Understanding Markets for J.H Whittaker and Son's Ltd: Research Report

This report, focusing on J.H Whittaker and Son's Ltd, delves into understanding various market dynamics to address challenges faced by the company. The research employs quantitative methods, including surveys and questionnaires, to analyze customer perceptions, misconceptions, and preferences regarding the company's chocolate products. The objectives include creating awareness of marketing strategies, addressing customer misconceptions, providing ethical recommendations, and analyzing relevant demographics. The research design incorporates a detailed sampling plan, targeting customers, employees, and management. The report outlines the use of surveys across different customer segments and management officials, along with questionnaires to gather insights into the market situation. The study aims to provide recommendations for improving marketing strategies and enhancing the company's reputation, particularly in addressing negative perceptions about its products. The report includes detailed appendices with survey instructions and questions.

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Running head: UNDERSTANDING MARKETS
J.H Whittaker and Son’s Ltd
Understanding various types of Markets
5/22/2019
J.H Whittaker
Author’s Note

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UNDERSTANDING MARKETS
Table of Contents
J.H Whittaker and Son’s Ltd...........................................................................................................1
J.H WHITTAKER AND SON’S LTD............................................................................................3
Introduction..................................................................................................................................3
Key objectives.............................................................................................................................4
Research design...........................................................................................................................5
Research methods........................................................................................................................6
Sampling plan..............................................................................................................................9
Time frame.................................................................................................................................10
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................11
Technical part................................................................................................................................12
Appendices....................................................................................................................................15
Appendix 1:...................................................................................................................................15
Introduction................................................................................................................................15
Instructions for the interviewer..................................................................................................15
Appendix 2:...................................................................................................................................15
Survey questions............................................................................................................................15
References......................................................................................................................................19

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J.H WHITTAKER AND SON’S LTD
Introduction
J.H Whittaker and Son’s Limited being one of the most reputable organizations that has
been able to grow from scratch is known to have worked tirelessly towards implementing
different techniques with an intention of surviving the market by reaching out to a wide range of
customers. Moreover, it has always been much concerned with the quality of products that it
offers to its customers through the use of various distributions. Also, the company has been
focused in the production of black chocolate that is made from a variety of products to come up
with one of the best tastes which aims towards attracting different types of customers who tend
to be spread across different places additionally, as far as the background of this organization is
concerned, it has received an award as the third most trusted brand that is situated in New
Zealand thus making it to gain a clear reputation that has always been one of the major factors
behind it obtaining popularity at a faster rate both at the national level and at the international
level that is known to be containing a vast range of consumers originating from different
backgrounds.
At the same time, in as much as the organization has been working so hard to attain
different objectives, it has been able to encounter quite a number of negative situations that have
ended up giving it on of the hardest time in terms of reaching out to a wide variety of its
customers. This research therefore aims towards employing some of the best practices that will
be used to solve the difficulties that the organization is going through in term of attracting all its

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customers and being able to fully convince them that the chocolate products are not harmful at
all the way various personalities are trying to put it.
Key objectives
There are quite a number of key objectives that are known to be attached to the entire
research and the objectives majorly include the following (Hofacker et al., 2016). Having a good
combination of research objectives plays an important role of offering an advanced guidance
pertaining the exact path that should be taken in order to ensure that positive progress goes
beyond the positive bar thus making it much easier to show some green light in terms of the
outcomes that are likely to emerge. The following are therefore some of the key major objectives
that the research intends to appropriately adress;
(1) Creating awareness across the management team of the organization on some of the best
marketing strategies they can used to attract their customers?
(2) Providing the management team with ideas on how they can change the perceptions of
their customers most so the ones who have been able to come up with misconceptions
regarding the products of the organization.
(3) Provision of appropriate recommendations on the implementation of appropriate ethical
considerations that the organization can use to obtain a competitive advantage.
(4) Analyzing various suitable demographics that are capable of potentially getting attached
to the product.
Research design
The use of quantitative research methods is something that might look simple but in real
since it is one of the most essential techniques that is likely to determine the nature and
quality of a given results (Nguyen, Thai & Dinh, 2016). The use of various forms of

