In the news

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In the news.

• Piracy a Marketing Opportunity for Record Labels
• Fantasy Wagering Sites
• www.gasbuddy.com

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Week 7 E-Business Research

• Why should we spend time researching?
• Overview of the decision making process
• What are the steps in the research process?
• What kinds of data is available?
• Overview of Research methods
• Research resources
• Focus Group Simulation

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Case Study The Black White Cookie Company

• Management needs to decide if it should expand
  its product offerings
• Should it add gourmet coffee to its product
  offerings?
• www.blackandwhitecookies.com

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Why should B W spend time on research?

• Gathering business intelligence
• Reduces risk in decision making
• Assists in making better decisions
• Business intelligence needs to be relevant,
  timely, accurate
• Discover new opportunities for growth

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Gathering Business Intelligence

• Business intelligence requires the continuous
  gathering and reporting of information about a
  companys industry, its suppliers, competitors,
  and customers.
• Need to be constantly vigilant

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TheDecision-Making Process
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The Decision Making Process

• Step 1 Decide what information is needed.
• BW needs to analyze their business environment.

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The Decision Making Process

• Step 2 Recognize the Broad Problem or
  Opportunity
• Is there a problem that BW will be solving? Or
  an opportunity?

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The Decision Making Process

• Step 3 Identify the Essential Problem or
  Opportunity
• Should BW expand into gourmet coffee?

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The Decision Making Process

• Step 4 Generate Alternative Solutions
• Or should BW expand elsewhere? Cookies and
  milk? Maybe a strategic alliance with another
  bean maker?

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The Decision Making Process

• Step 5 Evaluate and Select a Solution
• How much will it cost to add the line of coffee?
• How much will it cost to add milk?
• Break even analysis
• How much will it cost to form an alliance with a
  bean maker?

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The Decision Making Process

• Step 6 Implementation and Control of the
  Solution
• Establish a plan of implementation
• Who will be responsible for each step in the
  plan?
• Establish target goals
• Monitor and assess progress

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The Research Process

• How does the Black and White Cookie Company
  research their potential expansion?

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Five Steps in the Research Process
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The Research Process

• Step 1 Define what information is needed.
• What is BW trying to accomplish? What is their
  decision they need to make?

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The Research Process

• Step 2 Design and organize the research project.
  
• How are we going to do the research?
• Three kinds of research
• Exploratory research
• Descriptive research
• Causal research

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Reliability and Validity

• Is the information reliable and valid?
• Reliability Will the results be the same if the
  research experiment is repeated? If so, then the
  research is reliable.
• Validity Is the answer to the question asked an
  accurate assessment of what we wanted the
  question to ask?

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The Research Process

• Step 3 Select Data-Collection Methods
• Surveys
• Observations
• Focus groups
• Interviews with customers and suppliers
• BW could conduct a survey of its present
  customers.

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The Research Process

• Step 4 Analyze and Interpret Findings
• Ugh! Statistics!
• Be familiar with how to read basic statistics and
  how to understand charts.

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The Research Process

• Basic Statistics
• Mean (average)
• Median (half are above and half are below)
• Mode (the most frequent)

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The Research Process

• Step 5 Distribute Research Findings
• Dont become a silo of information.
• Communicate, communicate with your employees
• Store information in a company-wide, searchable
  database for future use
• Share with all your stakeholders

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Types and Sources of Research Data Available
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Sources of Research Data

• Internal Sources
• Management Information Systems
• Focus groups
• Company reports
• External Sources
• Research firms
• Surveys
• Public Databases
• Interviews, focus groups

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Types of Research Data Available

• External and Internal Sources of Data
• Primary and Secondary Sources of Data

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Types of Research Data Available

• Primary sources data that BW actually collects
  on its customers
• Secondary sources data that BW obtains from
  another source

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Methods for Research

• Observation
• Interview
• Focus Group
• Experiment
• Content Analysis
• Survey www.zoomerang.com

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Focus Group Simulation
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Questions

• Is the information extensive, relevant and
  well-organized?
• Were you easily able to find out about your
  intended program?
• Were you easily able to find out about
  enrollment, registration and tuition? Financial
  aid?

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• What would you say are the positives of the
  website?
• The negatives?
• What would you suggest for improvements?