Assignment (Written Responses) Student Instructions
BSBMKG506 Plan market research
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assistance of a Learning Support Teacher for LLN issues
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questioning & assessor to write the answers
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April 2016 v1.2
Date:
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Page 1
Assignment (Written Responses) Student Instructions
BSBMKG506 Plan market research
Students must complete all tasks as outlined in the following pages.
Hints: - The following hints will assist when preparing reports for submission
Report format:
Executive summary
An executive summary is a very useful tool in communicating your information to busy people. It is essentially
a short summary (often no more than a page) of the report objectives, findings, and conclusions.
Contents
Any report over three pages in length should have a list of contents. A list of contents not only helps people
find their way around the report but it also gives an indication of what is in the report and the structure.
Introduction
The introduction should set the scene for the report by concisely describing the reason for the report and the
background or history relevant to the report.
Body
The body should address the main information including:
• objectives of the review;
• how the review was conducted, who was consulted, etc; and
• results of the review and key issues identified.
Summary/Conclusions/Recommendations
Your conclusions should be clearly justified with reference to the results of the review. Your recommendations
should be made twice, briefly in the opening summary or Executive Summary and then in more detail in the
recommendations section.
Useful links to assist with assigned tasks.
This information is to be handed to each student to outline the assessment requirements.
Assessment due date:
April 2016 v1.2
This will be aligned to Session Plan
Page 2
Assignment (Written Responses) Student Instructions
BSBMKG506 Plan market research
Instructions
Please complete the following tasks using either your organisation or the scenario provided below. Note: If you use
your own organisation, you will need to identify an opportunity for expansion and provide details.
Scenario
You are to assume to role of Jon Sales, Head of Marketing of CA City Department Store. You have been tasked with
identifying opportunities for business expansion. You have heard from a few customers that a ‘specialty organic
foods’ or delicatessen department would be appreciated. Before putting together a proposal for expansion, you will
need to conduct market research.
Whilst you have some marketing knowledge, you will need advice and support from personnel within the business.
Richard Burton, the General Manager for Marketing, has informed you that he is more than happy to help and can
provide you with his assistant whenever you need. Once you have completed your plan, you will need final approval
from Edward Shands and Richard Burton.
Additional documents and resources have been provided for you throughout this assignment. To ensure you
complete the tasks correctly, you will need to make sure that you review any documents provided prior to completing
tasks.
Throughout this assignment, document templates have been embedded to help structure your responses and save
you time developing documents. You may choose to save your work within the embedded document, or save
externally and upload separately. If you choose to save in the embedded files and upload only the assignment, you
will need to check you have saved your work correctly with appropriate names. It is good practice to save a backup
copy.
April 2016 v1.2
Page 3
Assignment (Written Responses) Student Instructions
BSBMKG506 Plan market research
Question One
In order to begin market research, you need to get stakeholders on board. It is important for personnel in the business
to understand why market research matters.
1a
Review the organisational charts provided in Appendix A. Identify a minimum of three personnel you will
need to consult with.
1. .
2. .
3.
1b
Briefly explain how will you convince your selected personnel that market research is important. At a
minimum, your explanation should include what is involved with marketing research and how market
research can help.
Explain why market research is important? Page 5,6 & 7 of ebook can help with this.
1c
Explain how you plan to communicate with them and why you have chosen that communication method.
Stakeholder
Method of communication?
(Can be more than one)
Why is this method the best?
1.
2.
3.
April 2016 v1.2
Page 4
Assignment (Written Responses) Student Instructions
BSBMKG506 Plan market research
Question Two
To support your case and influence your identified personnel, it is important that market research needs are
identified and documented clearly.
You have had a meeting with the marketing team to discuss your ideas for expansion. The information in the table
below has been provided to you by a marketing assistant. Review the proposed information, and using the table
below, document changes you may make. Make notes to explain your proposed changes.
Changes required – All need changing. None of them are specific enough.
Notes – list what information you need to know.
