Business Finance Homework Help

Researching Your Consumer

Introduction

In each unit, the students will be assigned discussion questions concerning unit topics, examine the presented topics, and complete the discussion tasks. After submitting the initial posting, the students will provide constructive criticism of at least two peers’ initial postings, including the perceived strengths, weaknesses, and specific opportunities for improvement.

The initial post should be a minimum of one page double spaced in length. Refer to the discussion rubric for grading criteria which includes using credible sources (properly cited in APA format) and linking in the unit’s concepts and terms for critical analysis.It is recommended that your use a word processer, such as MS Word and use both spell checking and grammar checking tools. You should expand your grammar checking tools in Word to cover any writing weaknesses (such as setting to Grammar and Style in Word). You can then copy and paste your post into the discussion forum. While there is no minimum or maximum word expectation for peer responses, they are expected to be substantive in nature and linked to credible sources. All work should reflect graduate-level critical thinking, as well as an ability to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate given scenarios and tasks.

Directions

The core of marketing is an understanding of your consumer. There is a difference between a customer and a consumer. A customer is the actual or prospective purchaser of products or services. This can include intermediary customers such as manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers, etc. End user consumers are the ultimate users of a product or service. For this discussion, you will research consumer segmentation using academic articles through Park Library’s Pirate Search.

Reading academic research articles requires and understanding of how they are constructed. These articles are often very “thick”, not in the number of pages, but rather in the density of concepts and wording. While these articles are usually designed to be read by other academic researchers, they can provide deeper insight into specific theories and techniques that can be used in developing marketing strategies.

Most academic articles start with an abstract which outlines the focus of the paper. Use the abstract to identify if the article you find is appropriate for your research. The article flow normally starts with an introduction and then a literature review. The next section is the method. This can be the most complex part of the paper because of the research techniques used which may include advanced statistical techniques. The paper will then have a results section where findings are summarized and often implications are discussed. Your company has asked you, as the marketing expert, to provide a brief summary of consumer segmentation decision processes for your industry. Since you are working on your MBA, you have access to Park University’s Pirate Search to identify relevant academic articles.

• For this assignment, go to Park University’s Pirate Search.
• Check the Limit To: radio buttons for: Full Text, Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Journals, and Academic Journals.
• Use the Keyword field to search:
  • Consumer segmentation (then include an industry or topic you are interested in).
  • Note, you should review the abstracts of more than one article.

Discussion Issues

1. Specify the search terms you used in your search including your industry term.
2. Place the reference for the article using APA 7th Edition formatting.
3. Give a brief summary of the article including any of the following that are relevant:
   1. The focus of the article.
   2. Major concepts or theories identified in the literature review.
   3. Description of the data collection method used in the study (some articles may only be a literature review).
   4. Implications of the results of the data analysis (if included in the article).
   5. Any other conclusion you find from the article.
4. Explain the larger strategic implications that this article may have for your company’s segmentation strategy including the consumer decision process.