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quantitative research appears to be more reliable and objective most so when they are used to
solve quite a number of problems that are known to be affecting a given organization. On the
other hand, another importance that is known to be attached to the use of quantitative
research is that it is less detailed when compared to qualitative data thus making it much
easier to analyze a situation that is known that is known to be involving a particular group of
participants. On the other hand, the use of quantitative research as an approach to investigate
the above objectives is capable of scaling down and restructuring of the entire complex
problem to a limited number of different types of variables (Wedel & Kannan, 2016). This
makes is easy to understand some of the things that needs to be carried out in order to make
sure that the whole problem is appropriately solved (Voorhees, Brady, Calantone & Ramirez,
2016). Mostly quantitative research methods have the capability of providing one of the most
conducive environmental conditions that can be used to clearly understand what is taking
place within a given organization by putting much focus on some of the strategies, operations
and also the issues that the organization is facing (Huang, Backman, Backman & Chang,
2016). Understanding an individual or a set of individuals without encountering any
condition of complications is a an added advantage that is capable of emerging as a result of
appropriate utilization of a vast number of quantitative methods when it comes to addressing
some of the negative situations that are causing a lot of threats to the whole organization
together with its team as a whole (Martin & Javalgi, 2016).
Research methods
The entire scenario being encountered by the organization appears to be a vital case that
requires a keen attention to ensure that the right results are obtained from it through the use of
various forms of quantitative research methods. As a result of this, all the quantitative research

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methods that will be used by this research will fully involve the consideration of a vast range of
ethics to ensure that there are no boundaries that are crossed at all channels (Katsikeas, Morgan,
Leonidou & Hult, 2016). Moreover, it is a research that will also involve the analysis of various
parameters together with the comparison of various variables in order to come up with an
appropriate final outcome that can be easily understood by different individuals (Godey et al.,
2016)
Implementation of different types of research methods are always appropriate and
reliable most so when carrying out various research. As a result of this, different types of
research methods with are appropriately utilized by this research (Mishra & Modi, 2016). The
research methods to be used by this research will fully depend on a number of factors according
to how various issues and situations appear to be within the surrounding environment (Hudson,
Huang, Roth & Madden, 2016). Due to this, the factors will be deeply looked into right before
implementing a particular type of research method to make sure that any confusion related
situations are minimized as much as possible in order to bring on board an outcome that is much
more reasonable (Srinivasan, Rutz & Pauwels, 2016). These methods will be used to come up
with an accurate form of data that can be easily used for further analysis of the entire situation in
terms of what is taking place in the current situation together with what is likely to take place in
the coming future in response to quite a number of issues within the surrounding environment.
The following are some of the qualitative research methods that will be fully implemented by the
research;

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 Surveys- Different types of surveys will be carried out in relation to the current condition
that is known to be affecting the whole organization (Hofacker & Belanche, 2016)..
Moreover, the first and major survey will be carried out across different customer
segments. This will aim towards analyzing their perceptions regarding some of the issues
that they have been able to encounter as far as the chocolate products are concerned
(Onakpoya, Heneghan & Aronson, 2016). Additionally, the surveys will make sure that
the different types of misconceptions that have been formed by the customers are
properly analyzed on the basis of their major cause (Nestle, 2016). On the other hand,
another survey will be carried out across different management officials in charge of the
organization (Stephen, 2016). This will involve providing them with different types of
survey questions that they will be able to respond to based on some of the difficulties that
they have been able to encounter as an organization regarding various perceptions that
the customers at the external level have been able to form specifically as a result of all the
products that are offered to them (Verma, Sharma & Sheth, 2016). Finally, another form
of survey will be carried out on a specific sample of employees who will also be able to
provide their perceptions on what they think about as a result of the current situation the
entire organization is facing(Lemon & Verhoef, 2016).
The survey process will take a total of three weeks to provide an appropriate time to acquire the
right set of information that are more accurate of valuable or use most so in the analysis process.
Questionnaires-This is another form of quantitative research method that will be used to
obtain the right information associated with the organization’s situation (Pappas, 2016).
Different questionnaires will be provided to a wide variety of customers where they will be able
to respond to the questions in order to provide their understanding on the chocolate products that

