Importance of Market Research for D.A. Garden Supplies

This document discusses the importance of market research for D.A. Garden Supplies, a small business consisting of a nursery and café. It explores how market research can help in resolving the issue of falling revenue generation in the nursery business segment. The document also highlights the contribution of market research to the success of the company and outlines the research needs, objectives, and methodologies. The report concludes with a review of the previous proposal and a description of the project scope.

Running head: PROJECT MANAGEMENT
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

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Table of Contents
Task 01. Proposal.........................................................................................................................1
Introduction:....................................................................................................................................1
Market research and its role in resolving current issue:..................................................................2
Contribution of market research to the success of D.A. Garden Supplies:.....................................5
Research needs of D.A. Garden Supplies:.......................................................................................5
Drafting research objectives:...........................................................................................................5
A statement of market research needs:............................................................................................6
Information on the consultation process that will be required to progress to the next stage,
scoping the project:..........................................................................................................................6
Details of any industry individuals or external bodies you consulted in determining these
research needs:.................................................................................................................................6
Conclusion:......................................................................................................................................7
Task 02.............................................................................................................................................8
Introduction:....................................................................................................................................8
Review of the previous proposal:....................................................................................................8
Preliminary project scope:...............................................................................................................8
The human, financial and physical resources required and available:........................................9
Identifies any external market research assistance that will be required:........................................9
Describes possible research locations:...........................................................................10

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Describes your planned research methodologies:.....................................................10
Explains the sample size and nature of your sample:....................................................................11
Documents the time required and available:...............................................................11
Data Gathering Approaches:..........................................................................................................13
Type of data required:................................................................................................................13
Three suitable data gathering method along with justification:.....................................................13
Interview:...................................................................................................................................13
Survey:.......................................................................................................................................14
Online research:.........................................................................................................................15
Sources of required data:...............................................................................................................15
Quantifying the data:.....................................................................................................................16
Four data processing methods:......................................................................................................16
Final revision of the draft:.............................................................................................................16
Conclusion:....................................................................................................................................16
Task 3.............................................................................................................................................18
References:....................................................................................................................................19

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Task 01. Proposal.
Introduction:
One of the business models which firms adopt to gain competitive advantage in the
market is diversification of product strategies. The firms hold several divisions with each
division selling products belonging to a different industry. This business model prevents one
single firm, especially at the local level. The business model combining several business
verticals are profitable but pose managerial challenges before the management. Failure to
manage all the results in erosion of profits in certain segments which hits the overall profit
generation. Efficient management of all the business segments requires the firms owning them to
conduct extensive market research in order to form appropriate business strategies to operate all
the business segments profitably. The aim of the research would be delving into the importance
of market research which also involves hiring consultancy firms to strengthen the market
research. The multinational firms owing to the immense market resources, are able to control
their diverse business verticals strategically but small firms with limited resources find it
challenging to manage their diverse business lines of business or LOBs. The research would be
based on a case study revolving around one such small business called D.A. Garden Supplies
based in Australia. The firm is a small business consisting of two business verticals namely
nursery and café owned by David and wife Allison. The firm after generating high profits in the
past years is facing losses at present owing to the failures of the owners to manage both the
nursery and café segments strategically. The case study clearly shows that the owners are
emphasising on the café segments at the expense of the nursery segment which has resulted the
latter generating negative revenue by a whopping 5 percent. The owners in order to deal with the

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issue have hired a consultant. The entire paper would be done from the point of view of the
consultant.
Market research and its role in resolving current issue:
Market research can enable D.A. Garden Supplies to resolve the current issue of falling
revenue generation in the nursery line of business. Ruiz and Holmlund (2017) define the term
market research as the process to gather knowledge about target markets. Boddy (2016) mentions
that market research consists of gaining information from the market about the macroeconomic
factors like changing customer preferences. The business organisations use the findings from the
market research form business strategies. An analysis of the case study provided shows that D.A.
Garden Supplies can utilise the information to deal with the current issue, namely dwindling
market revenue from the nursery business segments.

