BPP UNIVERSITY COLLEGE PRE-MASTERS PROGRAMME: Project & Report RESEARCH PROPOSAL APPLICATION Full name of applicant Bikash Sarker Title of Research Project A Research Proposal on the Marketing Strategy of Tesco PLC and its Effectiveness. Company/organisation for which proposed research will be carried out Tesco Plc Nature of business carried out Retail Annual Turnover £ 72.0 Billion No of Employees 530,000+ Pre-tax profit £ 3.8 Billion Area(s) of company business in which research is proposed - Marketing Abstract of Proposed Research: This proposal is concerned with an understanding of marketing strategy of TESCO PLC. and with the differentiation and clarification of concepts used in conjunction with marketing strategy and it’s effectiveness. The understanding of marketing strategy developed in this proposal is through a process involving three different sections of treatment. The first two sections arise out of the overall strategic planning of the company and provide the framework out of which marketing strategy should be developed. However, as these two sections provide the framework for developing the actual marketing strategy, they are not considered to be part of it. The third section of the process is the actual marketing strategy, which is considered to be composed of five component parts. The proposal concludes that, in defining Tesco’s marketing strategy, a company needs firstly to establish the two sections from the strategic planning framework, then from this define each of the marketing strategy component parts. This research will be both qualitative and quantitative in nature. Qualitative methodology will be used to describe about the marketing strategy of Tesco PLC, its advantages and disadvantages. And quantitative method will be used to discuss about the customer satisfaction and test the hypothese. Executive Summary of Proposal and Problem Statement: The aim of this proposal is to develop an understanding of marketing strategy of TESCO and discuss its effectiveness. The approach is to survey the literature on marketing strategy and then to review the strategic planning process. The latter provided a basis for developing levels one and two of the understanding, which are specified as being the corporate mission and the corporate objectives. These two levels provided the framework for the development of the third level of the understanding, which is the actual marketing strategy to be developed. This is specified as being composed of five component parts, being market positioning, product positioning, the marketing mix, market entry and timing. It was also argued that marketing strategy is the marketing element of long- range operational planning and relates directly to the attainment of the corporate objectives. Alternatively, marketing tactics are seen as being the marketing element of short-range operational planning, giving a direct contribution to the attainment of the marketing objectives. Therefore, to understanding marketing strategy, TESCO needs firstly to establish the two levels from the strategic planning framework, then from this define each of the marketing strategy component parts. Failure to follow this process must lead to ineffective definition, implementation and effectiveness of marketing ¬¬¬¬¬-strategies, as supported by the nature of the presented process. Finally, two observations from the literature that relate to the utilization of marketing strategy need to be emphasized. Marketing emphasis in companies in recent times has been orientated towards short-term gains in revenue and profits. Therefore the emphasis is being placed on the marketing tactics of short-range operational planning. Although the latter is obviously important, full consideration of marketing strategy is of equal importance, not only to contribute to future performance and success, but also to provide a framework for the operation of the annual marketing plan. The final observation is that the word strategy has been abused by many writers, having become “a grandiose synonym for the word important”. Hence the word strategy has been unjustifiably included in the title of many articles and books in an attempt to improve their importance and academic respectability. To a certain extent this trend appears to be in the opposite direction to the first observation. However, the danger is that a true understanding and application of strategy within marketing (or indeed within any other business function), can become confused by the very body of knowledge that is attempting to clarify it. Background: Strategic planning is probably the most important thing that any business has to plan (Piercy, N.C. and Rick, N. (2004). Strategic planning is the long term blueprint that marks the roadmap for a company by taking into consideration about where a company is, how is it and where does it want to go in the long run (Suzanne H. & Rose L., 2008). Marketing plan is a part of the company’s overall strategic plan. A company’s marketing plan always resembles after the strategic plan of that company and how well a marketing plan is depends on how well the strategic plan of that company is (Richard D., 2012). There has been many works on the marketing strategy and its effectiveness. Lan, Richard and Tian (2006) took a sample of 140 business units (both commodities and non commodities) and showed that the marketing expenses had the positive effect on the operating performance (profit) for both types of companies. Anil K. & Govindarajhan (2008) took a sample of 54 business units and showed that the greater a company’s marketing expense is the greater