SigmaSigmaCOCA-COLA CENTER FOR MARKETING STUDIES

TERRY COLLEGE OF BUSINESS UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA

Spring 2006 MMR Newsletter

Lisa Allgaier (MMR ’06) & Mary Lefebvre (MMR ’06)

Under the guidance of Professor George Zinkhan, MMR students Lisa Allgaier and Mary

Lefebvre have embarked on a project to rediscover details associated with the founding of

the MMR program. The two students are writing an article, which they will soon submit for

publication in a special issue of the European Business Review (focused on pioneers in education).

The paper introduces Fred Reynolds, a professor at the Terry College of Business, as a pioneer

in education and discusses highlights from his career. Fred Reynolds was instrumental in founding

the MMR program in 1980 with the help of Roy Stout, an executive at Coca-Cola at the time, and

Bud Phillips, the founder of M/A/R/C research. Reynolds also contributed to the academic com-

munity by publishing papers in the area of cohort analysis and lifestyle research. He enriched the

academic literature by applying social science concepts to the field of marketing research.

Fred Reynolds was also a leader in terms of bridging the gap between the academic and business

worlds. According to Professor Mel Crask, “Fred was one of a kind. He lived life to the fullest …

The little things he did had big meanings.” Fred Reynolds had a vision for the MMR program that

included substantial industry involvement. Of course, his vision is apparent today in the Center for

Marketing Studies. The program he established still includes an elaborate seminar series with

industry speakers, small class sizes, industry input on curriculum content, and other features.

Since December, Lisa and Mary have interviewed approximately 20 professors, alumni and board

members. They have also conducted online research to find out more about Fred Reynolds’ career.

They are reading and analyzing the impact of Fred Reynolds’ published work. The students are

trying to get a sense of Fred Reynolds’ accomplishments and leadership style, his work with the

Society for Marketing Advances, and the details associated with the founding of the MMR

program. Conversations with alumni have sparked many stories, which are representative of the

program’s colorful history.

Lisa and Mary would like to thank the individuals who agreed to give their time to participate

in these interviews. To date, key informants include Mel Crask, Rich Fox, Warren French, Tom

Leigh, Mal McNiven, Srinivas Reddy, Joseph Rentz, William Wells, Rob Arnett, Bill Denk, Charles

Eden, Bruce Hoffman, Mark Jones, Charlotte McNally, Bud Phillips, Reece Ritter, and Mark

Rose. ■

Fred Reynolds: A Pioneer in Business Education

In this issue

Beyond the Books 2

MMR Alumni Website 2

Alumni Corner 3

MMR Global Outreach 4

www.terry.uga.edu/mmr/

SIGMA • MMR NEWSLETTER SPRING 2006

P A G E 2

MMR Alumni AssociationLaunches New WebsiteThe MMR Alumni Association has recently launched a new-and-improved website(www.mmralumni.com) with improved functionality and an updated interface.

On the new site, alumni can now join thealumni association directly from the site in aseamless process including registration, pay-ment, and creation of a profile to share withother alumni and potential employers.Alumni will be able to pay their $50 duesusing a credit card with Paypal.

Another important change is the way thejob postings will work. From the alumni per-spective, you will now be able to post a pro-file that can include your resume (or infor-mation about your company). If you see anattractive job posting, you will be able torespond to the posting and send yourresume directly from the site.

Potential employers will now be able topost their own job descriptions directly onthe site. Based on strong and consistent feedback from the Advisory Board, the Alumni Associationwill charge potential employers and recruiters a $500 fee for each listing, which will also be payableby credit card via Paypal. This fee will enable potential employers and recruiters to reach a highlyqualified audience of 400+ MMR alumni from the Class of 1981 to the present.

Other popular features of the old site have been retained, such as the bulletin board and thealumni directory. The quality and recency of the information in the directory will continue toimprove as more and more alumni register and create profiles.

MMR alumni and current students can preview the site for a short time using “MMRGuest” asthe username and “georgia5” as the password. The site will be restricted to paid alumni associa-tion members as of June 1.

