MKTG330-1403B-01 : Marketing Research

 MKTG330-1403B-01 : Marketing Research 

Part 1 600-800 WORDS and references

Comment on the importance and role of marketing research.
Identify the circumstances when marketing research is worthwhile. In your
discussion, include the following:

• Define marketing
  research, and include a description of the scientific method.
• Distinguish
  between basic and applied research.
• Apply
  marketing research to the 4 Ps of the marketing mix
  (product, price, place, and promotion).

Keep this in mind throughout
?..

Company Scenario: The following scenario will be used
throughout the course for your Key Assignment.

You have been hired by Acme Wholesaling, Inc. to provide
research to determine the likely success of a new product that it plans to
market. Acme Wholesaling, Inc. wholesales various garments and accessories
through street vendors in New York City. These items include umbrellas (for
when it rains) and hats, gloves, and scarves (for when it is cold). The street
vendors are small-time retailers that resell these items to the public. Many of
these vendors establish their carts in Central Park and other park grounds in
Manhattan.

An employee of Acme Wholesaling, Inc. has come up with an
idea involving the sale of picnic blankets through these vendors for when the
weather is nice and people want to sit out in the park. Acme Wholesaling, Inc.
has a manufacturer lined up who will make these blankets in wool and cotton
blend in various sizes, depending upon the order from Acme Wholesaling, Inc.
The company would then resell these to the vendors. Although the ultimate
consumer of these blankets is the individuals in the park, Acme Wholesaling,
Inc. does not deal with them directly. They work solely through the street
vendors.

Your job is to provide enough validation for the idea that
Acme Wholesaling, Inc. can convince the street vendors to carry this new
product on their carts.

Throughout this course, you will be working on
various aspects of a research plan for the scenario company: Acme Wholesaling,
Inc. This is the Key Assignment that you will be contributing to every week.
The final assignment will be submitted in the form of a PowerPoint presentation
at the end of the course. The following sections will be part of the final key
assignment:

· 
Introduction: Week 1

· 
The Research Questions: Week
1

· 
Secondary Sources: Week
2

· 
Literature Review: Week
2

· 
Primary Research: Week
3

· 
Research Design: Week
3

· 
Sampling Method: Week
3

· 
Questionnaire: Week 4

· 
Hypothesis: Week 4

· 
Future Research: Week
4

Part 2

 2 pages and references

The
management of Acme Wholesaling, Inc. has asked you, as a preliminary to the
research project, to prepare a memorandum that describes marketing research as
a concept and the process of marketing research. In this memo, you should
include the following:

Explain
why marketing research is necessary to a firm that sees it as ?marketing
solutions to customer needs.?

Discuss
how the research that you plan to undertake would harvest data and transform
them into information.

Describe
the distinction between descriptive, exploratory, and causal research. Which
you plan to undertake?

Create
an outline of the steps in the research process, and explain why each one is
important in the sequence that you set out.

Set
up at least 2?3 research questions that you feel need to be answered by your
research project to properly predict the likelihood of success of the Acme
Wholesaling, Inc. product venture. These questions should be worded as such,
and they can be either closed-ended or open-ended. Explain briefly why you
think each question is so critical to the success of the venture.