Step One – Select a major U.S. company and product or service. Post your selection on the class Facebook page. Once a company is selected, no one else may do the same company/product. The instructor will “Like” it as your signal to move forward. Write one paragraph of background information on the company (ex: when founded, where headquartered, mission and vision, etc.)
Step Two – Compile research on the a) company, b) its customers, c) its competitors, and the d) community (its market area). This should be at least five important marketing-related datapoints or statistics for each area. This research is to be “sourced” (who did the research and where you found it).
Step Three – Identify five of the most critical concerns from the research data about the company, customers, competitors, and community research. This becomes your fifth list (hence the name “5x5”).
Step Four – From the list of concerns, formulate (write out) a Decision Problem. There could be many, but you are to choose the one you feel most important from a marketing perspective. Look for something a marketing action could affect. This should be in the form of a question. Identify it as “discovery-oriented” decision problem or a “strategy-oriented decision problem”. The former asks questions beginning with “Why” or What” (See page 18 of the text), whereas the latter asks a “How” question.
Step Five – Once you have determined and written a manager’s Decision Problem, write three “Research Problems” that would include marketing research to help a manager take action. See Exhibit 2.3 in the text to see this process in action and examples. Research Problems are often written in the form of research actions.
Step Six – Selection one Research Problem, and finish by finding primary or secondary research that addresses the research problem and might drive action. This can be brief.