Big Brothers of Fairfax County

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Case 1.1 BIG BROTHERS OF FAIRFAX COUNTY Case Perspective: The leaders of the Big Brothers program in Fairfax County are concerned about the imbalance they are currently experiencing with respect to the number of boys wishing big brothers and the number available. They felt that a lack of awareness and inaccurate knowledge could be the cause of the shortage of volunteers and are considering sponsoring a marketing research study to investigate these issues. This case serves as a useful introductory case in that students need not have any previous exposure to the study of marketing research in order to make headway with it. The case is particularly useful in forcing students to come to grips with the issue of the differences between the marketing problem and the marketing research problem. This in turn gives them a better appreciation of the role research can play in solving marketing decision problems. The case is also very useful in forcing students beyond the narrow perception that many bring to the study of marketing research, namely, that it primarily consists of asking appropriate target groups how they behave, feel, and so on. A study of the perceptions and attitudes of eligible males toward the Big Brothers program might certainly be called for in this case. At the same time, it is only one of the research alternatives that might be appropriate. The case typically provides some interesting discussion when students are pushed to specify how they would go about collecting some information class discussion previously identified would be useful to the leaders of the Big Brothers program. Case Questions: 1. 2. 3. 4. What is (are) the marketing decision problem(s)? What is (are) the marketing research problem(s)? What types of information would be useful to answer these questions? How would you go about securing this information? Case Analysis: 1. What is

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