Business Research Design (BRD)

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Business Research Design

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July 12, 2019

2.1.6 Task

Starwood Hotel’s mobile strategy focused on optimizing sites for targeting maximum customers. The marketing strategies highlighted in the video and article can be used by new businesses for conducting an effective consumer market research. The company assured that the brand was advertised in 10 different languages. The sites were launched because the company was focusing on reaching customers from different countries and cultures. Another strategy of Starwood to persuade buyers includes the apps for offering better buying opportunities to the clients. The apps are also available in different languages, a strategy adopted for fulfilling the requirements of customers belonging to different countries. There are iphone and android apps for catering the needs for different consumers CITATION You132 \l 1033 (YouTube, 2013). The company managed to attract more clients through apps because they are faster and offered convenience to the buyers. These apps deliver extra values to customers such as by saving their time and travel cost. The mobile app strategy has allowed Starwood to gain customer loyalty.

Sheldon and MacMillan (2006) identifies strategies used for attracting and persuading customers. Companies have adopted R&D methods for learning about customer preferences by conducting market research. The new businesses must be able to conduct market survey for finding the expectations and preferences of customers. Cementing innovation is a practical way of building strong relationship with the customers. Customer centric innovation stresses on investing money in technology and ensuring that the products developed connects with the buyers. Identification of new capabilities allow companies to satisfy customer needs.

2.3.1 Task

Organizations must be able to adopt adequate strategies for helping customers in getting the jobs done. The best strategy for targeting potential customers is by offering value proposition. The organization aiming at attaining competitive edge can offer superior value such as by offering bonuses or discounts without comprising the quality. The company can offer favorable points that make customer feel superior. This means that the customer will gain extra benefit on the product purchased CITATION JAn06 \l 1033 (Anderson, Narus, & Rossum, 2006). Another strategy that organizational can pick for doing customers job right is by hiring marketers and product developers that assess customer profiles and design processes that are appropriate for those jobs. This requires considering customer characteristics and product attributes. The organization can focus on the social and emotional dimensions by considering personal attributes of customers CITATION CMC16 \l 1033 (Christensen, Hall, Dillo, & Duncan, 2016).

The company can conduct research to find consumer preferences such as by asking the maximum amount of money they are willing to pay for the job. Simillary research can be done for finding the customers who are not buying the products and searching the rreasons. They can also The strategies explained by Direst, Sthanunathan and Weed can be used by companies for gaining significant advantage. The firms can establish insight engines like Unilever that allowed the company to shift resources to the local markets of the world. The purpose of creating such engines is to collect information about customer preferences that can be used for reaching potential customers CITATION Dri16 \l 1033 (Driest, Sthanunathan, & Weed, 2016).

3.1.3 Task

I agree with Dawar who mentions that “businesses that fail to realise the rapidly growing power of AI assistants, and consequently are not looking for ways to use AI platforms in their business research, will be at a major disadvantage”. This is because AI assistants can improve workflow that will directly impact productivity and efficiency of employees.

I think there are ways in which organisation could benefit from purchasing consumer data from companies like Google. Consumer information maintained by Google can be used for identifying the potential customers of specific services. For example an a retail travel agency can find where customers are spending most on traveling and vacations. I think Dawar has not exaggerated the potential significance of AI because it actually create massive opportunities for the businesses. AI can be used in businesses such as it will allow firms to streamline customer services.

Certain but not al customers will reject the attempt by companies such as Google and Amazon to make AI assistants central to how we live and work. They may raise concerns regarding privacy or data breach. Google already faced criticism on breaching privacy of the users CITATION Nir18 \l 1033 (Dawar, 2018).

The organization can perform research on how companies have benefited from AI before integrating it for improvements of consumer services. This research will include analysis of how Google is supporting companies for data product evaluation. Similarly the organization could also investigate the challenges that of AI such as privacy threats CITATION Dri16 \l 1033 (Driest, Sthanunathan, & Weed, 2016).

Task

The way in which analysis group treat employees is quite similar to the way in which my organization is managing workforce. The most visible similarity is that my organization offers a friendly environment to employees like AG. It also gives them opportunity to work on different projects CITATION AG15 \l 1033 (AG, 2015). The reward strategies used by AG is also adopted in my organization by leaders for motivating employees. however there are also some differences such as AG has created a flexible and open culture. on contrary my organization has given more power to the supervisors that give employees limited authority CITATION AG151 \l 1033 (AG, 2015).

Samuelson explains that AG has adopted the best way of monitoring the reward and employee performance. The company has managed to retain talented employees by offering them rewards and acknowledging their work CITATION MSa15 \l 1033 (Samuelso, 2015). Contribution-based pay is another effective strategy that encourages employees to perform better. The company don’t rely merely on systems that maintain records on who is selling more products. Employees are asked tow write self-evaluation on what they achieved each year.