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Market research
Gaining of information
regarding market conditions
like customer preferences
David and Allison can use
market research information to
form strategies on the 2 LOBs
Efficient management of
both the LOBs
Customer satisfaction of
customers to both LOBsGeneration of high
revenue for both LOBs
(Issues met)
Figure 1. Use of market research to meet the issue of falling revenue generation in nursery
(Source: Author)
As shown in the flowchart above, D.A. Garden Supplies can adopt market research to
deal with the issue of falling revenue generation in its nursery vertical and consequently overall

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revenue generation. The name of the firm is D.A. Garden Supplies which creates impression that
the core business of the firm revolves around selling gardening products like plants and
fertilizers or garden supplies. However, the case study gives more information about the café
segment of the business. It can be inferred from the description that the owners of the firm are
shifting their attention from nursery business to café business. This means that the firm would
mobilise more capital towards the café segment at the expense of the garden supplies. This
limiting of investment of capital into the gardening business segment would result in lack of
product acquisition in the former. This means that the firm would be able to less products
available to customers, thus resulting lower customer satisfaction among them. This lowering
customer satisfaction among the garden suppliers’ customer segments would repel customers
from the firm, thus resulting in falling revenue generation in the nursery business segment. This
fall in the revenue generation in the gardening segment would consequently result in falling
revenue in the business as a whole. The means that the shifting of the core operations of the firm
towards café business is not aligned to its name, D.A. Garden Supplies. In fact this gap between
the name of the firm and its present core business namely, café are contradictory to Trade
Practices Act 1974 (Legislation.gov.au. 2019). The object of the Act reads, ‘The object of this
Act is to enhance the welfare of Australians through the promotion of competition and fair trading
and provision for consumer protection.’ This means that the act seeks to protect the interests of the
customers in Australia. However, as far as the firm is concerned, it can be pointed out that by making less
resources available to the nursery vertical is making less products to the customers. Thus, in other words
the firm is failing to protect the interests of the customers of the segment, thus breaching the act. It can
also be pointed out that the firm by not protecting the interests of the customers of its nursery segment is
actually indulging into unethical practices. In other words the firm is breaching ethical practices
(Williams 2017). Thus, it can be pointed out that firm should use market research to deal with the issue.

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The firm by conducting market research would be able to gain information about significant market
aspects like customer expectations. This would enable the firm to form strategies which would enable it to
serve the customers of both the LOBs namely, nursery and café. This would boost the revenue generation
of both the nursery and the café. This would boost the overall revenue generation of the firm. Thus, it can
be inferred from the discussion that marketing research would enable the firm to cater to both the
customer segments more satisfactorily and generate higher revenue.
Contribution of market research to the success of D.A. Garden Supplies:
Marketing research would contribute the success of D.A. Garden Supplies in several
ways. First of all, market research would enable the company to gain information about its target
market and preferences of customers. For example, the firm would be able to gain information
about the new construction projects involving construction of parks. These new projects would
generate business for the firm since the firm would be able to generate garden designing orders
in these parks. Secondly, market research would enable the firm to form strategies aligned to the
market conditions. Thirdly, market research would enable the firm to generate higher revenue
which can be inferred as the outcome of the second benefits.
Research needs of D.A. Garden Supplies:
The research needs of D.A. Garden Supplies would consist of conducting research about
the prevailing market conditions of Australia. The research would need the firm to conduct
research on the macroeconomic aspects like the political conditions and economic conditions.
The firm should require to deploy human resources to conduct the market research.
Drafting research objectives:
The following are the research objectives of D.A. Gardening Supplies:

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1. Improvement of the business generation in the nursery LOB.
2. Boosting of customer satisfaction to the customers of D.A. Gardening Supplies.
3. Enhancement of overall revenue.
4. Strengthening of market position and competitive advantage.
A statement of market research needs:
Enhancement of revenue generation in the gardening LOB and enhancement of overall
revenue generation of the firm. The management of Garden Supplies should conduct a detailed
market research in order to gain more information about the changing market trends. This would
enable them to form more appropriate business strategies.
Information on the consultation process that will be required to progress to the next stage,
scoping the project:
The information which would be required to progress to the next stage which is scoping
the project would consists of the following:
1. Information about the macroeconomic conditions of Australia.
2. Information about the strengths and weaknesses of the firm.
3. Information about the resources of the firm at present like human resources and technological
resources.
4. Information about the resources which the firm would be required to acquire in order to
conduct market research.