So go get online and check out the new site, and better yet register and set up a profile so allyour old friends can find you. ■

— Rob Arnett

www.mmralumni.com, the new MMR Alumniwebsite, features links to join the assocation,and post & search for jobs.

When we reflect upon our time in Athens 20or 30 years from now, wherever we may be, wewon’t just remember the things associatedwith school work – regressions, corporateprojects, seminars, exams, SAS programs, andcase analyses. Besides an exceptional marketingresearch education, the MMR class of 2006will also graduate with special memories of the

fun things we did while in the little town ofAthens.

We will always remember the places we likedto eat. Our favorite places to grab lunchbetween classes were Five Star, Cookie’s Café,Achim’s, and the Gyro Wrap. A year of fre-quenting sushi restaurants showed us thatthere are five locations to get sushi in Athens,not including the grocery store, the best ofwhich is Utage (aka Athens Sushi Bar). In thespring semester, we started “Fancy DinnerDays” in an effort to try out more of Athens’unique restaurants like The Last Resort Grilland Harry Bissett’s.

We will always remember being with ourclassmates as they progressed through majorlife stages. Jagruti became a wife, Jenny con-tinued planning her wedding, and Graeme andMary became fiancé(e)s (note: not eachother’s). And, after a chocolate-filled pregnan-cy, Mama Priti and her husband Navendu gavebirth to the MMR baby, Avi, in March!

We will always remember Average Joe’s Gym,the MMR intramural volleyball and soccerteams. We had losing records both seasons, butwe did win one volleyball game and, in our finalregular season soccer game, we finally scored agoal and did not lose by the mercy rule!!

Some other fun things we will also alwaysremember are the downtown night life (espe-cially the downstairs of Walkers, the punknessof Lunch Paper, the free popcorn at Flicker,and everything about All Good’s), going toand tailgating before the UGA football games,UGA gymnastics, UGA basketball, the park offof Gran Ellen, trips to Atlanta, the beauty ofthe UGA campus, the ropes course, the

potlucks, shopping at Ann Taylor on a whim,shopping in Atlanta and Commerce, thecheese plates at Aroma’s, wandering aroundthe State Botanical Garden, the music con-certs, AthFest, the awesome ethnic cuisines,beloved socials at DePalma’s, quick grabsbetween classes at gyro wraps, the “TotalRomance” party, Secret Santa at Jenny’s,going to the dollar movie, the BeechwoodChinese restaurant, cooking lessons, and din-ner at Dr. Reddy’s.

As our time in Athens comes to an end, wewant to thank everyone who has made ourexperience both possible and memorable. ■

— Jing Yeh (MMR ’06)

Life in Athens: Beyond The Books

Downtown Athens, a wealth of restaurants,nightclubs, shops, concerts and sports & andcultural events.

SPR ING 2006 S IGMA • MMR NEWSLETTER

P A G E 3

1995

Jan Hood

Jan does not work in the research field but works in education. She

is the registrar for Blue Mountain Community College in eastern

Oregon.

1995

Stacey (Steinglass) Kaye

Stacey is married, with two girls, Audrey (5) and Margo (2). She

lives outside of Philadelphia and works in a new and hot industry—

retail meal assembly. Super Suppers (www.supersuppers.com) is the

leading franchise in the meal assembly industry. Stacey is forming

strategic alliances between Super Suppers and consumer packaged

goods companies. The Super Suppers experience offers product

manufacturers integrated promotional opportunities allowing con-

sumers to get up-close-and-personal with branded products. First

deal took place in March 2006 with Reynolds. Stacey is also pub-

lishing children’s book series.

1996

Kristi Rees

Kristi recently started a new job as a market research manager for GE

Security in Bradenton, Fla. GE Security manufactures security and

life safety products (fire alarms, video, access control, etc.) and is a

division of General Electric. Kristi is the sole market research person

in the company. Kristi and husband Tim have two children, John (6)

and Samantha (1 1/2). Kristi wishes the current class well.

1998

Terry Ferg

Terry is proud to announce that his wife, Meghan, gave birth to their

first child, Nathaniel Aiden Ferg, on December 19, 2005. Terry is

working at E&J Gallo Winery in the Information Intelligence group.