Remember to look in the scope to help with this.
Information Provided
Changes required
Notes
Objective
To discover the Needs
changing.
This I would still need to know:
popularity
of objective is not specific
 What do we really want to know
specialty foods
from our customers?
 What specialty foods are popular?
 Would they buy them?
 How much would they buy?
 What would they pay?
 Demographic information?
Scope
Survey customers
asking if they’d buy
specialty foods
Stakeholders
CEO,
Customer
Service Personnel,
Customers
Communication


Review
April 2016 v1.2
Surveys
for
customers
Weekly email to
internal
stakeholders
Only CEO
Page 5
Assignment (Written Responses) Student Instructions
BSBMKG506 Plan market research
Question Three
To determine research needs, it is important to analyse enterprise planning and performance documentation. Using
the table below, explain why each of the documents listed are important when determining research needs. You may
use examples within your explanation.
Hint: you can access the CA City Retail Group Operational Plan and identify existing objectives for this project.
You can use Control F in the ebook or google it. Just use your own words.
Documentation
Importance
Organisational plans
Correspondence (emails. letters
of support, letters of complaint,
other information shared with
the organisation that may
inform your choices)
Financial reports
Information about sales (both
profitability and the sales force)
Internal reports (do any of your
other stores currently have the
products you are looking to
introduce)
April 2016 v1.2
Page 6
Assignment (Written Responses) Student Instructions
BSBMKG506 Plan market research
Question Four
To adequately determine your market research needs, you will need to conduct preliminary research on the
marketing mix, your competitors and your consumers. Using the table below, suggest three examples of what you
would need to measure for each research area.
Research Area
Research on competition
Suggested measures
1.
2.
3.
Research on consumers
1.
2.
3.
Research
(location)
on
Research on pricing
place 1.
2.
3.
1.
2.
3.
Research on products and 1.
services
2.
3.
1.
Research on promotion 2.
(promoting
the 3.
product/service)
April 2016 v1.2
Page 7
Assignment (Written Responses) Student Instructions
BSBMKG506 Plan market research
Question Five
Once preliminary research has been conducted, you will have a better understanding of how your research will
benefit the organisation and how your performance (past, present and organisational objectives for the future) will
impact on the research.
5a
Based on what you think the market research needs are, use the table below to draft two research objectives.
Remember to ensure that your objectives align with organisational requirements. Section 2 ebook
Draft Objectives
1
2
5b
Part of ensuring that you are on the right track is to test various hypotheses. With the help of Richard, you
have developed the hypothesis ‘The CA City Department Store customers need a delicatessen’. Using the
table below, outline the seven (7) steps you would take to test this hypothesis. Control F ebook will cover
this
Steps to test a hypothesis
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
5c
Using the table below, explain how each of the key provisions of legislation listed could impact your
objectives and business operations. An example has been provided for you below. Ebook or google – try to
relate it to market research
Legislation
Anti-discrimination
legislation and principles of
equal opportunity, equity
and diversity
Ethical principles
Explanation
It is unlawful to discriminate against any person. It will be important to
ensure that objectives do not beach discrimination laws otherwise this will
impact business operations.
Privacy laws
Australian Consumer Law
April 2016 v1.2
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Assignment (Written Responses) Student Instructions
BSBMKG506 Plan market research
Question Six
You have received an e-mail from Edward Shands (see Appendix B). As per Edward’s request, you will need to develop
a market research plan. To help structure your response, a template has been provided for you below. If you decide
to use your own template, your market research plan must include the following: The Project Plan template must be
completed. The Project scope will help with this along with the ebook.












Market research plan approval signatures
Business need
Marketing plan overview
Critical assumptions
Deliverables
Objectives
Market research plans
Work breakdown structure
Timelines
Budget
Control plan
Communications plan
Market Research
Plan_Template.doc
April 2016 v1.2
Page 9
Assignment (Written Responses) Student Instructions
BSBMKG506 Plan market research
Question Seven
7a
Now that you have completed your market research plan, you will need to send the draft back to Edward to
review. Using the template below, write an e-mail to Edward asking for feedback on your market research
plan. I am looking for formal wording and the word feedback in this email.
