Research Proposal -Factors that affecting customer preference and sales on cement

industry- a study on Akij Cement ltd.

Executive summary:

I am conducting this research to find out the factors that affecting customer preference and sales
on cement industry- a study on Akij Cement ltd. Sales might decrease due to the environmental
context related to the business. So I will analyze the industrys environmental context first.

As I need to determine the factors of sales decrease, I will also collect the information about the
recent perception of the customers.

I will do the exploratory research to find out the insights and findings about the customers
perception on the cement industry through questionnaire surveys.

Data will be collected through myself and a reliable team which is trained by me and I can assure
that they will perform their job accurately. I will personally monitor the team constantly and will
supervise them to ensure the quality of the survey.

I will use Frequency distribution method and simple cross-tabulation method to analyze data.

I will give a hard copy of the final report with elaborate discussions and hypothesis and a soft
copy of presentation. I will also make a formal presentation of the report in front of the
stakeholders so that they can understand all the issues and clarify the problems.

Background:

To find out the sales decrease or increase factors of Akij Cememt, I will analyze the factors
which impact on sales. Sales might decrease due to the environmental context related to the
business. So to find out the reasons, I will analyze the industry past information and forecast of
trends of sales, market share, profitability, demographics etc.

I will also analyze the availability of resources and constraints, objectives of the organization and
objectives of the manager, Buyer behavior, Legal and economic environment, and the marketing
and technological skills of the company.

Problem Definition / Objectives of the Research:

Sales of Akij Cement is declining day by day. So the management decision problem and
marketing research problem is:

MDP: Why sales are decreasing?

MRP: Need to determine the factors effecting sales.

The report has some broad objectives:

1. To understand marketing procedure of Akij Cement.

2. To find the reasons why the customers are dissatisfied

3. To find out the competitive strength and weakness of Akij Cement as well as other market
challengers of this industry.

4. To find out the recent market conditions.

5. To have some ideas about how changes in market offering influence the consumer behavior.

6. To understand the important areas of consumer expectation regarding product package

offered by the cement company in our country.

7. To prepare some guidelines and suggesting some policy which will be effective in securing
customer satisfaction by analyzing various market situation.

So the clear objective of conducting this research is to find out the factors that lead to the sales
decrease of the Akij Cement.

Approach to the problem:

As I need to determine the factors of sales decrease, I need the information about the recent
perception of the customers. So in order to do that, I will develop a questionnaire and will do the
survey on it. A sample of questionnaire is given on the appended part.

Later on I will present a graphical model and verbal model of the situation.

Research Design:

I will do the exploratory research to find out the insights and findings about the customers
perception on the Cement industry. It will also help us to develop hypothesis and isolate key
variables and relationships for further examinations.

I will administer the questionnaire through face to face interviews. Face to face interviews will
help me to see their physical movements which will help to understand their psychology.

Basically I will use the likert scaling technique.

The question size will be medium and the respondents will be needed mostly 07-10 minutes to
complete the questionnaire.
I will survey on both buyer of Akij Cement and other brand users so that I can find the true story.
The sample size will be medium like 98-102 respondents and it will be randomly selected.

The natures of questions are given below:

Q: 1: How is the product performance of Akij cement?

- (a) worst (b) Bad (c) average (d) Good (e) Best

Q: 2: How is their customer service?

- (a) worst (b) Bad (c) average (d) Good (e) Best

Q: 3. Do you think the company worth the price, they set?

- (a) High Price (b) Simply high Price (c) Reasonable Price (d) Simply low price (e) low price

Field work / Data collection:

Data will be collected through myself and a reliable team which is trained by me and I can assure
that they will perform their job accurately. We will go to every respondents house, if necessary.

As we are conducting a personal interview, we will also arrange a specific place for them to
communicate so they dont feel irritate where to go and who to meet.

We will personally monitor the team constantly and will supervise them to ensure the quality of
the survey.

Data Analysis:

I will use Frequency distribution method and simple cross-tabulation method to analyze data.

I will show the results through graphs and pie diagrams.

Reporting:

I will show the report progress to the co-ordinator time to time so that he can value the standard
and say if anything extra is required.

I will give a hard copy of the final report with elaborate discussions and hypothesis and a soft
copy of presentation.
I will also make a formal presentation of the research paper in front of the co-ordinator so that he
can understand all the issues and clarify the problems.