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International Business Research Tasks

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This report is international business research that focuses on the case of a UK-based retailer. The UK retailer offering bicycles and outdoor active wears is focusing on expanding its business operations into new Latin American countries. In this study, the researcher would analyze that which Latin American country is having greater market potential for the products offered by the company.

(A) BACKGROUND

Importance of conducting the research

In the competitive business world, the firms are focusing on expanding their business to lead the firm towards success (Guercini and Milanesi, 2018). During market expansion, the companies need to focus on different factors related to the external business environment of the nation before entering into it. Detailed market research is required to be conducted that can help the firm in selecting the best market for their expansion.

Bronnerand de Hoog (2018) had stated that when the firms are focusing on entering into the market then it is essential for them to focus on market research for developing strategies. In support of this Pereira et. al. (2019) had mentioned that effective market research before entering into a new market helps the firm in selecting the best nation for their expansion. Based on these studies it can be said that firms need to do effective market research before making decisions related to market expansion.

Šeri? and Ljubica (2018) had stated that market research plays a major role for businesses as it is important for identifying the influence on different external factors of the firm. The researcher had explained that regular market research needs to be conducted as this can help the firms in making decisions based on the market conditions related to demand of the products. The study had stated that market research is essential at every stage of the business life cycle.

In support of this Maresova et. al. (2018) had mentioned that market research is significant for the firms to expand, develop and increase productivity. The researcher had explained that effective market analysis helps the firm in identifying the potential markets for the firms. Use of market research is that it can help the firm in selecting best strategies for managing their sales and profitability.

Potential uses of your research

This research study would help the case company in identifying that which Latin American nation is having better opportunities for their expansion. The market research would help the company in identifying the market trends and competition that would affect them in the country that will be chosen by them. Based on the results of the study the organization will be able to take decisions and will select the best market for their expansion.

The major potential use of this research is that it would help the firm in managerial decision making related to enter mode and pricing in the new nation. Along with this, it would also help them in making decisions related to marketing, promotion, and product positioning in the new market by providing them knowledge related to the market trends (Snyder, 2019). The customer pReferences and choices related to bicycles and active wears will help the firm in doing business effectively.

RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

The research objective helps the researchers in conducting the research study in a specific manner. The researcher needs to design the research objectives that can fulfil the purpose of the study.

The different research objectives for the current study are mentioned below such as:

• To investigate that which Latin American country would be the best for market expansion of the case company among Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Argentina and others.
• To explore the customer preferences while buying bicycles and active wear
• To determine the market trends of the Bicycle and activewear industry of different Latin American countries
• To determine the expected sales of the company in the new market
• To explore the different factors of the external business environment of Latin American nations that would affect the case company operations

(B) RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Research methodology is one of the most important sections of the research study. The methodology is defined as the set of tools and techniques used by the researcher for collecting the data and analyzing it for the research study. The researcher needs to focus on selecting the best methods for collecting, analyzing, and interpreting the data for research (Snyder, 2019).

For this market research, the researcher needs to select the best research approach and other methodology that can help them in conducting detailed market research. The different subsections of the methodology are discussed below such as:

Research Approach

The research approach is referred to as the set of plans and procedures that are been taken into concern by the researcher while conducting the research study. It is important for the researcher to select the best possible approach in accordance with their research objectives so that they can conduct the study in an appropriate manner. The research approaches are broadly classified as a quantitative approach, qualitative approach, and mixed approach.

In the current research, the researcher will focus on using a quantitative research approach (Apuke, 2017). In the quantitative approach, the researcher focuses on conducting quantitative research. The quantitative research approach would help the researcher in gathering information related to potential customers in the new market. Also, this will help in conducting researcher and getting results in the form of numerical data. In this type of research, the results will be based on numerical data. This approach is selected as this will help in getting more accurate results related to the market research.

Data Collection Method

Data collection is referred to as the method used by the researcher for collecting the data. The data collection methods are broadly classified as primary and secondary methods. In the current study, the researcher will focus on collecting primary data for the research. Primary data is defined as the data that is collected by the researcher itself. There are different methods for collecting primary data such as interview, surveys, questionnaire and

In this study, the researcher will focus on conducting a questionnaire survey with the local people related to the products offered by the UK retailer. This researcher will include 20 people different Latin American countries such as Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Argentina and others (Bevilacqua and Campión, 2019). This will help the company in identifying the market trends and the potential scope for their products in the different Latin American nations. The researcher will be conducting a structured survey questionnaire as this would help them in conducting a more focused study based on their objectives. The survey will be conducted face to face survey in which the respondents will have to fill the questionnaire.

(C)TARGET AUDIENCE OF THE RESEARCH STUDY

Target Audience

When primary research is been conducted then it is essential for the researcher to select the best candidates for research. Sampling is very important in every research and it is defined as the process of selecting the research participants. While choosing the research participant it is essential for the research to select the target audience. For the current study, the target audience would be the customers. In this research, customers are selected as the target audience as this would help the researcher in identifying the scope for their business in an appropriate manner.

Sampling Approach

There are different types of sampling methods that can be used by the researcher for selecting the best population. In the current study, the researcher would focus on using the probability sampling method. In this method, all the members of the population are having a chance to become the research participant (Speak et. al. 2018). The researcher would focus on using an approach to select the customers from Latin American nations for conducting the research on the UK retailer.

