BUSN20016: Research Proposal on Pizza Hut Digital Marketing

This research proposal investigates the factors contributing to the limited or ineffective use of digital marketing strategies by Pizza Hut. It begins with an introduction to the fast-food industry and the importance of digital marketing, followed by a problem statement highlighting Pizza Hut's lower market share compared to competitors like Domino's. The research aims to identify the factors hindering Pizza Hut's digital marketing effectiveness, with objectives focusing on determining these limiting factors and assessing the need for digital marketing to improve sales and market share. The proposal justifies the project's importance for Pizza Hut's long-term sustainability and outlines potential research outputs, including identifying limiting factors, highlighting the need for digital marketing, and providing a background for leveraging digital marketing. A conceptual framework is provided, discussing digital marketing opportunities and constraints, along with a hypothesis. The methodology includes literature review, data collection through questionnaires and interviews, and data analysis using ground theory and framework analysis for qualitative data, and statistical methods for quantitative data. The study's organization, budget, and timeline are also detailed, providing a comprehensive plan for the research.

Running head: RESEARCH PROPOSAL: DIGITAL MARKETING IN PIZZA HUT
IDENTIFYING THE FACTORS BEHIND LIMITED OR INEFFECTIVE USE OF
DIGITAL MARKETING IN PIZZA HUT
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1RESEARCH PROPOSAL: DIGITAL MARKETING IN PIZZA HUT
Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Problem Statement.....................................................................................................................3
Research aim and objectives......................................................................................................5
Justification of the project..........................................................................................................5
Potential research Output...........................................................................................................6
Conceptual framework...............................................................................................................6
Methodology..............................................................................................................................8
Organisation of the Study...........................................................................................................9
Project budget and budget justification....................................................................................10
Gantt Chart...............................................................................................................................11
References................................................................................................................................14

2RESEARCH PROPOSAL: DIGITAL MARKETING IN PIZZA HUT
Introduction
Fast food industry has emerged as one of the major industries in current era. A report
published by the IBISWorld, a business intelligence leader that specialises in Industry Market
research & procurement stated that the global revenue of considered industry is $651 billion
and employees over 11.9 million people (“Global Fast Food Restaurants. Industry Market
Research Reports, Trends, Statistics, Data, Forecasts”, 2018). The above discussed figures
are mostly lead by certain industrial leaders such as the McDonalds, KFC, Dominos, Pizza
Hut and others. To maintain the position of competitive leader the fast food firms are
adopting different disruptive tools and technologies. One of such technology is the digital
marketing.
Digital Marketing enables the user to do marketing using the digital technology.
Multiple digital marketing tools have been made available by different platforms to support
the firms in attaining a high level of marketing. Some of the most prominent tools are social
media marketing tools such as Facebook Power Editor, Twitter Native, Nanigans and others.
Email digital marketing tools such as MailChimp, Emma, Marketo and others are also
offering support to the digital marketing. Similarly, multiple other platforms apart from social
media and email marketing are available that includes retargeting tools, programmatic
advertising tools, website changing tools, video hosting sites and many other types. However,
not all the fast food industry has been able to leverage the technology and one of such
industry is Pizza Hut. The image attached below shows a comparison between the market
share of Dominos and Pizza Hut in Australia.

3RESEARCH PROPOSAL: DIGITAL MARKETING IN PIZZA HUT
Figure: Domino and Pizza Hut Revenue Comparison
(Source: Fernyhough, 2018)
Hence, the aim of the paper is to propose a research work is identification and
assessment of the factors that are limiting the use of digital marketing in the Pizza Hut. A
background of the subject of research work have been provided along with problem statement
that had been succeeded by the research aim and objectives. A justification for the selection
of the discussed topic has also been offered along with the potential outcome. A conceptual
framework has also been provided to reflect the current status of literary work available on
the subject of discussion. The proposed methodology for pursuing research aim and
objectives have also been discussed that have been succeeded by a discussion on the research
plan (including budget and timeline) to conclude the paper.
Problem Statement
A research by Heart Foundation of Australia, a charitable health organisation has
stated that Australian spend over $7.16 billion annual on fast food (“Aussies spending more
than $7.16 billion on fast foods every year”, 2016). Pizza Hut being one of the leading pizza
brand still contributes only 10.7 % in the pizza Market of Australia ("Australia - market share

