COMPREHENSIVE CASES

Case 1 Running the Numbers: Does It Pay?

(Download the data sets for this case from www.cengage. com/marketing/zikmund or request them from your instructor.) Dr. William Ray, a research consultant, has received a government grant of $75,000 to fund research examining how aspects of a students college experiences relate to his or her job performance. Senator B. I. G. Shot is being lobbied by his constituents that employers are discriminating against people who do not like math by giving them lower salaries. Senator Shot has obtained $50,000 of the $75,000 grant from these constituents. The senator was also instrumental in the selection of Dr. Ray as the recipient and hopes the research supported by the grant will help provide a basis to support the proposed legislation making discrimination against people who do not like math illegal. The research questions listed in this particular grant proposal include: RQ1: Does a students liking of quantitative coursework in college affect his or her future earnings? RQ2: Do people with an affinity for quantitative courses get promoted more quickly than those who do not? Dr. Ray has gained the cooperation of a Fortune 500 service firm that employs over 20,000 employees across eight locations. The company allows Dr. Ray to survey employees who have been out of college for three years. Three hundred responses were obtained by sending an e-mail invitation to approximately 1,000 employees who
Questions from Survey Coding X1 X2 X3 X4 X5 The quantitative courses I took in school were the most useful courses. Very few topics can be understood if you do not understand the arithmetic. I hated going to math classes in college. I learned a great deal from the quantitative projects assigned to me in college. Students do not need to study quantitative topics in college to succeed in their careers. Strongly Disagree (1) Disagree (2) Neutral (3) Agree (4) Strongly Agree (5)

fit this profile. The invitation explained that the research was about various employee attitudes and indicated that employees would not be required to identify themselves during the survey. Respondents were informed that all responses would be strictly confidential. The e-mail provided a click-through questionnaire which directed respondents to a Web site where the survey was conducted using an online survey provider. Each invitation was coded so that the actual respondents could be identified by both e-mail address and name. Dr. Ray, however, kept this information confidential so the company could not identify any particular employees response. The following table describes the variables that were collected.
Variables Available from Company Records Variable Name PROM Variable Type Nominal indicating whether the employee has been promoted Self-Reported GPA in Last Year of College Nominal Nominal Ratio Coding 1 = Promoted 0 = Not Promoted 0 (lowest) to 4 (highest) 1 = Female 0 = Male School Initials Actual Annual Salary from Last Year

GPA Sex School Salary

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Please use the following items to describe your undergraduate college experience. For each pair of items, choose the check box closest to the adjective that best describes your experience. Coding S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 Dull Laborious Stressful Boring Carefree (3) (2) (1) (0) (1) (2) (3) Exciting Playful Relaxing Fun Responsible

Questions: 1. Does this grant present Dr. Ray with an ethical dilemma(s) in any way? 2. Derive at least one hypothesis for each research question listed above. Provide a sound rationale or theoretical explanation that leads to the hypothesis. 3. Use the data that corresponds to this case to perform an adequate test of each hypothesis. Interpret the results. 4. Is there evidence supporting the discrimination claim? Explain.

5. List another hypothesis (unrelated to the research questions in the grant) that could be tested with this data. 6. Test that hypothesis. 7. Considering employees attitudes about their college experience, does the amount of fun that students had in college or the degree to which they thought quantitative classes were a positive experience relate more strongly to salary? 8. Would the problem that led to the grant be a better candidate for ethnographic research? Explain.

