Question

Refrez Inc., a U.S.-based cereal manufacturer, begins selling its products in China. While people in the United States eat cereal with cold milk, the people of China eat cereal with hot milk. Refrez Inc. believed that everyone used cold milk with cereal and did not modify its product according to people's preferences. As a result, it witnessed a decline in sales in China. In this scenario, what was the obstacle to defining the research problem?

Answer 1

The obstacle to defining the research problem was that the company failed  in collecting quantitative data /Selection of inappropriate respondent resulted in wrong output.

Explanation:

A research design is a blue print that a company prepares for conducting  marketing research .

A firm collects quantitative data by conducting surveys and asking the customers or consumers to fill the forms (questionnaires).These surveys and questionnaires helps the company in making product related decision in various markets.(i.e how to customize the product as per the taste and the preferences of the consumers)

The obstacle to defining the research problem was that the company failed  in collecting quantitative data /Selection of inappropriate respondent resulted in wrong output.Hence the company Refrez Inc failed to acknowledge the fact that people in the United States eat cereal with cold milk, whereas the people of China eat cereal with hot milk.

As a result, Refrez Inc witnessed a decline in sales of its product in Chinese market .