Spring 2006 MMR Newsletter SigmaCOCA-COLA CENTER FOR MARKETING STUDIES

TERRY COLLEGE OF BUSINESS UNIVERSITY OF

Fred Reynolds: In this issue A Pioneer in Beyond the Books 2 Business Education MMR Alumni Website 2 Lisa Allgaier (MMR ’06) & Mary Lefebvre (MMR ’06) Alumni Corner 3

Under the guidance of Professor George Zinkhan, MMR students Lisa Allgaier and Mary MMR Global Outreach 4 Lefebvre have embarked on a project to rediscover details associated with the founding of the MMR program. The two students are writing an article, which they will soon submit for publication in a special issue of the European Business Review (focused on pioneers in education). The paper introduces Fred Reynolds, a professor at the Terry College of Business, as a pioneer in education and discusses highlights from his career. Fred Reynolds was instrumental in founding the MMR program in 1980 with the help of Roy Stout, an executive at Coca-Cola at the time, and Bud Phillips, the founder of M/A/R/C research. Reynolds also contributed to the academic com- munity by publishing papers in the area of cohort analysis and lifestyle research. He enriched the academic literature by applying social science concepts to the field of marketing research. Fred Reynolds was also a leader in terms of bridging the gap between the academic and business worlds. According to Professor Mel Crask, “Fred was one of a kind. He lived life to the fullest … The little things he did had big meanings.” Fred Reynolds had a vision for the MMR program that included substantial industry involvement. Of course, his vision is apparent today in the Center for Marketing Studies. The program he established still includes an elaborate seminar series with industry speakers, small class sizes, industry input on curriculum content, and other features. Since December, Lisa and Mary have interviewed approximately 20 professors, alumni and board members. They have also conducted online research to find out more about Fred Reynolds’ career. They are reading and analyzing the impact of Fred Reynolds’ published work. The students are trying to get a sense of Fred Reynolds’ accomplishments and leadership style, his work with the Society for Marketing Advances, and the details associated with the founding of the MMR program. Conversations with alumni have sparked many stories, which are representative of the program’s colorful history. Lisa and Mary would like to thank the individuals who agreed to give their time to participate in these interviews. To date, key informants include Mel Crask, Rich Fox, Warren French, Tom Leigh, Mal McNiven, Srinivas Reddy, Joseph Rentz, William Wells, Rob Arnett, Bill Denk, Charles Eden, Bruce Hoffman, Mark Jones, Charlotte McNally, Bud Phillips, Reece Ritter, and Mark www.terry.uga.edu/mmr/ Rose. ■ SIGMA • MMR NEWSLETTER SPRING 2006 Life in Athens: Beyond The Books When we reflect upon our time in Athens 20 We will always remember Average Joe’s Gym, potlucks, shopping at Ann Taylor on a whim, or 30 years from now, wherever we may be, we the MMR intramural volleyball and soccer shopping in Atlanta and Commerce, the won’t just remember the things associated teams. We had losing records both seasons, but cheese plates at Aroma’s, wandering around with school work – regressions, corporate we did win one volleyball game and, in our final the State Botanical Garden, the music con- projects, seminars, exams, SAS programs, and regular season soccer game, we finally scored a certs, AthFest, the awesome ethnic cuisines, case analyses. Besides an exceptional marketing goal and did not lose by the mercy rule!! beloved socials at DePalma’s, quick grabs research education, the MMR class of 2006 Some other fun things we will also always between classes at gyro wraps, the “Total will also graduate with special memories of the remember are the downtown night life (espe- Romance” party, Secret Santa at Jenny’s, cially the downstairs of Walkers, the punkness going to the dollar movie, the Beechwood of Lunch Paper, the free popcorn at Flicker, Chinese restaurant, cooking lessons, and din- and everything about All Good’s), going to ner at Dr. Reddy’s. and tailgating before the UGA football games, As our time in Athens comes to an end, we UGA gymnastics, UGA basketball, the park off want to thank everyone who has made our of Gran Ellen, trips to Atlanta, the beauty of experience both possible and memorable. ■ the UGA campus, the ropes course, the — Jing Yeh (MMR ’06) MMR Alumni Association Launches New Website The MMR Alumni Association has recently launched a new-and-improved website (www.mmralumni.com) with improved functionality and an updated interface. On the new site, alumni can now join the alumni association directly from the site in a seamless process including registration, pay- ment, and creation of a profile to share with other alumni and potential employers. Downtown Athens, a wealth of restaurants, Alumni will be able to pay their $50 dues nightclubs, shops, concerts and sports & and using a credit card with Paypal. cultural events. Another important change is the way the fun things we did while in the little town of job postings will work. From the alumni per- Athens. spective, you will now be able to post a pro- We will always remember the places we liked file that can include your resume (or infor- to eat. Our favorite places to grab lunch mation about your company). If you see an between classes were Five Star, Cookie’s Café, attractive job posting, you will be able to Achim’s, and the Gyro Wrap. A year of fre- respond to the posting and send your quenting sushi restaurants showed us that resume directly from the site. www.mmralumni.com, the new MMR Alumni there are five locations to get sushi in Athens, Potential employers will now be able to website, features links to join the assocation, not including the grocery store, the best of post their own job descriptions directly on and post & search for jobs. which is Utage (aka Athens Sushi Bar). In the the site. Based on strong and consistent feedback from the Advisory Board, the Alumni Association spring semester, we started “Fancy Dinner will charge potential employers and recruiters a $500 fee for each listing, which will also be payable Days” in an effort to try out more of Athens’ by credit card via Paypal. This fee will enable potential employers and recruiters to reach a highly unique restaurants like The Last Resort Grill qualified audience of 400+ MMR alumni from the Class of 1981 to the present. and Harry Bissett’s. Other popular features of the old site have been retained, such as the bulletin board and the We will always remember being with our alumni directory. The quality and recency of the information in the directory will continue to classmates as they progressed through major improve as more and more alumni register and create profiles. life stages. Jagruti became a wife, Jenny con- MMR alumni and current students can preview the site for a short time using “MMRGuest” as tinued planning her wedding, and Graeme and the username and “georgia5” as the password. The site will be restricted to paid alumni associa- Mary became fiancé(e)s (note: not each tion members as of June 1. other’s). And, after a chocolate-filled pregnan- So go get online and check out the new site, and better yet register and set up a profile so all cy, Mama Priti and her husband Navendu gave your old friends can find you. ■ birth to the MMR baby, Avi, in March! — Rob Arnett

