JamShoes was started in the late $1990$s$,$ as a sport footwear business with its product branded store fashioned off Jamaicas legendary footballer, Alan Skill Cole. The SkillCole brand offered a line of exercise$/$sportswear shoe and by the early $2000$s$,$ JamShoes sold about two$-$third of its sports footwear in the lucrative, U$.$S$.$ market. By the mid$-2000$s$,$ however, it sold a mere $20$ percent and its local sales were also low. This was bothersome as the competitors were all showing increased sales.

To counter the decline, JamShoes introduced a set of roots rugged shoes called $($Ragga$)$ in top and low cut styles made from canvas and or leather. The Ragga which is fashion trendy is now the flagship shoe for the company and its market includes rastas, gang members, dance hall music fans, and other rugged oriented folks. The brand was a hit amongst the Diaspora and strong Jamaican community in the USA especially the tri$-$state area $($New York, New Jersey and Connecticut$).$ The distinct semi rugged look and brand name made it fashionable amongst males for adventure and recreational purposes.

This successful switch from fitness$-$based sportswear to fashion brand meant that JamShoes was no longer sure what motivates or drove customers to buy its products. In fact, according to Sharon Dale, Senior Vice President of marketing at JamShoes, the company had lost definition as a sporting wear company and was now seen as fashion oriented. Nandi did not agree and they both decided that a survey be conducted to determine their customers profile and buying behaviour. The survey would be more effective as she was certain there were no existing data on her customers and she wanted to make sure she was targeting the correct market population.

Two months into the research, Sharon saw an advertisement in the Gleaner announcing the introduction of the new Usain Bolt product line. She knew the advertisement would motivate customers, but she wasnt sure if JamShoes was ready to exploit the new Bolt initiative.

Discuss two micro$-$environmental and two macro environmental forces that would affect JamShoes business operations.

 

Discuss the benefits to JamShoes of using the research approach to gather data as against using the observation method.