Research Project Essay

entreeThe purpose of this psychoanalyse is to study the extent to which the strategies utilise by Nandos in the recent nook energize been orderive. For the topic to be extensively searched, the search proposal has been split in to the following objectives.* Identifying the guest rump of Nandos.* Investigating if and how the turning point affected Nandos. * Analysing strategies pulmonary tuberculosisd by Nandos in the corner.An investigation of Nandos performance since and during the inlet exclusivelyow need to be under happen uponn. This would need to be compared to its performance prior to the recession in order to investigate the issuing of the recession on Nandos. Firstly, the proposal bequeath first curb out an in sense literary productions review to investigate relevant theories and information related to the look objectives outlined higher up. Building on the findings of the literature review, the query externalise and strategies bequeath be formed t o investigate from each one of the preceding(prenominal) objectives. During the tier of this study, ethical and practical issues in relation to the research altogether forget excessively be con military positionred. Nandos embeded in 1987 is a casual dining restaurant with a Portuguese theme. It originated from South Africa and is now operating in 30 countries on 5 continents. It specializes in whiner dishes with divergent souses such(prenominal) as lemon and herb, medium, zealous or extra hot Peri-Peri.In just about countries, they in any case offer other flavor options the like mango and lime, lemon and herb, or Mediterranean (Nandos 2009, p.4) The restaurant began in 1987 when Robert Brozin and Fernando Duarte bought a restaurant called Chickenland in Rosettenville, southern Johannesburg. They renamed the restaurant Nandos after Duarte. The restaurant incorporated influences from former Portuguese colonists from Mozambique, many of whom had settled on the south-east ern side of Johannesburg, after their homelands independence in 1975. (Nandos 2009, p.4) Nandos is famous for its flame-grilled Peri-Peri chicken which is served either in quarters, halves and unit of measurements.It overly serves burgers, pitas, salads, wings and wraps. In some countries, Nandos sells chicken livers, Espetada and the Cataplana. (Nandos 2009, p.2) Nandos also manufactures a range of sauces which are sold in Nandos restaurants and in supermarkets.These include Peri-Peri sauces, marinades, cooking sauces and a Peri-Peri Essence. (Nandos 2009, p.2) In 1992 Nandos entered the United Kingdoms restaurant application with its first restaurant in Ealing, London and now is operating with its several branches around UK. In 2009 Nandos UK was awarded terzetto Stars in the Best Companies Annual Accreditation Awards becoming the only entrant in the large companies category to earn the three star rating. (Harmer, 2010)Literature ReviewCustomer Base accord to Edwards (2010) customer base of an organic law includes all the customers that organisation servers. One of the close classical ways to establish a successful task is to build a unfluctuating base of customers who stick with the tune done with(predicate) thick and thin. A solid customer base becomes the put ination on which a business grows. Business one shotBusiness Cycle is defined as a cycle of series of different patterns of contraction and expansion of real GDP. A complete business cycle consists of five different casts and all(prenominal) country has to go through each phase in order to achieve its kick. A complete business cycle from peak to peak is shown in the graph below. (Arnold 2008, p.151). (Arnold 2008, p.151)Phases of The Business CycleThere are five different phases of a business cycle which include the peak, contraction, though, rec all overy and expansion. (Arnold 2008, p.151) A complete business cycle is measured from peak to peak. crown at the peak of the busi ness cycle real GDP is temporary high. (Arnold 2008, p.151) Contraction this phase re enters the declination in the real GDP. This phase is known as the recession phase. (Arnold 2008, p.151) Trough this phase represents the low straits in the real GDP just before the starts to addition back again. (Arnold 2008, p.151) Recovery this phase represents the phase when the GDP is rising back towards the sign peak.Recovery phase begins from trough and extends up till the initial peak. (Arnold 2008, p.151) Expansion the expansion phase refers to the increase in real GDP beyond the recoverypoint. In this stage the GDP increases the initial peak. (Arnold 2008, p.151) No country lav stay in the peak phase for long time even the developed countries. The best any country can do is that they can go straight from contraction phase to expansion phase and skip the trough and recovery phases. ecological nicheharmonize to Wiegand (2009) recession occurs when a countrys gross domestic product (GDP) the value of all the reported goods and services produced by a country goes down for two or to a large(p)er extent uncoiled quarters which means for six months or more(prenominal). (p.18) The above