PAGE 2 SPRING 2006 SIGMA • MMR NEWSLETTER MMR Class of 2006: Alumni Corner

Coke Project 1995 Firms are faced with the constant challenge to develop new products. Jan Hood Marketing research plays a major role in the new product development Jan does not work in the research field but works in education. She process. While marketers may be able to generate a vast number of ideas is the registrar for Blue Mountain Community College in eastern that might become potential new products, at various stages, they have Oregon. to make decisions as to which ideas to move forward with and which ideas are likely to be failures. This process of narrowing down ideas 1995 makes the concept screening stage of the new product development Stacey (Steinglass) Kaye extremely crucial. Stacey is married, with two girls, Audrey (5) and Margo (2). She The Coca-Cola Company, represented by Senior Research Manager lives outside of Philadelphia and works in a new and hot industry— Clark Jones has asked the MMR Class of 2006 to help optimize Coke’s retail meal assembly. Super Suppers (www.supersuppers.com) is the current concept screening process with the objective of developing leading franchise in the meal assembly industry. Stacey is forming processes to ensure that potentially “big” ideas do not get screened out at the concept testing stage. This year’s Coke project group is composed strategic alliances between Super Suppers and consumer packaged of Jennifer Alley, Sarah Cohn, Sandra Kanzler and Mary Lefebvre, under goods companies. The Super Suppers experience offers product the supervision of Vanessa Patrick. manufacturers integrated promotional opportunities allowing con- The group approached this task by conducting a comprehensive review sumers to get up-close-and-personal with branded products. First deal took place in March 2006 with Reynolds. Stacey is also pub- lishing children’s book series.

