The Cosmos Soft Drinks Co. Ltd was concerned about its low market share. Despite extensive advertising in newspapers and magazines and colourful displays in the largest retailers, sales remained disappointingly low compared to the well-known brands in the market. The image for its drinks that the company was trying to create was a sporty and youthful one. One of the reasons for this was because the directors had found out that the proportion of the population under 18 was expected to increase in the next ten years and the sports-participation rates of most age groups were increasing. The directors were in agreement that the image was the correct one to have and that other factors were to blame for the poor sales performance. They decided to conduct a survey of the general public. This was to be a telephone survey as they believe that the quick results were essential to allow them to take the right measure to boost sales. A questionnaire of 30 questions was drawn up asking for details of soft drinks bought and the reasons for the purchase decisions, names and address of the respondents so that free vouchers could be sent, income levels to identify consumer profiles and many other details that the directors thought might be useful. One hundred people were to be contacted by picking names at random from the telephone survey. The results of the survey proved to be very disappointing because many calls were not answered, some people refused to answer some of the questions and some of the elderly respondents said that all soft drinks were too sweet and fizzy for them anyways. The directors were no clearer after the survey than before as to what could be done to increase sales of Cosmos soft drinks.

Questions 1: a) What evidence is there in the case that the business has used secondary research methods? (4 marks) b) List four sources of secondary data that Cosmos could use if the business was based in your own country. (4 marks) c) Analyse two possible reasons why the results of the telephone survey were so disappointing. (7 marks) d) Suggest and justify an alternative primary research technique that Cosmos could have used to achieve more useful results. (10 marks) Question 2 Explain the main reasons for change in an organisation and discuss how growth can cause problems. You may refer to a named theorist as part of your explanation or discussion. (15