1) Describe the Environmental context of the case? Michael Dell founder and chairman of Dell Inc., started business by selling RAM chips and disk drives for IBM PCs. By 1984 it started grossing about $80,000 a month. In 1987, Michael Dell renamed his company as Dell Computers and added international sales offices. Dell also started selling PCs and notebook computers through its website, in the same year. Dell has also diversified into producing workstations and strengthened its consumer business. It also agreed to resell systems from EMC and also acquired Microsoft support specialist Plural in 2002.
Despite all the success Dell is still continuing to enter new markets. It wants to strengthen its position in the devices for enterprises segment. As of now its main concentration is on producing television sets and printers. It started to produce Flat screen TVs and is now trying to enter the market for printers and cartridges where HP has got a strong hold.
2) What is the management decision problem? The management decision problem is to strengthen the consumer base in all their markets. They want to produce low cost products which would satisfy their consumers. Also they want to create a strong hold in the market for printers where HP is already established itself. They also want to diversify and expand into new markets like Television sets etc.
3) What is the Marketing research problem? The marketing research problem is to find the preference for laptop computers among its consumers and their primary usage of their computers. It also wants to analyze the satisfaction that they are able to derive from Dell laptops and also how far they would recommend Dell to their friends and relatives.
4) Present a graphical model of the study that you are planning to undertake.
5) Formulate 3 research questions and two hypothesis To study the attitude of customers towards dell printers. To analyse the preferences customers look for in a notebook computer To conduct a study on the level of satisfaction customers have received from Dell products. H o: Attitude of customers towards Dell printers is negative H a : Attitude of customers towards quality is positive or negative
6) Questionnaire 1. Name : 2. Age : 3. Address ; 4. Do you have a laptop? a. Yes b. No 5. Which brand do you own? a. Lenovo b. Dell c. Apple d. Sony d. Tosibha
6. What is your main purpose of using a laptop? a. Education b. Entertainment c. Personal d. Other
Problem identification Preparing research design and drafting the questionnaire Deciding on the sample units and the sampling design
Fieldwork Data analysis and interpretation Findings and interpretation 7. Which feature do you prefer the most? a. Processor b. RAM size c. Battery backup d. Hard disk space e. all
8. Which factor influences your buying decision the most? a. Price b. Quality c. Brand ambassador d. Advertisement 9. Are you satisfied with your past purchase of laptop? a. Yes b. No 10. Would you buy the same brand of laptop in case of a repurchase ? a. Yes b. No 11. Suggestions