Marketing research analysis help on: Marketing research and hypothesis on Nokia challenges

Marketing research analysis help on: Marketing research and hypothesis on Nokia challenges

Problem definition:

The first and most important step in a marketing research is to define the problem which is often more critical than fIntroduction: Intend of this essay is to present the key concept of bureaucracy and its applicability within the organizations. In this regard, its negative impact on employees’ motivation has also been discussed. First, it is required to provide the outline of bureaucracy and its role in the organizations. It refers to a group of officials those who are not elected specifically by the organization and implement their own rules, laws, regulations, ideas and other functions. Organizations using bureaucracy within the premises usually form a few layers of management, through which decisions are passed and concluded by authority. The concept of bureaucracy in the organizations gives birth to a threat of individual freedoms (Mises, 2012). Bureaucratic structures: The structure and main characteristics of bureaucracy have been illustrated by Max Weber. He basically discussed about fact, significance and impact on employees’ motivation in an organization. The characteristics are as follows: • Centralized structure: In this, only one senior person holds the authority to make the decisions and direct the company. Other department heads and concern employees are not involved in decision-making process. Bureaucratic organizations often follow centralized structure and only owner is concerned for making laws, rules and regulations for company. • Formal hierarchical structure: Certain layers of management are decided by the owner. Each layer has the power to control the level below and same is controlled and managed by the level higher than them. In other words, it can be said that central planning done by the organization and centralized decision making are based on formal hierarchical structure (Busting bureaucratic, 2011). • Management by rules: One of the main characteristics of bureaucratic structure is that management is processed with rules. Those rules are made at higher level of the organization and are executed by lower level. • Organization based on functional specialty: Bureaucratic structure also demonstrates that works are done by specialists and rest people are allotted work based on their type of work and skills they do have. • Division of labor: It is the allotment of employee’s work according to their specialization. Therefore, each task is performed by a separate person and on the other hand it breaks down the work into simple tasks. • Up-focused or in-focused mission: If the organization seeks to serve the stockholders, the board of directors and agencies empowering it, then they keep their mission up-focused. Alternatively, if the organization aims to serve and benefit itself, then it makes its mission in-focused (Lambert el, 2007). Impact on bureaucracy on employees’ motivation: Bureaucracy within an organization makes an impact on employee’s motivation and thus discourages creativity and innovation. Moreover, front line managers are supervised by the level above and in this case they may receive less satisfaction from their end which will result in increasing turnover rate of employees. Apart from this, employees may find themselves bounded by rigid controls and in hands of their seniors and supervisors which may again makes them feel less concerned in the organization. Therefore, employees in bureaucratic organizations may feel less competent and able to adapt to ever-changing marketplace, industry legal conditions (Volti, 2007). Furthermore, centralized structure of bureaucratic organizations makes a negative impact on employees’ motivation. Owner does not involve the employees in decision making and any other important activity related to organization which makes them feel less noticed and valuable within the premises. On the other hand, as the authority is in owner’s hand only, he or she may require more time to accomplish the decision-making process and other related tasks which will result in slow operations of business but provides accurate results. Similarly, division of labor brings the boredom to the employees, as they get bored by performing same task daily and do not get any growth opportunity such as job enlargement and job rotation. The skill and knowledge level of employees stuck with their daily experiencing work and makes them less competent for gaining competitive advantages and their own personal growth (Lewin, 2012). Subsequently, employees are not recognized by their level of performance and achievements they achieve in such organization. It becomes the main reason, they do not prefer to work in bureaucratic organizations or leave it early. Employees wish to get rewards, non-monitory and monitory recognition but are less motivated if they are not provided with all these. Bureaucratic organizations do not offer such direct, short term and suitable rewards system to their employees. Likewise, they are directed by the seniors at every level whereas they want to be self-directed and will result in higher productivity. The organizations’ sole aim of earning profit also affects employees’ motivation and makes them unhappy and unsatisfied with their jobs (Triple Helix innovation, 2012). Application of examples: To support the characteristics of bureaucracy, China’s automobile industry which uses division of labor has been taken for an example. It was noticed during the analysis that division of labor based on vertical division may imbalance overall production capacity and affect the stages of manufacturing process. In this context, it was found that it diminishes the level of capability due to experience of an employee in only one field as he/she does not provided with an opportunity to work for other departments. The other face of this research also illustrated the impact of ownership and control on employee as an