2000

Carley Metsker

Carley would like to announce the arrival of her second daughter,

Claire Mary Metsker, born December 18, 2005. Claire is a healthy,

happy little girl, and Mom, Dad and Laynie are very blessed to wel-

come her into the family.

2002

Praveen Sharma

Praveen joined TNS, the largest custom research company world-

wide, as an intern. The MMR training helped him rise through the

ranks to become Manager, Research and Modeling Services. TNS,

based in Horsham, Penn., has provided him a rich marketing research

Alumni Corner

Firms are faced with the constant challenge to develop new products.Marketing research plays a major role in the new product developmentprocess. While marketers may be able to generate a vast number of ideasthat might become potential new products, at various stages, they haveto make decisions as to which ideas to move forward with and whichideas are likely to be failures. This process of narrowing down ideasmakes the concept screening stage of the new product developmentextremely crucial.

The Coca-Cola Company, represented by Senior Research ManagerClark Jones has asked the MMR Class of 2006 to help optimize Coke’s current concept screening process with the objective of developingprocesses to ensure that potentially “big” ideas do not get screened outat the concept testing stage. This year’s Coke project group is composedof Jennifer Alley, Sarah Cohn, Sandra Kanzler and Mary Lefebvre, underthe supervision of Vanessa Patrick.

The group approached this task by conducting a comprehensive review

of academic and industry best practices. They reviewed about 60 articlesand 20 books from the 1970s to the most current issues, as well as inter-viewed executives at some of the top Honomichl companies. Afterimmersing themselves in the topic, the group identified the most rele-vant information for Coke. In brief, the areas of importance that theteam recommended included the following: the formulation and presen-tation of concepts to be evaluated, segmentation of consumers in termsof predictability of new product success, alternative screening methodsand, finally, composition of a product idea database.

The results of this phase were presented at Coke’s headquarters inAtlanta to Jones and Ravi Parmeswar, vice president of CCNAKnowledge & Insights, February 2006. Phase II will consist of a moredetailed evaluation of the above areas, including specific recommenda-tions for Coke and how to implement these improvements into their cur-rent concept screening process.

The group has enjoyed this challenging task and the close workingrelationship they have shared with Jones, the senior research manager ofthe company with probably the most recognized brand in the world.During this project, the team was able to apply their knowledge aboutthe new product development process that they achieved through previ-ous class lectures as well as expand on it in greater detail. ■

MMR Class of 2006:

Coke Project

continued on page 5

MMRs, Sandra Kanzler, Mary Lefebvre, Sarah Cohn and Jennifer Alleyworked on this year’s Coca-Cola project, helping the company optimize their current idea screening process.

SIGMA • MMR NEWSLETTER SPRING 2006

P A G E 4

Global Outreach of the MMR Program Of the 16 students in this year’s Master of

Marketing Research program, four students

have come directly from foreign countries.

These students left their families, friends, and

familiar surroundings to attend a unique edu-

cational opportunity here in Athens. Goksu

Dogan is a recent graduate from Izmir,

Turkey, who has gained experience working in

the textile industry of her home country.

Sandra Kanzler is a German student with mar-

ket research experience across Europe with the

company GfK, Wing Tip Poon visits the pro-

gram from Hong Kong and has conducted

quantitative market research in Korea and

Hong Kong. Finally, Priti Mehra joined the

program having worked as both a supplier and

user of market research in India. The four

international students and I had lunch in beau-

tiful downtown Athens to talk about being a

student in the MMR program, and their expe-

riences here in the United States.

What made you decide to attendthe UGA Master in MarketResearch program? Sandra Kanzler: My university in Germany

has a relationship with UGA that encourages a

student exchange program. I have studied

market research there, and thought this would

be a great opportunity to gain international

experience.

Wing Poon: I am interested in market

research. The UGA program has a strong track

record of placing students in jobs.

Goksu Dogan: The Terry College of Business

has strong name recognition.

What do you like most about theMMR program?SK: I like my classmates because I have met

students from many different countries and

from different places within the U.S. They

bring different perspectives. Additionally, the

MMR program is much more practical com-

pared to my German studies. I get to focus on

the application, and the assignments are a

good way to learn the methodologies.

