Research Planning
Those who fail to plan, plan to fail.
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An Open-Systems Model of Marketing and the Firm
• A firm is analogous to a living system or an organism
attempting to navigate it’s own course through a mixed
economy.
• A firm has a semi-permeable boundary between itself and
the competitive environment.
• The receptivity to resources and resistance to threats are
actively managed by the boundary.
• Marketing is a boundary management function.
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Environments to consider
•
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Political
Behavioral
Economic
Social/Sociological
Technological
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Points of view
• The company
• The industry/business ecosystem
• The infrastructure
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The Critical Issues Grid
Focus
Environments
Company
Industry /
Ecosystem
Infrastructure
Political
Behavioral
Economic
Social
Technological
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Issues in the Grid – EV Example
Focus
Environments
Company
Industry/Ecosystem
Infrastructure
Political
EPA mandate--2% of all
GM new cars in California
must be EVs by 2004
EV credits can be bought
and sold within the
industry
Tax incentives for EV
production
Behavioral
Will MPC replace MPG?
Will comfort or size
standards change?
Will early intro of EV by
GM make consumers
question dedication of
Ford & Chrysler?
Will expectations change
regarding mass transit?
Economic
Will the tradeoff between
purchase price and maintenance cost be different?
Will EV development
costs lead to increased
concentration in the
industry?
How will battery
replacement “tow”
services be valued?
Will a mix of EVs and ICE
cars change the relation
between GM and its
distributors?
Will smaller EVs change
expectations about car
pooling?
Will friends let friends
recharge during visits?
Social
Technological
How to integrate new power Will flywheel batteries
train with suspension system have a competitive
advantage over lithium
and other components.
polymer or nickel?
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What are the prospects for
recharging stations at workplaces and parking lots?
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Issues in the Grid
Focus
Environments
Company
Industry/Ecosystem
Infrastructure
Antitrust
Regulation
Tax policy
Encryption
Copyright
Behavioral
Change in the dimensions
of consumers evaluations
Change in consumers
expectations from the
industry
Attitudes toward privacy
Economic
Noncomparable basis for
judging value or worth
Changes in the channels of
distribution
Friction-free capitalism
Change in the way
consumers interact with
each other
Compatibility (such as internet Generation gaps in
telephony protocols or video computer literacy
teleconferencing)
Trade secrets
Consortia (such as DRAM
manufacturing consotium)
Political
Social
Technological
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Curriculum of engineering
and/or management schools
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Weaving Webs from the Issues
• Like storytelling or scenario creation
– Lay out the “obvious links.”
– Start a story from each cell and see where it connects.
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Mapping Webs into Bayesian Networks
• Directed acyclic graphs.
• Nodes connected by conditional probabilities.
– Knowledge engineering (for known relations).
– Specification of a research project (for unknown
relations).
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Planning a Research Project
Statement of highest-level goals:
 Simple
 Clear
 Complete
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Goals of the Iwerks Research Project
1.
To understand the experience of people in the different game
positions. How do gender, age and choice and game position affect the
reported experience.
2.
To develop research findings that will help (re)design the 20 minute
training session that immediately precedes the Virtual Adventure.
3.
To assess the attractiveness of Virtual Adventures to decision
makers at the IAAPA convention.
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Research-Planning Hierarchies
Goal 1
Objective 1.1
Objective 1.2
Goal 2
Goal 3
Objective 1.3
Subobjective
1.1.1
Subobjective
1.1.2
Subobjective
1.1.3
Subobjective
1.1.4
Survey Q 6
Survey Q 7
Database Q 3
Database Q 4
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Subobj.
1.1.5
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A Complete Plan
 Every goal maps down into a question answered by some kind of
inquiry.
Every question maps up through the hierarchy to the objectives and goals
being addressed by the question.
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Anderson Graduate School of Management
UCLA
Fall, 1993
Planning the Iwerks Research Project
Goals and Objectives
Goal 1.
To understand the experience of people in the different game
positions. How do gender, age and choice and game position affect the
reported experience.
Objective 1.1 Assess the ease of operation of controls.
Objective 1.2 Assess the degree of intuitive understanding of controls.
Objective 1.3 Assess fun level of each position.
Objective 1.3.1
Assess by gender how much the fun level was affected by not
being able to choose one's game postition.
Objective 1.4 Rate the visual experience.
Objective 1.5 Rate the audio experience.
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Objective 1.6 Rate overall experience compared to other fixed theme park rides (e.g.
rollercoasters or simulation rides).
Objective 1.6.1
Assess by gender how much each player wants to play again.
Objective 1.7 Collect comments on likes and dislikes.
Objective 1.8 Assess the groups experience.
Objective 1.8.1
Did people work together as a group?
Objective 1.8.2
If so, did they like the team experience?
Objective 1.8.3
Assess how variance in skills of all palyers affected the
experience.
Objective 1.8.4
Assess prior familiarity with the group of players.
Objective 1.8.5
Collect comments on group experience.
Objective 1.9 Collect demographic profile by position played.
Objective 1.10 Get participants to define "success."
Objective 1.10.1
How do completion of the mission, evaluation of the sensory
experience, challenge of the position, and level of fun contribute to the
"success" of the experience?
Objective 1.10.2
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How fulfilling was this level of competition.
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Goal 2.
To develop research findings that will help (re)design the 20 minute
training session that immediately precedes the Virtual Adventure.
Objective 2.1 Determine guests' understanding of the video instruction.
Objective 2.2 Get guests' comments to determine if there was any anxiety or frustration
prior to playing.
Objective 2.3 Get guests' comments to determine if time before game (waiting and/or in
instruction) was seen as a waste.
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Goal 3.
To assess the attractiveness of Virtual Adventures to decision makers
at the IAAPA convention.
Objective 3.1 Screen for prospective theme-park buyers.
Objective 3.2 Determine if buyers find this attraction attractive.
Objective 3.3 Determine what makes it attractive.
Objective 3.3.1
High capacity / high throughput.
Objective 3.3.2
Ticket price per guest equal to simulation rides.
Objective 3.3.3.
Changeable software.
Objective 3.3.4
Small footprint relative to rollercoasters.
Objective 3.3.5
Product uniqueness (Assess what is unique).
Objective 3.3.6.
Collect comments on likes and/or dislikes.
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Demographic Breakout:
Age categories
5 - 10
11 - 15
16 - 18
19 - 25
26 - 35
36 - 50
51 - 60
Over 60
Gender
Income bracket
Time spent playing video games
Money spent playing video games
Frequency of going out to movies
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Summary
• Find the research project’s role in the overall
marketing planning process.
• Articulate the goals of the research process
clearly and completely.
• Work down through the hierarchy to the
specification of each primitive question.
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