1996 Kristi Rees Kristi recently started a new job as a market research manager for GE Security in Bradenton, Fla. GE Security manufactures security and life safety products (fire alarms, video, access control, etc.) and is a division of General Electric. Kristi is the sole market research person in the company. Kristi and husband Tim have two children, John (6) and Samantha (1 1/2). Kristi wishes the current class well. MMRs, Sandra Kanzler, Mary Lefebvre, Sarah Cohn and Jennifer Alley worked on this year’s Coca-Cola project, helping the company 1998 optimize their current idea screening process. Terry Ferg Terry is proud to announce that his wife, Meghan, gave birth to their of academic and industry best practices. They reviewed about 60 articles first child, Nathaniel Aiden Ferg, on December 19, 2005. Terry is and 20 books from the 1970s to the most current issues, as well as inter- working at E&J Gallo Winery in the Information Intelligence group. viewed executives at some of the top Honomichl companies. After immersing themselves in the topic, the group identified the most rele- vant information for Coke. In brief, the areas of importance that the team recommended included the following: the formulation and presen- 2000 tation of concepts to be evaluated, segmentation of consumers in terms Carley Metsker of predictability of new product success, alternative screening methods Carley would like to announce the arrival of her second daughter, and, finally, composition of a product idea database. Claire Mary Metsker, born December 18, 2005. Claire is a healthy, The results of this phase were presented at Coke’s headquarters in happy little girl, and Mom, Dad and Laynie are very blessed to wel- Atlanta to Jones and Ravi Parmeswar, vice president of CCNA come her into the family. Knowledge & Insights, February 2006. Phase II will consist of a more detailed evaluation of the above areas, including specific recommenda- tions for Coke and how to implement these improvements into their cur- 2002 rent concept screening process. Praveen Sharma The group has enjoyed this challenging task and the close working Praveen joined TNS, the largest custom research company world- relationship they have shared with Jones, the senior research manager of wide, as an intern. The MMR training helped him rise through the the company with probably the most recognized brand in the world. ranks to become Manager, Research and Modeling Services. TNS, During this project, the team was able to apply their knowledge about based in Horsham, Penn., has provided him a rich marketing research the new product development process that they achieved through previ- continued on page 5 ous class lectures as well as expand on it in greater detail. ■

PAGE 3 SIGMA • MMR NEWSLETTER SPRING 2006 Global Outreach of the MMR Program Graeme Leiser (MMR ’06)

