Statement of Research Intent

Notes to the applicant:

• If your application progresses, you may be asked to submit a more detailed Statement of Research Intent.
• Applicants should note that students are expected to submit their thesis after 3-4 years’ full-time study (6-8 years part-time).

Name of applicant:

Syed Muhammad Zubair Azam

Student ID (if known):

981753457

Department/s (if known):

Marketing

Proposed supervisor/s (if known):

Conceptual Background

Recent years have witnessed radical transformations in many industries because of technological innovations. For example, Retail industry has witnessed many waves since late 1800s (Lewis & Dart, 2012) and market power kept on shifting from producers to marketing-driven economy and finally to consumers. This transformation is once again happening because of increasing consumer power attributed to technology and social networking explosion. Research scholars (Casadesus-Masanell & Zhu, 2013; Chesbrough, 2010; Maglio & Spohrer, 2013) are anticipating transformation of business models and emergence of new business models which will foster neurological connectivity with consumers leading to innovation in rules of customer engagement and greater value-chain control (Lewis & Dart, 2012).

Innovation has been defined as “the process of making changes, large and small, radical and incremental, to products, processes, and services that would result in the introduction of something new for the organization that adds value to customers and contributes to the knowledge store of the organization” (O’Sullivan & Dooley, 2008, p. 5). Schumpeter (1934) identifies innovation a critical dimension of economic growth and distinguishes between five types of innovations: product/service innovation, innovating production methods and operations, supply chain and Logistics innovation, exploration and exploitation of new markets, and new ways of organizing business. Researchers have explored first 3 forms of innovation but last form of innovation has not been explored on a broader scope especially with entrepreneurial perspectives.

Business model refers to a set of managerial choices and their consequences (Casadesus-Masanell, 2010). Osterwalder & Pigneur, (2010) suggested 9 elements of a business model where value proposition is the very first element. Value proposition consist of all the benefits which consumers want to satisfy through included attributes and they look forward to satisfy some set of values (Hawkins & Mothersbaugh, 2010; Peter & Olson, 2010). Developing a deep knowledge of how consumers make decisions is the first step towards designing value propositions and business model (Christensen reference on business model). For most marketers, the difficult part is focusing strategies and spending on the most influential touch points (Girotra & Netessine, 2014; Osterwalder & Pigneur, 2010). In some cases, the marketing effort’s direction must change, perhaps from focusing brand advertising on the initial-consideration phase to developing Internet properties that help consumers gain a better understanding of the brand when they actively evaluate it (Court, Elzinga, Mulder, & Vetvik, 2009). Other marketers may need to retool their loyalty programs by focusing on active rather than passive loyalists or to spend money on in-store activities or word-of-mouth programs. The increasing complexity of the consumer decision journey will force virtually all companies to adopt new ways of measuring consumer attitudes, brand performance, and the effectiveness of marketing expenditures across the whole process.

Without such a realignment of spending, marketers face two risks. First, they could waste money: at a time when revenue growth is critical and funding tight. Therefore, managers need to be careful and shall make strategic trade-offs in the introductory and growth stage (Morriss & Frei, 2012; Porter, 1996). Second, marketers could seem out of touch—for instance, by trying to push products on customers rather than providing them with the information, support, and experience they want to reach decisions themselves (Tincher, 2013). Hence, identifying what jobs and roles do consumers intend to satisfy is of supreme importance because it will make marketers aware of attribute preferences and necessary strategic trade-offs to be made in service offerings (Girotra & Netessine, 2014; Morriss & Frei, 2012; Song, Song, & Di Benedetto, 2009). Many scholars have suggested companies to focus on principles of essentialism and only providing the attributes which are highly preferable by consumers. However, no empirical investigation has been carried out to check what trade-offs can be made in order to generate virtuous cycles of consequences.

Problem Statement

Extensive research studies have been conducted on first 3 forms of innovation discussed above (Abernathy & Utterback, 1978; Arlbjørn, de Haas, & Munksgaard, 2011; Böhme, Deakins, Pepper, & Towill, 2014; Chen, Tsou, & Ching, 2011; Danneels, 2002; Dougherty & Hardy, 1996; Ettlie & Rosenthal, 2011; Hipp & Grupp, 2005; Song et al., 2009; Un, Cuervo-Cazurra, & Asakawa, 2010), however, very limited research is available on last 2 forms especially about new ways of organizing business. The Focus of proposed research would be last type of innovation which is also known as Business model innovation. Entrepreneurial ventures must manage cost structure while achieving differential advantage in the early stages of business circle (Barney, 1991; Morriss & Frei, 2012; Porter, 1996) and while doing so, strategic trade-offs must be made between high-value and low-value yielding activities. In order to be sustainably successful, Companies need to focus on attributes and activities which are most preferred by customer and not on least preferred by customers (Girotra & Netessine, 2014; Morriss & Frei, 2012), so that cost can be saved and invested in right activities with right proportions. However, no research study of broader scale has been conducted in the respective region to uncover consumer trends about attributes, potential trade-offs to be considered by companies and possible cost and differential advantages to be obtained by this reinventions of managerial choice sets.

Originality of Research

Researcher intends to significantly contribute to existing body of Business model literature as proposed research aims to conceptualize, develop, test, and proposed a framework of Business model innovation through integration of Job-to-be-done framework (Christensen, Cook, & Hall, 2005), Trade-off theory (Girotra & Netessine, 2014; Morriss & Frei, 2012; Porter, 1996), and consumer decision journey (Bommel, Edelman, & Ungerman, 2014; Court et al., 2009). The study would be First of its’ kind. This research area is emerging and many research studies are anticipated in future. However, researcher intends to generate conceptual and empirical postulations which would be useful for SMEs and start-ups. Managers and entrepreneurs would be able to use findings and suggestions in decision making in order to create competitive advantage (Comparative as well as differential advantage). The usefulness and predictable power of proposed framework are anticipated to help SMEs, and entrepreneurs make more informed decisions and leading to increased differential and comparative advantage.

Research Aims and Questions

As discussed above, research study will focus on business model innovation with an exclusive focus on value proposition designing through strategic trade-offs. For the purpose of explanation, following research questions have been proposed. However, these will be refined in the light of suggestions offered by the supervisor.

1. What jobs consumers intend to satisfy at each stage of shopping decision journey?
2. Which Roles do consumers play while satisfying the respective jobs?
3. Consumers’ preferences of Attributes they exhibit and display during active and passive evaluation of benefits and risks associated with brands.
4. Relative performance of (Selected) service providers against attributes preferred by consumers.
5. Which strategic trade-offs can create differential advantage for any company irrespective of size.

Methods

A combination of qualitative and quantitative research techniques will be applied. For example, consumer preferences and retailer’s relative performance can be mapped using attribute maps and touchpoint maps obtained through choice modelling and conjoint analysis. This methodology has been suggested by many scholars such as (Amit & Zott, 2012; Dhebar, 2013; Johnson, Christensen, & Kagermann, 2008; Morriss & Frei, 2012). However, what jobs consumer think of satisfying and roles they assume while performing these jobs will be inquired using qualitative research techniques such as focus groups and interviews. Lastly, proposed trade-off model will be tested using Structure equation modelling (SEM).

The above sections have precisely discussed the research area and intentions. Researcher intends to follow instructions and guidelines of Research supervisor and changes would be made accordingly.

References

Can be attached in a separate document.