mentioned definition was considered very simple and standard so on November 26, 2001, the National Bureau of Economic search gave a different than standard definition of recession. agree to the NBER, recession is a satisfying decline in activity spread across the economy, lasting more than a few months, visible in industrial production, employment, real income and wholesale retail trade. (Wiegand, 2009) Ordinary recession symptoms are quite depressing. People buy less stuff be come they feel less confident active making in the future. Factories make less stuff because people are buying less. It can be harder to get credit. Unemployment rises and stock market falls.DepressionA recession when gets out of control turns into a depressive disorder resulting in the countrys GDP drops by more than 10%.(Wiegand, 2009) Real life ideals of great depression that happened in USA and Finland are * From 1929 1933, the GDP of the United States decreased by 27%. * do work 1937 1938, the GDP of United states decreased by 18%. * In 1990s, after the Soviet Union aviate apart the GDP of Finland dropped by 11%. The above progressn examples when compared by the global recession of 2001 in which the GDP decreased by 0.6% give the idea of the critical situation of 1930s. (Wiegand, 2009)Impact of street cornerAccording to King (1997) the recession had two different but related impacts * The realization that competitive nation require competitive government stimulated experiments to reform government structure and systems. * The failure of many of these experiments to deliver forgetful term benefits has led many to distrust the traditional processes and rhetoric of governments.While recession exposed both(prenominal) businesses and governments to new global forces, nosiness responded more flexibly than government. (p.269)Causes of RecessionThe reasons which cause the GDP to decrease and so result in recession are classified into two types which are impertinent Causes of RecessionExternal causes include misusing of those same factors which are used by the government in tackling the recession. Recession is generally caused by the excessive application and misusing of different governmental economic policies like fiscal or monitory policies. On rare occasions, there can be other types of external shocks such as oil trade embargo of 1973 74, but usually the cause of recession that does the real damage is the fiscal or monetary policies. The most prominent example of external cause of recession is the severe monetary control sometimes referred to as cold turkey monetarism. (Klien 2002, p.133)Internal Causes of RecessionInternal causes of recession are probably more important than that of external causes of recession. These are the excesses, imba lances and distortion that develop within the structure of the economy itself as the expansion unfolds and cause consumers to cut back on their buying and business executives to cut back on production and employment. For example an excessive build up of inventory, an imbalance in price cost movements that flummoxs on a remuneration squeeze and excessive demands for credit that drive the rank beyond variable level. (Klien 2002, p.133)Strategies used by Governments to trash RecessionThe modes used by the federal government to try to pull the economy out of recession are discussed belowSetting Fiscal PoliciesAccording to Wiegand (2009) fiscal policies are basically the guidelines the government follows to ingest and spend the tax money. Governments in order to tackle recession it can take the following step * Cut Taxes so people and businesses keep more cash for spending on goods and services. * Increase disbursement on government projects to boost employment. * Widen safet y net programs such as unemployment insurance. Adjusting Monetary PoliciesAccording to Wiegand (2009) governments can regulate economy by manipulating the supply of money. Governments can use the following measures to control the recession in the economy* Lower the amount banks bring forth to keep in reserves.* Lower the interest rates on loans.* Buy treasury bonds and loans that private entities made.Strategies used by Businesses to combat RecessionAccording to Vickers (2006) Businesses in order to recession proof its business in case of economic slowdown should follow the strategies give below * Diversify its business.* Offer extraordinary customer service.* Intensify its marketing activities.* Adopt latest technology.* stick to focused towards long term goals and objectives.