Case 2 Attiring Situation

RESERV is a national level placement firm specializing in putting retailers and service providers together with potential employees who fill positions at all levels of the organization. This includes entry-level positions and senior management positions. One international specialty clothing store chain has approached them with issues involving key characteristics of retail employees. The two key characteristics of primary interest involve the appearance of potential employees and problems with customer integrity. Over the last five years, store management has adopted a very relaxed dress code that has allowed employees some flexibility in the way they dress for work. Casual attire was permitted with the idea that younger customers could better identify with store employees, most of whom are younger than average. However, senior management had just become aware of how some very successful companies tightly control the appearance of their sales force. The Walt Disney Company, for example, has strict grooming policies for all employees, provides uniforms (or costumes) for most cast members, and does not permit any employees to work if they have visible tattoos. Disney executives discuss many positive benefits from this policy and one is that customers are more responsive to the employees. Thus, it just may be that the appearance of employees can influence the behavior of customers. This influence can be from the greater identity that employees display meaning they stand out better and may encourage acquiescence through friendliness. Senior research associate Michael Neil decides to conduct an experiment to examine relevant research questions including: RQ1: How does employee appearance affect customer purchasing behavior? RQ2: How does employee appearance affect customer ethics? Mr. Neil decides the problem can best be attacked by conducting a laboratory experiment. In the experiment, two variables are manipulated in a between-subjects design. The experiment includes two experimental variables which are controlled by the researcher and by the subjects biological sex, which was recorded and included as a blocking variable. The experimental variables (and blocking variable) are:
Name X1 Description A manipulation of the attire of the serviceproviding employee Values 0 = Professional Attire (Neatly groomed w/ business attire) 1 = Unprofessional Attire (Unkempt hair w/jeans and t-shirt) 0 = Soft Close 1 = Hard Close

X2

The manner with which the service-providing employee tries to gain extra salesor simply, the close approach Subjects biological sex

Gender

0 = Male 1 = Female

Three dependent variables are included:

Name Time Description How much time the subject spent with the employee beyond what was necessary to choose the slacks and shirt. How much of the $25 the subject spent on extra products offered for sale by the retail service provider How much of the $25 the subject kept rather than returning to the researcher Range 010 minutes

Spend

$0$25

Keep

$0$25

Additionally, several variables were collected following the experiment that tried to capture how the subject felt during the exercise. All of these items were gathered using a 7-item semantic differential scale.

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Name SD1 SD2 SD3 SD4 SD5 SD6 SD7 SD8

Description Low QualityHigh Quality DislikeLike UnfavorableFavorable NegativePositive EasyDifficult RestfulTiring ComfortableUncomfortable CalmTense

2. Dressed unprofessionally and used a soft close. 3. Dressed professionally and used a hard close (i.e., You really need to match this up with some coordinated accessories which happen to be on sale today only) in trying to sell merchandise beyond the slacks and shirt. 4. Dressed unprofessionally and used a hard close. Thus, RESERV wishes to use this information to explain how employee appearance encourages shoppers to continue shopping (TIME) and spend money (SPEND). Rather than simply ask purchase intentions, researchers gave each subject $25 (in one-dollar bills) which they were allowed to spend on accessories. This allowed each subject to participate in an actual transaction. In addition, the experiment did not provide explicit instructions on what was to be done with the money that was left over. Once the simulated shopping trip was complete, subjects were taken to another small room where they answered a questionnaire containing the semantic differential scales and demographic information which they completed while alone and at their own pace. Because the instructions did not specifically tell subjects what to do with the money they possessed following the experiment, this allowed the researchers to operationalize a behavioral dependent variable (KEEP) that simulated questionable behavior based on the implied assumption that the money was to be either handed to the research assistant when the shopping trip was complete or turned in along with the questionnaire. In other words, subjects who kept money were considered as behaving less ethically than those who left the money behind or turned it in to a member of the research team. 1. Develop at least three hypotheses that correspond to the research questions. 2. Test the hypotheses using an appropriate statistical approach. 3. Suppose the researcher is curious about how the feelings captured with the semantic differentials influence the dependent variables SPEND and KEEP. Conduct an analysis to explore this possibility. Are any problems present in testing this? 4. Is there a role for factor analysis in any of this analysis? 5. Critique the experiment from the viewpoint of internal and external validity. 6. What conclusions would be justified by management regarding their employee appearance policy?

