Start-up Marketing Project

 

Research Plan: methodology & sampling plan

 

Your group is starting a small company to market a consumer product / service in Kuwait.  The research plan sets out how you will get data from customers to use in developing your startup plan.

 

The project should be mixed-method – i.e., an initial qualitative phase with a small sample to understand the issues well, and a larger survey to get quantitative data so that you have some idea about the size of various segments you may identify.  Each phase needs to say how you will do it.

 

This plan is a short written report, max 2 pages on the qualitative plan, and max 2 pages on the quantitative part. It should contain details of exactly how you will do these two phases of data gathering.

 

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Plan1: Background& Market Analysis

 

Your group is starting a small company to market a consumer product in Kuwait.  Plan1 sets out what you want to do and the nature of the marketing environment in which you will do it.

 

What does this company intend to do; i.e., what product will be offered, why is it needed, why are you able to do it well?

 

Discuss the external environment conditions, especially customers and competition, but other aspects should be mentioned if they are especially relevant to your situation.  You should have a thorough understanding of customer thinking about the product, and the different segments in the market.  This implies that you will be using the data from your research.

 

Make your targeting decisions in this part of the plan, including a thorough discussion of customer characteristics and behavior in your target.  Please also include justification that it is a good targeting decision, i.e., that this segment offers the best opportunities for your small firm.

 

Discuss the product which will be offered by the startup company.  Please keep in mind that ‘product’ is a complex issue which you need to discuss in detail.  Please justify that your product plan fits well with the target market you defined, and also show that the plan will be competitive under current and projected market conditions.

 

Please note, this is not the place to get into price, distribution,and promotion in any detail.  Those parts of the plan come in Plan2.  Also please note, as we said in class, you need to have done your qualitative research for this plan, and it should provide evidence for why you made the decisions you make in Plan1.

 

Plan1 will be presented in class.  Please turn in your presentation slides at the time of presentation so I can take notes.  Due a week after the Midterm Exam.

 

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Start-up marketing project

 

Plan2:Price, distribution& promotion

 

This part of the project covers detailed discussion of price, distribution, and promotion issues.  Please justify that your plan fits well with the target market you defined in Plan1, and is consistent with the product decisions made in Plan1.  Also show that the plan will be competitiveunder current and projected market conditions.

 

Please keep in mind that ‘price’ includes a number of issues, and must include analysis showing that your pricing strategy will be profitable.  This requires careful analysis of cost structures, prices, and demand, so that you can estimate your margins.

 

Please also keep in mind that ‘distribution’ is a complex issue that includes how many details of how you get the product to customers and make sure they have good access.  You may need to mention some supply chain issues if they have impact that insures that you are always able to offer it to customers.

 

‘Promotion’ also includes a number of issues, and may need to cover multiple elements of the promotion mix.  You need to show some detail about how you will do it – not just “we will advertise a lot.”

 

All of these elements need to be based on knowledge of customer thinking.  You will have gotten useful data in the research stage of the project, but you may also need another round of a few qualitative interviews to follow up on issues you may not have thought about in the early stages of developing your plan.  So, please note, as we said in class, you need to have done your quantitative research for this plan, and it should provide evidence for why you made the decisions you make in Plan2.

 

 

 

This plan is a written report,maximum of 12 pages of discussion, single space with a space between paragraphs, 12 point commonly-used font, 1 inch margins all around.  Tables, figures, and references do not count toward the maximum.

 

You will also need to turn in your survey data set by file (Excel or SPSS) on the day the report is turned in, so that I can look through it. Due 2 weeks before the final exam.