* Look for new ways to be innovative.Recession and Chicken/ Burger prevention MarketThe worldwide recession has affected most markets and the chicken/burger bar market is no exception. Mintel (2010c) shows the chicken and burger bar market was worth 4.014m. However, in 2008, roughly when the recession came to the fore, this was down to 3.781m and was estimated to fall further yet.Recession and NandosA study suffered in December 2010 based on the opinion of 1,966 people vulcanised 16+, suggests 7% of people falling in the category visit Nandos. Furthermore, for the age group 15-24, this ascertain rises to 19% (Mintel, 2010a). This would seem to suggest that Nandos appeals more to a younger age group. However, one must take into consideration that the sample of 1,966 may non be a sufficient representation of the UK existence. Nandos are tend to target a young age group an idea backed up by the savor of Nandos radio campaign aimed at 18-35 year olds (Mintel, 2010b). This point is further backed up by Nandos popularity amongst celebrities (Sawyer, 2010). In addition, Mintel (2010a) also suggests that, largely, visitors toNandos are inclined to be from the C1 and Urban Prosperity s ocio-economic groups. Although there was some archival selective information on the customer base of Nandos, it is not sufficient for the purposes of this research.Building on the data found during the literature review, this study declare oneself look more closely in to the customer base of Nandos. due(p) to lower consumer spending influenced by the recession, Nandos in the UK made a loss of 23m in only 36 weeks leading up to February 2009. However, straight offors of Nandos also citied rising ingredient costs as factor (Paskin, 2010). The loss of 23m over 36 weeks during the recession would seem to suggest that the recession has negatively affected Nandos. The Mintel (2008 and 2010c) reports showed that there was no significant change in Nandos market share in the period when recession was in progress. The research envision lead consent to for the reasons behind this loss to be analysed in detail. Nandos financial reports volition be demand to look comprehensively at thei r financial performance and the driving forces behind any major changes.The effect of the recession on Nandos may well have been reduced due to the brand name world perceived honest and sincere (Opoku et al, 2007). Nandos has continued to expand through the economic downturn, planning 20 summing up openings and David Niven giveing to open up to 200 more within 5 years (Wootton, 2010). Another strategy explored by Nandos was the move towards being eco-friendly, underlined by unveiling the first branded UK restaurant to use its own countervail cooking oil as a solitary power source (Wootton, 2009). Another tactic employed by Nandos was to make a commitment to offer healthier options in their menu (Eversham, 2008).Nandos strategy of not taking note of recession and expanding will need to be further looked in to. Their initiative towards their cater and providing healthy options will also be investigated and the effectiveness of it analysed through the research methodology. Also, Nandos made a vow to make no redundancies in the recession which seems to be to keep up staff morale. And, as Moore (2010) suggests, HR methods are a major contributor to business profitability and this is a factor which is gaining more and more weight. This strategy seems to have paid some dividends with the award of three stars in the Best Companies Accreditation Scheme 2010 (Harmer, 2010).Research MethodologyDefinitionResearch methodology in research methods refers to the study of specific techniques, tools or procedures utilise to achieve research objectives. Research methodology includes types of data, types of study, sources of data, research tools etc. used in order to care the research. (Dillman, 2000)Purpose of ResearchResearch QuestionThe research is being conducted to answer the following research questions* What is the customer base of Nandos?* If and how the recession affected Nandos?* What are the strategies used by Nandos in the recession? In order to answer the res earch question above the methodology used to carry out the research includes the followingNature of StudyIn order to answer the research questions this study will require both exploratory and explanatory strategies at different points. Exploratory strategy is unavoidable as there is not enough information available about the research topic in hand as this type of research on Nandos has never been conducted before and is done for the first time. So in order to fulfil the research objectives information about Nandos is needed to be explored to investigate the effect of recession on Nandos and different strategies used by Nandos to tackle recession. (Dawson, 2002) Explanatory strategy is required as the relationship of the research findings must be established and explained in the research. (Dawson, 2002)Research onion plant plantBy considering the research objectives and the literature review of the research project a clear structure of the most suitable research methodology for the research is developed. Through each layer of Saunder et al. (2007) research onion model the most assign research methods, approaches and strategies are adopted for conducting the research in order to answer the research question. The different layers in Saunders et al. (2007) researchonion model are shown in the figure below all the layers will be idiosyncraticly discussed to explain the reason behind selecting a particular element for this specific research.Saunders et.al (2007) Research OnionResearch PhilosophyAs shown in the figure above the first layer of Saunders et al. (2007) research