The experiment was conducted in a university union. Subjects were recruited from the food court area. RESERV employees approached potential subjects and requested their participation in a study that examined how customers really bought things. Subjects would each receive vouchers that could be exchanged for merchandise in return for their participation. Each potential subject was informed that the participation could take between 20 and 40 minutes to complete. Upon agreeing to participate, subjects were escorted to a waiting area where they were provided with further instructions and mingled with other participants before entering a small room that was set up to resemble an actual retail clothing counter. Each subject was told to play the role of a customer who had just purchased some dress slacks and a shirt. The employee was to complete the transaction. Once the subject entered the mock retail environment, a research assistant who was playing the role of the retail employee entered the room. As a retail sales associate, one important role was to suggest add-on sales. Several dozen accessory items ranging from socks and handkerchiefs to small jewelry items were displayed at the counter. As a result of this experimental procedure, each subject was randomly assigned to one of four conditions, each corresponding to a unique combination of the experimental variables described above. In other words, the employee was either: 1. Dressed professionally and used a soft close (i.e., Perhaps you would like to see some additional accessories) in trying to sell merchandise beyond the slacks and shirt.

Case 3 Values and the Automobile Market

(Download the data sets for this case from www.cengage.com/ the last decade, the luxury car segment became one of the most competitive in the automobile market. Many American consumers who purchase luxury cars prefer imports from Germany and Japan. A marketing vice president with General Motors once commented, Import-committed buyers have been frustrating to us. This type of thinking has led industry analysts to argue that to successfully compete in the luxury car segment, U.S. carmakers need to develop a better understanding of consumers so that they can better target market segments and better position their products via more effective advertising. Insight into the foreign-domestic luxury car choice may result from examining owners personal values in addition to their evaluations of car attributes, because luxury cars, like many other conspicuously consumed luxury products, may be purchased mainly for value-expressive reasons. Industry analysts believe it would be important to assess whether personal values of consumers could be used to explain ownership of
marketing/zikmund or request them from your instructor.) In

American, German, and Japanese luxury cars. Further, they believe they should also assess whether knowledge of owners personal values provides any additional information useful in explaining ownership of American, German, and Japanese luxury cars beyond that obtained from their evaluations of the cars attributes. Personal values are likely to provide insights into reasons for ownership of luxury cars for at least two reasons. First, Americans have always had very personal relationships with their cars and have used them as symbols of their self-concepts. For instance, people who value a sense of accomplishment are quite likely to desire a luxury car that they feel is an appropriate symbol of their achievement, whereas people who value fun, enjoyment, and excitement are likely to desire a luxury car that they perceive as fun and exciting to drive. An advertiser trying to persuade the former segment to purchase a luxury car should position the car as a status symbol that will help its owners demonstrate their accomplishments to others. Similarly, an advertiser trying to persuade the latter segment to purchase a luxury car should position the car as a fun and exciting car to drive. In other words,

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effective advertising shows consumers how purchasing a given product will help them achieve their valued state, because brands tied to values will be perceived more favorably than brands that deliver more mundane benefits. Second, when a market is overcrowded with competing brands offering very similar optionsas is the case with the luxury car marketconsumers are quite likely to choose between brands on the basis of value-expressive considerations.

offered any other incentive to complete the surveys. Of the 498 questionnaires originally sent, 17 were returned by the post office as undeliverable. One hundred fifty-five completed surveys were received, for a response rate of 32.2 percent.

The Survey Instrument

The survey included questions on (1) various issues that people consider when purchasing new cars, (2) importance of car attributes, (3) importance of different values, and (4) demographics (sex, age, education, and family income). Questions relating to the issues that people consider when purchasing new cars were developed through initial interviews with consumers and were measured with a 7-point Likert scale with end anchors of strongly agree and strongly disagree. (See Case Exhibit 3.1.) A list of 12 car attributes was developed from the initial interviews with consumers and by consulting Consumer Reports. (See Case Exhibit 3.2.) The importance of each attribute was measured with a 7-point numerical scale with end points labeled very important and very unimportant. The List of Values (LOV) scale in Case Exhibit 3.3 was used to measure the importance of values. Respondents were asked to rate each of the eight valueswe combined fun, enjoyment, and excitement into one valueon a 7-point numerical scale with end points labeled very important and very unimportant.

