Order Description
Group Research Project

Note: This course is about finding and using secondary data.

General:
In groups of 4 to 5 students, you are required to complete a market assessment for introducing a product or service in a particular geographic area within Canada using secondary market research data. Only secondary data (data that has already been collected for some other purpose) should be gathered.

Franchise “The Old Spaghetti Factory” restaurant in London, Ontario, Canada.
(London is a small city in Ontario, Canada. There is no “The Old Spaghetti Factory in this area. I want to franchise the restaurant into this city and need to do the research.)
You are required to complete a category analysis, consumer analysis, Porter’s analysis, competitor analysis, and PEST analysis. For each type of analysis you must identify implications for businesses in your industry. You will complete the report by identifying whether the product or service should be introduced in the proposed city. You are not required to develop pro forma financial statements.
Requirements: (See course schedule for due dates)

• List of group members and topics Value
• Written Report……………………………………………… 20%
• Oral Presentations…………………………………………..10%

Team List and Topic:
• List of team members – First and Last Names. (I will add to the report after you finished)
• Project Topic in the form of a research question
Written Report:

Complete a category analysis, consumer analysis, Porter’s analysis, competitor analysis, and PEST analysis for your topic. Use class notes to guide you through these processes. Include detailed findings and marketing management implications in your report. You need to identify, collect, analyze and report secondary data.
Among other things, you should try to:
– Estimate the size of the market for your product or service
– Describe how the market is segmented
– Describe important marketing environmental variables/trends that are creating opportunities or problems for suppliers of your product or service.
– Include an analysis of your potential consumers
– Include an analysis of your competitors
– Note attractive segments that result from your findings

There are no minimum or maximum length requirements for the written report. In the past, students have provided adequate summaries of their research and findings in 15 to 25 pages, plus appendices (based on 12 pt. font, 1.5 spaced). Students can include tables, graphs etc. in the body of their report and/or in appendices at the end of their report.

The written reports should include the following:
1) Title Page
2) Executive Summary; Outline of the research, major findings and outcome. 1 page in length.
3) Introduction; Briefly describe your topic, your research objectives and research design.
4) Detailed findings and marketing management implications
5) Limitations; Describe any limitations you encountered throughout your research that may have an impact on the quality of your decision. Note any information that you wanted to find but could not, and/or would have had to purchase.
6) Conclusions and Recommendations
7) Appendices; Include relevant tables, findings etc. referred to in your report.
8) References; You must reference all data sited.
Be sure to read the referencing instructions posted on the Fanshawe Online course web site and APA format reviewed in class.
Evaluation
Marks for the written reports will be awarded based on:
– Demonstration of your understanding of the concepts and sources discussed in class.
– Quality and thoroughness of your research.
– Appropriateness of your recommendations based on your findings and analysis.
– Overall flow of the report, spelling, grammar and professional look.

See group project rubric for grading information and specific requirements.

Topics:
The MKTG1028 course is about finding data to assist in making marketing decisions. Students often find the biggest challenge in completing the group project for the course is finding relevant data for their topic to complete the:
Category analysis
Consumer analysis
Porter’s analysis
Competitor analysis
PEST analysis

When choosing a project topic, students should consider the availability of data. It is true that some topics/industries have very little published data available to the public. Others have lots of useful data available to researchers for free.

In general, mature, well-organized industries with a number of strong competitors tend to collect and publish data (the Canadian beer industry for example). Students should try to avoid fractured industries (where competitors are small, unique and often failing/changing) … I have never received a good project report from a group that chose a nightclub/bar as their topic because there is very little data published on this industry. There tends to be more data available on goods (tangible items) compared to services.

With this in mind, I have listed below a number of topics/industries that I know there is a good amount of published data on. Student groups are not required to choose a topic off this list. If you have another topic in mind, I will counsel your group on the appropriateness of your choice. I would like each group to work on a unique topic, so topics will be assigned on a first-come-first-serve basis.
Topic:

Open the “Old spaghetti Factory” restaurant in London, ON, Canada

Note: Groups should limit the scope of their projects to distribution/service in a specified geographic area (i.e. the London area) so they can use some of the demographic data available through Statistics Canada.