GD: In comparison to Turkey, you are able to

talk to your professors more. This is more a

part of the culture, not just the smaller class

sizes as an MMR student. The professors just

seem more open to student interaction than

the professors at my university in Turkey.

SK: I agree; in Germany, I would have to set

up an appointment with professors with their

secretary, in order to speak to them. Here,

they are much more approachable.

WP: The classes are fun, especially the qualita-

tive class. We have the best professors who are

so excited about market research. My most

enjoyable project has been the corporate project

where we used what we had learned in class.

Priti Mehra: I like the fact that the class size is

very small, so you don’t “get lost” like you

would with a class with 50-60 students. We

have also had some international dining experi-

ences with our classmates, which have been fun.

Do you have a project you likedthe most?PM: I liked the marketing strategies course where

we talk about business cases. Dr. Leigh’s course

in Customer Relationship Management was

interesting because we talked about how cus-

tomer data can be used advantageously. I think

he is an interesting professor because he brought

a lot of fun into the classroom, and we got to

know him well during our luncheons with him.

SK: I enjoyed the Econometrics or Regression

course because I had to build the model from

the data myself. In Germany, I would have

been told how I have to do it, validate the

model, learned the methods. I learned more in

this course because I did it myself. We applied

what we learned in the classroom.

GD: In classes, in order to learn, we get perfect

data sets. When we do our projects the data is

not perfect and we have to apply the methods

that we have learned. It is much closer to real

world experience. I enjoyed the Microsoft

project, because we are trying to measure the

success of some of their promotional activities.

What have you liked most aboutUGA?GD: I love the campus; it is beautiful. I have

met many students through the Turkish

Student Association.

SK: I have had the opportunity to meet

German students, but I have tried to be more

surrounded by Americans and other interna-

tional students.

PM: The Terry College of Business is in close

proximity to downtown, where you have dif-

ferent ethnic restaurants.

Have you had any fun trips thisschool year? GD: Athens is close to Atlanta, where you have

all the activities of a big city without all the

problems like traffic. I have been to Atlanta for

shopping, CNN Center, Coca-Cola Museum.

The airport is there, which flies anywhere.

During the breaks between semesters I took a

trip to New York, Philadelphia, and

Washington, D.C., with Sandra.

SK: Shopping in Atlanta’s malls has been fun.

I went to a UGA football game, a professional

basketball game, and a professional baseball

game in Atlanta. It is not too far, about an

hour and a half, to get to the downtown area.

Over Christmas break, I went to Florida on a

road trip. I went to Key West. Winter is ideal

to go there because summer would have been

too hot. Cape Canaveral, the Everglades, and

Miami are fun places to visit.

WP: I go to Atlanta for the Chinatown restau-

rants. I have also been to Baltimore and

Washington during the school breaks. I went

to the Smithsonian and the Spy Museum in

Washington. I loved restaurants in New York

when we went.

PM: There are Bollywood movies and Indian

grocery stores in Atlanta. I have been to

Boston, and my parents visited then. We also

walked around New York City during the tran-

sit strike! Otherwise, being in the U.S. it is

easy to travel all over.

What do you wish you had known? GD: It is good to be prepared for administra-

tive tasks like insurance, driver’s license, regis-

tering for courses. Otherwise the program has

been better than expected. A lot more practi-

Graeme Leiser (MMR ’06)

P A G E 5

SPR ING 2006 SIGMA • MMR NEWSLETTER

cal than I expected.

PM: It is a good idea to have a car. Along with

this we needed to arrange for insurance and a

driver’s license. It would be a good idea to

come early and make sure that all this is taken

care of before classes start. With regards to

class, I thought I might have some more elec-

tives from which to choose. It would be a

good to have a contact here to help with the

transition process.

SK: I think it would take two weeks to make all

of these administrative arrangements. It would

also be a good idea to live with someone from

the U.S. You can immerse yourself in the cul-

ture this way. When not in class during the

breaks, it is fun to travel and experience other

parts of the country.