onion is the research philosophy. Considering the research objectives interpretive approach is selected as the relation between Nandos and its customers is needed to be determined in order to answer the research question. Positivism approach is also considered as the research also required qualitative and statistical data in order to correct the research findings.Research ApproachAs shown in t he figure above the second layer of Saunders et al. (2007) research onion is the research approach. The research figure of speech will mainly be deductive as the use of be literature and information on Nandos will be required to form a hypothesis which will be extensively investigated through uncomplicated research methods. However, due to an apparent miss of specific existing research on some of the topics, an inductive approach will also be taken to help in respond the research objectives.Research StrategiesAs shown in the figure above the third layer of Saunders et al. (2007) research onion is the research strategies. The research strategies employed in order to bundle up data for the research included the Survey, converse and Archival research. selective information collect specifically for this research which is primary data will be collected through survey and interview enchantment secondary which includes already published data will be collected through archival rese arch. (Bates, 2005) A survey will be conducted a questionnaire is programmeed in which direct formal questions will be asked from the customers of Nandos.The questionnaires will be distributed among the customers of Nandos according to the principles of random sampling as according to Saunders et al. (2007) a suitable sample from the whole population canproduce the results representing the whole population. The research strategy also includes intercept interviewing in which an private personal interview of the branch manager will be conducted which will also include direct formal questions.Research ChoiceAs shown in the figure above the fourth layer of Saunders et al. (2007) research onion is the research choice. The research choice for this research is Mixed Method as the research design will aim to collect and analyse both qualitative and quantitative information. This will allow for triangulation and, as Saunders et al. (2009) suggest, triangulation helps improve the credibili ty of findings, making them more valid.Time HorizonAs shown in the figure above the fifth layer of Saunders et al. (2007) research onion is the Time Horizon. Time horizon chosen for this research is jump Sectional as all the data required to answer the research question will be collected just once and the whole research will take a month to complete. A Gantt chart is given in the appendices outlining the timetable of key activities for the project. The total research work is divided into 10 different tasks where some of the activities overlap as some of their components are inter linked.Research PlanThe research design will mainly be deductive as the use of existing literature and information on Nandos will be required to form a hypothesis which will be extensively investigated through primary research methods. However, due to an apparent lack of specific existing research on some of the topics, an inductive approach will also be taken to help in answering the research objectives. Furthermore, this study will require both exploratory and explanatory strategies at different points. The research design will aim to collect and analyse both qualitative and quantitative information. This will allow for triangulation and, as Saunders et al. (2009) suggest, triangulation helps improve the credibility of findings, making them more valid.Phase 1 Archival ResearchFirstly, mainly existing information on Nandos will be examined in order to investigate whether Nandos had indeed been affected by the recession. This part of the study will be deductive and exploratory. As regards to establishing the customer base of Nandos, credible databases such as Mintel will provide useful information which will help in the formation of the questionnaire and also aid in the sampling imperative information on variables such as demographics and age groups. Furthermore, reports on Mintel such as the ones examined in the literature review, can help in identifying the affect the recession ha d on visitors. There are reports available which discuss and analyse who visits Nandos, and other such egresss which were briefly explored in the literature review.Some of these reports, which have the same variables, were composed before and after the recession respectively and the differences will be closely examined to determine patterns. Archival research will provide key information in both quantitative and qualitative form which will help develop primary research methods and ultimately answering the objectives. The financial reports will provide quantitative information. The figures before, during and after the recession will be analysed through find the changes in profitability, for example, to establish if and to what extent the recession affected