Of the 16 students in this year’s Master of talk to your professors more. This is more a met many students through the Turkish Marketing Research program, four students part of the culture, not just the smaller class Student Association. have come directly from foreign countries. sizes as an MMR student. The professors just SK: I have had the opportunity to meet These students left their families, friends, and seem more open to student interaction than German students, but I have tried to be more familiar surroundings to attend a unique edu- the professors at my university in Turkey. surrounded by Americans and other interna- cational opportunity here in Athens. Goksu SK: I agree; in Germany, I would have to set tional students. Dogan is a recent graduate from Izmir, up an appointment with professors with their PM: The Terry College of Business is in close Turkey, who has gained experience working in secretary, in order to speak to them. Here, proximity to downtown, where you have dif- the textile industry of her home country. they are much more approachable. ferent ethnic restaurants. Sandra Kanzler is a German student with mar- WP: The classes are fun, especially the qualita- ket research experience across Europe with the tive class. We have the best professors who are Have you had any fun trips this company GfK, Wing Tip Poon visits the pro- so excited about market research. My most school year? gram from Hong Kong and has conducted enjoyable project has been the corporate project GD: Athens is close to Atlanta, where you have quantitative market research in Korea and where we used what we had learned in class. all the activities of a big city without all the Hong Kong. Finally, Priti Mehra joined the Priti Mehra: I like the fact that the class size is problems like traffic. I have been to Atlanta for program having worked as both a supplier and very small, so you don’t “get lost” like you shopping, CNN Center, Coca-Cola Museum. user of market research in India. The four would with a class with 50-60 students. We The airport is there, which flies anywhere. international students and I had lunch in beau- have also had some international dining experi- During the breaks between semesters I took a tiful downtown Athens to talk about being a ences with our classmates, which have been fun. trip to New York, Philadelphia, and student in the MMR program, and their expe- Washington, D.C., with Sandra. riences here in the . Do you have a project you liked SK: Shopping in Atlanta’s malls has been fun. the most? I went to a UGA football game, a professional What made you decide to attend PM: I liked the marketing strategies course where basketball game, and a professional baseball the UGA Master in Market we talk about business cases. Dr. Leigh’s course game in Atlanta. It is not too far, about an Research program? in Customer Relationship Management was hour and a half, to get to the downtown area. Sandra Kanzler: My university in Germany interesting because we talked about how cus- Over Christmas break, I went to Florida on a has a relationship with UGA that encourages a tomer data can be used advantageously. I think road trip. I went to Key West. Winter is ideal student exchange program. I have studied he is an interesting professor because he brought to go there because summer would have been market research there, and thought this would a lot of fun into the classroom, and we got to too hot. Cape Canaveral, the Everglades, and be a great opportunity to gain international know him well during our luncheons with him. Miami are fun places to visit. experience. SK: I enjoyed the Econometrics or Regression WP: I go to Atlanta for the Chinatown restau- Wing Poon: I am interested in market course because I had to build the model from rants. I have also been to and research. The UGA program has a strong track the data myself. In Germany, I would have Washington during the school breaks. I went record of placing students in jobs. been told how I have to do it, validate the to the Smithsonian and the Spy Museum in Goksu Dogan: The Terry College of Business model, learned the methods. I learned more in Washington. I loved restaurants in New York has strong name recognition. this course because I did it myself. We applied when we went. what we learned in the classroom. PM: There are Bollywood movies and Indian What do you like most about the GD: In classes, in order to learn, we get perfect grocery stores in Atlanta. I have been to MMR program? data sets. When we do our projects the data is Boston, and my parents visited then. We also SK: I like my classmates because I have met not perfect and we have to apply the methods walked around New York City during the tran- students from many different countries and that we have learned. It is much closer to real sit strike! Otherwise, being in the U.S. it is from different places within the U.S. They world experience. I enjoyed the Microsoft easy to travel all over. bring different perspectives. Additionally, the project, because we are trying to measure the MMR program is much more practical com- success of some of their promotional activities. What do you wish you had known? pared to my German studies. I get to focus on GD: It is good to be prepared for administra- the application, and the assignments are a What have you liked most about tive tasks like insurance, driver’s license, regis- good way to learn the methodologies. UGA? tering for courses. Otherwise the program has GD: In comparison to Turkey, you are able to GD: I love the campus; it is beautiful. I have been better than expected. A lot more practi-

