Assignment 1 Mini Research Proposal Management/Research Dilemma Sales of the restaurants beef products are declining.

Management Question

Richard Bolten, Benedikt Faerber, Ole Kahlke

How can further sales decline be eliminated and what should be done in order to increase beef sales in the future. Research Questions A large restaurant in the south of Germany has recently experienced decreasing sales numbers of its beef products. The purpose of the first research question is to identify reasons for the decline in beef sales. The aim is to include all possible factors that might contribute to the research dilemma. Therefore the first research question will be: 1. What are the reasons for the declining beef sales during the last six months? Due to the fact that the media is investigating in this case and therefore might have built awareness about contaminated meat in the area, it is inevitable to determine possible consequences of the media attention. Therefore the second research question will be: 2. What influence will the public attention about the contaminated meat in local grocery stores have on sales in the near future? Supposedly customers have lost confidence and trust in the quality of the restaurants beef products. In order to be able to increase sales numbers of beef products it is important to examine customers trust in the restaurants beef quality can be rebuilt. Therefore the third research questions will be: 3. How can customers confidence in the restaurants beef products be restored? Investigative Questions a) Is there a relationship between the media attention regarding contaminated meat sold in local grocery stores and the decline in sales of beef products? b) Are competitors also suffering from declining beef sales or is it this restaurants specific problem? c) Is the decline in sales only related to beef or to meat in general? d) Are there other causes for the decline in beef sales except from the negative media attention concerning the contaminated meat? e) What is the public perception of the restaurant in general? f) What steps can be introduced in order to achieve customer confidence regarding the quality of the restaurants beef products?

Assignment 1 Mini Research Proposal Relevance of the research questions

Richard Bolten, Benedikt Faerber, Ole Kahlke

The purpose of this research is to investigate the reasons for a decline in beef sales and if there is a relationship between the media attention about the contaminated meat and the decline in the restaurants beef sales. Furthermore the aim of this research is to examine how customers confidence in the restaurants beef products can be restored. In order to assure the future profitability of the restaurant this research can be considered as essential. The findings of this research are supposed to contribute to future decision making in order to improve the restaurants sales. Research Design In order to obtain information to effectively address the management dilemma, the research design is mainly based on the collection of primary data. In conducting primary research, a descriptive technique will be employed, which contrary to exploratory research bases its numerical results on a larger sample size. The cross-sectional design enables the collection of data by means of a questionnaire, which can be completed both online and on a face-to-face basis. As a result, data can be collected quickly and with low costs. In addition, secondary data can also be used in form of former sales numbers provided by the restaurant. Regarding the collection of primary data, two different options are available: survey methods and observational methods. In the case at hand, survey methods appear to be optimal. The outcomes will identify the important variables that affect costumer-buying behavior and could give an insight to the costumers mindset. To ensure an appropriate time frame for the research, given the urgent developments, the proposed research should be completed within no more than four weeks, which also means that for this project no pilot testing will be conducted. Sample Design Having developed an appropriate questionnaire, the next step considers designing a representative sample from which to obtain the necessary data. In order to draw conclusions from the sample, one of the requirements of the research is to obtain a sample of at least 100150 respondents. As a further requirement of the sample, all respondents should either live in the area surrounding the restaurant or be potential customers. Evaluation All gathered information and data shall be evaluated and processed according to the need of the client.