METHOD
Data were collected via a mail survey sent to 498 consumers chosen at random from a list obtained from a syndicated research company located in an affluent county in a southern state. The list contained names of people who had purchased either an American luxury car (Cadillac or Lincoln Mercury), a German luxury car (Mercedes or BMW), or a Japanese luxury car (Infiniti or Lexus) within the last year. A cover letter explained that the survey was part of an academic research project. People were asked to return the questionnaires anonymously to a university address. (A postage-paid envelope was provided with each survey.) A notice was included that stated that the project was approved by the University Internal Review Board and emphasized the fact that participation was voluntary. Beyond an appeal to help the researchers, respondents were not

CASE EXHIBIT 3.1

Issues That Consumers Consider when Buying Luxury Automobiles

When I buy a new luxury car, my familys opinion is very important to me. (Issue 12) My family usually accompanies me when I am shopping for a new luxury car. (Issue 13) I usually rely upon ads and salespersons for information on cars. (Issue 14) I usually rely upon friends and acquaintances for information on cars. (Issue 15) When I shop for a car, it is important that the car dealer make me feel at ease. (Issue 16) Most of my friends drive luxury import cars. (Issue 17) Most of my friends drive luxury domestic cars. (Issue 18) I think celebrity endorsers in ads influence peoples choices of luxury cars. (Issue 19) I would not buy a luxury car if I felt that my debt level were higher than usual. (Issue 20)

Having a luxury car is a major part of my fun and excitement.a (Issue 1) Owning a luxury car is a part of being good to myself. (Issue 2) When I was able to buy my first luxury car, I felt a sense of accomplishment. (Issue 3) I enjoy giving my friends advice about luxury cars. (Issue 4) Getting a good deal when I buy a luxury car makes me feel better about myself. (Issue 5) I seek novelty and I am willing to try innovations in cars. (Issue 6) I tend to buy the same brand of the car several times in a row. (Issue 7) I tend to buy from the same dealer several times in a row. (Issue 8) I usually use sources of information such as Consumer Reports in deciding on a car. (Issue 9) I usually visit three or more dealerships before I buy a car. (Issue 10) I would read a brochure or watch a video about defensive driving. (Issue 11)
a

Note: Subjects responses were measured with 1 as strongly agree and 7 as strongly disagree.

CASE EXHIBIT 3.2

Car Attributes Code

Comfort Safety Power Speed Styling Durabil

Attribute
Comfort Safety Power Speed Styling Durability

Attribute
Low maintenance cost Reliability Warranty Nonpolluting High gas mileage Speed of repairs

Code
Lomc Rely Warrant Nonpol Gasmle Repairs

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CASE EXHIBIT 3.3

List of Values Code

Fun Belong Respect Selfful

Value
Fun-enjoyment-excitement Sense of belonging Being well respected Self-fulfillment

Value
Sense of accomplishment Warm relationship Security Self-respect

Code
Accomp Warm Security Selfres

The Sample
Of the 155 respondents in the sample, 58 (37.4 percent) owned an American luxury car, 38 (24.5 percent) owned a European luxury car, and 59 (38.1 percent) owned a Japanese luxury car. The majority of the sample consisted of older consumers (85 percent were 35 years of age or above), more educated consumers (64 percent were college graduates), and economically well-off consumers (87.2 percent earned $65,000 or more).
CASE EXHIBIT 3.4

CODING
Case Exhibit 3.4 lists the SPSS variable names and identifies codes for these variables. (Note that this data set is also available in Microsoft Excel.)

List of Variables and Computer Codes

IDIdentification number AGE (categories are 2 35 years and under, 3 3645 yrs, 4 4655 yrs, 5 5665 yrs, 6 65 yrs) SEX (1 male, 0 female) EDUCEducation (1 less than high school, 2 high school grad, 3 some college, 4 college grad, 5 graduate degree) INCOME (1 less than $35,000, 2 $3550,000, 3 $50,00165,000, 4 $65,001) CARType of luxury car (American car, European car, Japanese car) ISSUESThe sequence of issues listed in Case Exhibit 4.1. (Strongly agree 1; strongly disagree 7) ATTRIBUTESThe sequence of car attributes listed in Case Exhibit 4.2. (Very important to you 1; very unimportant to you 7) VALUESThe sequence of values listed in Case Exhibit 4.3. (Very important 1; very unimportant 7)