4RESEARCH PROPOSAL: DIGITAL MARKETING IN PIZZA HUT
of leading pizza takeaway companies 2016 Statista", 2017). The image attached below makes
it evident where, the share of Yum! Restaurants Australia Pty Limited (parent firm of Pizza
Hut) is shown along with other leaders of pizza industry.
Figure: Market share of major Pizza sellers in Australia
(Source: "Australia - market share of leading pizza takeaway companies 2016 Statista", 2017)
Several reasons are associated with the low market share of the subject (Pizza Hut)
and some of them is less interaction with the public, exploitation, underpayment, adoption of
technological advancement and similar others (Fernyhough, 2018). One of the most dominant
of them is the digital adoption (Harley, 2015). Hence, becomes of great prominence to
identify the factors that are associated with the limited use of digital tools and technologies in
Pizza Hut. Only one aspect of the digital adoption that is the digital marketing will be
considered as part of the proposed research work. The selection of the digital marketing could
be justified by the fact that an organisation can adopt digital solutions for many operations,

5RESEARCH PROPOSAL: DIGITAL MARKETING IN PIZZA HUT
however, assessing all of them together will prove to be complex and hence, only one
operation has been considered.
Research aim and objectives
The primary aim of the proposed research work is to identify the digital marketing
strategy of the Pizza Hut and reasons why Pizza Hut is failing to adopt proper digital
marketing. The primary aim of the paper will be supported by some secondary objectives and
they have been listed as follow:
i. To determine the factors that are limiting or making the digital marketing ineffective
by the subject.
ii. To determine the need of digital marketing for improving the sales and eventually
market share of Pizza hut in Australia.
Justification of the project
The product offered by Pizza Hut are one of the best and some of them are absolute
best and hence, it is crucial that the firm should sustain in long run to satisfy the Australian
market. Furthermore, researching on the firm and its weak digital marketing will enable the
readers and the author as well to understand the importance along with the prominence that
digital marketing is capable of offering to a firm. It will enable others firms to understand the
crucial importance of digital marketing in gaining or maintaining competitive leadership in
the market. The factors crucial for leveraging digital marketing can also be identify taking the
proposed research work as a background. It will also pave way for academic researchers to
conduct future studies that are aimed at mitigating the threat that is faced by the subject.
Moreover, it will even motivate the researchers to undertake similar projects that will assist
different organisations to develop a sustainability strategy for themselves.

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Potential research Output
The research proposal will identify the reasons and factors behind the limited or
ineffective adoption of digital marketing strategy of Pizza Hut and at the end of the research
work it will provide certain outcomes and the most potential of them are:
i. The factors that are restricting the subject from leveraging the digital marketing.
ii. The reasons that deem need for digital marketing to succeed in the competitive
market.
iii. A rough background for factors that are crucial for leveraging the digital marketing.
Conceptual framework
Digital Marketing has emerged as one of the crucial forms of marketing for the
organisations in the recent times (Ryan, 2018). The digital marketing refers to the marketing
of a brand or product, services using the digital tools. The digital tool can expand from social
media platform to emails and other digital means (Chaffey & Smith, 2013). Since, its
inception the marketing mode have witnessed a major surge in the number of adopters. The
reason for this massive surge is associated with the benefits that is offered by the digital
marketing (Tiago & Verissimo, 2014).
Opportunities presented by Digital Marketing are vast and the most prominent of
them is the ability to reach even to the most remote audience. Even though a firm cannot
reach a remote region but still the expansion of internet has enabled them to market their
product to those regions (Karjaluoto, Mustonen & UlKuniemi, 2015). Furthermore, the
resource and capital utilisation that the digital marketing offers over it traditional means is
also a factor to be considered (Taiminen, 2016). The saved resources can be used for
improving the quality of the product and in the case broaden the consumer base with a high
level of satisfaction. Another notable opportunity posed by the technology is chance to