the company is willing to take risk but lower the chance of making immediate profit; however the company may make profit in the long run Karen, Michael & Shally (2012) showed that many corporation does and can use marketing tools in the form of philanthropic works and can get commercial benefit from that. Douglas W. & Neil A. (2009) defines that marketing strategy fitted with business strategy yields to better marketing and business performance and if not marketing strategy is nothing but a piece of eye candy only. There has also been many works with the marketing strategy and its effectiveness in the retail stores industry. Lan L, Richard J. and Tian X. (2006) have shown that the value of the retailer to the customer is dependent on 8 factors and marketing is one of the major one between them. Although, their work noted that such behavior varies from industry to industry. Foley and Fahy (2004) have shown that low price, promotional activities and building a brand image is the most effective marketing tool for retailer companies. Karen, Michael & Shally (2012) has shown that marketing strategy is mostly effective for food retailer and it is one of the main reasons behind the success of the fast food brands. Isaack M. et. al. (2013) defines that a good marketing strategy of a retailer company is actually a combination of many pricing and marketing tools and big retailers usually tends to have a more detailed focus on marketing through mass media while small retailers stick to price cutting strategy. Suzanne H. & Rose L. (2008) said that there is a very positive correlation in the marketing approach of a departmental store and the customer loyalty and satisfaction. However, very little credible work has been done on the marketing strategy and its effectiveness of any specific business organization. Because of the nature of the topic most of these works are theoretical in nature. TESCO PLC: Tesco PLC is a British multinational retailer shop. It has a subsidiary called Tesco Bank. The performance of this company, especially in retail store business has been very good in recent years. It is the market leader in the retailing business in U.K and it is in the 1st or 2nd position in 8 markets in Europe and Asia (Tesco PLC Annual Report, 2013). Its revenue has grown by about 1.4%. However its operating profit has decreased by about 14.5% mainly due to the regulatory requirement in South Korea, economic downtrend in Europe and investment plan in U.K (Tesco PLC Annual Report, 2013). It is the 4th largest retailer in the world in terms of revenue as off 2013 (Andrea F., 2013). It is the second largest food retailer of the world (Planet Retail, 2013 cited in Supermarket news, 2013). Tesco’s core business is in food retail. In 2011 Tesco PLC started a 7 part strategy for their business in U.K and worldwide (Manish A., 2013). Its core strategies are: to grow the UK core, to be an outstanding International retailer in stores and online, to be as strong in everything we sell as they are in food, to Grow Retail services in all of TESCO’s markets, to put Tesco’s responsibilities to the communities they serve at the heart of what Tesco do, to be a creator of highly valued brands and to build Tesco’s team so that they create more value (Tesco PLC Annual Report, 2013). And their performances in these sectors are described in their annual report. Tesco formulates their marketing strategies in lieu of these core strategies and in recent years Tesco has made some progress in some of these strategies. The most recent published data of Tesco PLC shows that as of November 2013 group sales has grown by .6% and U.K sales has grown by .9% (Financial Times, 2013). However, point to point sale has decreased by about 1.5%. It shows that the marketing strategy of Tesco PLC has at least shown some success to attain some of its core strategies as declared in 2011. The marketing strategy of Tesco PLC is very “direct” in nature and Tesco PLC weights much importance with communicating with its customers through direct media such as e-mail. To retain its customer and to offer more value Tesco offers Clubcard. Other retailers also offer such types of cards but the one offered by Tesco PLC is the most praised. Tesco also does marketing through TVC’s. Tesco’s YouTube ad is one of the top ad in youtube for November (Financial Times, 2013). So, it is worth looking into the marketing strategy of Tesco PLC and its effectiveness. The following part of the review is presented in three sections. The first discusses explanations of marketing strategy from the literature. The second section examines strategic planning as a basis for developing levels one and two of the process, whereas the third section explains the resultant understanding of marketing strategy. Section One: Marketing Strategy: Douglas W. & Neil A. (2009) refer to marketing strategy as being crucial and central issues to the use of the marketing function. Similarly, Suzanne & Rose (2008) see it as being a broad means of achieving given aims, Lan, Richard and Tian (2006) as being fundamental means or schemes and (2002) as being the grand design to achieve objectives. Having made such a statement, most writers then move on to explain the detailed issues, means or schemes that they prescribe as constituting a marketing strategy. Here there are four major bases that are used in the literature to explain the detail of marketing strategy. These are the marketing mix, the product life cycle, market share and competition, and positioning. In addition, some writers also advocate special marketing strategies for both international