PAGE 4 SPRING 2006 SIGMA • MMR NEWSLETTER cal than I expected. ALUMNI CORNER PM: It is a good idea to have a car. Along with continued from page 3 this we needed to arrange for insurance and a experience. Praveen specializes in marketing mix modeling, latent class segmentation, simula- driver’s license. It would be a good idea to tor designs and customer satisfaction studies using statistical techniques like partial least come early and make sure that all this is taken squares. He enjoys occasional interactions with Marco Cors (MMR ’02) and Jeanne Wagner care of before classes start. With regards to (MMR ’02). class, I thought I might have some more elec- tives from which to choose. It would be a 2003 good to have a contact here to help with the Manju Sudhakaran transition process. Manju and her husband Praveen Nair, a UGA Vet School Alumni, had a baby boy, Anand Nair SK: I think it would take two weeks to make all in November 2005. Congratulations Manju and Praven. of these administrative arrangements. It would also be a good idea to live with someone from 2004 the U.S. You can immerse yourself in the cul- Ben Tolchinsky ture this way. When not in class during the MMR Research Associates is pleased to announce the “re-addition” of Ben Tolchinsky. Ben breaks, it is fun to travel and experience other worked at MMR Research in ’01-’03, and after completing his MMR degree in 2004, and serv- parts of the country. ing at Burke in Cincinnati from 2004-2005, has returned to us in a new role of Director, Client WP: It would be good to know about cus- Services. Ben and his wife, Amy, are also expecting their first child in June. Congratulations and toms, like when to send thank you notes to welcome back, Ben. ■ employers and other kinds of job hunting cus- toms.

What do you hope to do after grad- uation from the MMR program? PM: I may be moving to South Africa with my Sigma family. I hope to work for a market research is produced by the students, faculty and staff of supplier there. Market research is so impor- the Master of Marketing Research program in the Coca-Cola Center for Marketing Studies at the tant, because in order for companies to make ONLINE? Terry College of Business. decisions they need the best information Jagruti Jain (MMR ’06) SK: I have one more year of studying back & Graeme Leiser (MMR ’06) home in Germany. After that, I will try to find Then Editors a job on the client side as a market researcher Chris Taylor, Art Director and then move to product management possi- Terry College of Business bly. I hope to take advantage of having an drop by P. George Benson, Dean international degree. Terry College of Business GD: I hope to stay in the U.S. and gain some Rajiv Grover, Head experience here. www.terry.uga.edu Department of Marketing ([email protected]) WP: I think I would like to start on the suppli- er side and then move to the client side. Srinivas Reddy, Director for the Coca Cola Center for Marketing Studies ([email protected]) What do you miss most about home? Jamese Meyer, MMR Program Administrator ([email protected]) PM: Family and food from home. latest Terry College www.terry.uga.edu/mmr/ All agreed that this was one thing that they miss the most from home. While the students news and are very complimentary of the program in describing how it differs from home, these four students have brought so much to the information! program this year in terms of sharing their work experience, their knowledge, and, of course, their cuisine! ■

PAGE 5 SIGMA • MMR NEWSLETTER SPRING 2006 The 10 Most Important Questions to Ask Your Online Vendor

