In this exercise we consider a marketing research study concerning the similarities and differences between the 10 types of food shown in Table 3.11. Each type of food was given an integer rating of 1 to 7 by 50 randomly selected restaurant-goers on three scales: bland (1) versus spicy (7), light (1) versus heavy (7), and low calories (1) versus high calories (7). Table 3.11 gives the average value for each of the food types on the three scales. Figures 3.32 and 3.33 present the results of a cluster analysis and multidimensional scaling of the 10 food types. 

a. Discuss why the two axes in Figure 3.33 may be interpreted as €œAsian versus western€ and €œspicy versus bland.€

b. Using Table 3.11 and Figures 3.32 and 3.33, discuss the similarities and differences between the food types.

c. Suppose that you are in charge of choosing restaurants to be included in a new riverfront development that initially will include a limited number of restaurants. How might Table 3.11 and Figures 3.32 and 3.33 help you to make your choice?

Average Ratings of the Food Types on Three Scales OS FoodTypes TABLE 3.11 Food Spicy/Bland High/Low Calories Heavy/Light Japanese (JPN) 3.2 3.4 2.8 Cantonese (CNT) 2.6 5.3 5.4 Szechuan (SCH) 6.6 3.6 3.0 French (FR) 3.5 4.5 5.1 Mexican (MEX) 4.3 6.4 4.3 Mandarin (MAN) 3.4 4.1 4.2 American (AMR) 2.3 5.8 5.7 Spanish (SPN) 4.7 5.4 4.9 Italian (ITL) 4.6 6.0 6.2 Greek (GRK) 5.3 4.7 6.0 FIGURE 3.32 JMP Output of a Cluster Analysis of the 10 Food Types Method = Complete Dendrogram JPN FR MAN SCH MEX CNT AMR SPN GRK ITL