and industrial markets. The remainder of this section is concerned with an explanation of these approaches. The Marketing Mix Base: A common approach in the literature is simply to link these issues to the elements of the marketing mix. Indeed, Karen, Michael & Shally (2012) defines marketing strategy, as being an indication of how each element of the marketing mix will be used to achieve the marketing objectives. This definition gives a complete reliance on the mix and therefore the utilization of the elements is the strategy. Piercy and Rick (2004) also develop this theme, suggesting a range of marketing component strategies that constitute the total marketing strategy. These they give as product strategy, distribution strategy, sales promotion strategy and pricing strategy. Douglas W. & Neil A. (2009) who split the issues into price and non-price strategies, prescribes a modification of this approach. The PLC Base: Other writers extend this theme of the marketing mix to the concept of the product life cycle. For example, Dickinson and Ramaseshan (2011) outline that the marketing strategy for a particular product needs to be modified as the product moves through the various stages of its PLC. This is based upon a change of the mix at the different stages, so that a change is made in the relative degree of reliance of each element, giving a different mix, and hence a different marketing strategy, at each stage. This treatment is extended by other writers, such as Jayachandran, S., Gimeno, J. and Varadarajan, P.R. (2007), who defines a specific strategy for each stage of the PLC, labeling them life cycle marketing strategies. The Market Share Base: Another approach used in the literature is to link the market strategy to market share and competition. A major example here comes from the work of Kotler (2002). Their approach is firstly to explain how a company can identify its optimal market share, given a particular set of conditions. Having identified this level the company needs a marketing strategy to achieve the optimum. The second stage is to select a strategy from a range of strategies that are designed to build, maintain or even reduce market share. However, within each of these share-linked marketing strategies they also advocate a range of further strategies, again based upon the elements of the marketing mix. Jayachandran, S., Gimeno, J. and Varadarajan, P.R. (2007) also advocate a similar approach; although they label the alternatives as being building, holding and harvesting strategies. Alternatively, strategies for companies with low market shares are given by Lan, Richard and Tian (2006). Similarly, Foley and Fahy (2004) also link marketing strategy to market share. In addition to the market share link, competitive marketing strategies have also been described by Kotler (2002). In the earlier work he prescribed a range of nine competitive marketing strategies, prescribing that the company chooses, at a particular point in time, that which relates directly to the activities of its competitors. In the later work he advocates an approach in which the company has a range of competitive marketing strategies from which to choose, depending upon which of four strategy ranges the company’s market share dictates that it falls into. The Positioning Base: Another approach is to utilize the concept of positioning. The major overall problem here is the variation given in the literature as to the meaning of positioning. For example, Desai and Ratneshwar, (2013) explain a product’s position as its overall situation in the market relative to its sales, market share and profitability. Cravens sees positioning as being the selection of a marketing strategy from a range of alternatives, although the latter can be considered to be component parts of corporate strategy, as developed by Ansoff (1977). Yet another variation of the interpretation of product positioning is reflected in the articles of Lan, Richard and Tian (2006), Here a product’s position is related to its customers, in that it explains the user profile and how they perceive the image of the product. The concept of positioning can also be explained in terms of both market and product positions, as illustrated, for example, by Douglas W. & Neil A. (2009), Here the company investigates the segmentation of a particular market and then decides which segment or segments to participate in. This selection is referred to as market positioning. For each segment the company requires a product, or products, and the number of products developed, plus their overall nature, is referred to as product positioning. The next section is concerned with a review of strategic planning, as a basis for developing levels one and two of the marketing strategy process. Section Two: A Review of Strategic Planning: Corporate planning is a concept which represents the summation of the total planning to be carried out in a company and writers such as Jayachandran, S., Gimeno, J. and Varadarajan, P.R. (2007) split corporate planning into strategic planning and operational planning. Strategic planning is seen by Hussey to be the process that defines the overall objectives of the company and the means by which these objectives are to be obtained. The emphasis given by Ansoff (1977) is that strategic planning is differentiated from other planning in that its consequences have an enduring effect on the firm and are broad issues that relate to the long term. Due to the influence of the effects of strategic planning, Higgins identifies the responsibility of strategic planning as lying with top management, as opposed