For four years I have purchased the same brand and model of running shoes, the New Balance numbers to do the size study you need to do, 991. However, after my second knee surgery I decided I might be due for a change. I went shop- especially for B2B. B2B is still difficult online ping for a shoe that was a perfect fit for my running style and would give me the support I need- but for some specific groups, such as physicians, ed. I was amazed by all the choices I had. I didn’t know where to begin. I often get the impres- small business owners, and C-level executives, sion market researchers feel the same way when they are looking for the perfect online data collec- panel companies have invested in developing tion vendor. In the last three years the number of companies offering a variety of services has sub-panels. Find out what is available or if they tripled. Figuring out how to differentiate between the offerings and the quality of those offerings offer a phone-to-web option. Many panels com- is no small task when researchers are being called upon by so many different companies. Because panies regularly re-screen panelists for specific I was wishing I had my shoe issue of Runner’s World with me as I was staring at the racks of run- information, so a good follow-up question (if ning shoes, it dawned on me that it might be helpful to develop a checklist of questions to ask you have a group you routinely survey) is to ask potential online partners. I came up with these questions by listening and asking: listening to my if there is a way to get a question or two on soft prospects as I spoke with them for the first time and directly asking people in the industry, who exits or on screening questionnaires. spend time working online, to tell me what is important to them. The same issues came up over and over again, and it was not difficult to narrow it down to the following 10 areas of concern. Q4: What steps do you take to make sure I have a representative group QUESTION 1: What services does your company provide? taking my survey? This is the best place to start because there is great variation between Most panel companies can claim that their panels, except for the elderly, what vendor companies are offering and what research companies need. the very low income and the minority segments, stack up well against the There are service bureaus offering one-stop shopping: deliver a final sur- census. But the base representation of the panel is not the key issue. vey to them and they will deliver data to you and do everything in What is important is the number and variability of the sources for the between. They supply sample or work with client lists, program, and panelists and the process used for pulling a representative sample. One host. Many also offer tables, coding and weighting. But not every com- issue to be aware of is that when a sample is pulled, the pull is usually pany needs or wants this full-service option, and there are many choices based on three variables—age, gender, geography—and it is not pulled for just programming or just sample. Match the offerings to your needs by race unless specifically requested by the client. There is nothing and then ask the more specific questions. wrong with this, but from my experience, clients are not always made aware of it, and they get frustrated when they get their data back they Q2: How large is your panel? often have only 2 to 4 percent African Americans and Hispanics. In the This seems like a simple question, but panels actually count their panelists client’s mind a rep sample is representative on all demographics, not just differently. The number can represent households or individuals. Panels three. Find out how many and which variables they are using. Also make counting households assume they have access to everyone living in that sure to verify that when they are pulling sample that they take into household for surveys through the individual who actually signs up for account the response rates of the different segments of their panel. the panel. For instance, if they have one million households, they would assume perhaps 2.5 potential respondents. Panels that count individuals Q5: How do I know if Jane Doe really filled out my survey? may have more than one person in a household on their panel but they This is a hard question for panel companies to answer, as there is no do not track that. The size of the panel is especially important if you plan equivalent to phone validation in the online world. Some panels have a to perform large tracking studies that require unique respondents for system in place where they re-screen for demos that should not have every wave or if you are looking for low incidence groups. If you are con- changed, like gender and year of birth, and compare that data to what is ducting research overseas, what is the panel’s international reach? If they in the respondent’s record. If there is a discrepancy they can delete the do not have their own panel, do they have reliable global partners? survey. This process needs to be combined with password protection so that Jane Doe cannot take the survey multiple times as different people Q3: What do you know about your panelists? and then send it to John Smith so he can take it. Passwords ensure the The more information known about respondents and their household survey assigned to Jane can only be taken once. members, the better it is for the health of the panel and for panel buy- ers. If consumer buying behavior, hobbies, and occupation can be target- Q6: Do you limit the number of surveys respondents ed, fewer emails will be sent, which cuts down on the number of invita- can receive? tions each panelist receives. It is good for researchers because it helps Everyone is worried about professional respondents, and most panels keep down the cost of low incidence studies. Most panel companies can claim to have a strict policy of survey management. Some companies supply you with a list of their targets. Usually the list is long, but they limit the invitations sent to a respondent over a certain period of time; may have only screened a portion of the panel on each target (except for others rest panelists when they have taken a certain number of surveys. major demographics). What this means is that there may not be sufficient Find out what the policy is and then join the panel using a personal e-

PAGE 6 SPRING 2006 SIGMA • MMR NEWSLETTER mail address. That is the best way to determine their commitment to ultimately in the pudding. Whether you are out on the road for the first their policy. In their defense, panel companies are finding it more and time or partnering on that first project, what matters most is if promises more difficult to control survey volume to their panelists because the are kept and it feels good. Hopefully asking these questions will help you demand for online research has dramatically increased over the last few narrow the field down to those who are potentially the best fit. ■ years. The demand has grown faster than the panels have grown. Ask what their plan is to balance supply and demand for sample with their — Janet Savoie, Senior Director, Client Development panel management policy. Online Survey Solution, M/A/R/C