WP: It would be good to know about cus-

toms, like when to send thank you notes to

employers and other kinds of job hunting cus-

toms.

What do you hope to do after grad-uation from the MMR program?PM: I may be moving to South Africa with my

family. I hope to work for a market research

supplier there. Market research is so impor-

tant, because in order for companies to make

decisions they need the best information

SK: I have one more year of studying back

home in Germany. After that, I will try to find

a job on the client side as a market researcher

and then move to product management possi-

bly. I hope to take advantage of having an

international degree.

GD: I hope to stay in the U.S. and gain some

experience here.

WP: I think I would like to start on the suppli-

er side and then move to the client side.

What do you miss most abouthome?PM: Family and food from home.

All agreed that this was one thing that they

miss the most from home. While the students

are very complimentary of the program in

describing how it differs from home, these

four students have brought so much to the

program this year in terms of sharing their

work experience, their knowledge, and, of

course, their cuisine! ■

Sigmais produced by the students, faculty and staff ofthe Master of Marketing Research program in theCoca-Cola Center for Marketing Studies at theTerry College of Business.

Jagruti Jain (MMR ’06)& Graeme Leiser (MMR ’06)Editors

Chris Taylor, Art DirectorTerry College of Business

P. George Benson, DeanTerry College of Business

Rajiv Grover, HeadDepartment of Marketing(rgrover@terry.uga.edu)

Srinivas Reddy, DirectorCoca Cola Center for Marketing Studies(sreddy@terry.uga.edu)

Jamese Meyer, MMR ProgramAdministrator (jmeyer@terry.uga.edu)

www.terry.uga.edu/mmr/

ONLINE?Then

drop by

www.terry.uga.edu

for the

latest Terry College

news and

information!

experience. Praveen specializes in marketing mix modeling, latent class segmentation, simula-

tor designs and customer satisfaction studies using statistical techniques like partial least

squares. He enjoys occasional interactions with Marco Cors (MMR ’02) and Jeanne Wagner

(MMR ’02).

2003

Manju Sudhakaran

Manju and her husband Praveen Nair, a UGA Vet School Alumni, had a baby boy, Anand Nair

in November 2005. Congratulations Manju and Praven.

2004

Ben Tolchinsky

MMR Research Associates is pleased to announce the “re-addition” of Ben Tolchinsky. Ben

worked at MMR Research in ’01-’03, and after completing his MMR degree in 2004, and serv-

ing at Burke in Cincinnati from 2004-2005, has returned to us in a new role of Director, Client

Services. Ben and his wife, Amy, are also expecting their first child in June. Congratulations and

welcome back, Ben. ■

ALUMNI CORNERcontinued from page 3

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SIGMA • MMR NEWSLETTER SPRING 2006

numbers to do the size study you need to do,especially for B2B. B2B is still difficult onlinebut for some specific groups, such as physicians,small business owners, and C-level executives,panel companies have invested in developingsub-panels. Find out what is available or if theyoffer a phone-to-web option. Many panels com-panies regularly re-screen panelists for specificinformation, so a good follow-up question (ifyou have a group you routinely survey) is to askif there is a way to get a question or two on softexits or on screening questionnaires.

Q4: What steps do you take to makesure I have a representative group

taking my survey?Most panel companies can claim that their panels, except for the elderly,the very low income and the minority segments, stack up well against thecensus. But the base representation of the panel is not the key issue.What is important is the number and variability of the sources for thepanelists and the process used for pulling a representative sample. Oneissue to be aware of is that when a sample is pulled, the pull is usuallybased on three variables—age, gender, geography—and it is not pulledby race unless specifically requested by the client. There is nothingwrong with this, but from my experience, clients are not always madeaware of it, and they get frustrated when they get their data back theyoften have only 2 to 4 percent African Americans and Hispanics. In theclient’s mind a rep sample is representative on all demographics, not justthree. Find out how many and which variables they are using. Also makesure to verify that when they are pulling sample that they take intoaccount the response rates of the different segments of their panel.

