Coventry University: Research Proposal on Business Revival Strategies

This research proposal focuses on analyzing strategies for business revival, particularly within the UK retail sector, post the COVID-19 pandemic. The study aims to investigate consumer retention strategies, using British Airways as a case study. The objectives include understanding consumer retention, evaluating strategies, outlining challenges, and recommending measures to overcome them. The research explores the importance of consumer retention, building customer relationships, providing discounts, and implementing new technologies. It addresses challenges like consumer fear, diverse requirements, and changing needs. The methodology includes a qualitative study using an inductive approach and interpretivism philosophy, combining primary and secondary data through interviews and literature review. Thematic analysis will be used for data analysis, with a sample of 20 marketing employees. The proposal also includes a detailed literature review on consumer retention strategies, challenges, and recommendations.

Research Proposal Template
Proposal guidance
 Provide an overview of your research question, explaining why it is of
academic and or practical importance
 Outline the main objectives of your research, providing details of two or
three key aspects
 Write a short literature review, indicating the importance of previous
related research or investigated literature and how your own research
question might make a useful contribution to the area
 State the main research techniques (interviews, case studies, modelling
etc.) you might use
 Indicate your suggested data collection procedures, indicating sources and
any possible difficulties
 Explain any analytical techniques you intend to use
 State your proposed timetable of activities
 Finally, list the references in your proposal or provide a short
bibliography.
Some of the common problems
In our experience, there are a number of common reasons why proposals
from well qualified potential students are rejected.
Some common problems are outlined below:
 Your research topic is inadequately specified. You must write to a very
tight format stating what you plan to research, why and how. The format
is clearly outlined above.
 Whilst your proposal may identify a practical managerial problem it
does not demonstrate its analytical importance. A study that merely
aims to discover new empirical information or simply solve a current
issue will probably not be accepted. Your proposal must engage with
controversies, new ideas/thought and demonstrate strong critical insight
into one or more academic disciplines to succeed in your research.
 Other proposals are rejected because their 'geographical' focus does not
fit with our supervisory competencies. Our perspective is international,
whereas some overseas students seek to study an issue which is
exclusively in their home country. If you intend to do this, it should be
indicated clearly and how Coventry University will add value to your
work.
The format of your Research Proposal

Your proposal should be a maximum of 2,000 words, in addition to your
timetable and references or a short bibliography. We do not expect the
proposal to be perfect at this stage, nor do we expect you to stick to it very
closely as your ideas will almost certainly change once you start to study,
but we do expect you to write it as follows:
Project Title
“To analyse the strategies which are assistive in reviving the business post COVID 19
period. A study on retail sector of UK.”
Aims and Objectives
Currently the whole business is suffering from the impact of COVID 19. But the
hospitality industry especially the travel and tourism is suffering the most. For this reason,
consumer retention is the most essential aspect for the business to manage and attract
consumer. This is pertaining to the fact that if consumer will not be coming to the place then
sales of company will be low. Hence, the present study is based on British Airways which is a
flag carrier airline headquartered in UK. The present report will outline the concept of
consumer retention along with its various strategies and challenges faced in attracting
consumers.
Aims and objectives
Aim
To investigate strategies that are helpful in retaining consumer for revival of business post
pandemic. A study on British Airways.
Objectives
 To articulate understanding relating to consumer retention and its importance in success
of business.
 To critically evaluate the various strategies that are helpful in attracting consumer with
respect to British Airways.
 To outline the difficulty which company faces in order to attract the consumers post
pandemic.
 To recommend some of the measures assistive in overcoming the challenges in
retention of consumers.
Research question
1. What is meant by consumer retention and its importance?
2. What are the different strategies helpful in attracting and retaining consumers with the
company?

