Question 1 – What is the decision problem?

Answer 1 – There are two decision problems for the OML managers –one regarding the
product and the other about the target client
In terms of the product, the Organize My Life (OML) management team is totally aware
that the handheld Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) might have a variety of capabilities,
and they want to know which aspects would be the most appealing when combined.
Second, OML feels that the PDA market is underserved and hence want to know their
target customers which they feel is much larger than the existing PDA users. As OML is
interested in serving the college going students and hence wants to know whether the
device will be a hit among this segment.
Question 2 – What is (are) the research problems?
Answer 2 – The research problems are classified into two groups –
1- Features: In terms of the product, the study must discover what the student’s
top priorities are in terms of the functions and features they want to be included
in the Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs). Another main topic is to look at target
market pricing concerns and the inherent trade-offs between high prices vs low
prices, as well as less features vs more features.
2- Target Customers: Concerns about the target customers are crucial. The benefits
desired by Organize My Life (OML) targeting undergraduates in general vs.
engineering and computer science students vs. MBA graduate students might be
investigated through research.
Question 3 – What recommendations would you make to the OML marketing
managers to address the research problem(s)? That is, what data would you collect
and how might those data be used to answer the research question(s) posed?
Answer 3 – The research problems here require a Qualitative approach of research. The
key to the research problems here is studying the behaviour of your target customers
and gaining insights from their mind. Qualitative research is interactive approach.
The type of qualitative research required here are:
1. Surveys
2. Focused Group Discussion
Surveys : The primary issue with the Organize My Life (OML) product and its features
will be to develop a study that allows researchers to determine the trade-offs that
student customers are willing to accept. This is a key issue since it is common for
customers to say things like "I want feature 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6" and not be willing to give up
anything and that too for least possible amount. OML can frame questions in the surveys
to rank the features the existing customers of PDA would be attractive by ranking them
and frame questions to their new target segment.
Rankings may be useful in a survey because they automatically push certain traits to look
more significant than others. Instead, a respondent may be asked to attribute a
maximum 100 points to a list of features, with the number of points representing the
feature's, attractiveness, etc.
If the respondent is only allowed to check a small set of features, a third option is to
present a short checklist of features from which the user can choose like – select any 3
out of 7 options.
Sampling: Researchers may also look at demands for the new products among various
sectors of the student population. A market study may start with a secondary data
search of student proportions across, say, 100 private and public colleges to see if there
would be a large enough student population to focus just on engineers, or if the
Organize My Life (OML) team would have to be appealing to the entire student body to
be viable.

Focused Group Discussion: Focused Group Discussion is the most appropriate method
of research here for getting insights about the behaviour of the target customers.
Focused Group Discussions provide the most thorough and unique insights as the
discussions are done with existing users of the product or the potential user of the
product.
OML can organize FGDs in colleges to interview students for the price–feature trade off
problem and can also see the willingness of the undergraduate students to buy the
device. FGDs should also be done with the existing users of the Palm device to assess the
need for any new feature that would attract them to switch and would make their life
easier.
Sampling: Out of the 100 colleges shortlisted for surveys, 20-30 colleges can be
shortlisted for the Focused Group Discussion with a mix of Engineering, MBA and
general students. Each batch for discussion should include students belonging to
different household income for a thorough study.