E-mail template
7a.docx
7b
Edward has reviewed your marketing research plan and has asked you a couple of questions regarding the
communication strategy. He feels that the current communication strategy in your market research plan
doesn’t clearly explain what communications are required. He has suggested that you complete a
communication matrix to help ensure relevant and useful information is gathered frequently.
Using the matrix template provided below, develop a communication matrix which includes a minimum of
three stakeholders. One has been completed for you as an example.
Communication Matrix
Stakeholder
Communication
Description
Frequency
Format
Owner
Name
What
type
of
communication
and
reporting
will
this
stakeholder received?
How often?
In what format? Who sends?
Report sent by
email?
Or
presentation?
Accounts personnel
Project status updates
Monthly
email
Jon Sales
You may list more than
one here
7c
After your initial planning and communication, Edward has indicated that he may need to see the results of
your research by the next board meeting in 10 days. If this were to happen how would this affect your market
research plan? Minimum 50 words. Read through ebook but this question is asking what are the
consequences of moving the time line forward? How will it affect your data?
April 2016 v1.2
Page 10
Assignment (Written Responses) Student Instructions
BSBMKG506 Plan market research
Question 8
Edward has approved your market research plan and does not need the results in the next ten days- what a relief!
With the plan now approved, you now need to begin defining your data gathering approaches. Based on your
objectives, you need to select appropriate data types, sources and methods. Make your selections and use the table
below and document the following:




Data type
Description of data
What information you require
Disadvantages of the method you have chosen
You will need to include a minimum of four data types. One has been done for you as an example.
Follow the example provided. Ebook section 3 will help also
Data type
Industry
specific data
Describe the data.
Internal/External
Primary/Secondary
Quantities/Qualitative
 External
 Secondary
 Quantitative
What information do you need What disadvantages could this
from this data to support the method present for you?
research objectives?
Trend information (growth or May not capture all the information
decline)
and
consumer we need.
information.
Question 9
9a
In most cases, a combination of data types will best meet research objectives. Having selected various data
types in question eight, which combination of data types do you think will best inform the market research
objectives? Justify your answer. 3.2 ebook
9b
As a researcher, you need to consider how you might go about collecting/gathering the data types you have
identified in question eight. Using the table below, list a minimum of four data collection methods and
explain why they would be suitable for your market research plan. One has been done for you as an example.
Section 3 of ebook
Data Gathering//collection method
Explanation
1 Search the internet e.g Australian Bureau of A lot of useful information can be found online and
Statistics, Google, Industry web sites
can be a low cost option. A preliminary internet
search can be a good starting point for determining
the customers need/want for delicatessen items. For
example,
a
drink
marketer
googling
'enhanced water products' would come up with 13.5
million results
2
3
4
5
April 2016 v1.2
Page 11
Assignment (Written Responses) Student Instructions
BSBMKG506 Plan market research
Question 10
10a
When developing customer surveys, there are various components you need to consider to ensure the data
you gather is quantifiable. Use the table below to explain:






How questions should be developed.
The ‘should nots’ of question development.
Question types
Questions you will include in the survey
The various methods of designing samples.
How you would choose a sample to deliver the survey. There is heaps of info in the ebook for this
Component
How should your questions be
developed?
What should your questions not have?
Provide a minimum of three (3)
question types
Document a minimum of two (2)
questions you will include in the survey
Explain the various methods of
designing samples, how would you
choose a sample to deliver the survey?
10b
Quantify required data
Explanation
You have been provided with results from a recent customer survey (see Appendix C). Use at least one
method to quantify this data and explain the purpose of another three statistical analysis methods.
Hint: You can choose from a variety of statistical analysis measures eg: you could express the collected
response figures as percentages.
