RAMADA Case
The Management-Research Question Hierarchy for Ramada
The management research questions hierarchy for Ramada range from the clarification of the research question to the definition of the study question. The hierarchy includes
- Clarification of the study questions
- Determining the predicaments facing the management
- Trends indicating the decrease in customer satisfaction within the hospitality industry
- Defining the management question such as
- What kind of measures should RFS take in order to sustain the costumer’s service ratings?
- Defining the research questions, for instance,
- What caused the increase in customer satisfaction?
- What actions should RFS undertake in order to identify the required changes?
- Refining the research questions, for instance,
- Relate the employees’ skills development and motivation with customer satisfaction
- The belief that employees input remains to be a significant factor in developing new skills and motivation. What could be the best atmosphere for RFS to attain direct inputs from the employees?
- When should study conducted to attain the highest level of response.
The Research Process Model to the Ramada Research Initiative
The role and process of exploration in Ramada’s research
RFS had increased chances of determining the best hiring firm. Besides, RFS could determine the training modes as well as the manner in which the firms motivate their employees.
The role of secondary data in the exploration phase of the research
The secondary data play a critical role in saving the cost of conducting the study. In other words, time and resources incurred were greatly reduced through the application of the secondary data. The reason is that the accessibility of secondary data is easier and cheaper compared with the primary sources. In addition, most of the data from the secondary sources cpould not be easily provided by an individual.
The steps and phases in the process model that can be matched with the Ramada research
The steps and phases in the Ramada’s study can be matched with steps number 1, 3, 5 and 6 accordingly.
The research process decisions that were made including the study by outside suppliers
One of the research decisions that were made includes the data collection in nine hundred sites through the application of twenty-four assistants within a period of six months. In addition, the utilization the outsourced suppliers in the research of firms that are performing was also an important decision. For instance, Ramada used D. K Shifflet as one of the outsourced suppliers to examine the level of customer satisfaction within the industry.
The sampling methodology that were used and its appropriateness
The judgmental sampling methodology was primarily used in the study. The judgmental sampling method is considered to be the most efficient, expedient and cost effective
The research design applied its strengths and weaknesses
The mainly applied the quasi-experimental design. The advantage of this design is that it can easily be implemented in researches involving organizations unlike randomized research design that best suits studies of institutions and individuals
The role property owners/managers play in the research design
The property mangers/owners participated in answering the research questionnaires during the surveys
Why Ramada choose to conduct the research in a non-traditional, party-like atmosphere, the advantages and disadvantages of such an approach
Ramada chose the non-traditional atmosphere in order to make the study be competitive and appropriate for both internal and external environment of the firm
The Manner in which the Research Findings are reflected in the Ultimate Management Decisions
The study by Ramada has been applied in various management decisions. One of the areas that has benefitted from the study is the hiring process. Employees are currently screened using the predictive index attributes. Generally, the hiring process of the firm has been greatly improved.
Donatos Case
Evaluate the Test Market Donatos Used. What Were its Pros and Cons?
The assessments of the test markets are directly associated with sampling and sampling procedures, the experimentations as well as areas that touch on the product development study. The examination of the Donatos test markets are also important in the understanding of the procedures used in the data collection and issues of ethics when dealing with the participants. Essentially, the test markets focuses on the firm’s product a particular geographical market. The test market used by Donatos raises critical reliability issues.
One of the issues is the application of test markets in one city. In fact, one location cannot be used in the test markets. The reason is that there are distinct eating habits by geography. Studies indicate that the eating preferences vary according to the geographical location. The variations in the eating preferences are due to the intra-cultural differences in the eating habits. As such, the conclusions made on the preferences in the test markets conducted in one geographical location may not be valid and applicable in other places.
In other words, the test market should be conducted in various geographical locations in order to draw a general conclusion on the clients’ preferences on the type of the food products. The reliability issue remains a critical concern on the test markets conducted by the Donatos.
The other important issue is the lack of promotion when the new product was introduced for test markets. In fact the tests were conducted for several days without constructive promotion in order to attract the clients into the restaurant. The main purpose of the promotion is to influence the clients towards purchasing the “no dough pizza”. Lack of promotion indicates that the clients that were sampled did not fit within the precincts of the business potential customers.
In this case, the potential clients are those people who follow the low-cab diet. Furthermore, the continuous test markets need the determination of the preferences of the sampled units and the target clients. The determination of the differences in the preferences could be achieved through the application of screening questions during the study.
