MONISHA CUNNINGHAM

1. What types of research were done at each stage? Discuss the strengths of each different type given the stage of the project. * The first stage began with the use of exploratory research, which is useful when researchers lack a clear idea of the problems they will meet during the study (Cooper & Schindler, 2014). This stage began with early secondary research of the market and indicated that such a product did not exist in the credit services industry. Starbucks went on to explore possible partners by approaching major card service companies. It conducted interviews with bank executives, visited call centers; even listened in on phone calls to learn how each resolved customer credit card problems. Through exploration researchers develop concepts more clearly, establish priorities, develop operational definitions, and improve the final research design. * After Starbuck identified their perfect partners, stage two was conducting focus groups. They tested the idea of a dual functionality card with four focus groups, using the services of an independent moderator. The focus groups involved two major groups of Starbucks customers who owned a credit card: those who used the Starbucks Card and those who did not. The data obtained from the focus groups proved to be extremely helpful. In exploratory research, the qualitative data that focus groups produce may be used for enriching all levels of research questions and hypotheses and comparing the effectiveness of design options (Cooper & Schindler, 2014). This was definitely true for this case. “The focus groups helped us refine the concept, and define what might comprise the ‘surprise and delight’ features of the card,” explains Gupta. “We learned that the concept of dual functionality was difficult for some to grasp. * The focus groups were followed by three quantitative studies. The