1. 1 In the news……….  Piracy a Marketing Opportunity for Record Labels  Fantasy Wagering Sites  www.gasbuddy.com www.gasbuddy.com

2. 2 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

3. 3 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 www.blackandwhitecookies.com

4. 4 Why should B & W spend time on research?  Gathering business intelligence Reduces risk in decision making Reduces risk in decision making Assists in making better decisions Assists in making better decisions  Business intelligence needs to be relevant, timely, accurate  Discover new opportunities for growth

5. 5 Gathering Business Intelligence  Business intelligence requires the continuous gathering and reporting of information about a company’s industry, its suppliers, competitors, and customers.  Need to be constantly vigilant

6. 6 The Decision-Making Process

7. 7 The Decision Making Process Step 1: Decide what information is needed. B&W needs to analyze their business environment.

8. 8 The Decision Making Process Step 2: Recognize the Broad Problem or Opportunity Is there a problem that B&W will be solving? Or an opportunity?

9. 9 The Decision Making Process Step 3: Identify the Essential Problem or Opportunity Should B&W expand into gourmet coffee?

10. 10 The Decision Making Process Step 4: Generate Alternative Solutions Or should B&W expand elsewhere? Cookies and milk? Maybe a strategic alliance with another bean maker?

11. 11 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?

12. 12 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

13. 13 The Research Process How does the Black and White Cookie Company research their potential expansion?

14. 14 Five Steps in the Research Process

15. 15 The Research Process Step 1: Define what information is needed. What is B&W trying to accomplish? What is their decision they need to make?

16. 16 The Research Process Step 2: Design and organize the research project.  How are we going to do the research?  Three kinds of research: 1. Exploratory research 2. Descriptive research 3. Causal research

17. 17 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?

18. 18 The Research Process Step 3: Select Data-Collection Methods  Surveys  Observations  Focus groups  Interviews with customers and suppliers B&W could conduct a survey of its present customers.

19. 19 The Research Process Step 4: Analyze and Interpret Findings Ugh! Statistics! Be familiar with how to read basic statistics and how to understand charts.

20. 20 The Research Process Basic Statistics  Mean (average)  Median (half are above and half are below)  Mode (the most frequent)

21. 21 The Research Process Step 5: Distribute Research Findings  Don’t 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

22. 22 Types and Sources of Research Data Available

23. 23 Sources of Research Data  Internal Sources Management Information Systems Management Information Systems Focus groups Focus groups Company reports Company reports  External Sources Research firms Research firms Surveys Surveys Public Databases Public Databases Interviews, focus groups Interviews, focus groups

24. 24 Types of Research Data Available  External and Internal Sources of Data  Primary and Secondary Sources of Data

25. 25 Types of Research Data Available  Primary sources – data that B&W actually collects on its customers  Secondary sources – data that B&W obtains from another source

26. 26 Methods for Research  Observation  Interview  Focus Group  Experiment  Content Analysis  Survey www.zoomerang.com www.zoomerang.com

27. 27 Focus Group Simulation

28. 28 Questions 1. Is the information extensive, relevant and well-organized? 2. Were you easily able to find out about your intended program? 3. Were you easily able to find out about enrollment, registration and tuition? Financial aid?

29. 29 4. What would you say are the positives of the website? 5. The negatives? 6. What would you suggest for improvements?