Lesson Element
Unit 3: Business decisions
LO4: Understand how marketing information
informs business decisions
Use of market research information
Instructions and answers for tutors
These instructions cover the learner activity section which can be found on page 4. This
Lesson Element supports Cambridge Technicals Level 3 in Business.
When distributing the activity section to the learners either as a printed copy or as a
Word file you will need to remove the tutor instructions section.
The activity
Learners are going to develop a new product/service as a ‘virtual’ business. Their business
idea should be based around something they are good at or have an interest in. This could
and often is done individually, but learners could work in pairs or small groups.
Suggested timing
3–4 hours
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Task 1
Describe the business idea – what is going to be sold, who to, what prices are going to be
charged, what exactly will the product or service do, what is the USP? Where will the product
be advertised?
If learners really have no idea they could produce a small table of advantages and
disadvantages for three different hobbies or interests. Alternatively, opening up a new
restaurant will give them the topic they need for the task.
Task 2
Get learners to produce a questionnaire in order to find out what potential customers think of
their idea. They should find out who the target market is by asking questions about
respondents’ age, sex, income etc (using multiple-choice questions). Find out what the
potential customers think of the 4 Ps – product, price, promotion and placement ideas. It is
often a good idea to ask people to rate their opinion on a 1 – 4 scale
This link might help: http://www.marketingdonut.co.uk/marketing/marketresearch/questionnaires-surveys-and-focus-groups/how-to-create-effective-customerquestionnaires
Task 3
Learners should collect the data in the form of a tally table and produce some graphs in
order to analyse the information. Learners should:

input answers into a spreadsheet

create a graph or pie chart for each question asked – ensure all are labelled correctly
and fit for purpose – e.g. there is no point in having a pie chart for an answer that is
100% yes or no

add a short paragraph for each graph to explain why the question was asked (what were
learners hoping to find out), what the results show and what this means in terms of the
business idea.
Use of Microsoft Excel to produce the results table and graphs is the most efficient way of
doing this; 3D bar charts are a good way of displaying answers which are 0. Learners need
to take care on the spreadsheet not to have graphs which go over page breaks. For each
graph produced they need to analyse it in words – explaining what it shows and what it
means in terms of the business idea. Done well, this part of the activity can take up to 2
hours.
Task 4
Carry out a focus group, within the class, in order to gain some qualitative information about
the product idea. Learners will need to present their ideas and ask for opinions – positive
and negative. Ask for suggestions in terms of the 4 Ps.
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Task 5
Carry out competitor analysis and a market mapping exercise.
These links might help:
http://www.sampletemplates.com/business-templates/competitive-analysis-template.html
http://blog.hootsuite.com/the-ultimate-competitive-analysis-template/
http://www.tidyforms.com/competitive-analysis-template.html
http://www.tutor2u.net/business/reference/porters-model-of-industry-rivalry-five-forces
Task 6
Use the Internet to carry out secondary research. Are there any trends in the market for the
business idea – is it a growth area?
This website might give learners some help: http://www.mintel.com/. By putting their idea
into the search box in Mintel it often gives a brief summary of statistics in the given area of
investigation.
Task 7
Plan a 5-minute presentation or ‘pitch’ to explain the business idea and the information that
has been collected. Learners should state whether they think their idea is viable or not.
Learners will start with their idea, how they came up with the idea and their initial thoughts
about target audience, USP, 4 Ps. They then describe their market research and present
their findings. Their final idea might now be different from the one they started with, having
carried out market research.
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Lesson Element
Unit 3: Business decisions
LO4: Understand how marketing information
informs business decisions
Learner Activity
Use of market research information
You are going to develop a new product/service as a ‘virtual’ business. Your business idea
should be based around something you are good at or have an interest in. This is something
that you could do on your own or in a pair or small group (if you have the same idea).
Task 1
Describe your business idea – what are you going to sell, who to, what prices are you going
to charge, what exactly will the product or service do, what is the USP? Where will you
advertise?
Task 2
Produce a questionnaire in order to find out what potential customers think of your idea. Find
out who the target market is by asking questions such as people’s age, sex, income etc
(using multiple-choice questions). Find out what the potential customers think of your plans
for the 4 Ps – your product, price, promotion and placement ideas. It is often a good idea to
ask people to rate their opinion on a 1 – 4 scale.
This link might help: http://www.marketingdonut.co.uk/marketing/marketresearch/questionnaires-surveys-and-focus-groups/how-to-create-effective-customerquestionnaires
Task 3
Collect the data in the form of a tally table and produce some graphs in order to analyse the
information:

input your answers into a spreadsheet

create a graph or pie chart for each question you have asked – ensure all are labelled
correctly and fit for purpose – e.g. there is no point in having a pie chart for an answer
that is 100% yes or no
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© OCR 2016

for each graph add a short paragraph to explain why you asked the question (what were
you hoping to find out), what the results show and what this means in terms of your
business idea.
Task 4
Carry out a focus group, within your class, in order to gain some qualitative information
about your product idea. A focus group is designed to collect opinions on new
products/services. You will need to present your idea and ask for opinions – positive and
negative. Ask for suggestions in terms of the 4 Ps.
Task 5
Carry out competitor analysis and a market mapping exercise.
These links might help:
http://www.sampletemplates.com/business-templates/competitive-analysis-template.html
http://blog.hootsuite.com/the-ultimate-competitive-analysis-template/
http://www.tidyforms.com/competitive-analysis-template.html
http://www.tutor2u.net/business/reference/porters-model-of-industry-rivalry-five-forces
Task 6
Use the Internet to carry out secondary research – are there any trends in the market for
your idea; is it a growth area? This website might give you some help:
http://www.mintel.com/
Task 7
Plan a 5-minute presentation or ‘pitch’ to explain your business idea and the information you
have collected. State whether you think your idea is viable or not and how your original ideas
have changed or been modified as a result of collecting market research information.
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