Business Management Project Assignment Sample

Introduction

This report is similar to literature synopsis, wherein three journal research articles will be selected and reviewed. Moreover, based on the learner understanding, a structured synopsis will be provided. The first article is based on the impact of income and culture on sales of the luxurious product. The second article elaborates the emerging marketing issues. The last article will elucidate the implications of social media on marketing.

Article 1: Quantitative Research Method

Dubois, B., & Duquesne, P. (1993). The Market for Luxury Goods: Income versus Culture. European Journal of Marketing, 27(1), 35–44. doi:10.1108/03090569310024530

Aim

“To compare the power of socio-economic class versus culture in the context of the market for luxury goods”

Objectives

• To determine the relationship between income and purchasing power of individual
• To determine the relationship between culture and purchasing power for buying luxury goods.
• To study whether income or culture have more impact on the buying behaviour of people.

Research Hypothesis

H1: More the income of a person, the higher the chances for purchasing the luxury goods

H2:More the positive behaviour towards cultural change, higher the chances to purchase luxury goods.

Methodology

The following research made use of quantitative research method as a part of the ACE (American Change in Europe) programme. For the research purpose, the quota sampling technique was used and 7600 Europeans were surveyed in five of the worlds' luxurious market, namely the UK, France, Italy, Germany, and Spain. In order to ensure the representativeness, the quotas were made based on sex, profession, age, geographical location, and income. The socio-cultural items that are crucial are measured by ACE methodology. A survey was taken, wherein a set of questions were asked to the respondent.

Findings

The result of the scenarios revealed that there is no dependency between the two. In simple words, both "off-trend" and "on-trend" are taken into consideration from the elite class to the poor. It was not possible to predict anything from the link between income and cultural profile and vice versa.

In addition to this, it was revealed that out of 7600 respondent, 22 per cent of the elite class people and “on trend” purchase luxury goods. On the other hand, only 2 per cent among the low-income group i.e., "off trend". Such results clearly reflect the impact of income and culture on the purchase of luxury products.

It was also determined that income instigate people to purchase luxury goods. This was determined thatthe penetration of luxurious product is only3 per cent for the poor people and for the elite class it is 13 per cent. However, culture plays an identical role, as it was noticed that the demand for luxury goods tripled when the level of income was not regarded. Hence, the research proved both H1 and H2

Recommendations

• Since there is a link between culture and the sales of luxury goods, the organisation should promote their products in that society only where they would be treated as a symbol of class. Many types of research have proved that buying luxury goods is a sign of self-personality and can be used to express one's values.
• An organisation who are focused on exploring the cultural advantages should follow the following step: 1) exploring the values to be expressed thoroughly, explicitly and implicitly, through their brand names and products 2) Semiotic analysis of the marketing communication in order to get valuable outcomes. 3) Assessing the extent to which the current marketing strategy exploits the cultural.
• The organisation should take advantage of the relationship between the income and the consumer behaviour for purchasing the luxurious product. Since the luxury products are not pocket-friendly due to expensiveness and wealth is unequally distributed within the society, organisations should take care of the efforts on the elite class.

Comment

This was my first research paper of this assessment report, and to be very true I got carried away by the catchy title of the paper. The paper was easy to understand in the very beginning but as soon as I arrived on the methodology part, the things become more technical. Before attempting this assignment, I had no idea about the ACE programme and therefore, I faced too much difficulty in understanding the methodology. In the later part, the use of some terminologies about which I barely have any idea was encountered. The level of the paper is above average. It helped me in learning and reviewing the research paper. The research hypothesis was clearly mentioned. However, understanding them by reading the whole document was not an easy task and it consumes a lot amount of time. Somehow, I managed to complete the paper and now, I am well aware of the fact that cultural aspects do have a great impact on sales of the luxurious product.

Article 2: Qualitative Research Method

Taylor, C. R. (2000). Emerging issues in marketing. Psychology and Marketing, 17(6), 441–447. doi:10.1002/(sici)1520-6793(200006)17:63.0.co;2-z

Aim

To study and understand the emerging and trending issues in the field of marketing

Objectives

• To identify all the potential marketing issues that can affect the new and existing brands
• To come up with some sort of short- and long-term objectives for improving the marketing plan and strategy

Research Questions

What are the issues associated with the marketing strategy that may affect the sales?

How to resolve these marketing issues quickly and efficiently and what opportunities can an organisation avail thereafter?

Methodology

Since this is a straightforward research involving a lot of document analysis, the researchers have analysed various research studies based on marketing issues. In addition to this, focus group discussions and some kind of observational methods were brought into use by the researcher. The focus group discussions were semi-structured as the respondents were more comfortable with it. The complete set of findings were developed after combining the inferences of the two methods. This has enhanced the credibility of the research methods.

Findings

• Out of six major issues of marketing, the author covered the four of the most prominent issues. The first is the “marketing in cyberspace.” With the increase in the influence of the Internet in modern day's lives, there has been a remarkable growth in online sales and this would be continuing for some couple of years. However, the behaviour of online consumers is quite different than that of offline ones. Their behaviour depends on the uniqueness of the product and websites that grab their attention.
• The second emerging issue is understanding the buying behaviour of customers. This may be influenced by numerous factors. For the research purpose, the behaviour of the consumer for purchasing the environment-friendly products was analysed. It was determined that the majority of the consumer who lives in the developed nations are concerned about the environment but this attitude does not affect the purchasing decision and their practices. Research highlighted that environment-friendly products are costlier and therefore, consumers are reluctant to purchase them.
• The third issue is underserved or overlooked segments. These include people with low income and poor quality in urban and rural areas as well. In order to be appealing to these people, organisations need to understand their needs. Since their population is very large, no organisation should ignore them in order to sustain in the marketplace. They cannot afford the expensive product. Therefore, a moderate range product with good quality can help very useful for the organisation.
• The fourth and last emerging issue in marketing is a lesbian and gay community and their demands. Many organisations have customised their product in order to serve this segment of the consumer due to their willingness to spend and disposable incomes. However, much research works have not been done on their consumption practices as the marketers have been ignoring them. Therefore, in order to beat the competition, organisations should also focus on these communities and their

