Question

answer the following questions in a short essay of at least 200 words:

Discuss the role that marketing research can play in helping Hewlett Packard maintain and build on its leadership position in the personal computers market.

What problem-identification research should HP undertake?

What problem-solving research should HP undertake?

Would you like to pursue a marketing research career with HP? Explain.

How can HP make use of social media to obtain marketing research information?

Answer 1

HP enjoys consistent and healthy market share of 15-20% in the personal computers market, a highly competitive segment. To maintain this position of leadership position, it should invest in marketing research to gain insights about the market and take suitable actions to stabilise and improve the sales.

HP should undertake research assignments to identify the customer's perception of its products, their unmet needs which drive them to competitors, functional issues and painpoints of customers, unique propositions and other factors adding to brand loyalty, effects of quality, innovation and research initiatives on customers' opinions and preferences, brand perception, expectations from the products and the current standing of company's offerings vis a vis the competitors' products.The research can also address specific process issues by including other stakeholders like suppliers, distributors and policymakers to make the processes more efficient.

The problem solving research should include the analysis of problems identified earlier and coming to the appropriate solutions in form of research and development initiatives, brand building strategy, innovation, improvement of hardware quality and other functional attributes to make them more preferable to the customers.

Surely. It is a great place to learn the research, with a huge customer base and plethora of opportunities to work on and perform.

HP can derive valuable insights from social media about the customer insights in form of comments, opinions, shares, suggestions and complaints. It can also help to prioritise the actions depending upon the customers' reactions, reviews, recommendations and negative views to address the issues depending on their urgency. This information is often genuine and unadultrated, and can be used to start a two way communication to address and resolve customers' issues. The information can be used to take strategic decisions about products, branding,research and development, distribution and human resources.