Research Methodologies - Taco Bell Expansion to SpainTaco Bell's executive management team has decided to pursue marketing the organization in Spain. This paper will state the objective of the research needed to make this move successful and examine and select the best research methodologies used in creating the marketing campaign for this new venture. Taco Bell, based in Irvine, California and operating since 1962, is the nation's leading Mexican style fast food restaurant. "Taco Bell® serves more than 2 billion consumers each year in more than 5,800 restaurants in the U.S." (tacobell.com, 2008). They have expanded operations overseas, but so far only in Canada and Guam. McDonalds ...view middle of the document...
This data might be hard to acquire, depending on what information is sought and from what country it is sought from. For Taco Bell, they could seek secondary data in regards to how much fast food is already purchased at competitor's restaurants and how often.There are two types of primary data, qualitative and quantitative. "Qualitative research is used in international marketing research to formulate and define a problem more clearly and to determine relevant questions to be examined in subsequent research" (Cateora & Graham, 2007, p. 222). This type of research will be useful in finding out the impressions of Taco Bell's food in general and why a person would purchase from them. Quantitative data, on the other hand consists of structured sets of questions from numerous respondents where usually yes or no are the answers. This data can then be presented numerically in the form of a graph or percentages or some other visual means. It seeks to find out how much a consumer would purchase from Taco Bell, and how often they would visit.MethodologiesAccording to Keegan and Green (2005), "survey research, interviews, consumer panels, observation, and focus groups are some of the tools used to collect primary market data" (p. 209). For Taco Bell's expansion into an unknown territory like Spain, they will need to use a few of these methodologies.Survey ResearchSurvey research may be difficult for Taco Bell in Spain if the Spanish have never even heard of the company before. This research consists of questionnaires distributed either by mail, on the phone, in person, or via the web. Taco Bell could, however, illicit questions pertaining to the types of foods they consume, how much they eat at fast food restaurants, and get their opinions on the other American competitors currently in their country like Burger King and McDonalds.InterviewsInterviews are more personal and allow the researchers a chance to get more than a yes or no answer. They also allow two-way feedback so the interviewer can get the interviewee to elaborate on why they chose yes or no. Researchers could go out onto the streets and conduct these interviews, possibly offering samples of the product to gain general feedback, or conduct the interviews by phone.Consumer PanelsConsumer panels are data collecting methods that track a consumer's behavior over a period of time. The panel would consist of participants in the target market that would agree to have their buying behavior and attitude tracked to conduct initial ...
