Marketing Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Marketing - Research Paper Example Research Question 1. Which opportunities are available to Skype in the Voice-Over-Internet Calls market? Skype is a company that can benefit from this the market research question. First, the company must identify the problem and opportunities affecting its marketing actions. This will enable Skype make appropriate decisions. An opportunity is a factor in the market that ensures that there are improvements in performance, or one that restores the previous state of activities. It is important to note that a problem is anything that affects the capability of a company to achieve their goals and objectives. Identifying the problem may involve assessing the explanation as to why the organization is not making profits as expected. In the market, a problem may be transformed into an opportunity. Further, an opportunity presents to the company a chance to make adjustments over their performance (Mohr, Sengupta & Slater, 2009). The first approach in dealing with the research question is to i dentify the problem or opportunity. However, before a problem is discovered, information must first be generated. For instance, the main problem to Sky is in the nature of competition experienced in the market because there are several other competitors offering similar services and brands. The problem is necessary because in the modern market, consumer attitudes normally influence the marketing behavior of a company. The information concerning consumer attitudes will be beneficial to Skype’s management be aware of the problem or any impending problem that might affect their business in the future. In addition, opportunities may depend on the availability of information of what the consumers expect of the products and services of Skype. This information may be obtained by conducting an online survey, the respondents being a sample of Skype users. Most organizations, including Skype, would be pleased to learn that consumers are displeased by a certain competitor’s new p olicy or quality of their services. This information is necessary since it enables the company to produce products and services that are affordable and are of high quality to customers (Bradley, 2007). Once the problems and opportunities have been identified, the company must do thorough analysis to establish the nature of the problems. After the analysis has been done, the companies can then go ahead and develop possible alternatives to the problem. In most cases, the main symptoms to the problem are identified, however, there may be other problems leading to the symptoms. Problem identification and analysis is important since it enables Skype to get ahead of competition by meeting consumer demands. The company has been able to come up with cost friendly service that enables consumers to make free calls over the internet ((Mohr, Sengupta & Slater, 2009). The next approach in dealing with the research question will be to assess the internal operations of the company for example by f ocusing on its website design. The problem, in this case, may be originating from within the company which makes it possible to survey the internal market consisting of employees. The information generated in the market should be used to asses internal operation, for instance, to determine whether the organization is producing products and serv