7RESEARCH PROPOSAL: DIGITAL MARKETING IN PIZZA HUT
formulate bonds with the customers (Stephen, 2016). The direct and frequent communication
assists in development of bonds with the customers that can be further extended by
collaborating with other technology or brands (Kannan, 2017). Collaborating enables the
brands to offer different offers to the consumers as a felicitation that develops a loyalty of the
customer towards the firm.
Constraints of digital marketing are also key findings identified from the literary
works and it includes several factors. Some of the most prominent of them includes engaging
& efficient contents, consistency of marketing, addressing of gaps, lack of integration,
technological & skill challenges and others (Leeflang, Verhoef, Dahlstrom and Freundt,
2014). The discussed factors restrict the leveraging of the digital marketing.
Pizza Hut weaknesses include multiple factor that even includes less use of
technological development for its operations (Rao, Sarkar & Bohra, 2016). Different
researches have made it evident that technology is capable of enhancing a firm’s performance
and in the process offering them a sustainable future. The technological adoption can extend
from management information system to use of digital tools in reaching out to the customers
(Hopp & Gangadharbatla, 2016). Hence, one of the prominent reason for Pizza Hut in losing
its competitive leadership to Domino is the fact that the former has provided inadequate
attention to its technological skills and capabilities.
Hence, based on the discussion above the hypothesis for the research project work can
be developed and the hypothesis for the work will be
Null Hypothesis (H0): Pizza Hut does not provide proper attention to engaging & efficient
contents, consistency of marketing, addressing of gaps, lack of integration, technological &
skill challenges and others to improve the efficiency of digital marketing.

8RESEARCH PROPOSAL: DIGITAL MARKETING IN PIZZA HUT
Hypothesis 1 (H1): Pizza Hut does provide proper attention to engaging & efficient contents,
consistency of marketing, addressing of gaps, lack of integration, technological & skill
challenges and others to improve the efficiency of digital marketing.
Methodology
To attain the research aim and objectives of the proposed work the following measures will
be adopted:
i. Literature Review will be done to identify the current status of knowledge available
on the topic of discussion and based on the findings and identified patterns the
questionnaire for the collection of quantitative data will be developed.
ii. Population targeted for the proposed research work will be the commoners who are
pizza lovers will be targeted along with those who are currently working with Pizza
Hut for quantitative data collection. The pizza lovers group will be selected from
different social media group that are dedicated to pizza lovers of Australia along with
the colleagues of the researcher who love eating pizzas. For qualitative data collection
professionals of digital marketing and high officials of Pizza Hut will be selected.
iii. Sampling of the data will be done based on Random Sampling methods and a sample
size of 150 will be considered for quantitative data collection. For the qualitative data
collection, a sample size of 20 people will be considered of which 15 will be experts
in the field of marketing, market analysis and other relevant fields it may even include
the educators who train their students regarding the marketing tools and techniques.
The remaining 5 will be the high officials of the Pizza Hut.
iv. Data Collection for the quantitative data will be done through an online questionnaire
that will be distributed among the selected population. The questionnaire will be
developed on Google Forms. It will offer closed end questions so that quantitative
data is collected. For the qualitative data collection interviews will be conducted that