individual or a group. Management control over the production process made the employees feel confident and self-start and therefore resulted in better production level and higher sales volume all over the world. Furthermore, several layers have been formed in Chinese automobile industry which has dissatisfied the employees in terms of reporting to multiple levels of managers separately. This makes the wastage of time and lowers their level of confidence and capability in turn (Marukawa, 1995). Application of theory: Additionally, Maslow’s motivation theory can be presented and explored in support of discussion put across in this paper. Maslow presented a hierarchical structure of five needs of people in a descending order. Therefore, Fifth level of need is self actualization which states that every individual has a need for his/her self-fulfillment. In this regard, a person wishes to realize his/her own full potential and wants to become the best as per his/her capability. It can be aligned with the motivation and behavior of the employees as want to be a self-starter, enthusiastic, creative, innovative, and dedicated and want to love challenges and multiple tasks. But people in bureaucratic organizations are directed by the owner and are not provided to enjoy multiple tasks (Call of the wild, 2012) Fourth level of need is self-esteem which is the need for self-respect and acceptance. It states that every person has a desire to be recognized by others and in this sense; he/she wants to be felt strong, important, valued and respected by others. But, bureaucracy doesn’t provide them with the opportunity to display their talents and skills so that they could be grateful for attention and recognition. Next need presented by Maslow is social need and need for communication, love, response and relationship. This need relates to the discussion where they are not involved in decision-making processes and other activities. It makes an impact on the employees’ motivation as they do not become able to communicate with others properly (Green, 2000). Moreover, second level of individual’s need is safety, security and protection need. Employees’ always think of their personal, family and job security and protection so that they could secure their future. Bureaucratic organizations tend to avoid providing the employees with such protection and security which may harm their motivation level throughout their work and result in less interest and confidence at work place. First level of hierarchical need is the need for hunger and thirst which is basic and psychological need of a person. It can be linked with the motivation of employees because they need to eat, sleep and take care of their health proper in order to sustain and work better within the organization. This will result in higher level of self-confidence and make them free of any pain and provide good results (Earthlink, n.d). Conclusion: This paper has discussed about bureaucracy concept in the entire discussion. It can be concluded that non-elected official persons make rules, laws and ideas to be followed by lower level of management within the organization. Afterward, some major characteristics of bureaucracy have been described such as division of labor, formal hierarchical structure, and management by rules, etc. Then, impact of these characteristics on employee’s motivation has been taken into consideration defining the consequences. For support, a Chinese automobile industry’s example has been presented from motivation point of view. Finally, Maslow’s motivation theory has supported the overall discussion and related it with motivational aspects and human needs of employees in an organization. Reference: Busting bureaucratic 2011, Bureaucratic form according to Max Weber-his six major principles, viewed on 8th November 2012, <http://www.bustingbureaucracy.com/excerpts/weber.htm>. Call of the wild 2012, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs- How to motivate your staff, viewed on 8th November 2012, <http://www.callofthewild.co.uk/library/theory/maslows-hierarchy-of-needs-how-to-motivate-your-staff/>. Earthlink n.d, Maslow’s theory of motivation and human needs, viewed on 8th November 2012, <http://home.earthlink.net/~denmartin/maslow.html>. Green, C 2000, “A theory of human motivation”, Psychological review, vol. 50, pp. 370-396. Lambert, E al 2007, “The Impact of Centralization and Formalization on Correctional Staff Job Satisfaction and Organizational Commitment: An Exploratory Study”, A critical journal of crime, law and society, vol. 25, no. 4. Lewin, L 2012, “The effects of bureaucracy on employee’s motivation”, MERLOT. Marukawa, T 1995, “Industrial groups and division of labor in China’s automobile industry”, The developing economics, pp. 330-355. Mises, L 2012, Bureaucracy, Ludwig von Mises Institute. <http://mises.org/etexts/mises/bureaucracy.asp>. Kurman, M 2012, “Motivating and retaining innovative employees in a bureaucracy”, Triple Helix innovation. Volti 2007, Bureaucratic organization, Sage Publications, UK. inding out its solution. By determining and expounding management need of information, problem can be defined easily. Therefore, the problem taken here for this marketing research is with regards to management’s decision whether Nokia which is such a big company should make a move ahead and invest all its resources in producing smart phones or not. This problem has been described for UAE (United Arab Emirates) country concerning their practical marketing issues and challenges. Additionally, the research’s main aim is to present the views from consumers’ perspective. In this context, determining consumer behavior and preference in UAE also becomes a problem to be identified as product is required to be produced according to their needs. The problem in this case may be that market is quite familiar with Nokia Company, but still is not that much capable to doing good business in the said country. Moreover, problem can be with phones distribution to the public on time (Kroelinger, 2002).