to the functional managers. Operational planning, however, is seen by Dickinson and Ramaseshan (2011), to be a projection into the fu-ture of plans that cover existing company operations. Here the plans are the responsibility of functional managers, as the concern is seen to be the operation of these functions into the future. Although strategic planning is seen by Ansoff (1977) to be concerned with the long term, operational planning, due to its very nature, necessarily relates to the short term, in that it is based on the firm’s present operational base of resources. However, looking into the long-term future necessitates not only the setting of objectives and strategies, but must also include, as suggested by the Society for Long-Range Planning, “translating strategy into detailed operational programmes”, which is very much the responsibility of operational planning. Therefore, operational plans are also needed in the long-term situation. Review of the Stages of Strategic Planning: Although writers within the literature give various stages within the strategic planning process, writers such as Lan, Richard and Tian (2006) tend to follow the approach that starts with a specification of the overall direction which the firm wishes to pursue, given in the form of a corporate mission plus corporate objectives. The latter relate to certain levels of achievement or performance, refer to the total company and are applicable to the long run. After determining the strengths and weaknesses of both its internal and external environments, plus any gaps between its objectives and current base likely performance, the company moves on to consider its corporate strategy. Piercy and Rick (2004) see this as being the means of directing resources to achieve the objectives. The strategic planning process given advocates the identification and evaluation of alternative strategies, before the company chooses that to be pursued. A major contribution to the understanding of corporate strategy is the well-known work of Ansoff (1977). The view taken by Ansoff (1977) is that corporate strategy is made up of four component parts, from which it is possible to develop a range of alternative strategies. These four components are summarized as follows: • Product—market scope: this specifies the particular industries to which the firm is to restrict its business, defining the broad areas of product and market participation. • Growth vector: this relates to the alternatives available to the firm to achieve growth of sales and output, giving the alternatives of market penetration, market development, product development and diversification. • Competitive advantages: concerned with how the firm will be able to develop advantages over its competitors within these industries and vectors. • Synergy: in simple terms, this is concerned with evaluating how the firm’s strengths and weaknesses will affect its market participation. In the words of Ansoff (1977), “it is concerned with the desired characteristics of fit between the firm and its products—markets!’ Section Three: The Resultant Understanding: As already mentioned, levels one and two of the understanding provide the framework for developing the marketing strategy that is given as section three. As the corporate mission provides an encompassing understanding of the company’s purpose and overall direction, it is considered as being level one of the process in developing a marketing strategy. Hence the mission provides the broad scope of the business in terms of customers, products and business areas, which is the starting point for making decisions on marketing strategy, in that the central issues of the total marketing operation must follow the company’s central theme. Within this scope the framework is prescribed in the form of the classes of customers the firm wishes to serve, giving the scope for market positioning and examining suitability of variations in the marketing mix. Similarly the scope of products provides a framework for product positioning as well as giving ramifications within the marketing mix. The scope of business areas also gives a framework to market positioning, in that the supply of products to different areas (such as industrial, consumer, or international business areas) will each have different ramifications on the decisions to be made on marketing strategy. The theme of purpose also needs to be reflected in the marketing strategy. This may vary from company to company as it could be based upon the development of a particular technology, a particular raw material, a particular section of society, or indeed on any other similar theme. However, whatever the specification of the purpose, the components of the marketing strategy must support it. Finally, the direction of the company also has ramifications for marketing strategy. Directions aimed at growth, stability or contraction would each result in different decisions being made in the components of marketing strategy, as would a diversification direction as opposed to a non-diversification direction. Section two of the understanding is the established corporate strategy, which is considered to be the second part of the marketing strategy framework. The product-market scope component of corporate strategy is itself an extension of the corporate mission as it gives more detail in specifying the scope of the business. Although this component is narrower in its definition of scope than the corporate mission it still allows for decision making within marketing strategy, in the selection of markets, market segments, product lines and individual