Q7: What information will you need to give me pricing? Although incidence, length in minutes, and number of completes is min- imally necessary, companies will usually require complexity level, pro- Pharmerica Group: gramming length as well as respondent length, and specific quotas. The more information you are asked for the more likely the price will be accu- MMR Class of 2006 rate. If you are asked all the right questions up front, there is less chance of price issues down the road. Of course if your specs change before or MMR students Julianne Apthorpe, Lisa Allgaier, James Lanning during fielding, the price will also likely change. In general, incidence is and Wing Poon have embarked upon a corporate project with the responsibility of the client, not the vendor. Most companies are will- PharMerica under the guidance of Professor Piyush Kumar. ing to give pricing for several incidence levels if the client is unsure. PharMerica is a pharmacy provider to long-term care facilities. The students have been on the front end of communicating with the Q8: Will your programming platform meet my needs for client in order to understand their objectives and goals of the complexity and timing? group. The PharMerica contact is Heather Randolph, MMR alumni The ability to program specific types of questions (discrete choice), to from 2005. A positioning study was decided upon as the best way handle complex quotas, to offer cool tools (card sorting) is an important area to explore. Ask if they have a survey demo. You can get a good feel to tackle this project. The goal was to determine how pharmacies for their capabilities and a good look at how they present the questions in this industry are perceived and on what levels PharMerica could to the respondent. This is also a good time to inquire about the experi- ence level of the programmers on staff and where they are located. Are they in-house or overseas? Will you have access to them? Will they be on the kick-off call? And, since timing is often an issue, what is the typical turnaround time and can you accelerate a schedule if necessary?

Q9: Who will be managing my project? Once a project hits the field, the day-to-day contact is with the project manager. If you are looking for a company with which to partner, you want to develop a relationship with one or two project managers who will be a constant on all your jobs. Find out the experience level on the team in research and in managing research projects. If you do very com- plex work ask if you can be matched with a project manager that can handle that level of complexity. This is a key relationship: you want Pharmerica group under the guidance of Professor Piyush someone who understands your requirements and can anticipate your Kumar. From left Wing Tip Poon, Juli Apthorpe, Kumar, Lisa needs. If you work well with a particular project manager, can they be Allgaier and James Lanning. assigned to all your projects? Will there be a back-up person assigned? differentiate themselves from their competitors. In addition to the positioning, products and services offered in this industry were Q10: How do you price your services? Does it always come down to price? Clients say no, but they want to analyzed in order to determine the awareness, importance, satis- understand how things will be priced and if it is a firm price. Are the faction and uniqueness to respondents. charges per hour, per complete, per amount of sample used? Can costs be The students have learned not only how to communicate and broken out so they can compare between vendors? Are there hidden costs? work with a client company but also how to follow through entire- One universal complaint is being nickel-and-dimed to death. Clients ly with a project. The project began with designing the appropriate expect price changes if the length and incidence change dramatically, but survey to be administered online to both customers and prospects. they do not like surprises that knock their budgets out of the water. After programming and fielding, the students became entrenched in the data and started the analysis portion of the project using Asking the questions that reflect what is important to you is crucial SAS. Statistical methods used included multi-dimensional scaling when you are interviewing a potential online vendor. Does the company and factor analysis. The students were also engaged in putting have the resources to do the job the way you need it done? Just like together the material into a presentable form and then presenting shopping for the right running shoe, you need to make your choice it to the client and several of their suppliers. ■ based on the right fit for your needs. But in either situation, the proof is