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Several of the questions will require the use of a computerized database. Your instructor will provide information about obtaining the VALUES data set if the material is part of the case assignment. Questions 1. Is the sampling method adequate? Is the attitude-measuring scale sound? Explain. 2. Using the computerized database with a statistical software package, calculate the means of the three automotive groups for the

values variables. Do any of the values variables show significant differences between American, Japanese, and European car owners? 3. Are there any significant differences on importance of attributes? 4. Write a short statement interpreting the results of this research. Advanced Questions 5. Are any of the value scale items highly correlated? 6. Should multivariate analysis be used to understand the data?

Case materials based on research by Ajay Sukhdial and Goutam Chakraborty, Oklahoma State University.

Case 4 TABH, INC., Automotive Consulting

(Download the data sets for this case from www.cengage.com/
marketing/zikmund or request them from your instructor.) TABH

Consulting specializes in research for automobile dealers in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Europe. Although much of their work is done on a custom basis with customers such as dealerships and dealership networks selling all major makes of automobiles, they also produce a monthly white paper that is sold via their Web site. This off-the-shelf research is purchased by other research firms and by companies within the auto industry itself. This month, they would like to produce a white paper analyzing the viability of

college students attending schools located in small college towns as a potentially underserved market segment. TABH management assigns a junior analyst named Michel Gonzalez to the project. Lacking time for a more comprehensive study, Michel decides to contact the traffic department at Cal Poly University in Pomona, California, and at University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg, Missouri. Michel wishes to obtain data from the students automobile parking registration records. Although both schools are willing to provide anonymous data records for a limited number of students, Cal Poly offers Michel a chance to visit during

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the registration period, which just happens to be the following week. As a result, not only can Michel get data from students registration forms, but she can obtain a small amount of primary data by intercepting students near the registration window. In return, Michel is asked to purchase a booth at the Cal Poly career fair.
Variable Sex Color Major Grade Finance Residence Animal Description Students sex dummy coded with 1 = female and 0 = male Color of a students car as listed on the registration form

As a result, Michel obtains some basic information from students. The information results in a small data set consisting of the following observations for 100 undergraduate college students in Pomona, California:

Students major field of study (Business, Liberal Arts (LA), or Engineering (ENG)) Students grade record reported as the mode (A, B, or C) Whether the student financed the registered car or paid for it with cash, coded 0 = cash payment and 1 = financed Whether the student lives on campus or commutes to school, coded 0 = commute and 1 = on campus Michel asks each student to quickly draw a cartoon about the type of car they would like to purchase. Students are told to depict the car as an animal in the cartoon. Although Michel expects to interpret these cartoons more deeply when time allows, the initial coding specifies what type of animal was drawn by each respondent. When Michel was unsure of what animal was drawn, a second researcher was conferred with to determine what animal was depicted. Some students depicted the car as a dog, some as a cat, and some as a mule.

The purpose of the white paper is to offer car dealers considering new locations a comparison of the profile of a small town university with the primary market segments for their particular automobile. For instance, a company specializing in small pickup trucks appeals to a different market segment than does a company specializing in two-door economy sedans. Many small towns currently do not have dealerships, particularly beyond the Big 3. Although TABH cannot predict with certainty who may purchase the white paper, it particularly wants to appeal to companies with high sales growth in the United States, such as Kia (http://www.kia.com), Hyundai (http://www.hyundai-motor.com), and potentially European auto dealerships currently without significant U.S. distribution, such as Smart (http://www.smart.com), among others. TABH also hopes the white paper may eventually lead to a customized project for one of these companies. Thus, the general research question is: What are the automobile market segment characteristics of students attending U.S. universities in small towns? This question can be broken down into a series of more specific questions: What segments can be identified based on identifiable characteristics of students?

How do different segments view a car? What types of automobiles would be most in demand?

