Market RESEARCH
Market research: Project Instructions:
Your client, a leading manufacturer of chocolates, cookies, and hard candies, has acquired a company which manufactures all sorts of soft candies, such as gummy bears, candy corn, circus peanuts, etc. Initially, this was thought to be an ideal acquisition, as the products of both companies were sold in the same channels, and the merger/acquisition was expected to lead to economies of scale in the storage and distribution of the combined product line, as well as opening additional markets for the soft candies, which were not currently available in all the stores which sold the products of the larger, acquiring manufacturer. Initially, you were called in to perform an analysis of the IT systems of the acquired company, to determine how to migrate them most efficiently into the IT systems of the acquiring company. You had planned to review such things as data record layouts (to see how to convert product numbers and employee numbers, consolidate customer numbers and addresses, etc.) and analyze functionality. However, in recent days, some issues have cropped up which challenge the initial assumptions regarding how good of a fit the soft candy product line would be and whether the anticipated operational efficiencies could be achieved. For example, it was recently determined that the fleet of trucks owned by the soft candy company were not refrigerated, and
therefore they could not be used during hot temperature months for distributing candies and cookies which contained chocolate. This cast doubts on the practicality of storing the combined product lines in the same distribution centers and delivering them in one truck in one stop to the same customers. Also, it has been determined that a significant portion of the sales of the soft candy company had been to different customers than those of the acquiring company. Much of the soft candy was sold to rebaggers who then sold the soft candy in bulk packages under a variety of brand names, or to large supermarket chains, which then packaged and sold the candy under their private store brand labels. Currently, these marketing channels are not used by the acquiring company, which has no plans to use them, as this is contrary to their branding strategy. You are now wondering if the merger/acquisition assumptions were valid, and if any other issues will be discovered soon. Now, you have been asked to conduct a six-week consulting engagement to recommend how to proceed with the merger/acquisition. You have decided that you will need meet with teams of IT, Manufacturing, Distribution, and Marketing people from both companies, to get their input and to determine the recommended next steps.
Project Requirement
Using MS Word, compose a minimum 3 single-spaced paper in which you respond to the following three questions:
What would be the best strategy for conducting the research? Should you meet separately with the IT teams, the manufacturing teams, the distribution teams, and the marketing teams, or should they all
participate in the same meeting(s)? What venue(s) should be used for the meeting(s)? What information should you ask everyone to bring to the meeting(s) so that they will be best prepared?
What are some of the key questions you would ask of IT? Manufacturing? Distribution? Marketing? Be sure to identify at least two key questions for each of these four functional areas. Consider the seven possible roles for consulting team members: leader, client contact, information gatherer, information analyst, report writer, report presenter, and team coach. For this particular project, which two of these roles do you anticipate will be the most crucial to the success of the consulting engagement and will require the most time/effort?
Review the grading rubric below before beginning this activity.
Project Requirements Points possible for satisfactory completion of task.
Identify a recommended strategy for conducting the meetings, including the pros and cons of meeting separately with each team or meeting with all teams at the same time.
Describe the venue(s) for the meeting(s) and explain your rationale.
Identify what information you would like the members of each team to bring to the meeting(s).
Identify at least two questions you would ask of the IT people.
Identify at least two questions you would ask of the Manufacturing people.
Identify at least two questions you would ask of the Distribution people.
Identify at least two questions you would ask of the Marketing people.
Identify which two roles you anticipate will be the most crucial to the success of the consulting engagement and will require the most time/effort. Explain your rationale.
Market research
………………………..Answer preview……………………..
I would first conduct a market research for both companies to identify whether they can have a possible merger and acquisition. Although it is recommended to bring the two companies together in the same platform, there are some issues that can arise when there is a group meeting. It would be costly to call the two meetings due to logistics that can arise during a common platform………………………….
APA
841 words
