Individual Research Proposal- Deadline:
Monday 9 December
2013
Brief
Working in groups, in the first instance (maximum of 4 students), choose a company of your choice and
study the company’s external and internal business environments as well as the company’s
performances in relation to its main competitors. Based on this information, each student should then
prepare an individual research proposal. Each member will select one of the four components:
1.MARKETING
2. STRATEGY
3. ORGANIZATION
4. CUSTOMERS
The four individual proposals should not overlap.. Each individual is to prepare individual research
proposal of no more than 4 pages in length, excluding references, following the format given below.
It is important that each group select a company whose target market you will have access to. The
exercise gives you an opportunity to speak to people
PROPOSAL – CHECKLIST
Executive Summary
The summary, as the terms implies, gives a brief overview of the whole report. Although the summary is
the first section of the report proposal, it is the last section of the report to be written because all
sections of the report have to be included in the summary, following the order in which the report is
written. A good summary of research proposal should, therefore, have indications of the nature of the
management decision problem, the research questions or objectives, components of the proposed
research design, and the timetable of the study (including a statement of expected costs). The summary
should be no more than 200 words in length.
Background Research
The first step of carrying out a research proposal is to compile the background to the research problem.
The background information gives the basis or justification for the study. The information required for
the background section of the report include, a brief statement about the nature of the company (name,
nature of the business, location, size, etc), the company’s competitive position, the company’s target
markets indicating segments in terms of psychographics, demographics, choice behavioural patterns,
benefits sought, user status etc, and an outline of the company’ performances levels in terms of key
indicators such as sales, profitability, market share, etc. It is important that references are given for the
factual information or claims included in the report. The key to a good background section is that it
clearly demonstrates why the research needs to be carried out on the particular problem/issue you have
selected. Remember that the management decision problem is stated from viewpoints of the client (the
company management) and, in this case, is based on the need to determine the relationship between
benefit sought and consumer profiles in different market segments.
Research Question/Objective, Components of the research questions
Once you have shown what the problem/issue is, then translate it into a research question/objective, a
set of component questions, and a decision outcome(s) (to be discussed in class).
You should demonstrate the skills you acquired via this module showing that you are able to:
Specify the problem (Management Decision Problem (MDP)
Express it explicitly i.e. MRQs including broad statement & components of MRQ
Justify your choice/provide linkage to your background section
Research Design
Begin by outlining the research approach and or the research method you decide to adopt. Explain how
you will carry out the research, suggesting either descriptive or conclusive research or a combination of
one of the two methods with an exploratory research method. Exploratory studies, where included,
should be considered as preliminary studies to a descriptive or conclusive study. For exploratory
research, you can suggest qualitative research methods, such as focus groups, depth interviews,
projective techniques, observation or other methods, but you must demonstrate your understanding of
this method and justify why it is appropriate for this research project. For descriptive or conclusive
research, you should consider the survey research method, justifying why it is appropriate for this
research project. Then decide on the target population, specifying exactly who you want to collect data
from in each market segment, select and justify the sampling method, indicate from where you will get
the people, how you will contact and persuade them to corporate in the study.
Data Analysis
In a few sentences, briefly outline how you plan to analyse the data once you have completed the
questionnaires and how you will present the information to management.
Timescale
Demonstrate when each stage of the project will be completed. Use the deadline as your guideline.
References and Bibliography
Provide your references as footnotes and a properly set-up bibliography. The proposal should have at
least good references. Refer to the guidelines at the back of this handbook for how to set up references