3. What are the various challenges faced by company in attracting consumer to come to
the place?
4. What are some of the recommendation which will assist company in overcoming the
challenges?
Rationale
Currently competition is very high and due to COVID 19 operations of business have
reduced. Consumer have a fear that if they will go out then they will be infected with the virus.
Hence, airline industry is the one which is highly affected because of impact of pandemic. This
is the reason which is underlying the conducting of the present research. This is pertaining to
the fact that when it is essential for airline companies to undertake use of strategies for
attracting and retaining consumer for a longer period of time. In addition to this personal and
academic interest of researcher is also a major reason underlying completion of the present
study.
Relevance to Professional or Academic Field/Literature review
Theme 1- Concept of customer retention and its importance.
In accordance to the viewpoint of Yu, Seo and Hyun (2021) customer retention is being
defined as process through which company tries to keep the consumer buying the product and
services frequently. The success of the company is totally dependent over the number of
consumer coming to the place. This is pertaining to the fact that when consumer of the
company will be high then it reflects that sales of company is high and its profitability is also
high. on the other side, if the number of consumer of the company is low then it means that
consumers are not happy with the company and will not come.
On the other side, COVID- 19 and the aviation industry: impact and policy responses,
(2019) criticized that retaining consumer within the company is very crucial for the success of
the company. the main importance of consumer retention with respect to airline industry is that
this saves money over marketing activities. This is an importance because when consumers are
loyal with the company then it is not essential for them to market the products among these
types of consumers. Hence, this will save the cost of the company as they will not have to
work much on developing marketing strategies.
Theme 2- Different strategies for attracting and retaining consumer within the business.
By referring to the work of Chevtaeva and Guillet (2020) building customer
relationship marketing is the major strategy which will assist companies in retaining
consumers. The reason pertaining to the fact is that relationship marketing is a technique which
is used by companies in order to build effective relation with consumers. This will ensure that

a long term relationship is being set with the consumers so that they stay loyal with the
company for a longer period of time.
On the other side Serrano and Kazda (2020) argued that providing of discount and
other exciting offers to the consumers will assist the company in managing and retaining the
consumers. This is essential because of the reason that when consumer will get different types
of offers and discount then this will assist them in managing and attracting the more of the
consumers. Also, these offers will motivate them to frequently avail the services of the
company. With respect to the current pandemic, sales within the airline industry affected to a
great extent. But the providing of offers will assist the company in attracting the consumers to
a great extent.
In addition to this, another major strategy used within the retention of the consumer is
to implement the use of new and advance technology within the business. This is pertaining to
the fact that when the companies within the airline industry will implement new and latest
technology then this will motivate consumers to come and avail the services. In addition to this
robotics is also a major technology which will be helpful in attracting consumer is the use of
robotics within the airplanes instead of airhostesses. With respect to current pandemic this
strategy of implementing robotics within the airlines will assist in attracting consumer to a
great extent.
On the contradictory note, another crucial strategy helpful in retaining consumer’s in
airline industry is to continuously research the market trends. This will assist the company in
adapting to all the latest changes which are prevailing within the market and among
consumers. The reason pertaining to this fact is that when airlines companies will undertake all
the latest trends then this will motivate and attract consumer to come to the place. Hence,
consumer will be attracted towards coming to the place for a longer period of time.
Theme 3- Challenges associated with the company at time of attracting consumers post
pandemic.
On the analysis of work of Sigala (2020) it was analysed that there are many different
challenges which affect the working of the company at time of retaining consumers. This is
pertaining to the reason that currently with respect to pandemic consumers have a fear that if
they will travel with help of airlines then there are chances of getting infected. Hence, due to
this reason that consumer have limited their travelling with help of the airlines.
In against of this Samanci, Atalay and Isin (2021) argues that major challenge for the
customer retention is that there is different requirement of the consumers. It is not possible that
company is in position to address requirement of each and every consumer. Hence, it is

possible that the consumer whose requirement are not met by the company does not like to
avail the services of the company.
Along with this another major challenges restricting companies in retaining consumer
is frequent changes in need and requirement of consumers. This is also a major challenge
which affect company’s position in attracting the consumer. The reason pertaining to this fact
is that when the company undertakes current need of consumer then there are chances that
requirement or demand of the company decreases and this does not attract the consumer to a
great extent.
Research Approach or Methodology
Type of method Description
Research type The present research on strategies for
retaining consumer within airline industry
use of qualitative study will be
implemented (Ørngreen and Levinsen,
2017). The reason underlying this method
is that qualitative research will assist
researcher in developing deeper insight
within the various strategies for attracting
consumer by airline companies.
Research approach The approach for the present study which
will be used is inductive. The reason
pertaining to the use of inductive approach
rather than deductive is that it assists in
development of aim and objective. This is
helpful for the researcher in managing the
research and providing direction with help
of aim and objective.
Research philosophy In order to complete research over
retention strategies for consumer by
airline companies use of interpretivism
will be more beneficial. The reason
underlying selection of this philosophy is
that this integrates human interest within
the study and also it is not based on the