PAGE 7 SIGMA • MMR NEWSLETTER SPRING 2006 MMR Class of 2006: IBM Corporate Project The UGA team comprised of Jagruti Jain, Graeme Leiser, Priti Mehra and Jing Yeh. Srinivas Reddy was the student advisor for the project and Donald Bottelsen, senior manager, Marketplace Insights, IBM, was the IBM representative. The central objective of the study was to estimate IT spending at a company level globally. The IBM Corporate project pro- vided an immense learning experience and gave the team a feel for the real world of market research. This study was unique because it involved a business-to-business transaction. The study involved global research perspective where both qualitative and quantitative techniques were used. The qualitative part of the project involved attending focus groups conducted in nearby Atlanta. The students also assisted in preparing dis- cussion guides and questionnaires for the focus groups. For several stu- dents this was the first time they were able to witness a focus group. The IBM team was able to witness some fundamental advantages of focus MMRs Jing Yeh, Priti Mehra, Jagruti Jain and Graeme Leiser worked groups. These advantages included being able to probe the respondents, under the guidance of Dr. Reddy on the IBM project. seeing the respondents and moderator bouncing ideas off one another, and being able to observe facial expressions and body language. Working in a project that lasted through two semesters, the team The teams’ quantitative involvement included reviewing several sample shared a common goal and a sense of belonging that helped develop designs for the survey. The IBM team was able to implement some fun- strong bonds among members. The team was very fortunate to have damentals of sample design learned in our statistics class. (Sincere thanks received the chance of working under the valuable advice and supervi- to Dr. Wurst for guidance.) sion of Dr. Reddy and Mr. Bottelsen. ■

MMR Class of 2006: Microsoft Project F ACULTY NEWS

For the 2006 year, four students from the MMR program were assigned to the Microsoft proj- John Wurst, of the UGA Marketing ect. The students were Goksu Dogan, Vikram Hosur, Brenda Munroe and Juli Pomorantz. Rajiv Department, is the co-author, along with Grover was the faculty member in charge of MMR alumni Ula and Chris Murphy, of the leading this team. The task was primarily to following paper that is being presented at the 2006 Sawtooth Software Conference: gather and analyze data concerning the “Reverse Segmentation: An Alternative effectiveness of Microsoft events around Approach,” Author(s) and Affiliations: the United States for a new product Urszula Jones, Curtis L. Frazier, launch. This information would also be Christopher Murphy, Millward Brown, and used in conjunction with a tracking study. John Wurst, SDR/. After discovering and learning about the Forthcoming Articles initial project, the team met with its Srinivas K. Reddy (with Mayukh Dass). Microsoft contact, Michael Diedrich. After “Modeling Online Art Auction Dynamics being briefed and given an outline, the first Using Functional Data Analysis” Statistical MMRs Brenda Munroe, Goksu Dogan, Juli task was to design a questionnaire. The team Science (May 2006). was able to use and apply classroom learning Pomorantz and Vikram Hosur. Rajiv Grover was the faculty member in charge of leading this team. to the layout and design of the question- Srinivas Reddy (with Anupam Jaju, Christopher Joiner). “Consumer Evaluations naire. Comscore administered the questionnaire online, and the results were delivered to the team of Corporate Brand Deployments.” Journal shortly after. Dr. Grover guided the team with his experience along the way and helped the team of the Academy of Marketing Science 34 organize the abundance of material for the deadlines of the project. (2) (Spring 2006): 206-215. After the pre-event questionnaires were completed, a presentation shortly followed. Material regard- ing respondents and comparing different groups yielded very high importance, as was previously stressed in the classroom. The initial analysis went extremely well, and the team was then given the task ANNOUNCEMENT to follow up with the post-event results. After the second analysis, the final presentation was given to The MMR baby is finally here. Priti Mehra, Microsoft. As expected, the results were promising and would be used further in a tracking study. MMR Class of 2006, gave birth to a baby In addition to directly using the material taught in the classroom, the team learned many other ideas boy, Avi Idhant Shekhar. The MMR baby, Avi, relevant in business today. These lessons included meeting numerous deadlines in addition to classroom sat through all our classes and, hence, is a performance, coordinating events with the client, researching and presenting the material to the client, born market researcher. Avi was born on March 19th at 12:37 a.m. Congratulations and capitalizing on the knowledge from each group member. The team agrees that this was an incredi- Priti and Navendu. bly valuable experience and has helped prepare the team members for the marketing research industry. ■

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