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are supplied to them in the market platform on behalf of J.H Whittaker and Son’s Limited
(Stelzner, 2011).
 This, the research will be able to fully understand the market situation right from the
results that will be obtained from the customer samples that will be subjected to the
questionnaires (Järvinen & Taiminen, 2016). Additionally, there will also be a set of
questionnaires that will be directed towards the side of the employees where they will
also be expected to respond to the questions based on some of the encounters that they
have come across in various customers most so when the customers are provided with the
chocolate products (Mariani, Di Felice & Mura, 2016).
All the questionnaires will consist of ten different questions that will stay relevant as much as
possible to make sure that the right combination of information is obtained from the samples that
are to be surveyed.
There will also be the use of different aspects like the emails. They will be sent to various
groups and organization to obtain the right information from them (Shankar et al., 2016).
.
Sampling plan
 Target population- There are quite a number of target population that this research aims
towards reaching out in order to obtain reliable information that has not been distorted at
all. One of the major target populations are the customers who are found at the external
part of the organization. Secondly, another set of target information are the employers
together with all the employees that are fully connected to the whole organization.

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 Selection criteria- To ensure that an appropriate group is selected, the selection criteria
will be done by choosing a target information that has been able to form various opinions
associated with the organization’s products. On the other hand, the selection criteria will
also be done according to the type of personalities who have been able to form various
misconceptions in relation to the products provided to them.
 Sampling techniques- The techniques that will be used in choosing the respondents will
fully depend on the level of interaction between the respondents and the entire
organization in relation to quite a number of products and services that they have been
able to encounter.
 Location- The research will be conducted both at the internal part and external part of the
organization in order to obtain appropriate information that will be relevant for the
analysis process.
 Sample size- The sample size has the capability of determining the total number of
surveys that will be completed as far as the entire research is concerned. The total number
of surveys that will be fully completed based on the whole research will be a total of
three different surveys. This is to ensure that the whole research becomes more reliable
by obtaining a vast number of information that can be easily used to carry out a
comparison of different variables.
Time frame
The whole research was carried out within a particular time frame that was much more
appropriate to ensure that all the tasks are done efficiently.
Activity Time frame
Proposal acceptance May 5th –May 15th

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Introduction May 20th –June 20th
Objectives June 23rd – July 15th
Research design July 15th –August 20th
Methodology August 20th – September 15th
Sampling September 15th September 30th
Reporting of the results October 5th –October 10th
Conclusion
The entire work was perfectly wrapped by confirming if the analysis of all the variables were
well done just to avoid any confusion that are likely to take place during the reporting stage of
the results.

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Technical part
Employers Employees Customers
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
The above statistical data explains how surveys will be carried out across different
targeted groups depending on how they have been able to interact with the whole issue. An
approximated percentage of 30% of the employers will be subjected towards quite a number of
conditions during the survey to ensure that they are able to provide reliable information
associated with all the questions that they have been asked during the survey process. On the
other hand, 50% of the employees known to be connected to the organization will also be taken
through various survey processes by ensuring that all the all the information that they are capable
of giving out are efficiently analyzed by considering different aspects of ethical considerations
with the major one being privacy of the employees being given the first priority during the entire
process. Finally, there is a group that is located at the external level of the organization which
majorly comprises of the customers. 80% of them will be subjected towards survey methods