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Details of any industry individuals or external bodies you consulted in determining these
research needs:
The external bodies which were consulted while determining the research needs consist
would government officials and investors. The firm also gained feedback from its suppliers in
order to identify the research needs. The management of the firm did consult the financial
institutions with which it holds current accounts.
Conclusion:
It can be concluded on the basis of the discussion that D.A. Gardening Suppliers should
make strategies to recover the loss of revenue in its nursery LOB. It can also be concluded from
the discussion that the firm should conduct an in depth market research to gain knowledge about
the prevailing market conditions of Australia. This would enable the firm to form strategies
which it would implement to boost its revenue generation.

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Task 02.
Introduction:
The aim of the report would be reviewing the proposal proposed to the management of
D.A. Gardening Supplies. The company is a business firm in Australia which deals in gardening
products and café. The management of the company is currently focusing on the café LOB to
boost the revenue generation of the LOB at the expense of the nursery LOB. This has resulted in
negative revenue generation in the nursery LOB which has resulted in dwindling revenue
generation of the firm as a whole. The firm in order to deal with this issue of dwindling revenue
generation has hired a consultant. The consultant has proposed that the company should conduct
a market research. The aim of the task would be reviewing the market research components and
propose improvements in the components. This assignment would convert the proposed market
research into a full-fledged project. The name of the project would be ‘Revenue generation
boosting’ project.
Review of the previous proposal:
A review of the previous proposal shows that D.A Gardening Suppliers should conduct a
more in depth market research. The firm in its market research should include the legal aspects
of Australia consisting of the laws in power in the country. For example, the market research
should consist of analysis of the laws like Privacy Act 1988 (Oaic.gov.au. 2019). This would
enable the company to form strategies aligned to the market conditions of the Australia.
Preliminary project scope:
The following are the components of the project scope of revenue generation boosting
project of D.A. Gardening Suppliers would implement:

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The human, financial and physical resources required and available:
The human resources which would be required to conduct the marketing research would
consist of marketing experts. They would conduct research about the macroeconomic conditions
of the country. The project would also involve financial experts who would integrate the findings
gathered by the marketing experts to form the pricing strategies of the products. The marketing
team would also collaborate with the suppliers of the company, especially the suppliers of the
nursery LOB.
The financial resources which would be mobilized towards the project would be funds
approved by the owners of the firm namely, David and Allison. The owners may also borrow
loan from reputed banks in order to obtain more capital to conduct more in depth market
research.
The physical resources which would be used to conduct the market research project
would consists of technological resources like computer and software. The company would be
required to acquire technology like cloud computing and knowledge management system in
order to enable accumulation, storage and application of a large body of market research
information to form the business strategies to boost the revenue generation of the gardening
LOB.
Identifies any external market research assistance that will be required:
The firm namely, D.A. Gardening Supplies should acquire consultation from external
marketing consultation. The marketing consultancy firm would provide the firm with more
marketing information. This availability of more marketing information would enable the