Nandos.Newspaper articles and the reports on databases such as Mintel will provide qualitative information. However, one must keep in mind that some of the data collected may be out dated and hence possibly not be relevant and br ing in to question the validity of findings. The quantitative findings of this phase will be analysed by the use of graphs and other such tools to show trends and patterns. (Researchers Contribution)Phase 2 QuestionnaireFollowing the analysis of data collected through the archival research, the next step will involve questionnaire conducted with Nandos customers. A questionnaire was chosen as a data collection tool as it can be carried out, in theory in any case, over a large sample in a reasonable amount of time, hence allowing generalisability (Saunders et al., 2009). This method will not only aim to establish Nandos customer base but also how, if at all, the recession has affected their attitudes towards Nandos. The questionnaire will be quantitative focused but will also provide opportunity to collectqualitative data. In constructing the questionnaire, the analysis of the existing information on the customer base of Nandos found through phase 1 will be vital. The questions will be formed dependant on the type of customer base Nandos has i.e. age group or socio-economic group. The population for this data collection method will be Nandos customers.As mentioned before, Nandos has over 200 outlets in the UK. Ideally, every Nandos customer that visits every outlet would be part of the sample. However, this is not feasible and getting a sample that will allow generalisability is vital (Saunders et al., 2009). Since there is not a database of specific Nandos customers, the sampling in that regard will have to be probable in the form of random sampling. The customer assistants will be told to offer every customer the rule to deal out the unforced questionnaire. However, elements of non-probable sampling will also be present as the Nandos outlet that will be targeted for the questionnaire cannot be selected dependant on key variables identified through phase 1 such as outlets with high number of visitors and location among others due to lack of resources.The o utlet that will be selected will aim to be the most accurate representation on Nandos. The questionnaire will aim to cover the three types of variables, suggested by Dillman (2000), which are behaviour, opinion and attributes. The idea of offering an incentive to fill out the questionnaire may also be explored, however, this could lead to customer not answering honestly in order to get the incentive and hence hurting the validity of findings. The questionnaire prepared for the research is attached as an appendix.Phase 3 Interview with ManagerThe next step of the research will be to conduct a series of interview with a commercial manager within Nandos. An intercept interview of an individual was chosen. As discussed in the literature review, Nandos made a commitment to staff to make no redundancies and, in basic terms, to stand by them. As with the questionnaire, the sampling for the interviews will have elements of both probable and non-probable elements. From the ancestry included in the sample for the questionnaire commercial manager will be asked to participate in the voluntary interview. They will be told the purpose of the study and the fact that the study is required for educational purposes.To reduce thechance of bias within the interview, the interviewee will be offered anonymity (refer to 4.0 for further discussion on ethical issues). The interview will be structured as this will help answer pre prepared questions and will be preferred by the interviewee as it will be quick (Saunders et al., 2009). Some key themes for this interview will partly be derived from the results of the questionnaire. Interview questions can be found in the appendix. This method will provide qualitative data, by using open-ended questions, which will be further analysed. (QSR International, 2010).Practical and Ethical IssuesIn every stage of this research, there will be practical and ethical issues to bear in mind, as is the case with most research studies (Saunders et al., 2009). The major practical issues relating to data collection are access and reply rate. The sample for the questionnaire will look to select outlet that have a high volume of customers to increase the chances of a high response rate. As regards to data collection, all participants will be informed that union is voluntary and all data collected will be used in compliance with the Data Protection Act 1998.Saunders et al. (2009) state that budget and time constraints prevent surveying a whole population and the sampling will look to overcome these constraints by selecting a sample which balances budget and time while giving a credible response. Another ethical issue was in relation to the interview with the mangers of Nandos outlet. Participants will be required to fill out a brief consent form, outlining the voluntary participation and ensuring anonymity where necessary. A brief consent form is given in the appendices.