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since they are the ones who have been able to develop various misconceptions thus this will
enable the research to highlight some of the reasons that led to the whole problem.
Employees Customers
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
An approximated percentage of 70% of all the employees will be given different survey
questions that they will be expected to respond to based on their understanding of the whole
situation. As a result of this, the information that they will be able to provide will be used for the
future analysis of the whole research in order to come up with an interesting conclusion that is
likely to lead to quite a number of recommendations being brought on board in terms of how the
whole organization can be best managed. On the other hand, customers will take a better part of
the questioners where 85% of the total customers who exists at the organization’s external level
will be expected to respond to the questionnaires thereby bringing an understanding as to why
they are able to view the products as per what the current situation is stating.
In conclusion, understanding markets is quite essential since an organization will be able
to clearly known some of the things that are taking place in the entire market. This can result into

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the development of a reasonable set of strategies that will be able to seal all the existing
loopholes within the organization by making sure that some of the potential barriers are wiped
away to provide a room for improvement and development that is capable of making the whole
organization to remain sustainable for a long period. The reaction of quite a number of customers
should also be given the first priority thus making sure that all their grievances are well attended
to in order to increase the bond that exists between them and the organization through reliable
conditions of good reputation that will be acquired by the organization itself as a result of all the
goods and services it is capable of offering.

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Appendices
Appendix 1:
Introduction
Hello, my name is Johnson; I will be your host for this telephonic interview that will require
much of your cooperation to allow me obtain some of the most reliable information. Your
attention will therefore be much appreciated.
Instructions for the interviewer
While doing the interview, the interviewer is expected to shoe high standards of ethical
considerations that will make sure that no boundaries for the interviewees are crossed.
Moreover, the interviewer is expected to ask relevant questions that will lead to the acquiring of
the right set of information for the future analysis of the whole situation.
Appendix 2:
Survey questions
Question 1: What are some of the challenges that you have been able to encounter as a result of
the product consumption?
Question 2: What are some of the barriers associated with marketing the product that are faced
by Whittaker’s?
Question 3: What are some of the strategies that Whittaker’s has been able to take to ensure that
the whole situation is addressed?

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Question 4: What are some of the market penetration techniques that Whittaker’s has used to
make sure that the product reaches the customer in real time?
Question 5: Do you think that there is any health hazards related to the Whittaker’s products?
Question 6: What competitive advantages have been obtained by the management team of
Whittaker’s?
Question7: What is the relationship between Whittaker’s and different customer segments?
Question 8: Has Whittaker’s been successful in its market penetration mission?
Question 9: Are the goals and objectives for J.H Whittaker and Son’s Limited is line with its
current operation?
Question 10: how has J.H Whittaker and Son’s Limited been able to show ethical concerns
across different operations?
Question 11: what is the relationship that exists between J.H Whittaker and Son’s Limited and
all its employees?
Question 12: Do you think that J.H Whittaker and Son’s Limited is operating according to the
required rules of a business?
Question 13: To what extent has J.H Whittaker and Son’s Limited been able to gain popularity in
new regions?
Question 14: Are there any distribution channels used by J.H Whittaker and Son’s Limited to
supply the products to different customer segments?

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Question 15: What is the current condition of the supply chain sector for J.H Whittaker and
Son’s Limited?
Question 15: What criterion does J.H Whittaker and Son’s Limited use to employ well qualified
trained personnel?
Question 16: Has J.H Whittaker and Son’s Limited informed the stakeholders on the current
issue that it is facing?
Question 17: For how long has various customers been able to form misconceptions about the
products originating from J.H Whittaker and Son’s Limited?
Question 18: What are the future profit projections for J.H Whittaker and Son’s Limited in the
coming 3 years?
Question 19: What are some of the positive contributions that J.H Whittaker and Son’s Limited
has been able to bring to the surrounding society?
Question 20: Do you think that all the customers are happy with the work that J.H Whittaker and
Son’s Limited is doing?

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