Consumer Behaviour Research Report

THE TASK AND ITS RATIONALE

You have been hired as an independent consumer behaviour research consultant to complete a consumer behaviour research report on behalf of one of the organisations listed below. You are required to create a new product or service for that organisation. You need to do the following: 

• Select one organisation from the list A  in forbes.
• Get approval from your seminar (tutorial) leader for your chosen organisation.
• Invent a plausible new product or service for that organisation.
• Find, read and review consumer behaviour relevant to that new product or service using industry and academic sources. (See MMK266 Library site for links and examples).
• Based on this background research, develop a list of key issues to ask consumers about.
• Conduct at least 4 qualitative interviews with consumers in one of the primary markets for the new product or service.
• Analyse these interviews.
• Write up your report and include strategic recommendations based on your analyses.

One of the following organisations must be used as the basis of your assignment:

ASOS (www.asos.com/au)	Gumtree  (www.gumtree.com.au)
Melbourne Balloon Flights (www.globalballooning.com.au/melbourne)	Mona (www.mona.net.au)
Geelong Performing Arts Centre (www.gpac.org.au)	Country  Road (www.countryroad.com.au)
Heidi Museum of Modern Art (www.heide.com.au/)	NetFlix (www.netflix.com/au)
Greenpeace Australia Pacific (www.greenpeace.org/australia/en)	A Day on the Green (www.adayonthegreen.com.au)
Please Note: Students who are overseas may request their tutor to approve a local organisation. This approval must be confirmed during the online seminar in Week 2.

DO NOT CONTACT ANY OF THESE ORGANISATIONS IN RELATION TO THIS ASSIGNMENT

 This is an authentic task based on work that is expected of a consumer behaviour researcher. It has been designed based on research into the issue of graduate job readiness where employers clearly state that they want potential employees and graduates completing real-world based, authentic assessment tasks that are proximal to the workplace as part of their studies.

In the field of marketing and consumer behaviour this reflects the need for graduates to be able to complete meaningful, client-based, research reports such as the one designed for this unit. You are required to submit a consumer behaviour research report for your client. Part of any business report for a client includes the initial step of designing and submitting a brief by a due date to submit your research plan to the client for them to assess whether they will actually assign the work to you. The nomination requirement replicates that part of the process. In that way, if you do not submit a brief to your client for their consideration, then you do not get given the authority to complete the work.

  

MAJOR TASKS

Organisation nomination must be completed in seminars by Week 3 (31 July) or you will receive a ZERO grade for the assignment:

1. On-campus students – your tutor will approve your nominated choice of organisation and the new product/service IN CLASS ONLY. Approval will not be given via email, phone, CloudDeakin, etc.
2. Off-campus students – you must nominate your choice of organisation (must be from the list below) and the new product/service to be approved by the teaching team IN THE DESIGNATED DISCUSSION AREA ON CLOUDDEAKIN ONLY (not via email, etc.) by the end of Week 3 (31 July) of trimester at the latest.
3. Name your assignment file: surname_student ID_MMK266. For example: smith_123456789_MMK266).
4. Your assignment MUST be a single MS Word document. PDF is not accepted.
5. Please note that by clicking the SUBMIT button in the online assignment Dropbox, you are declaring that the work submitted is entirely your own, except where material quoted or paraphrased is acknowledged in the text. You are also declaring that it has not been submitted for assessment anywhere in whole or in part previously (that includes any previous attempts you may have made in this unit).
6.  If you have any queries or need clarification regarding this assignment please refer to the Assignment FAQs on CloudDeakin in the first instance.
7.  Please note the following:

-                DO NOT submit a Deakin University Assignment Coversheet.

-                DO NOT contact the organisation or its personnel in relation to this assignment

 PLAGIARISM  AND COLLUSION

Plagiarism and collusion constitute extremely serious academic misconduct. They are forms of cheating, and severe penalties are associated with them, including cancellation of marks for a specific assignment, for a specific unit or even exclusion from the course. If you are ever in doubt about how to properly cite a reference, consult your lecturer or the Study Support website http://www.deakin.edu.au/current-students/study-support/study-skills/handouts/refer-plag.php

·         Plagiarism occurs when a student passes off as the student’s own work, or copies without acknowledgement as to its authorship, the work of any other person or resubmits their own work from a previous assessment task.

·         Collusion occurs when a student obtains the agreement of another person for a fraudulent purpose, with the intent of obtaining an advantage in submitting an assignment or other work.

Work submitted may be reproduced and communicated by the university for the purpose of detecting plagiarism and collusion.

 MMK266  ASSIGNMENT DETAILS

Your report MUST have the following headings (and your own sub-headings): 

1. Title Page (Please include the word count on the Title Page)
2. Table of Contents
3. Introduction and the New Consumer Product or Service
4. Issues Facing Consumers in Adopting this New Product or Service
5. Consumer Response to these Issues
6. Recommendations  and Conclusion
7. References
8. Appendices