As employees differ in interest and motivations organizations can conduct research for understanding what type of employees they need to hire. The company can adopt AG’s policy that focuses on asking employees about their interests during interviews and recruitments CITATION MSa15 \l 1033 (Samuelso, 2015). Previous performances at the companies can also be considered for identifying their motivations.

Checklist

Questioning is recognized as a powerful tool for attaining organizational value. Follow-up questions are critical for reading people and posing inquiries in appropriate manner. This allow organization to find the issues faced by employees and their level of satisfaction. This is also an effective strategy for finding the complains and working to resolve them for the provision of best work environment. The organization can use the follow-up questions for mitigating the risks of future pitfalls CITATION AWB18 \l 1033 (John & Brooks, 2018).

The organization must keep questions open-ended when it intends to search for workplace issues. This will allow employees to provide better information about the difficulties or conflicts that affect their work quality and efficiency negatively. This is a practical way of getting deeper insights into the unknown issues and allow company to take actions for mitigating them CITATION AWB18 \l 1033 (John & Brooks, 2018). Closed-ended questions in such situations can be incomplete and wrong.

The sequence right suggests that the questions must be asked for gaining information and creating impression management. The personal taking answers must be adopt good communication skills and listen to the employees carefully. It is more preferred to built a two-way communication in which employees get equal chance of speaking CITATION Dri16 \l 1033 (Driest, Sthanunathan, & Weed, 2016).

The right type of tine, sequence and framing are crucial for deciding how information can be shared for reaping the benefits from conversations. The tone must be soft that would encourage the employees to speak and share their viewpoints.

3.5.6 Thoughts on ATI

I agree with the viewpoints of Govindarajan who talks about the panned opportunism that is focused on using technology for the enhancement of organizational performance. I think that the companies can integrate technologies for making counterintuitive decisions CITATION VGo16 \l 1033 (Govindarajan, 2016). I agree with Shoemaker and Tetlock because they illustrate ways for overcoming organizational deficiencies. It is important for the organizations’ to make good judgments that requires using econometric and operational research based tools. The forecasts are made by considering data, logic and analysis. I agree that the best methods for identifying organizational weakness is by boosting team accuracy and tracking prediction of performances CITATION PJH16 \l 1033 (Schoemaker & Tetlock, 2016).

The concepts of ATI highlighted by Govindarajan and Shoemaker and Tetlock can be used for preparing organization in better way for meeting future challenges. I think that the companies can integrate the methods of training employees for making accurate predictions. Training enhances workers ability of making accurate forecasts and eliminates the chances of errors. This will allow companies to adopt practical ways for mitigating future challenges. I also believe that the concept of cognitive bias can also be used for making better judgments. Awareness of cognitive bias prevent managers from engaging in wrong judgments. Planned opportunism is also an effective strategy that can be used by organizations for attaining organizational efficiency. By incorporating the concepts of diverging, evaluating and converging the organization improves its competency of making right decisions. it begins by making right assumptions and them conducting the evaluation of business activities.

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY AG. 2015. Liz Milsark - Why Analysis Group? . Retrieved 07 11, 2019, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPN04WJYapI

AG. 2015. Noam Kirson - Why Analysis Group? . Retrieved 07 11, 2019, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0Kdw9lPD-Y&feature=youtu.be

Anderson, J., Narus, J., & Rossum, W. 2006. Customer Value Propositions in Business Markets. Harvard Business Review , 91-96.

Christensen, C. M., Hall, T., Dillo, K., & Duncan, D. S. 2016. Know Your Customers. obs to Be Done. Harvard Business Review , 54-62.

Dawar, N. 2018. Marketing in the Age of Alexa. Harvard Business Review , 80-86.

Driest, F. v., Sthanunathan, S., & Weed, K. 2016. Building an Insights Engine. Harvard Business Review .

Govindarajan, V. 2016. Planned Opportunism: Using weak signals to spur innovation. Harvard Business Review , 54–61.

John, A. W., & Brooks, L. K. 2018. The Surprising Power of Questions: It goes far beyond exchanging information. Harvard Business Review , 60-67.

Samuelso, M. 2015. Analysis Group’s CEO On Managing with Soft Metrics. HBR .

Schoemaker, P. J., & Tetlock, P. E. 2016. Superforecasting: How to Upgrade Your Company’s Judgment. Harvard Business Review , 73–78.

YouTube. 2013. Starwood Hotel's Mobile Strategy: Mobile Web vs. App . Retrieved 07 11, 2019, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAjiNwrpczs&feature=youtu.be