After defining the basic and key problem for this market research, research objectives are established. Therefore, before determining the market share and objectives of Nokia, following information can be taken into consideration:

• The total number of customers in UAE
• Percentage of those customers
• Data detailing average buying amount made by customers for that particular brand
• Criteria defined for consumer purchasing
• In addition, Marriage segments’ nature
• Total number of competitors available in the market
• Market disbursements per opponent or competitor
• Quality and service of relative products, and it’s worth and use by the consumers (Jensen, 2001).

Research objective:

Research objective consists of the statement which talks about the information required for market research. Therefore, a research objective has three components describing overall statement:

• First, research questions
• Development of hypothesis
• Lastly, scope of the research

Research question: Here, in case of Nokia’s marketing problem in UAE, the question is as follows:

• Should Nokia go ahead and make an endowment in all its resources in producing smart phones in UAE? Moreover, some of the questions related to advertisement and their influence on customers’ attitudes and preferences can also be included in the form of research questions. Additionally, estimation of customers’ preference is also taken into account while going for a market research.

Development of hypothesis: Hypothesis refers to an unproven proposition and therefore it can be considered as a promising solution generally to the problem that is defined under problem definition. After making and developing hypothesis, research analyzes the alternatives and finds out the correct answer. Here, in case of Nokia, hypothesis made can be as follows:

• Culture and society influence the customer about making a purchasing decision for a particular brand
• People prefers to change their phones every 6 months or so
• Moreover, people have a tendency of having more than one phone at a time with them
• People may be loyal to one specific brand only and are not ready to shift their preference at any cost (Cell phone addiction, n.d)

Scope: Scope generally limits the boundaries of research. Therefore, it can be explained that research is conducted concerning current existing customers only or all potential consumers. Besides, the scope of marketing research can also cover the problems such as determining the type of consumers compromising both present and potential markets. It also includes purchasing behavior, blueprint of consumption, magnitude and site of diverse markets for Nokia in UAE.

Literature review:

While providing literature review, it should contain an introduction, an illustrative and evaluative body and finally a conclusion drawing the summary of key findings of the research paper. Therefore, it is needed to describe Nokia’s position and market in UAE first in order to identify other related problems. Due to global economic downturn, sales of mobile phones in UAE continued to decline in 2010 because smart phones could also not counterbalance very negative intensification recorded during the same year. However, Nokia was consistently making its growing business in UAE in 2010 and therefore accounted for near about 40% volume sales of feature phones and more than about 50% in smart phones. Similarly, Samsung, LG and Sony got themselves registered in second, third and fourth position in terms of sales volume of feature phones in 2010. On the other hand, Blackberry, iPhone and HTC were also in the line and got placed second, third and fourth in smart phones sales volume in UAE (Euromonitor International, 2012).

As the popularity for smart phones were increasing day by day, Nokia had to suffer a lot and faced many challenges with regards to decline in sales volume of its smart phones. Nokia had largest decline in its mobile phones’ volume share throughout 2010. In support, data presented by Euromonitor delineated that share of Nokia’s smart phones were more than 60% in 2009 and it fell down to around 52% in 2010. On the other hand, Nokia also lost its three or four percentage points in its share of feature phones from 2009 to 2010 in UAE. Other prospects have outlined that smart phones will dominate the market for mobile phones and outperform in comparison to feature phones most probably in terms of its overall sales volume by 2012. By understanding the position of mobile phone market in UAE, customer’s buying behavior model can be presented here in this regard (Euromonitor International, 2012).

Furthermore, it can be said that, Nokia should go ahead with smart phones as it is receiving positive response from the market and the consumers. But, in this case, it should not invest all of its resources in production of smart phones because customers’ preferences and behavior towards a particular brand or a product changes frequently and thus they can go for feature phones as well. Therefore, it can also balance its resource for both smart phones and feature phones production. For an instance, Nokia has launched its E7 model of smart phone in UAE market. This has been produced concerning people’s both work and personal life. It connects professionals to their corporate messaging and e-mailing servers. On the other hand, it has been brought in market for its easy and ultimate use such as mapping, navigation, other useful applications and constant messaging services (John Wiley & Sons, 2012).