Criteria for selection

While selecting the participants it is important for the researcher to specify the criteria for selection of participants. In this study, the researcher would be selecting the participants belonging to the age group of 16-45 years. The age group is selected as this section of the customers prefers buying bicycles and outdoor pursuits clothing.

Along with this, the researchers would be focusing on including the educated and urban population in this researcher. This criterion is been selected because educated population is having better knowledge related to the different brands that are offering product such as bicycles and active wear.

Access to sample population

Gaining access to the sample population is also an important issue while conducting the research study. For this, the researcher would be focusing on selecting the people randomly from malls, parks, or any of the public places. This will help them in getting easy access to the individuals and they would be taking concern from the participants before involving them in the research. It can be said that this is an easier manner of getting access to the sample population. This will help the researcher in conducting the research in an appropriate manner.

(D) KEY CHALLENGES FACED BY RESEARCHER IN CONDUCTING THIS RESEARCH

While conducting the research study the researcher faces different types of issues and challenges. This research is market research that is required to be conducted on different Latin American nations. Before conducting the study the selection of research methodology is an important issue for the researchers. Both quantitative and qualitative research approaches are effective. This makes it difficult for the researcher to select the best methodology. During primary data collection, the major issue that is been faced by the researchers is related to the selection of research participants (Asiri et. al. 2017). The cultural factors of the different Latin American countries such as Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Argentina and others will also affect the researchers in doing the research. The researcher needs to have critical thinking skills that can help them in selecting the best methodology for their study by focusing on different factors affecting the research.

It can be said that the researcher needs to have effective research skills while conducting the study so that they can conduct high-quality research. In the primary research, the issues related to ethical consideration are a major concern for the researchers. It is important for the researcher to focus on following all the different ethical considerations such as privacy, security and safety of data collected and analysed. Otherwise they might face legal issues and challenges. The researcher needs to take written consent from the participants before involving them in the study. Other than this they are required to pay attention to the privacy, safety, and security of the participants. The researcher needs to be honest and must pay attention on the benefit of all the stakeholders and have to follow the researching rules of different nations properly.

In this study, the researcher is conducting a survey by using random sampling or probability sampling. In this method finding the best candidates for the study is difficult. In this method, the researcher can face issues in reaching the individuals and convincing them to become part of the research study. At this, it is essential for the researcher to have effective communication skills then only they would be able to connect with the audience and include them in the research (Allison et. al. 2016). People belonging to different Latin American countries are having different attitudes and beliefs. Also, these factors related to individual differences bases on the culture would create an issue for the researcher in connecting with the participants. It can be said that the major issue would be faced by the researcher in finding the best candidate for the study.

Conducting the survey questionnaire is not easy. The researcher would also face issues while developing the questionnaire and framing the questions. For this, the researcher needs to have effective creative thinking skills that can help them question framing. Based on this it can be said that there are different types of challenges and issues that can be faced by the researchers in this study. It can be argued that effective problem-solving skills are important for researchers. This skill can help them in solving the problem faced by them while conducting the research study. Along with this, the researcher needs to have time management skills, researching skills, and better decision-making skills that can help them in addressing the issues faced by them during the study. Thus, it can be said that effective research skills are crucial for conducting high-quality research and gathering better results from the study.

REFERENCES

Allison, B., Hilton, A., O'Sullivan, T., Owen, A. and Rothwell, A., 2016. Research skills for students.Routledge.

Apuke, O.D., 2017. Quantitative research methods: A synopsis approach. Kuwait Chapter of Arabian Journal of Business and Management Review, 33(5471), pp.1-8.

Asiri, Y., Millard, D. and Weal, M., 2017, November. Digital mobile-based behaviour change interventions to assess and promote critical thinking and research skills among undergraduate students. In Interactive Mobile Communication, Technologies and Learning (pp. 155-166).Springer, Cham.

Bevilacqua, A. and Campión, R.S., 2019. The Flipped Learning approach: quantitative research on the perception of Italian teachers. Form@ re-Open Journal per la formazione in rete, 19(2), pp.405-422.

Bronner, F. and de Hoog, R., 2018.Conspicuous consumption and the rising importance of experiential purchases. International Journal of Market Research, 60(1), pp.88-103.

Guercini, S. and Milanesi, M., 2018. Understanding changes within business networks: evidences from the international expansion of fashion firms. Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing.

Maresova, P., Soukal, I., Svobodova, L., Hedvicakova, M., Javanmardi, E., Selamat, A. and Krejcar, O., 2018.Consequences of industry 4.0 in business and economics. Economies, 6(3), p.46.

Pereira, V., Vrontis, D., Christofi, M. and Temouri, Y., 2019. Analysing three decades of emerging market research: future research directions. British Journal of Management, 2019, pp.1-12.

Šeri?, N. and Ljubica, J., 2018. Market research methods in the sports industry.Emerald Group Publishing.

Snyder, H., 2019. Literature review as a research methodology: An overview and guidelines. Journal of business research, 104, pp.333-339.

Speak, A., Escobedo, F.J., Russo, A. and Zerbe, S., 2018. Comparing convenience and probability sampling for urban ecology applications. Journal of applied ecology, 55(5), pp.2332-2342.

APPENDIX