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management of firm to form stronger strategies to boost the revenue generation in the nursery
vertical.
Describes possible research locations:
The possible research locations which D.A. Gardening Supplies would consider in
conducting the market research would consists of main urban locations like Sydney and
Melbourne. The firm by conducting market research in these large numbers of cities would be
able to gain more information about the market conditions like customer preferences. Secondly,
these cities have more number of business organisations which means that they have several big
marketing consultancy firms. D.A. Gardening Supplies would be able to collaborate with these
large numbers of marketing firms to gain more marketing information. Thus, it can be inferred
that selecting the main Australian cities as the market research locations would enable the
company conduct a more detailed market research.
Describes your planned research methodologies:
D.A. Gardening Supplies should adopt a combination of primary data analysis and
secondary data analysis to conduct the market research. This methodology to be selected would
depend on the components of the macroeconomic research. For example, while conducting
research on the political factors, the firm should adopt the approach of secondary data collection
from the government websites. The same approach would be applicable for conducting research
on the legal components to gain information about laws like Trade Practice Act and privacy
laws. In order to conduct research about social factors impacting the companies in Australia, the
market research project team would be required to obtain information on changing customer
preferences, especially pertaining to the café and gardening industry. Thus, it is evident that the
firm would be required to obtain information by conducting interviews of customers. Thus, it can

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be pointed out that in this case, the firm would be required to adopt primary data collection
methods. The market research project team would also review the past customer data and
feedback. This would boost the understanding of the market research project team about the
customer preferences of the firm pertaining to the nursery section. Thus, it can be inferred that
the revenue generation boosting team would adopt the methods of both primary and secondary
analysis to develop more concrete understanding about the market of Australia.
Explains the sample size and nature of your sample:
The project would consider a large sample size of diverse nature in order to gather a large
body of information from the market of Australia. It can be pointed out in this respect that the
firm under question deals with two types of products namely, gardening related products and
café related products. Thus, the firm would be required to gather information from a large
numbers of customers from both the industries namely, café and gardening. Thus, it can be
suggested that the ideal sample size of which the marketing team would interview would be 200
per city.
The nature of the sample which the market research team would interview would consists
of both consumers and employees of suppliers. It can be pointed out that interviewing the
customers would enable the firm gain information about the tastes and preferences of the
customers. Similarly, interviewing the suppliers would enable the firm gain information about
the expectations of the suppliers. In fact, the market research would enable the firm locate new
suppliers which it would be able to consider while restructuring the supply chains post
completion of the project.

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Documents the time required and available:
The time required for the project would 50.75 months (Gantt chart attached). It would be
assumed that the start date of the project would be July 1, 2019. The documents which would be
made available to the management of the company D.A. Gardening Supplies would consist of
the findings from the PESTEL analysis and the report prepared therefrom.

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1 - Project:Revenue generation boosting
1.1 - Management of D.A.Gardening Supplies hold meetings with the managers to identify the issue
1.2 - The departmental heads identify the issue and proposes the project to be undertaken along with the budget
1.3 - Management approves the project proposal(task 1) and approves allocation of finance. Finance department release funds
1.4 - Company hire consultants to conduct market research
1.5 - Consultants form the market research plan and budget and submits to the management of D.A.Gardening Supplies for approval
1.6 - Planned approved
1.7 - Market research (PESTEL)
1.7.1 - Political and legal analysis of the market of Australia
1.7.2 - Economic analysis(including interview of suppliers)
1.7.3 - Social analysis(including Interview of customers)
1.7.4 - Technological analysis
1.7.5 - Environmental analysis
1.8 - Preparation of the market research report by the consultancy firm
1.9 - Presentation of the market research report before the management of D.A.Gardening Supplies
1.10 - Management of D.A.Gardening Supplies reviews the report
1.11 - Forms strategies
1.12 - Implements strategies
1.13 - Monitor the outcome of the strategies
1.14 - Further amendment in startegy and implementation
Figure 2. WBS of the marketing research (Derived from the Gantt chart attached)
(Source: Author)

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Data Gathering Approaches:
Type of data required:
The data required for the research noting would consist of both primary data and
secondary data. In fact, it can be also be pointed out that in some case the appropriate form of
data collection would consist of both primary and secondary. For example, while obtaining
information about laws like privacy laws and codes of practices, the research team would be
required to collect secondary data. While collecting information about economic conditions like
changing international exchange rate of AUD, the project team would have to compare between
the historical trends of the AUD in the last 10 years. However, on the other hand while collecting
data about changing customer preferences, the project team would be required to conduct
primary research by interviewing customers. They at the same time would have to gain
secondary data by analysing past customer trends. Thus, it is evident that the project team would
be required to gain data using both primary data and secondary data.
Three suitable data gathering method along with justification:
The three suitable data gathering method for the project are as follows:
Interview:
The first data collection method which the project team would apply to gain data about
the market of Australia would be interview. The selection of interview as a method of data
collection can be justified on the grounds of flexibility and stronger communication. As Saunders
et al. (2015) puts it, interview enables the interviewer set more specific questions suited to the
convenience of the interviewee. This encourages the interviewee to answer questions more
specifically, which actually adds to the volume of superior quality data required to strength the
research. Boehmer et al. (2016) contradicts this opinion, pointing out that interview is extremely

