Bellboy Case Research Methods in Marketing
BELLBOY CASE MKTG D50 Report Group 6
1
MKTG D50 – RESEARCH METHODS IN MARKETING
BELLBOY CASE
BELLBOY CASE MKTG D50 Report Group 6
2
Southwestern Bell Telephone Company (SWB)
Research Design:
The survey objective is set to measure the customer’s interest of a new service known as BELLBOY. SWB would like to acquire both existing (customers who have the intention to buy) and potential (customers who have interest but are still reluctant to purchase) demand. SWB believes that existing and potential demands constitute unmet demand.
SWB went with the telephone survey, which is a descriptive research method, to gauge the interest of the BELLBOY service. This method was used due since all businesses in the Dallas/Fort Worth area had telephones in their offices, thereby clearly defining their sampling frame.
All samples were selected using the probability sampling method. A primary listing was selected by systematic sampling and sub-sample listing was selected by simple random sampling. The calculation of the sample size resulted in 384 samples. After the adjusted sample size was implanted, the new result was 382 samples from a population of 74,789 that needed to be surveyed. (Exhibit A)
The survey, however, excluded some market segments, such as personal households and government agencies, who could also be potential customers. By excluding these segments, the survey results would understate the true demand for this service. Also, the samples excluded existing Southwestern Bell telephone numbers, therefore, the survey results excluded potential demand, which implies an understatement of demand.
The survey method employed in order to get in contact directly with the key person of the target business is appropriate because this person would be most knowledgeable regarding the communication of the company. For a non-response bias, this would tend to understate the demand since many local business are run by the business owners themselves, who are in charge of
1
MKTG D50 – RESEARCH METHODS IN MARKETING
BELLBOY CASE
BELLBOY CASE MKTG D50 Report Group 6
2
Southwestern Bell Telephone Company (SWB)
Research Design:
The survey objective is set to measure the customer’s interest of a new service known as BELLBOY. SWB would like to acquire both existing (customers who have the intention to buy) and potential (customers who have interest but are still reluctant to purchase) demand. SWB believes that existing and potential demands constitute unmet demand.
SWB went with the telephone survey, which is a descriptive research method, to gauge the interest of the BELLBOY service. This method was used due since all businesses in the Dallas/Fort Worth area had telephones in their offices, thereby clearly defining their sampling frame.
All samples were selected using the probability sampling method. A primary listing was selected by systematic sampling and sub-sample listing was selected by simple random sampling. The calculation of the sample size resulted in 384 samples. After the adjusted sample size was implanted, the new result was 382 samples from a population of 74,789 that needed to be surveyed. (Exhibit A)
The survey, however, excluded some market segments, such as personal households and government agencies, who could also be potential customers. By excluding these segments, the survey results would understate the true demand for this service. Also, the samples excluded existing Southwestern Bell telephone numbers, therefore, the survey results excluded potential demand, which implies an understatement of demand.
The survey method employed in order to get in contact directly with the key person of the target business is appropriate because this person would be most knowledgeable regarding the communication of the company. For a non-response bias, this would tend to understate the demand since many local business are run by the business owners themselves, who are in charge of