products. However, the point is that the product- market scope component defines the framework for these decisions, giving the range to be pursued. The growth-vector component also provides a decision-making framework for marketing strategy. Here the selected alternatives for pursuing growth will each affect the marketing mix to be determined within the marketing strategy. Each growth alternative will also affect decisions on product positioning and the very nature of the market within each growth alternative will require a different approach to market positioning. The component of competitive advantage will dictate the approach to be taken in each element of the marketing mix and indeed will affect their interrelationship. Overall approaches to competitors may also necessitate making decisions on both market and product positioning. Finally, the corporate strategy component of synergy will affect marketing strategy in that identified company strengths and weaknesses, in relation to the approaches the company is to take towards these, may provide either restrictions to the development of marketing strategy, or, indeed, may provide an improvement to its effectiveness. Section three of the understanding is the actual marketing strategy. The approach taken in this article is to specify marketing strategy as being composed of five component parts, three of which have been discussed in section one, and two of which have not yet been discussed. The first three components relate to market positioning, product positioning and the marketing mix, and are discussed further as follows. Market Positioning: This part of the strategy is concerned with deciding which approach to adopt relative to the segmentation of the market and the selection of the segments in which the company is to participate. Depending upon the range of product-market scopes, or strategic business units (SBUs) adopted, each scope may require a different approach to segmentation within the market. In selecting the segments for participation the company has the choice of pursuing all segments, only one segment, or several. This choice could well be affected by the rate of growth required, the nature of competitors within the segments and the corporate approach to them, plus the synergy developed by the relative strengths and weaknesses. This component is seen as being logically the first decision to be made in establishing a marketing strategy. Product Positioning: Having selected the market segments for each product-market scope, the number of products that the firm is to offer to each segment must be determined and their overall nature must be specified. Again this decision area can be affected by the corporate strategy components of growth, competition and synergy. However, the major considerations are obviously the market requirements within each segment. The understanding of these requirements obviously provides a basis for deciding whether each segment of participation requires one or several products, as well as determining the overall nature of each product. However, specific details of product specifications are not considered to be part of the marketing strategy, but are considered to be decisions relative to the tactical planning of marketing. Marketing Mix: Having determined the range of segments in which they will participate, plus the nature and number of products to be offered, the next decision in formulating the marketing strategy is to determine the utilization of the individual elements of the mix, plus the relative degree of reliance to be placed upon each. Again the distinction needs to be made between the role of the marketing mix within marketing strategy and its role within marketing tactics. In the former, decisions are required to determine which of the elements given by Douglas W. & Neil A. (2009) are to be used in order to market the selected products, as well as deciding the relative degree of importance or reliance to be placed on each in order to satisfy the market requirements. However, the role of the marketing mix within marketing tactics is in the specification of details, such as product features, brand name and image, price structure, copy platform and selling techniques. Again the finalization of this component is affected by market requirements, so that the marketing strategy may need to vary with product market scope. In addition, the corporate approach to competitors may also affect decisions, as could the corporate approach to growth, plus effective synergy. The two additional components not yet discussed are market entry and timing. These are discussed as follows. Market Entry: This component is concerned with how the company intends to enter, re-enter, position itself, or re-position itself within each of the selected market segments. Here Kotler (2002) gives the alternatives of acquisition, collaboration and internal development. In the former the approach of acquiring an existing product(s) or company is well documented, as, for example, given by Karen, Michael & Shally (2012). The selection of this strategy would be affected by the overall direction of the company as specified within the corporate mission. Also the corporate strategy components of growth, competitive advantage and synergy would also relate to such a decision. Collaboration with another company that can provide expertise in marketing, OR indeed any other business area can be similarly affected by corporate strategy. The purpose element of the corporate mission would provide the guideline for such a strategy, but the overall level of synergy within the company would