9RESEARCH PROPOSAL: DIGITAL MARKETING IN PIZZA HUT
can be done over VoIP (Voice over IP) or face-to-face depending upon the comfort of
respondent (Lange & Saric, 2016). As part of the VoIP, only video calls, audio calls
and instant messaging will be considered.
v. Data Analysis will be done separately for qualitative and quantitative data types. For
qualitative data analysis ground theory analysis and framework analysis will be done.
While for the quantitative data analysis one-way ANOVA (Analysis of Variables), T
Test and descriptive analysis using cross tabulation and frequency tables will be done.
The selection of ANOVA test can be justified by the fact that it is employed to
analyse the effects of manipulation of one variable on other (Zebala & Kowalczyk,
2015). The findings will derive certain variable and that needs to be assessed to get on
a conclusion. For the paper digital marketing will be independent variable and
other factors identified will be the dependent variable over which the analysis will be
done.
Organisation of the Study
The final report will be organised in the following structure:
Chapter One will outline and establish base for the project. It will define the digital
marketing and introduce challenges with the Pizza Hut along with offering an insight into
other crucial aspects. The research aim and objectives will also be discussed as part of this
section
Chapter two will detail literary work to identify the current status of knowledge that is
available on the topic of discussion.
Chapter three will detail the research methodology and how the research work have been
conducted. It will detail, the analysis techniques, ethical considerations, research design and
other crucial aspects.

10RESEARCH PROPOSAL: DIGITAL MARKETING IN PIZZA HUT
Chapter four will be aimed at analysing the data and deriving the findings that can be
summarised to conclude on the findings.
Chapter five will detail the findings and discuss over it to link them with the research
objectives. It will also conclude the project by summarising all the findings and measures as
part of conclusion.
Project budget and budget justification
The budget estimated for the proposed research work is $ 5,300 and it will be
completed within a period of 85 Days that have been shown in the Gantt Chart. It has been
attempted that the budget and time schedule are in context with the academic requirement and
within the capacity of the author of the proposed work.
The budget allotted to different activities have been specified in the following points:
i. Literature Review: The discussed activity has been assigned with a budget of $ 1300
because the journals, articles and other reliable papers that will be reviewed from the
internet and not all sources are available free of cost. Hence, a budget of $ 1300 have
been allowed so that no vital literary knowledge is ignored due to limited budget.
ii. Data Collection: The data for the proposed research work will be collected through
both qualitative and quantitative means. The quantitative data will be collected
through google forms that are available for free, however, the qualitative data may
need the author to travel and other expensive activities and hence will account some
expenses and hence the budget.
iii. Data Analysis: It is the most prominent step and hence, it is crucial to carry this step
with great accuracy and it has been stated above that ANOVA and T Test will be done
to analysis the data making it crucial to have a reliable statistical tool. IBM SPSS is
considered for the analysis and will costs $ 135.14 per month and will be used for at

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least a period of 2 months. Additionally, the statistical tool for storing the data will
also be needed for which MS EXCEL will be considered. Other expenses will also be
involved and hence the budget has been allowed.
iv. Miscellaneous: Other expenses might arise during the period of research work and
hence, a contingency amount of $ 300 has been considered so that the project can be
completed within time and with accuracy without any interruption.
Summary
Purpose Estimated Budget
Literature Review $ 1,300
Data Collection $ 2,200
Data Analysis $ 1,500
Miscellaneous $ 300
Total Budget $ 5,300
Gantt Chart
Task Name Duration Start Finish Predecessors
Digital Marketing in Pizza Hut 85 days Mon 03-09-18 Thu 27-12-18
Phase 1: Initialisation 17 days Mon 03-09-18 Tue 25-09-18
Topic selection 2 days Mon 03-09-18 Tue 04-09-18
Background establishment 5 days Wed 05-09-18 Tue 11-09-18 3
Brainstorming 2 days Wed 12-09-18 Thu 13-09-18 4
Preliminary review 4 days Fri 14-09-18 Wed 19-09-18 5
Conceptual Framework 2 days Thu 20-09-18 Fri 21-09-18 6
Research objectives and
questions 2 days Mon 24-09-18 Tue 25-09-18 7