Guidelines for Business Research Group Project-EPGDIM 2021-22

1. Business Research Group Project:

This group project is aimed at making you work in a team to research, debate, explore and conclude
upon a company of your choice. This will make you internalize how businesses strategize their
marketing function to remain competitive in their chosen markets and what are the main drivers of
strategic marketing decisions.

 Weight: 20 Percent
o 5% for Stage I submission
o 5% percent for Stage II submission
o 10 percent for presentation at the end of term

 Group composition : Each group will comprise of 5 members designated by the faculty
member. No changes will be entertained in the group composition.

 Project Topics: You have a list of industries/sectors within which you will select one
representative company to work upon and analyze. Choice of industry/sector will have to be
finalized and submitted, on a first-come-first-served basis, latest by WEEK 2.

Illustrative List of sectors is

1. Automobiles
2. Consumer durables ( It can have subsectors)
3. Pharma
4. Health care
5. Hospitality
6. FMCG( It can have subsectors) Food etc
7. Fashion Brands (Luxury ]
8. Retailing
9. Entertainment /Social Media
10. Infrastructure
11. Food Processing
12. Agriculture
13. IT
14. Consultancy
15. Social Media

Group Project/IIFT,D/Harsh 1
You should preferably choose a company which –

 Is a public listed company of Indian origin

 Has a portfolio of products/services
 Has been in existence for a reasonable amount of time

 Word/Time Limit :
o Stage I Report : Not to exceed 1500 words (excluding appendices).
o Stage II Report : Not to exceed 1500 words (excluding appendices).
o Group presentation : 15 minutes + 10 minutes for questions
o Word count : Must be provided on the cover page of the report.

 Format :
o Presentation : MS-Powerpoint based presentation. Use the IIFT template for all
the presentations. The opening slide must have the names of the
group members along with their student id no.
o Report : Each report Stage I and II must provide references as per the
Harvard Referencing System.

 Report Structure:
 Stage I:
1. Overview of the Sector chosen and the Company in consideration
2. Situation Analysis: This should normally be constituted of – Competitor
Analysis; Customer Analysis; Company Analysis (also, comment upon
the current product-market profile leading to the Differentiation/
Positioning Strategy of the company); and finally a SWOT analysis
(helping you to identify issues).
3. Challenges facing the company: Say, the top five challenges that in your
opinion needs to be addressed on priority

 Stage II: Research process

4. Based upon the challenges (from Stage I), pick up a Research Problem based
in the challenges faced by the company Based upon the above
recommendation, formulate Business Research Objectives that you would
want the company to pursue while going forward.
5. Write the research design and methodology in the following terms

Exploratory research Design: this entails conducting secondary data research

on the specified objectives. For instance if we are studying consumer attitudes
and perception about nestle Maggi, then secondary data research on food

Group Project/IIFT,D/Harsh 2
industry, on Maggie market portion and competitors analysis would be studied
We could also conduct Focus group or in depth interviews of market players
retailers consumers etc.

Descriptive Research Design: This entails conducting research trough surveys

method .Questionnaire using various scales could be made based on likely
answers to the research problems or hypothesis could be formed

Sampling method and unit: Here the ample size, sample unit i.e respondent
type and mode of collection should be defined

Analysis plan

6. Collection of data In this stage the questionnaire are filled up and codified and
tabulation of the data in excel sheet is done
7. Analysis and findings
8. Conclusions and Recommendations

Some of the illustrative titles are :

1. Consumer perception on online shopping for electronics vs physical store shopping

2. Impact of humour based advertisements on brand recall
3. Airtel –Jeo Analysis for customer satisfaction
4. Consumer perception on Electronics shopping vs Brick & Mortar
5. Changing face of Managing Education? – MOOCS( massive open online course) vs Traditional
6. Study of social media in startups
7. Factors behind brand switching in the telecom industry or FMCG industry with emphasis on
Household products
8. A Statistical Analysis on Fitness trends in India
9. Factors affecting consumer acceptance of New Packaged Goods in FMCG Industry
10. Analysis of consumer perception & utility of E Wallets in India
11. Role of Webinars in information dissemination and its effectiveness
12. Perception of people on the effectiveness of Odd-Even scheme
13. Effectiveness of LinkedIn in promotion of career
14. Startups and setting up incubation centers for new age business
15. Brand development of educational institute
16. Sector specific study of influence of COVID 19 .
17. Strategies for Digital Marketing and e-Business
18. Is There Seasonality in the Sensex Monthly Returns?
19. Consumer Perception and attitude towards credit card usage
20. The effects of pharmaceutical dispensing pattern on consumer store patronage
21. Effect of self-placement of habitual buying products on their sales
22. Policy on gold industry in India and internationally, including policy frameworks and effective
implementation of policies.

Group Project/IIFT,D/Harsh 3
23. Impact of brand awareness on consumer/brand loyalty: A study of packaged milk brands
24. Determinants of consumer buying behavior through mega stores in (country name)
25. Customer delight in banking
26. To recognize service quality gaps in banking sector: A comparative study of local and international
banks
27. Effects of occupational status on women food buying and cooking behavior
28. The effect of brand image on consumer taste preference
29. Effects of gender on family buying decision
30. The effect of recession advertising
31. Factors affecting positive and negative word of mouth in restaurant industry
32. Factors that influence level of impulse buying
33. Consumer response to unethical retailer behavior
34. Effects of product and consumer characteristics on free sample usage
35. The effect of recession on promotional activities
36. Attitude of people in different roles towards direct marketing
37. Relationship between customers internal usage practices usage practices and awareness to internal
advertising
38. Effect of deceptive advertising on consumer loyalty in telecom sector
39. The effects of product, market and organizational characteristics of market research practices
40. A comparative study of sellers and buyers in market acceptability of licensed software
41. Factor affecting educationists/scientist response to patent registration
42. The effects of advertising research practice on the advertising performance of companies
43. Relationship between marketing research, customer knowledge and business sales
44. Impact of performance commitment on customer’s evaluation of product quality
45. Shelf spacing competition: A relative analysis of local and international brand
46. Factors influencing customer satisfaction in health care service
47. Impact of humour based advertisement on brand recall and customer purchase decisions
48. Effects of Gen Z's increasing spending power on E-commerce industry
49. Customer perception of Patanjali Ayurvedic products"
50. Impact of Covid-19 on ITC's market challenger status with a focus on switching brand loyalty
51. Pisciculture(fish farming) in India
52. Re-imagining the future of the test preparation industry in India.
53. "The Future of work from home in relation to IT industry post pandemic"

Group Project/IIFT,D/Harsh 4