BUSI:600
Busi 600
Case Assignment #1
Jaime Arze
9/4/14
1 Build the management-research question hierarchy.
1 Management Dilemma:
Is Penton Media using a outdated method of marketing to gather advertising revenue. If so, will
Penton Media see lower then usual advertising revenue if more efficient methods of inquiring
advertisement are not adopted instead of the reader service cards.
- Yes, The study conducted by Penton media proves that due to information technology
methods that were virtually non-existent in 1992 the e reader cards have displayed a lack of efficiency
in recent years. The study backs this up by estimating that within the next 5 years newer methods of
communication will hold a majority share of the market with at least 72.2 percent of people expected
to visit an advertising website.
2 Management Question:
Are the reader service cards still an efficient method for generating advertisement revenues, or have
they been replaced by more efficient information technology platforms?
-Yes, The reader cards remain an efficient method of generating revenue, while they seem to
be slowly losing ground to more information technology platforms like the Internet, email, or fax on
demand, they remain producing revenue for the company by generating some advertisement profit.
3 Research Question:
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Is Penton media reader card service generating enough advertising revenue to remain competitive?
Could information technology friendly methods be used to enhance Penton Medias advertising
revenue instead of the reader service cards?
Should Penton Media change the stage by which they generate advertising revenue?
-No, Penton media does not seem to be generating enough advertising revenue just from the
reader card service to remain competitive. While the research does not address specifically the number
of people who remain using the card service efficiently, they do point out that the percent of people
using newer methods has gone up to 72.4 percent, as opposed to the 33.1 percent currently using the
methods. With this being said it seems, as if acquiring this newer technology and newer methods
would increase the possible revenue that Penton media could generate from advertisement.
4 Investigative Questions:
If the reader service cards have decreased advertising revenue, what other methods could be used on
consumers instead of the service cards are using?
Could information technology alternatives be used, instead of the reader service cards to increase
advertising revenue?
-While reader service cards have not yet proven to decrease advertising revenue it seems
inevitable that with change and technology the cards will eventually yield negative results. In this
scenario it would be best if newer, more technologically friendly methods such as: Fax-on-demand,
internet or email could be adopted by Penton Media in order to maximize the efficiency of their
resources, and generate as much profit as the competition.
5 Management Questions:
Will Penton media suffer financial consequences by switching their advertisement strategy to more
information technology alternatives, as opposed to their reader service cards?
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Would changing the platform by which Penton media gains advertisement revenue affects the
relationship Penton media has with their costumers?
-Not, with 3 out of 5 clients using the reader service card already having access to the
internet, and up to 75% of the ones without access gaining access in the near future, it can only be
inferred that soon enough switching away form the reader service card into a more efficient, faster
response, and easier to use information technology platform would only benefit Penton Media. The
efficiency, and technological advantages that this could bring would only benefit the relationship
between Penton media and its costumers.
6 Management Decision:
The final managerial decision would advice Penton Media to discontinue an outdated and
inefficient method of gathering advertisement revenue. This would be best replaced by more
information technology based services, which are proven to be a better and more efficient way collect
advertisement data, while providing costumers with a faster, easier to use platform.
2 What ethical issues are relevant to this study?
Ethics are a branch of moral and principles that often dictate how a group of people or in
this case corporation will behave with regards to certain aspects. Ethical issues are a key point for
many corporations as a bad reputation with regards to ethics could often black list a corporation
within its sector, closing doors, and burning bridges that would otherwise be present if not for
their previous record of unethical behavior (Korn, 2013).
When dealing with studies and surveys there are a variety of ethical issues that need to be
accounted for. Most of the time, such responsibilities fall within the corporation that conducts the
survey, but if not screen or handled carefully, the damage done could fall under the corporation
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that used the survey, and not the surveyors conducting the study (Korn, 2013). From searching for
unbiased results within the study, to protecting the identity and privacy of those surveyed, Penton
Media had a lot of Ethical Issues to cover within their study.
Most companies conduct research studies within their corporation in order to assess the
efficiency of products, departments, or even to evaluate the future direction the company will be
taking. In this particular scenario Penton media wanted to discover the efficiency, and relativity
of their Reader Service cards with regards to more modern ways of conducting business. An
Ethical issue that could present It self with the way the study was conducted was the manner in
which participants were selected. In order to most efficiently gage the effectively of the Reader
Service cards, one would assume that a random test study would be conducted in order to
randomize the samples, and create an unbiased towards any particular sector or industry using the
Reader Service Card. It seems Penton Selected only 4000 participants out of their U.S. data base,
which were all managers, executives, engineers, and purchasing agents. This could easily leave
room for a bias within the study. It is important to remember that the purpose of the study was not
to see how this specific group of people liked the Reader Service cards, but instead to it was to
determine the “long-term viability of a reader and advertiser service”.
Among other ethical issues that could present it self when conducting a study or survey
would be maintaining the privacy of the people surveyed. This branches into a confidentiality,
which is an essential component of any company, or corporation who aspires for success in
today’s market. When collecting an individual’s opinion or information it then becomes it is
essential for the company in charge of collecting the data to maintain full confidentiality as to
create an appearance of reliability and trust. This falls at the hands of Penton Media to generate a
level of security and privacy and to be able to act on the information they have received without
necessarily violating anyone’s confidentiality.
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All in all, Penton Media has work to do in future studies if they wish to maximize the
level of efficiency while minimizing the risk for ethical violations when it comes to avoiding a
bias, and generating random samples to conduct their study. With this being said, it can be seen
that ethical principles such as privacy and confidentiality has been preserved by Penton Media in
this study.
Word Count: 1240
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References
Cooper, D. R., & Schindler, P. S. (2014). Business Research Methods (12th ed.). New York, NY:
The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Korn, M. (2013). Does and “A” in ethics have any value. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved
From:
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB100014241278873247610045782861020046943
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