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time consuming. Thus, in reality interview does not enable the research teams collect a large
volume of data. This disadvantage of interview would require the researcher to consider the next
data collection method namely, survey.
Survey:
The second method which the project management team of the consultant conducting
market research for D.A. Gardening Supplies would be survey. The justification for opting for
survey as an effective data collection method can substantiated by the very ‘Introduction’ section
of the article, ‘Willingness to participate in passive mobile data collection’ by Keusch et al.
(2017). The authors mention that due to emergence of mobile technology, it has become feasible
for researcher companies to gain large mass of data using online mobile surveys. Loomis and
Paterson (2018) support the previous authors by mentioning that online surveys enable research
teams to communicate with larger numbers of respondents and obtain responses on real time
basis. Khan, Abbas and Al-Muhtadi (2015) though did not refute the significance of online
survey in gaining large samples size business information, point out the issues which system is
facing. They point out that online survey result in availability of immense body of information
about customers. This availability of immense customer information attract threats from hackers
who invade the digital space to acquire the sensitive customers’ information illegally. This loss
of sensitive information about customers to hackers create significant risks for the former. Thus,
it can be pointed out that justification of use of interview and online survey to gain information
which would be made avail to D.A. Gardening Suppliers would depend on the type of
respondent. For example, if the researcher team aims to interview a bank manager to gain
information about the future economic trends in Australia which would be capable of affecting
the firm, the appropriate data collection method would be interview. Again, in order to gain

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customer information from a large customer base, the appropriate method would be online
survey. However, both these two methods are virtually ineffective in gain information about
political and legal aspects of the market. This calls for a third data collection method namely,
online research of reliable official website.
Online research:
The firm can use online research to gain information about aspects like political decisions
of the government and laws which are in power in the country codes of practice and Trade
Practice Act (Legislation.gov.au. 2019). Míguez-González and Fernández-Cavia (2015) point out
that while it is feasible to gain opinion from owners of some bodies of information, it is not
feasible to gain information other owners of information. For example, it is possible to obtain
information about changing preferences of customers, it is feasible to gain information by online
survey. Similarly, it is feasible to gain information about from a bank employee using interview
method. However, it is not feasible to get access to the makers of government decisions. Thus, in
this case, the appropriate method of gaining information would be online research (Shank 2016).
Sources of required data:
The sources of required data are both primary sources and secondary sources. Primary
sources of data consists of findings from interviews and surveys. They enable acquisition of real
time data (Mahalakshmi, Sridevi and Rajaram 2016). The secondary sources of data consists of
newspapers, articles and online information from reliable websites. These sources are secondary
data are chosen to gain historical information in the selected area of research. For example, the
management of D.A. Gardening Supplies in can gain data on laws from secondary sources. Thus,
it transpired that the two sources of data which the research team can apply are primary sources
and secondary data.