give a major indication of the need to adopt a collaboration strategy. Finally, internal development means that the company does not need to involve other companies, so that the marketing operations are developed by the company through its own resources. Adoption of such a strategy would again be affected by the purpose element of the corporate mission, the level of synergy and also the stipulated rates of growth. Timing: Here the component relates to the point in time at which the other components of the marketing strategy are to be implemented, plus the points in time when particular tactics within the marketing mix are to be implemented. One approach here is to link the strategy to competitors’ activity, as, for example, outlined by Lan, Richard and Tian (2006), Here the strategy can be to be first to implement, or to be early but following the first company, or to take a laggard position, being one of the last companies to implement. Another approach of selecting times is to follow relevant indicators from the external environment. These can range from economic indicators, to industry trends, to seasonal trends, to trade exhibitions. Here there is probably less effect from the corporate mission and strategy, although the immediacy of required growth would need to be considered. The timing component of marketing strategy also relates to selecting the optimum time to exploit a particular market or market segment. Dickinson and Ramaseshan (2011) have identified the importance of recognizing the time period associated with a particular opportunity within a market, which he labels the “strategic window”. Here he offers an approach in the decision making process, to determine when the particular implementation of strategy or tactics should take place. Here there can be consideration of the corporate strategy, in relation to the immediacy of required growth, the impact on such a strategic window of the corporate approach to competitors and the level of synergy within the company. Research question or hypothesis, aims and objectives: The primary question of this research work is to describe about the marketing strategy of its effectiveness. However to broadly categorize, this research will try to answer the following questions: a) What is the core marketing strategy of Tesco PLC? b) How effective is the marketing strategy of Tesco PLC – Are the customers satisfied? This work will also test the following hypothesis: H1: The marketing cost of Tesco PLC has a positive effect on the Tesco PLC’s operating performance. H2: The marketing cost has a positive effect on the customer’s satisfaction. METHODOLOGY: Research Philosophy: For this study, selecting an overall research philosophy is the choice between two primary alternatives: between positivist or phenomenological philosophy. Given the research problem, the best fit is to follow the phenomenological paradigm by recognising the following parameters identified by Karen, Michael & Shally (2012): It tends to produce qualitative data: this would fit well with the case study approach. • Datais rich and subjective: the qualitative data would be rich by nature, and the gathering process would be subjective due to the level of involvement of the researcher • The location is natural: the setting for this research will be in a profit making organisation (TESCO) • Reliability is low: the possibility of lower reliability data would be countered by the use of triangulation • Validity is high: this would be seen as a result of the empirical data gathering exercise. Research Approaches: Research can have elements which are based upon a non-empirical approach, an empirical approach, or a combination of the two. For the empirical approach, there are three primary dimensions which can be evaluated for use (Jayachandran, S., Gimeno, J. and Varadarajan, P.R., 2007): • Qualitative/quantitative • Deductive/inductive • Subjective/objective These do not necessarily represent a simple either/or choice, but should rather be seen as the extent to which elements of the approach apply. Each of these will be explored in turn. In this research project both the non-empirical and empirical research approaches will be considered. The non-empirical approach will be used to inform the structuring and execution of the empirical research activities. A. Non-empirical research: One of the first considerations to be faced is the pre-existing body of knowledge that exists in a particular field. This should be used as a source of reference for research previously conducted in the chosen field of enquiry, as well as a source of the body of theory which pertains to the selected subject area. B. Qualitative / QuantitativeApproach: Qualitative methods will be used for study, to assist in the assessment of maturity of knowledge sharing and maturity in the use of stories and story telling as knowledge sharing practices. C. Deductive / Inductive: In this study a mainly deductive approach would be used, with the emphasis on an exploratory approach to improve the understanding of the case study of TESCO, with particular emphasis on the use of stories and story telling as knowledge sharing practices. D. Subjective / objective: What is important here, is to recognise the fact that phenomenological research certainly involves a subjective approach, which should be recognised in the analysis and interpretation of the data gathered. Attention would be paid to this aspect in this research project. Research Design: The research study is qualitative as the selected research method ought to be effective in collecting the data needed to answer the research