks?
What factors affects your purchase decision of TCCC soft drinks?
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Energy Drinks – Competition
What other brands of energy drinks do you purchase?
What do you like / dislike about each of these products?
Do you like the products: o Taste? Why / Why not? o Price? Why / Why not? o Packaging? Why / Why not? o Beverage size? Why / Why not?
Is the beverage’s nutritional / sugar content an important consideration? Why / Why not?
Why do you purchase these energy drinks?
What factors affects your purchase decision of energy drinks?
Energy Drinks
In what situations will you purchase energy drinks?
Which brand of energy drink do you prefer? Why?
Sports Drinks– TCCC
Do you know what sports drinks TCCC make? List known products.
What do you like / dislike about each of their products?
Do you like the products: o Taste? Why / Why not? o Price? Why / Why not? o Packaging? Why / Why not? o Beverage size? Why / Why not?
Is the beverage’s nutritional / sugar content an important consideration? Why / Why not?
Why do you purchase TCCC sports drinks?
What factors affects your purchase decision of TCCC sports drinks?
Sports Drinks – Competition
What other brands of sports drinks do you purchase?
What do you like / dislike about each of these products?
Do you like the products: o Taste? Why / Why not? o Price? Why / Why not? o Packaging? Why / Why not? o Beverage size? Why / Why not?
Is the beverage’s nutritional / sugar content an important consideration? Why / Why not?
Why do you purchase these sports drinks?
What factors affects your purchase decision of these sports drinks?
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Sports Drinks
In what situations will you purchase sports drinks?
Which brand of sports drink do you prefer? Why?
Tea – TCCC
Do you know what tea’s TCCC make? List known products.
What do you like / dislike about each of their products?
Do you like the products: o Taste? Why / Why not? o Price? Why / Why not? o Packaging? Why / Why not? o Beverage size? Why / Why not?
Is the beverage’s nutritional / sugar content an important consideration? Why / Why not?
Why do you purchase TCCC tea?
What factors affects your purchase decision of TCCC tea?
Tea - Competition
Are you familiar with any other brand of tea? List known brands.
What do you like / dislike about each of their products?
Do you like the products: o Taste? Why / Why not? o Price? Why / Why not? o Packaging? Why / Why not? o Beverage size? Why / Why not?
Is the beverage’s nutritional / sugar content an important consideration? Why / Why not?
Why do you purchase other brands of tea?
What factors affects your purchase decision of other brands of tea?
Tea
Which brand of tea do you prefer? Why?
In what situations will you purchase tea?
Nutrient / Vitamin Water (NVW) – TCCC
Do you know what NVW TCCC make? List known products.
What do you like / dislike about each of their products?
Do you like the products: o Taste? Why / Why not?
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o Price? Why / Why not? o Packaging? Why / Why not? o Beverage size? Why / Why not?
Is the beverage’s nutritional / sugar content an important consideration? Why / Why not?
Why do you purchase TCCC NVW?
What factors affects your purchase decision of TCCC NVW?
Nutrient / Vitamin Water - Competition
Are you familiar with any other brand of NVW? List known brands.
What do you like / dislike about each of their products?
Do you like the products: o Taste? Why / Why not? o Price? Why / Why not? o Packaging? Why / Why not? o Beverage size? Why / Why not?
Is the beverage’s nutritional / sugar content an important consideration? Why / Why not?
Why do you purchase other brands of NVW?
What factors affects your purchase decision of other brands of NVW?
Nutrient / Vitamin Water
Which brand of NVW do you prefer? Why?
In what situations will you purchase NVW?
General
When purchasing any beverage, what are the key factors that affect your purchase decision?
When purchasing any beverage, how important is the product’s: o Eco-friendliness. Why / why not? o Packaging. Why / why not?
Closing Questions and Answers Recap all topics and opinions that were discussed.
Does anyone have any questions, queries or further comments relating to todays topics?
This concludes our group discussion for today. Thank you for your time and opinions; they are highly
valued by TCCC.
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