Question 1: Define the management decision problem facing Dell as it seeks to maintain and build on its leadership position in the personal computers market Answer 1: Management decision problem is about action-oriented issue of what the decision maker needs to do. In different environment and different problems, Dell continued to implement different strategies to main and build its leadership position in the computer market. (a) Saturation of PC in American: In the Dell case, Sales inside the United States were about 53% of consolidated net revenue in fiscal 2008.
Dell has to look for direction or solutions to supplant sales in the PC-satured U. S. market. (b) Keen Competition: Apart from attempting to erect proprietary systems of what HP and IBM often did, Dell used low-cost and directly sales model. (c) Partnership internationally Dell developed and created a PartnerDirect – a global program that can bring existing partner initiatives user one umbrella. (d) Retail Strategy: In order to meet customers’ needs and demands, Dell started offering select products in retail stories among several countries not only in Americas but also in Europe and Asia during the fiscal 2008.
This allowed Dell to extend the business model to reach customers. (e) Diversity of Products: Dell has taken the marketing opportunity to manufacture flat-screen TVs after all the brand equity Dell has built up, it continued to use newest technology to diversify even further. (f) Development of New Product Line: When DELL acknowledged printing products produced about 70% of HP’s operating profit and is the biggest margins, DELL started to create the new printing product line to implement penetration.
Before penetrating the market, Dell conducted a survey to investigate and realize the customer behavior, correlation on any of identified usage factors and the underlying demographic aspects of the classification of the customers. Question 2: Define an appropriate marketing research problem that corresponds to your definition of the management decision problem Answer 2: Marketing research problem is information oriented and to ask what information is needed and how it should be obtained.
To understand Dell consumers’ primary usage of their computers for Internet and other usage, and the customer satisfaction and loyalty, below components should be measured. (a) What is the level of customers’ satisfaction on Dell product? (b) What will be the customer’s probability of repeat buying of Dell products and the extent to which their current customers? (c) What will be the correlation on any of these identified usage factors and the underlying demographic aspects of the classification of their customers? d) How the Increase % of Dell price affect the sales on Dell computer system? Question 3: Present a graphical model describing consumers’ selection of a personal computer brand Answer 3: Problem/Need Recognition (Needs of purchasing of computers arising) Information Search (Online, referral from friends or relatives) Evaluation of Alternatives (Compare specification, functions or price with other brands) Dell Personal Computer Other Brands Purchase Decision on Dell Post Purchase Behavior of Dell Personal Computer Dissatisfaction Satisfaction
Graphical model describing consumers’ selection of a personal computer brand 4 Question 4: Formulate three research questions, with one or more hypotheses associated with each Answer 4: We would like to know what is the level of customers’ satisfaction on Dell computer products, we may set research questions and hypotheses as below: Research Question 1: How is the satisfactory level of the customers with DELL computer system? Hypothesis 1 Ho: The customers are satisfied with the Dell computer system. H1: The customers are not satisfied with the Dell computer system.
Research Question 2: How likely would a customer recommend DELL to his friends or relatives? Hypothesis 2: Ho: The customers recommend DELL to his friends or relatives. H1: The customers do not recommend DELL to his friends or relatives. Research Question 3: How likely would a customer purchase repeatedly on DELL computer in a new purchase decision? Hypothesis 3: Ho: The customers will choose DELL computer in their next purchase decision. H1: The customers will choose DELL computer in their next purchase decision.
