Judy Gomez, head of marketing for Wildlife Treasures, Inc., has been informed by the board of directors that they would like a marketing research study conducted to determine the cause of the plateau in sales performance over the past two years. The company is a producer of art and ornaments depicting African wildlife, and currently supplies specialty stores throughout the United States. A considerably restricted budget has been allocated to the project. Ms. Gomez is expected to survey all of these stores in order to determine how sales in the domestic market can be increased. The board of directors has been generous in its time allowance for the study, preferring a thorough marketing research effort to a hasty one.
a. Suggest a suitable survey method for the study and justify your answer. Ms. Gomez believes that a possible remedy to the company's stagnant sales performance may be an entry into foreign markets. Because Wildlife Treasures has received some unsolicited inquiries from European tourists, she feels that a market may exist in Europe for its specialty goods.
b. Given the restraints of the study, how can Ms. Gomez conduct a survey to determine potential markets across Europe?
c. Ms. Gomez would like to utilize the company's recently updated computer system for the marketing research study. What features would need to be available in order to use the computer system for this purpose?