Use one method to quantify your data.
Explain the purpose of 3 more:
1.
2.
3.
Question 11
Explain how the types of data and data processing methods you have chosen will satisfy the research objectives you
have set. Minimum 25 words.
Hint: please give a general reasoning, but also make sure to include how it might align with organisational
policies/procedures or identify the cost and benefit choices.
I expect a good paragraph on this one. Section 3 ebook
April 2016 v1.2
Page 12
Assignment (Written Responses) Student Instructions
BSBMKG506 Plan market research
Question 12
Before you can implement the plan, you will need to conduct one last review before sending it to Edward and Richard
for final approval. To do this, answer the following questions.
12a
On a scale of 1-10, how easy will it be to implement your market research plan? (1 being easy, 10 being hard)
Be sure to explain your answer. Here tell me why it would be easy or hard to implement. Eg Research used
Hint: consider your estimated resources and timelines
12b
Are you comfortable with the quality and credibility of the data methodology you proposed? Why?
12c
In hindsight, what other means could you have used to obtain similar results? (Hint: choose a data gathering
method that hasn’t been mentioned in question nine)
12d
Based on all the information obtained should the market research plan be recommended? Explain your
answer. Yes or No and why?
Question 13
Now that you have completed your final review, it is now time to get the market research plan approved and ready
for implementation. Using the e-mail template below, write an e-mail to relevant personnel requesting their approval
of your plan.
E-mail template
13.docx
April 2016 v1.2
Page 13
Assignment (Written Responses) Student Instructions
BSBMKG506 Plan market research
Appendix A: Organisational Charts
Organisational Org_Chart_Departm
Chart_Retail Group.docx
ent Store.docx
Appendix B: E-mail from Edward
Send
To
From
Subject
Jon Sales
Edward Shands
Market research plan
Market research
brief.doc
Dear Jon,
As discussed, please find the market research brief attached. I know you have developed your own objectives, but you will
need to develop your plan according to the information provided in the market research brief. I have had Richard Burton
review the brief as well and he agrees that you should use this to develop your market research plan.
When developing your budget, try your best to allocate dollar figures logically. Remember, do not go over budget.
If you have any questions, please give me a call.
Looking forward to seeing your draft.
Kind Regards,
Edward Shands
April 2016 v1.2
Page 14
Assignment (Written Responses) Student Instructions
BSBMKG506 Plan market research
Appendix C: Survey Results
Summary results from customer survey for overall CA City Department Store customer satisfaction.
SCALE
Product
range
Customer
service
Prices
Do we need Special
to do more events
OVERALL
Very good
112
508
498
539
123
486
Good
426
90
78
39
411
111
Not good
60
2
1
16
12
0
No answer
2
0
23
6
54
3
Comments
I asked for
different
brand of shoes
but the store
wasn’t
flexible.
Girls
in
footwear are
great.
Staff always go
above
and
beyond the call
of duty
Comparable in
some
departments.
Others
are
more
expensive than
your
competition.
I know it’s not
food a shop
but CA City
could use a
deli. Please!
The staff could
do with a
lesson
on
timings
at
some of the
events I have
been too. Is
the catering
from outside?
Not enough towels
and toilet paper.
I
actually
wanted
to
return
a
product due
to
faulty
features but it
wasn’t
possible even
though
I
returned it in
the packaging!
I love the
range
but
would love to
be able to sit
down for a
coffee.
We
have to leave
the store do
that.
Total
April 2016 v1.2
600
I have had two
third party calls
since
buying
from the store
not sure where
they got my
details!
Everything
was kept on
time,
well
done to the
staff.
Brilliant just add
coffee please.
Brilliant event.
I have had several
third party calls
since
shopping.
Not happy!
Occasionally I
have to wait,
last week I
walked out of
the store the
girl was so slow.
Staff
were
switched
on
and
very
helpful
at
letting us know
what
new
events
were
coming up next.
600
600
600
600
600
Page 15