Recommendations

• In order to appeal to the online consumer and grab their attention, organisations should offer discounts and seasonal rebates. In addition to this, the consumer loyalty benefits should also be provided in order to retain the customers for a longer duration. The organisation should reflect that it cares for the customer and for that it should develop a detailed model of incentives for online purchases.
• In order to cut the cost of the environment-friendly products, the organisation should make use of some green marketing approaches. It needs to bring the environmental concern in the minds of people in order to alter their attitude to pay for renewable and eco-friendly products. The cost can be cut down with the help of government subsidies and tax deduction on the sales of eco-friendly products.
• In order to understand the demands of the underserved segments, an organisation should customise its products in such a way that cost of production lowers. This would bring down the selling price but not the quality. These ways it can increase its customer base significantly.
• In order to attend the significant customer segment’s demand like gay and lesbians, organisations need to explore their demands and needs. This would help them to customise their services accordingly.

Comment

This paper was very interesting and it appealed to me due to its simplicity and unique areas of research. The researcher has made use of different qualitative research methods in order to collect data. However, in an attempt to bring more understanding to other learners, the author has tried to cover a large amount of information in a constraint space. I learned about major marketing issues. Some of which I knew but the last two issues were new to me and I am glad that I chose this research paper. Overall, I increased my understanding of marketing.

Article 3: Literature Review Method

Alves, H., Fernandes, C., & Raposo, M. (2016). Social media marketing: a literature review and implications.  Psychology & Marketing,  33(12), 1029-1038.

Aim

To understand and study social media marketing by reviewing the most prominent literary works.

Objectives

• To synthesise and analyse the influence of social media on customer purchasing decisions and perceptions.
• To study the organisation's perception of social media and how it will implement social media in marketing
• To determine the gap in the literature studied in order to define future lines.

Research Question

• Can social media have enough potential to impact the organisation's sales and revenue?
• Can social media impact the bottom line of the organisation?
• What could be the ways to integrate social media in business marketing process in order to trigger the sales?

Methodology

Within the research scope, the research paper is based on a systematic literature review. For that purpose, 44 research papers had been reviewed by the researcher. The whole process was divided into two stages, wherein the first stage is planning the review. In this stage, the authors with similar kind of methodology were grouped together. In the second stage, the review and analysis were conducted.

Findings

• The studies show that social networking platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter and microblogs together comprise social media. These are most widely used marketing tools employed by the organisation.
• In addition to this, the aforementioned social media platforms have proved to provide the best returns in building the brand image and companies should make efforts to mark their presence in these platforms.
• Some research work highlighted that organisations can also make use of social media in order to improve customer services by recording their feedbacks from these platforms.
• The social media platforms help in increasing the sales and profits by word of mouth. This can only take place by inducing strong positive feelings among the customers.
• Majority of the studies have supported this point that social media helps in creating the brand image which is the most significant marketing goals. Social media can help the organisation in putting the brand and products in front of consumers in a very easy way.
• Some research works have emphasised on social media as a way to increase the market value of an organisation. It has been seen that social media empowers and promotes word of mouth as well as the increases the sales capacity.
• Three papers talked about how social media can be used to tell the brands’ story. Organisations clearly show their values and mission in order to enhance the impact of the brand on customer’s mind. This would be beneficial for the organisation in increasing their sales and customer base as well.

Recommendations

• Some research should also be carried out on determining the barriers to social media and its usage.
• The organisation should also put emphasise on ways to optimise the social media marketing strategies.
• Organisations need to analyse the ROI of social media. There was only a single research paper that mentioned the ROI concept. Hence, there should be more studies on return on investment of social media platforms.
• An organisation that is classified as B2B, social media has limited scope as highlighted by some research papers. However, this can be a research topic and will end with some best results.
• In order to generate more traffic on the website in an attempt to increase the sales, the company should keep updating its website and make it active by making use of microblogs. This would result in enhanced awareness.

Comment

Since my interest is in marketing, the following research paper helped me in getting an insight into one of the ways of marketing. While reading the paper, I was able to create the images in mind as I use social media very often. The paper was well-structured and it covered a wide range of aspects related to the marketing very thoroughly. Out of five research paper, I chose this work because it had clearly defined what was needed to complete this task. The language and the sentence structure were good and the best part is that the author has provided a critical analysis of social media along with the limitations. Overall it was a learning experience and it greatly helped me in improving my knowledge about social media platform and their usage in business marketing.

Conclusion

In this report, the three journal research articles had been reviewed and based on the learner understanding, a structured synopsis has been provided. The first article discussed the impact of income and culture on sales of the luxurious product. The second article elaborates the emerging marketing issues. The last article covered the implications of social media on marketing.

References

• Alves, H., Fernandes, C., & Raposo, M. (2016). Social media marketing: a literature review and implications.  Psychology & Marketing,  33(12), 1029-1038.
• Dubois, B., & Duquesne, P. (1993). The Market for Luxury Goods: Income versus Culture. European Journal of Marketing, 27(1), 35–44. doi:10.1108/03090569310024530
• Taylor, C. R. (2000). Emerging issues in marketing. Psychology and Marketing, 17(6), 441–447. doi:10.1002/(sici)1520-6793(200006)17:63.0.co;2-z