The other critical issue is the test market procedures. In experimental tests, products are tested under controlled conditions. However, the actual circumstances of the test market procedures do not allow experimentation process. The use of controlled conditions cannot be applied in test markets. An ethical issue also came up in the preparation stage of the new pizza to be tested. The firm utilizes underage employees in the process. The use of the underage group of employees raised ethical issues. Donatos is known for the use of underage employees that does not raise issues of compensation despite the work volume. The products that were brought for the test market could have some faulty ingredients given the type of employees used in their preparation.
The Advantages and Disadvantages of the Test Market
In this case, the critical analysis of research method applied by Donatos remains significant. Besides, several advantages and disadvantages associated with test markets applied by Donatos remains critical for the study. The suggested pros and cons of the test markets used by the firm are categorized according to the instruments applied during the tests.
The in-restaurant tests
The advantages of using the in-restaurant tests include the reduced cost of conducting the tests as the firm utilizes its own customers as the samples for the test. In addition, there is increased capability of collecting data at the shortest time possible. Because the tests are conducted at the restaurant, there are reduced costs in terms of supervision and labor (Punch, 2006). Moreover, conducting tests on site reduces the cost of product testing facilities. In this case, the low-cab pizza is the product being tested and was not considered as low-cab option during the testing time.
The call-back phone survey
One of the advantages of the call-back phone survey is that a wide range of customers are contacted for the possible feedback. The customers present the target market for the tested products. Besides, given that the clients normally initiate the calls, they might provide useful responses related to the product being tested (Zikmund & Babin, 2006). Moreover, the use of call-back phone survey enables the survey team to reach customers who otherwise would be inaccessible (Offredy &Vickers, 2013). Further, the clients are free to express their views on the product. In other words, the clients are free to express their negative attitude towards the new product.
On the other hand, the participation of the clients on the survey is not definite. In such a situation, large non-response error could be generated. Besides, in the absence of the incentives, as in this case, the clients may not be willing to participate in the survey. Incentives are normally important in such surveys since clients are normally motivated by such incentives (Malhotra, Hall & Shaw, 2007).
As such failure to provide incentives discourage the clients who would have participated. Moreover, the self-initiated survey may generate samples that are not representative of the desired market for the product. Such undesired sample units may be costly to the firm in the after some time. Donatos is likely to sustain extra expenses through the use of this survey method because of using the interviewers in the call-back process.
Measurement Scales That Could Have Been Used on the Survey as Part of the In-Restaurant Product Tests
Various measurement scales can be applied to rate and rank the preferences of the clients on the product being tested. Some of the ranking scales are the Likert and the nominal scales. Each of these scales has both the advantages and disadvantages. Likert scales are normally used to measure the degree of the client’s preferences. The major advantage of the Likert scale is that it can measure various dimensions within a specific study.
The numerical scales are characterized by the suppleness in the application of both ordinal and interval data (Lamb, Hair & McDaniel, 2008). However, using both scales, Likert and numerical, the researcher can easily rank the clients preferences and attitudes towards the product being tested. In fact, Donatos could have used the ranking or paired-comparison scale. The reason is that the paired-comparison scales have been proved to be efficient particularly while comparing different tastes of various types of ingredients.
In the circumstances that Donatos offer diverse ingredients of the tested pizzas, the clients could be asked to make judgment and choose their most preferred ingredient. In fact, Donatos provides diverse pizza types which could be ranked according to their ingredients or toppings that is most preferred to the low-cab eaters. The clients’ suggestions could also be ranked depending on their preferences on the provided ingredients. Ranking or rating the suggestions and comparisons enables Donatos to come up with the most preferred ingredients among the pizzas provided.
In the case of in-restaurant tests, Likert or the numerical scale would be the most appropriate dimension range (Iacobucci & Churchill, 2009). Donatos could have used both the measurement scales on the favorite attitude towards the components of the products being offered. Specifically, the Likert scale is widely applied in comparing the preferences of the clients with others. In this case, the Likert scale would enable the firm to make comparisons on the preferences of its customers (Iacobucci & Churchill, 2009).
On the other hand, the numerical scale is important during the analysis due to its characteristic of being flexible in the use of ordinal and interval data. Likert scales measure various dimensions. In this case, the firm can apply the Likert scale to measure the likelihood of the clients to make repeat purchases. Both the Likert and numerical scales are simple and could easily be managed by the researchers.
References
Iacobucci,D., & Churchill, G (2009). Marketing research: Methodological foundation. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE
Lamb, C., Hair, J. & McDaniel, C. (‎2008). Essentials of marketing. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
Malhotra, N. Hall, J., & Shaw, M. (‎2007). Essentials of marketing research, an applied orientation. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
Offredy, M., &Vickers, P. (2013). Developing a marketing research proposal: An interactive student guide. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
Punch, K. F. (2006). Developing effective marketing research. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
Zikmund, W. & Babin, B. (‎2006). Exploring marketing research. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.