Q5: How do I know if Jane Doe really filled out my survey?This is a hard question for panel companies to answer, as there is noequivalent to phone validation in the online world. Some panels have asystem in place where they re-screen for demos that should not havechanged, like gender and year of birth, and compare that data to what isin the respondent’s record. If there is a discrepancy they can delete thesurvey. This process needs to be combined with password protection sothat Jane Doe cannot take the survey multiple times as different peopleand then send it to John Smith so he can take it. Passwords ensure thesurvey assigned to Jane can only be taken once.

Q6: Do you limit the number of surveys respondentscan receive?Everyone is worried about professional respondents, and most panelsclaim to have a strict policy of survey management. Some companieslimit the invitations sent to a respondent over a certain period of time;others rest panelists when they have taken a certain number of surveys.Find out what the policy is and then join the panel using a personal e-

For four years I have purchased the same brand and model of running shoes, the New Balance991. However, after my second knee surgery I decided I might be due for a change. I went shop-ping for a shoe that was a perfect fit for my running style and would give me the support I need-ed. I was amazed by all the choices I had. I didn’t know where to begin. I often get the impres-sion market researchers feel the same way when they are looking for the perfect online data collec-tion vendor. In the last three years the number of companies offering a variety of services hastripled. Figuring out how to differentiate between the offerings and the quality of those offeringsis no small task when researchers are being called upon by so many different companies. BecauseI was wishing I had my shoe issue of Runner’s World with me as I was staring at the racks of run-ning shoes, it dawned on me that it might be helpful to develop a checklist of questions to askpotential online partners. I came up with these questions by listening and asking: listening to myprospects as I spoke with them for the first time and directly asking people in the industry, whospend time working online, to tell me what is important to them. The same issues came up overand over again, and it was not difficult to narrow it down to the following 10 areas of concern.

The 10 Most Important Questionsto Ask Your Online Vendor

QUESTION 1: What services does your company provide?This is the best place to start because there is great variation betweenwhat vendor companies are offering and what research companies need.There are service bureaus offering one-stop shopping: deliver a final sur-vey to them and they will deliver data to you and do everything inbetween. They supply sample or work with client lists, program, andhost. Many also offer tables, coding and weighting. But not every com-pany needs or wants this full-service option, and there are many choicesfor just programming or just sample. Match the offerings to your needsand then ask the more specific questions.

Q2: How large is your panel?This seems like a simple question, but panels actually count their panelistsdifferently. The number can represent households or individuals. Panelscounting households assume they have access to everyone living in thathousehold for surveys through the individual who actually signs up forthe panel. For instance, if they have one million households, they wouldassume perhaps 2.5 potential respondents. Panels that count individualsmay have more than one person in a household on their panel but theydo not track that. The size of the panel is especially important if you planto perform large tracking studies that require unique respondents forevery wave or if you are looking for low incidence groups. If you are con-ducting research overseas, what is the panel’s international reach? If theydo not have their own panel, do they have reliable global partners?

Q3: What do you know about your panelists?The more information known about respondents and their householdmembers, the better it is for the health of the panel and for panel buy-ers. If consumer buying behavior, hobbies, and occupation can be target-ed, fewer emails will be sent, which cuts down on the number of invita-tions each panelist receives. It is good for researchers because it helpskeep down the cost of low incidence studies. Most panel companies cansupply you with a list of their targets. Usually the list is long, but theymay have only screened a portion of the panel on each target (except formajor demographics). What this means is that there may not be sufficient

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SPR ING 2006 SIGMA • MMR NEWSLETTER

mail address. That is the best way to determine their commitment totheir policy. In their defense, panel companies are finding it more andmore difficult to control survey volume to their panelists because thedemand for online research has dramatically increased over the last fewyears. The demand has grown faster than the panels have grown. Askwhat their plan is to balance supply and demand for sample with theirpanel management policy.

Q7: What information will you need to give me pricing?Although incidence, length in minutes, and number of completes is min-imally necessary, companies will usually require complexity level, pro-gramming length as well as respondent length, and specific quotas. Themore information you are asked for the more likely the price will be accu-rate. If you are asked all the right questions up front, there is less chanceof price issues down the road. Of course if your specs change before orduring fielding, the price will also likely change. In general, incidence isthe responsibility of the client, not the vendor. Most companies are will-ing to give pricing for several incidence levels if the client is unsure.