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Quantifying the data:
The data gained from the market research should be quantified to enable the firm to use
it. For example, the information gathered frpm surveys can be expressed in the forms of graphs
while the information like laws can be expressed in terms of expenditure which the firm would
have to incur to comply to the laws (Zdravković et al. 2016).
Four data processing methods:
The four data processing methods are manual data processing, mechanical data
processing, electronic data processing and batch processing. It can be evaluated that manual
processing of data is not appropriate to handle the immense amount of data which D.A.
Gardening would require to capture in order conduct the market research. Thus, electronic data
processing data would be appropriate for the research.
Final revision of the draft:
The changes to be made in the draft would include revenue generation strategies and
expansion of the product line which the company would offer under the nursery LOB. This is
because expansion of the product would enable the firm to attract new customers which would
boost the revenue generation of the LOB and the firm as a whole.
Conclusion:
It can be concluded from the discussion that D.A. Gardening Supplies should form
concrete strategies to deal with the issue of falling revenue generation in the nursery LOB. The
frim should first decide on the scope of the project. The Gantt chart already shows that the scope
of the project is immense which means that firm should manage the steps efficiently. The report

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also shows that the company should collaborate with the consultant to conduct the project and
then form strategies on its basis.

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Task 3.
1. The issue identified at D.A. Gardening is funding and promoting the café business at the
expense of the nursery business. This resulted in inefficient customer services which ultimately
resulted in falling revenue.
2. The key stakeholders like the investors and the management would be consulted. The role
of the investors is to invest in the share capital of the firm while the management take the main
decisions.
The investors and management were consulted at the beginning of the project. They
approved the same.
The consultation was done on regular basis at the office of the company. The mode of
consultation was meeting.
3. The issue identified at D.A. Gardening is funding and promoting the café business at the
expense of the nursery business. This resulted in inefficient customer services which ultimately
resulted in falling revenue.
The market research needs were based on the enterprise planning and performance.
4. Attached.
5. The scope of the project identified would be discussed with the manager.
6. Same as above (Task 2)
7. The owner manager approved the research plan.

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References:
Boddy, C.R., 2016. Sample size for qualitative research. Qualitative Market Research: An
International Journal, 19(4), pp.426-432.
Keusch, F., Struminskaya, B., Antoun, C., Couper, M.P. and Kreuter, F., 2017. Willingness to
participate in passive mobile data collection. Public Opinion Quarterly.
Khan, J., Abbas, H. and Al-Muhtadi, J., 2015. Survey on mobile user's data privacy threats and
defense mechanisms. Procedia Computer Science, 56, pp.376-383.
Legislation.gov.au. 2019. Legislation.gov.au. [online] Available at:
https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2010C00426 [Accessed 22 Jun. 2019].
Loomis, D.K. and Paterson, S., 2018. A comparison of data collection methods: Mail versus
online surveys. Journal of Leisure Research, 49(2), pp.133-149.
Mahalakshmi, G., Sridevi, S. and Rajaram, S., 2016, January. A survey on forecasting of time
series data. In 2016 International Conference on Computing Technologies and Intelligent Data
Engineering (ICCTIDE'16) (pp. 1-8). IEEE.
Míguez-González, M.I. and Fernández-Cavia, J., 2015. Tourism and online communication:
interactivity and social web in official destination websites. Comunicación y Sociedad, 28(4),
p.17.
Oaic.gov.au. 2019. Oaic.gov.au. [online] Available at: https://www.oaic.gov.au/privacy-law/
[Accessed 22 Jun. 2019].

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Ruiz, C.D. and Holmlund, M., 2017. Actionable marketing knowledge: A close reading of
representation, knowledge and action in market research. Industrial Marketing Management, 66,
pp.172-180.
Saunders, B., Kitzinger, J. and Kitzinger, C., 2015. Anonymising interview data: Challenges and
compromise in practice. Qualitative Research, 15(5), pp.616-632.
Shank, D.B., 2016. Using crowdsourcing websites for sociological research: The case of
Amazon Mechanical Turk. The American Sociologist, 47(1), pp.47-55.
Williams, E. 2017. Bizfluent.com. [online] Bizfluent.com. Available at:
https://bizfluent.com/info-7829297-australian-business-ethics.html [Accessed 22 Jun. 2019].
Zdravković, M., Trajanović, M., Sarraipa, J., Jardim-Gonçalves, R., Lezoche, M., Aubry, A. and
Panetto, H., 2016, February. Survey of Internet-of-Things platforms. In 6th International
Conference on Information Society and Techology, ICIST 2016 (Vol. 1, pp. 216-220).