In addition, Nokia E7 is making business people’s life very convenient as they are able to securely access to email, corporate tasks, contact and the business index through its Microsoft exchange servers. Likewise, they can also use business communicator mobile as developed by Microsoft in its launched smart phone. On its other façade, non-business people are also making most of its use and entertain themselves with social services and interesting applications and sites such as Ovi store, ovi maps, etc. These stores make a person capable for knowing immediate status of train timings, safety alerts, and visibility to petrol stations and parking, etc (Albawaba business, 2011).

Consumers’ perspective:

 Following are some major aspects from consumer perspective which suggest that Nokia should invest its resources in smart phones.

• Smart phones’ easy, filtered and secure access to both private and business e-mail;
• Business and professional people can create, edit and share their official documents on time and urgent basis if they are away from office. Moreover, they can also have an outlook on PDF files with the help of Adobe reader in their smart phones;
• Moreover, smart phones have fast and secure internet and intranet access which is built in its VPN;
• Apart from this, people enjoy and prefer having high-resolution photos, HD videos with about 8 megapixel camera quality and flash through dual LED (Lee, Ha & Widdows, 2012);
• Smart phones provide people with HDMI connectivity to their project files and therefore one can view his/her file, videos and images on large screens.
• On the other hand, smart phone provides high quality memory, which is in-built;
• Finally, a USB stick is also provided to the people for its easy and convenient use in order to share the files (Cox, 2012).

Segmentation: Before making an investment for any business or production of any new product, target market is ensured. Thus, segmentation for Nokia to invest in designing and production of smart phones in UAE can be made with the support of segment descriptors.

(a)    The descriptors identify customer’s critical factor such as their age, lifestyle, education, status, job, income, values, beliefs, etc. In this context, Nokia has targeted well-educated, youths who have good income and are status concerned while they are in a group or an individual. Here, in case of mobile phones, people’s first preference is power in terms of phone’s good battery life, applications and features and efficiency so that they could use it for both personal and professional purpose (Lee, Ha & Widdows, 2012).

(b)   People are acknowledged with a particular product on the basis of their demographic, geographic, psychological, and behavioralistic. Following this, people are characterized on the basis of their gender, generation, business, age, education, lifestyle and level of income. Besides, their values, beliefs, role of their family’s decision in purchasing decision and perspectives also matter for them while choosing a specific product. Next, customers basically seek brand loyalty in the market and its price, features, accessories, applications, etc of a mobile phone. Not only these factors are considered by them, but they also take phone’s rate of usage by standard personalities, its hold and sustainability into account (Anderson, 1984).

(c)    When consumers’ preference is determined, their purchasing behavior model can be reviewed so that a general idea of their choice and preferences can be taken out.

Buyer behavior/preference model:

• Need identification: The primary step of this is to identify and define the actual need of buying a phone. Nonetheless, buyer may have a common idea on what phone he or she wants to buy but he/she would like to make a research in order to know best possible alternatives.
• Information search: From customer’s perspective, he/she makes an online research to examine and k now about manufacturers, company’s brand name, reviews. In a similar way, buyer may take suggestion from his/her relatives, friends and colleagues about battery life, features, outlook, applications, friendly use and efficiency of phone. Afterward, a buyer reaches on a decision (Perner, 2010).
• Evaluation of alternatives: After gathering information, a buyer makes a decision on the best alternative by evaluating each. In this context, buyer basically looks for design, outlook, price, quality, battery life, in-built memory and reliability of phone.
• Purchase decision: Consequently, here a buyer reaches on his/her final decision and buys and possess a phone as per his/her research and information about that (Dietrich, 2010).
• Purchase evaluation: At this stage, a consumer assesses the phone in terms of its good quality, power, ease of use, and many more things. If it lives up to buyer’s expectation, he/she gets surety about the brand and makes the buyer loyal towards it. On the other hand, if buyer gets irritated with usage of phone and does not find it as competent as others, he/she decides not to buy any phone from that particular brand (Pellemans, 1971).

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