Questions: 1. What types of tests can be performed using the data that may at least indirectly address the primary research question? 2. What do you think the primary conclusions of the white paper will be based on the data provided? 3. Assuming a small college town lacked an auto dealership (beyond Ford, GM, and Chrysler), what two companies should be most interested in this type of location? Use the Internet if necessary to perform some cursory research on different car companies. 4. What are the weaknesses in basing decisions on this type of research? 5. Are there key issues that may diminish the usefulness of this research? 6. What kinds of themes might emerge from the cartoon drawings? 7. Are there any ethical dilemmas presented in this case?

Case 5 The Atlanta Braves

A visit to Turner Field, the Atlanta Braves state-of-the-art ballpark, feels like a trip back to the future. The stadium blends 1940s tradition with 21st century convenience. The Braves marketing campaign reflects the charm and nostalgia of baseballs past, but it has a futuristic slogan: Turner Field: Not just baseball. A baseball theme park. Fans love the fact that theyre closer to the action at Turner Field. Its only 45 feet from either first or third base to the dugouts, with the stands just behind. Besides that, theres a Braves Museum and Hall of Fame with more than 200 artifacts. Cybernauts will find Turner Field awesome because its a ballpark that makes them a part of the action. At the stadium, built originally for the 1996 Olympics and converted for baseball after the Games, there are interactive games to test fans hitting and pitching skills, and their knowledge of baseball trivia; electronic kiosks with touch screens and data banks filled with scouting reports on 300 past and present Braves, along with the Braves Internet home page; a dozen 27-inch television monitors mounted above the Braves Clubhouse Store, broadcasting all the other major league games in progress, with a video ticker-tape screen underneath spitting out up-to-the-minute scores and stats; a sophisticated communications system, with four miles of fiber-optic cable underneath the playing field that will allow World Series games to be simulcast around the globe, as well as special black boxes placed throughout the stadium to allow as many as 5,500 cell-phone calls an hour. The marketing of Turner Field is aimed at many types of fans. It is not enough just to provide nine innings of baseball. Turner Fields theme-park concept was the brainchild of Braves President Stan Kasten. In the early 1990s, as the Braves grew into one of the best teams in baseball, Kasten increasingly became

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frustrated while watching fans flock to AtlantaFulton County Stadium a few hours before games, with little to do but eat overcooked hot dogs and watch batting practice. As Kasten saw it, they spent too much time milling on the club-level concourse and too little time spending money. What if he could find a way for families to make an outing of it, bring the amenities of the city to Hank Aaron Drive, and create a neighborhood feel in a main plaza at the ballpark? I wanted to broaden fans experience at the ballpark and broaden our fan base, Kasten says. People have no problem spending money when theyre getting value. We have one of the highest payrolls in baseball, and I needed to find new ways to sustain our revenues. Turner Fields main entry plaza opens three hours before gamescompared to two hours for the rest of the ballparkand stays open for about two hours after games. On weekends, there is live music. Everyones invited186 $1 skyline seats are available for each gameand that buck gets you anywhere, from the open-air porch at the Chop House restaurant (which specializes in barbecue, bison dogs, Moon Pies, and Tomahawk lager) to the grassy roof at Cokes Sky Field, where fans can keep cool under a mist machine. Interactive games in Scouts Alley range from $1 to $4, and the chroma-key studios in the East and West Pavilions cost $1020, where fans can have their picture inserted into a baseball card or into a photo of a great moment in Braves history. Admission to the museum is $2.

And it should come as no surprise that there are seven ATMs located throughout the ballpark. One of the Braves key marketing objectives is to help build a new generation of baseball fans. The stadium was planned so that fans will find something to love and learn at every turn. The minute a fans ticket is torn, that person becomes part of whats happening at Turner Field. Questions: 1. What are the key elements of the Turner Field marketing effort? 2. What aspect of the planning of Turner Field, home of the Atlanta Braves, may have been influenced by research using secondary data? 3. What role should business research play in a sporting organization such as the Atlanta Braves, both in making capital decisions and in supporting everyday operational maters? 4. Suppose an executive for the Braves wishes to know whether the stadium has caused employees (including ticket takers, parking attendants, ushers, security personnel, team employees, etc.) to be more committed to the Braves organization than they were playing in an old-fashioned stadium. What would a potential research design involve and what data collection and statistical tests, if any, could be useful?