Q8: Will your programming platform meet my needs forcomplexity and timing? The ability to program specific types of questions (discrete choice), tohandle complex quotas, to offer cool tools (card sorting) is an importantarea to explore. Ask if they have a survey demo. You can get a good feelfor their capabilities and a good look at how they present the questionsto the respondent. This is also a good time to inquire about the experi-ence level of the programmers on staff and where they are located. Arethey in-house or overseas? Will you have access to them? Will they be onthe kick-off call? And, since timing is often an issue, what is the typicalturnaround time and can you accelerate a schedule if necessary?

Q9: Who will be managing my project? Once a project hits the field, the day-to-day contact is with the projectmanager. If you are looking for a company with which to partner, youwant to develop a relationship with one or two project managers whowill be a constant on all your jobs. Find out the experience level on theteam in research and in managing research projects. If you do very com-plex work ask if you can be matched with a project manager that canhandle that level of complexity. This is a key relationship: you wantsomeone who understands your requirements and can anticipate yourneeds. If you work well with a particular project manager, can they beassigned to all your projects? Will there be a back-up person assigned?

Q10: How do you price your services? Does it always come down to price? Clients say no, but they want tounderstand how things will be priced and if it is a firm price. Are thecharges per hour, per complete, per amount of sample used? Can costs bebroken out so they can compare between vendors? Are there hidden costs?One universal complaint is being nickel-and-dimed to death. Clientsexpect price changes if the length and incidence change dramatically, butthey do not like surprises that knock their budgets out of the water.

Asking the questions that reflect what is important to you is crucialwhen you are interviewing a potential online vendor. Does the companyhave the resources to do the job the way you need it done? Just likeshopping for the right running shoe, you need to make your choicebased on the right fit for your needs. But in either situation, the proof is

ultimately in the pudding. Whether you are out on the road for the firsttime or partnering on that first project, what matters most is if promisesare kept and it feels good. Hopefully asking these questions will help younarrow the field down to those who are potentially the best fit. ■

— Janet Savoie, Senior Director, Client DevelopmentOnline Survey Solution, M/A/R/C

Pharmerica Group:MMR Class of 2006

MMR students Julianne Apthorpe, Lisa Allgaier, James Lanning

and Wing Poon have embarked upon a corporate project with

PharMerica under the guidance of Professor Piyush Kumar.

PharMerica is a pharmacy provider to long-term care facilities. The

students have been on the front end of communicating with the

client in order to understand their objectives and goals of the

group. The PharMerica contact is Heather Randolph, MMR alumni

from 2005. A positioning study was decided upon as the best way

to tackle this project. The goal was to determine how pharmacies

in this industry are perceived and on what levels PharMerica could

differentiate themselves from their competitors. In addition to the

positioning, products and services offered in this industry were

analyzed in order to determine the awareness, importance, satis-

faction and uniqueness to respondents.

The students have learned not only how to communicate and

work with a client company but also how to follow through entire-

ly with a project. The project began with designing the appropriate

survey to be administered online to both customers and prospects.

After programming and fielding, the students became entrenched

in the data and started the analysis portion of the project using

SAS. Statistical methods used included multi-dimensional scaling

and factor analysis. The students were also engaged in putting

together the material into a presentable form and then presenting

it to the client and several of their suppliers. ■

Pharmerica group under the guidance of Professor PiyushKumar. From left Wing Tip Poon, Juli Apthorpe, Kumar, LisaAllgaier and James Lanning.

P A G E 8

SIGMA • MMR NEWSLETTER SPRING 2006

F A C U L T Y N E W SJohn Wurst, of the UGA MarketingDepartment, is the co-author, along withMMR alumni Ula and Chris Murphy, of thefollowing paper that is being presented atthe 2006 Sawtooth Software Conference:“Reverse Segmentation: An AlternativeApproach,” Author(s) and Affiliations:Urszula Jones, Curtis L. Frazier,Christopher Murphy, Millward Brown, andJohn Wurst, SDR/University of Georgia.