factual information.
Data collection Whole research is based on the data only
and for this reason the present research
will include the combination of primary
and secondary sources of data (Snyder,
2019). The reason behind selection of this
source of data is that primary source
provides first hand data and secondary
sources involves analysis of secondary
sources like articles, journal and other
relating to research topic.
Sampling This is referred to as selection of some of
the sample from the whole population.
This is necessary as the whole population
cannot be studied so in order to make the
research outcome more precise and
accurate some samples are being selected.
Hence, for study over consumer retention
strategy a sample of 20 marketing
department employees will be selected.
This is pertaining to the fact that
marketing employees know that which
strategies will be helpful to the company
in attracting large number of consumer
within the company.
Data analysis This is the most essential aspect within the
success of the research. This is pertaining
to the fact that if the collected data will
not be analyzed then no conclusion can be
drawn from the collected data. Hence, for
the present study over consumer retention
strategies use of thematic analysis will be
undertaken. The reason underlying this
fact is that thematic analysis involves the

use of table, charts and graph which
makes the analysis of data more
presentable.
Ethical Issues
For the research to be successful it is essential that it does not involve any of the ethical issues
or moral issues which will affect the quality of the research. This is pertaining to the fact that if
the researcher will face any type of ethical issue then deliverables associated with the topic will
not be analysed in proper manner. The major ethical consideration to avoid issues is to sign the
ethical approval form from the respondent. This is essential as researcher may make use of the
personal data of the researcher and if there will be ethical approval then research will not face
any ethical issues. In addition to this another ethical consideration is that data used within the
research must not be older than 5 years. This is pertaining to the fact that too old data might
not be relevant and appropriate within current working environment.
Expected Outcomes
The present research is based on topic consumer retention strategies for the airline industry in
UK. This is pertaining to the reason that current pandemic has affected the airline industry to a
great extent. Hence, the intended outcome of the research is to list out different strategies
which will assist the airline companies in attracting consumers for availing the services of
company. Thus, the study will outline the use of different strategies which is helpful for airline
companies in order to attract consumer post pandemic. The intended outcome will also bring
out the various challenges which restrict people in travelling with airlines. In addition to this
some of the recommendation will also be highlighted within the report.

TIMELINE
Activity 1th
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Selection
of topic to
be
researched
Reviewing
different
secondary
sources
Identificati
on of the
methodolo
gy for
completion
of present
study
Developm
ent of
questionna
ire in
direction
of research
topic.

Collecting
relevant
data with
help of
questionna
ire.
Analysis
of the
collected
data.
Checking
of the data
and
informatio
n before
final
submission
Submissio
n of the
final
project

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Chevtaeva, E. and Guillet, B.D., 2020. A review of communication trends due to the pandemic:
perspective from airlines. Anatolia, pp.1-5.
Ørngreen, R. and Levinsen, K., 2017. Workshops as a Research Methodology. Electronic Journal
of E-learning, 15(1), pp.70-81.
Samanci, S., Atalay, K.D. and Isin, F.B., 2021. Focusing on the big picture while observing the
concerns of both managers and passengers in the post-covid era. Journal of Air Transport
Management, 90, p.101970.
Serrano, F. and Kazda, A., 2020. The future of airport post COVID-19. Journal of Air Transport
Management, 89, p.101900.
Sigala, M., 2020. Tourism and COVID-19: Impacts and implications for advancing and resetting
industry and research. Journal of business research, 117, pp.312-321.
Snyder, H., 2019. Literature review as a research methodology: An overview and guidelines.
Journal of Business Research, 104, pp.333-339.
Yu, J., Seo, J. and Hyun, S.S., 2021. Perceived hygiene attributes in the hotel industry: customer
retention amid the COVID-19 crisis. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 93,
p.102768.
Online
COVID- 19 and the aviation industry: impact and policy responses. 2019. [Online]. Available
through: < http://www.oecd.org/coronavirus/policy-responses/covid-19-and-the-aviation-
industry-impact-and-policy-responses-26d521c1/ >