Market Research proposal report

Introduction

Market research is important exercise that should be carried out in order to determine the opinions of consumers. It is vital for a company, an organization or a business to carry out market research to prevent it from incurring any loses that might send it out of business. The information gathered when carrying out this exercise will not only benefit a business, but it will also ensure that consumers needs are met. (Cannon, 1986)

The airline industry has not been fully exploited by business people. There is still a gap in the industry that has not been utilized well. The industry gives transport services for freight and also passengers. Businesses within the industry aim at making it very interesting to woo customers to desire to use services provided by the industry. The study of the industry reveals that there are political, economic, socio-cultural and legal factors that affect it. The Pest analysis should be used to analyze the environment in which the industry operates in. This simple analysis involves understanding the industrys political, economic, social, and technological environment with references to the various companies within the industry. (Massingham, et al. 1988)

Political factors have a direct and indirect effect on the performance of the various companies within the airline industry. There are some decisions which have been made by the federal government of the United Kingdom which has really had a negative effect on the performance of the industry. For instance, in 2001, the federal government brought legal suits and made decisions to minimize the production and marketing of high performance to countries believed to be a threat to the security of U.K. This move impacted negatively to the general operations of companies within the industry. (Michael, 1985)

The industry has also been affected by economic factors. These include: Currency exchange rate, interest rate policy, consumer factors, and fiscal policy rates. The industry has to adhere to the fluctuations in the market depending with how a consumer perceives the offered products. In the times of economic recession, less people use air transport because of the low affordability of this kind of transport. Hence the industry has continually suffered for lack of customers. Therefore, the industry makes minimal profits because of the few customers it is able to acquire at such times. (Jan, 2002)

The market has also been affected by social factors. Forces within the society such as media, family and friends have affected the operations of companies within the industry. The media has played a role in influencing customers to believe that the services offered by the industry are of high quality. Social factors have affected the opinions, interests, and attitudes of the industrys potential customers. The industrys success can be greatly attributed to social factors. (Scholes, 1993)

Technological factors have also played a role in affecting the industrys performance. The internet for example has assisted the industry to extend its global out reach. Most of the marketing mix strategies which the airline has used have kept in touch with changing technology and modernization in the ever changing world. E-commerce and Radio Frequency identification-RFID are some of the modern technological aspects embraced by the industry. The industry has tried to always keep abreast with technology. The modern technology present in the industry has given it a competitive edge over other related industries. The technology has also greatly increased the effectiveness of the services offered by the industry. (Schlesinger, 1991)

Some of the services that can be introduced in to the industry include postal services. Here, letters and mails will be transported via planes to where they are needed. This enhances the speed of postal services in the world as a whole. The targeted customers will include rich business people who need to deliver mail to business people based in other parts of the world urgently. The cost of this service will be a bit higher than the ordinary postal services. This is why this service is going to target the well to do people in the society. (Rampton, 2003)

The other targeted group will consist of schools and colleges that need to send important documents in far away places within a short time. This service will improve o the level of interactions between institutions of learning. Finally, this service will also be designed to target researchers in the society. In the case of urgent messages needing to be delivered to laboratories that are distant from a researcher, this service will come in handy. These three targeted consumers are expected to make maximum use of this service as there are no alternatives at the moment. (Michael, 1985)

The demographic study of a potential customer is very important as it determines the market strategies that one is going to use to win them over. The business people have increased in number since the Entrepreneurship culture started to take root. The number of men in this group is higher than that of the women. Generally, business people like sealing business deals with the right people even if they are based far away from them. Hence, this service will ensure that this happens within a very short time. Similarly, business people understand the essence of speed when carrying out business operations. Therefore, it is with no doubt that this service will be of benefit to them. (Hilltop, 1994)

Schools and colleges need to interact with other academic institutions in other parts of the world if the quality of education is not to be compromised. Students, who need to send their transcripts to Colleges based far away from them, can do so urgently knowing that their documents are secure. The postal service is going to increase the level of security involved when sending parcels or mails to other parts of the world. Researchers prefer sending laboratory materials using methods that are safe and secure. Research materials and specimens are usually very delicate and they need safe mode of transportation. (Rampton, 2003)

Conclusion
The introduction of such services in the industry will solve a lot of problems that had been present in the industry. These services would cover many destinations and therefore they would be in a position to serve a wide scope of customers. The Postal services would have incorporated updated information technology. Since the industry is highly reputable of having qualified personnel who have integrity are friendly and intelligent, such services would attract a large number of customers. (Cannon, 1986)

References
Byars, L. (1991): Strategic Management, Formulation and Implementation - Concepts and Cases, New York: HarperCollins.
Cannon, T. (1986): Basic marketing, principles and practice, 2nd edition, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York
Hilltop, J. (1994): European Human Resource Management in Transition; New York Prentice Hall
Jan, Y. (2002): A three-step matrix method for strategic marketing management, Marketing Intelligence and Planning, Vol. 20.
Johnson, G. & Scholes, K. (1993): Exploring Corporate Strategy. Text and Cases, Hemel Hempstead: Prentice-Hall.
Kotter, J. & Schlesinger, L. (1991): Choosing strategies for change. Harvard Business Review.
Lancaster, G.A. & Massingham, L.C (1988): The marketing environment in essentials of marketing, McGraw-hill, New Jersey
Michael, J. (1985): Marketing strategy and management, Macmillan publishers Ltd, London.
Rampton, L. (2003): Human Resource Management; New York; Melbourne Press