Forthcoming ArticlesSrinivas K. Reddy (with Mayukh Dass).“Modeling Online Art Auction DynamicsUsing Functional Data Analysis” StatisticalScience (May 2006).

Srinivas Reddy (with Anupam Jaju,Christopher Joiner). “Consumer Evaluationsof Corporate Brand Deployments.” Journalof the Academy of Marketing Science 34(2) (Spring 2006): 206-215.

A N N O U N C E M E N TThe MMR baby is finally here. Priti Mehra,MMR Class of 2006, gave birth to a babyboy, Avi Idhant Shekhar. The MMR baby, Avi,sat through all our classes and, hence, is aborn market researcher. Avi was born onMarch 19th at 12:37 a.m. CongratulationsPriti and Navendu.

MMR Class of 2006: Microsoft ProjectFor the 2006 year, four students from the MMR program were assigned to the Microsoft proj-ect. The students were Goksu Dogan, Vikram Hosur, Brenda Munroe and Juli Pomorantz. RajivGrover was the faculty member in charge ofleading this team. The task was primarily togather and analyze data concerning theeffectiveness of Microsoft events aroundthe United States for a new productlaunch. This information would also beused in conjunction with a tracking study.

After discovering and learning about theinitial project, the team met with itsMicrosoft contact, Michael Diedrich. Afterbeing briefed and given an outline, the firsttask was to design a questionnaire. The teamwas able to use and apply classroom learningto the layout and design of the question-naire. Comscore administered the questionnaire online, and the results were delivered to the teamshortly after. Dr. Grover guided the team with his experience along the way and helped the teamorganize the abundance of material for the deadlines of the project.

After the pre-event questionnaires were completed, a presentation shortly followed. Material regard-ing respondents and comparing different groups yielded very high importance, as was previouslystressed in the classroom. The initial analysis went extremely well, and the team was then given the taskto follow up with the post-event results. After the second analysis, the final presentation was given toMicrosoft. As expected, the results were promising and would be used further in a tracking study.

In addition to directly using the material taught in the classroom, the team learned many other ideasrelevant in business today. These lessons included meeting numerous deadlines in addition to classroomperformance, coordinating events with the client, researching and presenting the material to the client,and capitalizing on the knowledge from each group member. The team agrees that this was an incredi-bly valuable experience and has helped prepare the team members for the marketing research industry. ■

The UGA team comprised of Jagruti Jain, Graeme Leiser, Priti Mehraand Jing Yeh. Srinivas Reddy was the student advisor for the project andDonald Bottelsen, senior manager, Marketplace Insights, IBM, was theIBM representative. The central objective of the study was to estimate ITspending at a company level globally. The IBM Corporate project pro-vided an immense learning experience and gave the team a feel for thereal world of market research. This study was unique because it involveda business-to-business transaction. The study involved global researchperspective where both qualitative and quantitative techniques wereused.

The qualitative part of the project involved attending focus groupsconducted in nearby Atlanta. The students also assisted in preparing dis-cussion guides and questionnaires for the focus groups. For several stu-dents this was the first time they were able to witness a focus group. TheIBM team was able to witness some fundamental advantages of focusgroups. These advantages included being able to probe the respondents,seeing the respondents and moderator bouncing ideas off one another,and being able to observe facial expressions and body language.

The teams’ quantitative involvement included reviewing several sampledesigns for the survey. The IBM team was able to implement some fun-damentals of sample design learned in our statistics class. (Sincere thanksto Dr. Wurst for guidance.)

Working in a project that lasted through two semesters, the teamshared a common goal and a sense of belonging that helped developstrong bonds among members. The team was very fortunate to havereceived the chance of working under the valuable advice and supervi-sion of Dr. Reddy and Mr. Bottelsen. ■

MMR Class of 2006: IBM Corporate Project

MMRs Jing Yeh, Priti Mehra, Jagruti Jain and Graeme Leiser workedunder the guidance of Dr. Reddy on the IBM project.

MMRs Brenda Munroe, Goksu Dogan, JuliPomorantz and Vikram Hosur. Rajiv Grover was thefaculty member in charge of leading this team.