questions. Qualitative research represents descriptions of things made without assigning numbers directly and used in exploratory designs, offering a detailed insight and understanding of the research object (Karen, Michael & Shally, 2012); Piercy and Rick, 2004) This thesis will rounds up qualitative datain the form of secondary and primary sources of information. Both primary and secondary data will be used for this research. A. Secondary data: Secondary data would be collected through numerous types of documents i.e. books from library, scientific articles from online libraries and journals as well as company reports and reliable websites, providing the theoretical background on CRM and green marketing. It will assist in how to approach the primary research, content and conduction of the questionnaires. Since marketing strategy of any company is very confidential and not usually published so the data about the marketing strategy of the Tesco PLC will be collected from the secondary sources. Secondary sources include market report about the Tesco PLC’s marketing strategy and various online research sources. The secondary data will include the annual report of Tesco PLC of last 5 years. Any other credential sources will be used accordingly. B. Primary Data: The suitable method for primary data collection has been communication in the form of semi-structured in-depth interviews as qualitative research implies the use of „structured open-end questions in order to investigate an issue deeply (Karen, Michael & Shally (2012); Suzanne & Rose, 2008) Open questions allow the interviewees to define and describe a situation in own words. Primary data will be collected from the customers of Tesco PLC through a survey. The survey will be conducted with 60-70 customers of Tesco PLC and they will be asked to fill out a questionnaire by the author. 3/4 officials of Tesco PLC who works in the marketing department of Tesco PLC are also expected to be interviewed and they will also be asked about the marketing strategy and its cost in Tesco PLC only if they are willing to tell about it. However, the officials have not confirmed the appointment yet. For qualitative analysis the information collected from the secondary sources about the marketing strategy will be discussed. For quantitative analysis the data collected from the survey on customers will be used. The questionnaire will include question that will give their satisfaction/dissatisfaction a numerical rating based on their likings and disliking. Then it will be compared with the marketing cost of Tesco PLC to see if they have any relation. Then, operating profit collected from the annual report of Tesco PLC will be compared with the marketing cost of Tesco PLC to see if they have any relation. SPSS 19.0, MS Word and MS Excel will be used for data analysis. Ethical issues/Ethical Considerations: The researcher must display highest honesty during carrying out his field performance keeping in mind the ethical and moral values of the organization and society. The quantitative information are readily and publicly available without any sort of ethical or moral intervention. While the analyzer will accumulate the qualitative data with the use of semi-structured and unstructured interviews, the respondents will not be forced to take part and should ask them to join spontaneously during the research (Piercy and Rick, 2004; Jayachandran, S., Gimeno, J. and Varadarajan, P.R., 2007). Every respondent must be appraised with honor and respect; importantly their rights and welfare must be secured. At the beginning of the research process will make the respondents aware of any kinds of potential risk or injury could have happened during the process. During questioning the clients, data collected from one client should not by any means be exposed to another client in any form that could identify the respondent, unless extreme privacy is attained or respondent give their consent to do so. No secondary data will be used in this work without giving the proper references or without the permission of the owner of the original data. Hence, the researcher must abide by the terms, rules and conditions of data protection act. Estimated Timetable for completion of the project in years/months: 01-09-2014 to 31-12-2014 Estimated date the project will start: 01-09-2014 Project Milestones and deliverables Description Estimated date of completion (Month/Year) 1. Literature 10-09-2014 2. Review 24-09-2014 3. Interview 08-10-2014 4. Questioners 22-10-2014 5. Analysis 05-11-2014 6. Finding 19-11-2014 7. Discussion 03-12-2-14 8. Finding 17-12-2014 9. Aditing & Revision 21-12-2-14 10. Final Submission 31-12-2014 Costs Year 1 Salaries £ 10000 Consumables £ 1200 Research Expenses £ 900 Equipment £ 5000 Dissemination of Information £ 1500 References/Bibliography (Use the Harvard Referencing System) Ansoff, H.I. (1977), Corporate Strategy, New York, McGraw-Hill. Andrea F. (2013), Tesco’s Philip Clarke attacks hard discounters as sales decline, [online] available at: ft/intl/cms/s/0/09adcdc6-5cb4-11e3-81bd-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2n25r0nJ8, Accessed on: 12th December, 2013 Anil K. & Govindarajhan (2008), Business Unit Strategy, Managerial Characteristics, and Business Unit Effectiveness at Strategy Implementation, Academy of Management Journal, Vol:27(1), pp. 25-41 Desai, K.K. and Ratneshwar, S. (2013), “Consumer perceptions of product variants positioned on atypical attributes ’’Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Vol. 31, pp. 22-35. 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