Literature Review

Title: “Product characteristics and its influence on company’s reputation”( Study of Nestle Maggi Noodles)

The role of the customer keeps huge importance in the health of the national or international economy. The demand of the commodities can get affected due to the buying decisions of the customers. All kind of marketing initiates with the customers that is why the consumer is considered as the vital person to a marketer. This research proposal will elaborate on the importance of the product characteristics and its influence on the reputation of the company. Nestle Maggie noodles will be studied in depth manner to draw an effective conclusion by taking consideration of the proposed topic. It is the continuation part of the previous assignment. Research methodology will be elaborated under this research proposal so that a better understanding can be made regarding the collection of the data. Along with that the ethical consideration, strengths, and limitation regarding the topic will be mentioned.

Maggi is considered as the international brand of seasonings and noodles which is owned by Nestle since 1947. It has been found that the original company was invented in Switzerland in 1872 by Julius Maggi (Vander Schee, Aurand, Pickens, Ma and Girap, 2011). Nestle is the company that provides a huge range of products to the people with best quality and innovation. According to Garg, (2015), the role of the brand reputation can be considered as the source of demand as well as lasting attractiveness. Along with that, it can be assumed as the image of the superior quality and included value justifies a premium price. It is required for the business to have the reputable brand which is the strong asset that can give advantages from the high extent of stability and loyalty of potential sales (Balakrishnan, Shuaib, Dousin and Permarupan, 2012). It has been found that the controversy of Maggie has disappointed many customers of the Nestle. For instance, the disappointment case of Maggie in India makes feel people of India betrayal by one of the effective brand of food in India.

According to Pandey and Puntambekar, (2016), there are many reasons that impact the overall performance of the company. It has been found that the controversy of Maggie Noodles affects the image of the company in the view of the outsiders. The sale of the Maggie fall as many states in India banned the product which makes an adverse image of the company. In the context of the net profit, the contribution of Maggi in India is around 30% which is 1,185 crore according to the media reports. Rollin under the ban of Maggie noodles, it has been reported by Nestle India that around 60% decline in outside net profit at Rs 124.20 crores (Dhanesh and Sriramesh, 2018). The impact of this controversy affects the share prices of the company as well in which the share price of the company fell closely 13.5% within the fifteen days in 2015 (Desai, 2016).  It has been found that there are many companies that have seen single-digit growth in the recent past. This controversy has added the woes of Nestle and the revenue of the company affected adversely. The trust of the customer over the products keeps huge importance and due to hazardous chemicals such as MSG and lead has been found in the sample of Maggie noodles that being the major reason behind the confidence slumps (Biswas,  Tortajada, Biswas-Tortajada, Joshi and Gupta, 2013).

Gap in the Literature Review

According to Souiden and Pons, (2009), the great bonding of the relationship between the brand and the consumer will show fit between the physical and psychological requirements and the functional attributes of the brand and the symbolic values because of the perceived by the customers which being the major reason behind making brand in the minds of the people. Dijkmans, Kerkhof, and Beukeboom, (2015), demonstrated that the customers identify the value of any kind of brand regarding its various functions such as personal identification, guarantee and the status symbol. It has been found that these kinds of factors have affirmative consequences on the brand loyalty of the customers to adopt the expansion in the brands. Along with that, it has been found that the brand associations have an affirmative bonding with the purchaser buying intentions.

According to Brun and Castelli, (2008), there are numerous marketers that invest their money annually on celebrity endorsement contracts on the basis of the beliefs. It has been found that advertisements have the potential to influence the people regarding the products in which most of the times, people rely on the advertisements sooner than different kinds of sources such as friends, family and reference group opinions related to the product. Sharma and Garg, (2013), state that emerging markets advertisers utilize the dominant celebrities in an advertisement in order to promote their product image. It has been apparent that the customer behavior attitude related to the brand, advertisements and purchase decisions are completely influenced by a number of celebrities (Henard and Dacin, 2010).

It has been found in the context of the Nestle Maggie Noodles that the characteristics of the product of Nestle impacted the entire company in an adverse manner. With respect to controversy, it has been found that there is a slow response, an appearance of arrogance, lack of customer engagement, lack of foresight, media relations inadequacies, overly complex answers and neglected public opinion. It has been found that Maggi is focused towards the regulatory and technical factors of the issues at the time of avoiding the communications and public opinion (Karmee, 2018). It has been stated by the company that the test of the company and more than 3500 samples revealed that lead levels of the product were effective below regulatory limits. At the same time as Indian officials initially ordered the product recall on the date of 30^th April 2015, Nestle did not give an effective statement to address the media in Delhi for the purpose of representing it in India (Comcowich, 2018). It has been found that the company could have changed the company regarding the rapidly developing, worrying media coverage and facilitated it respond. The team of Nestle was not active in responding to customers on social media by which number of Indians perceived its silence in the form of the admission of guilt.

Research Question

It has been found that there is a current gap in the literature because there has been limited research on the chosen topic that has focused on the various factors of the controversy of the Maggi. Most of the articles have been chosen related to the Nestle Company but there should be articles related to the product characteristics. Along with that it has been found that the research is bound up to one single product of Nestle which limit the access of the researcher of researching. The gap of the literature review can be filled by taking various articles related to the product characteristics which will enhance the value of the research to different kinds of occupations. 

However, this study is developed insights related to the chosen topic as the research work is unique but there should be core research on the selected topic. This gap can be filled by taking examples of various product characteristics and the influence of them on the performance of the company. 

The aim of the research proposal is to search out the effect of Nestle Noodles over the reputation of the company. Along with that this research will recognize the characteristics that are essential in the product. This will be helping out the company to find out the weaknesses in order to manage the product.

Problem statement

Product characteristics and its influence on a company’s reputation

Research questions

• How does Maggie controversy obliterate the trust and confidence of consumers in the affected Nestle Brand?
• How can the attitude of the consumers towards the product of Nestle be amended by the manner the marketer’s answer to the controversy of Maggie Noodles?

Hypothesis

• The characteristics of product influence the reputation of the company.
• The characteristics of product do not influence the reputation of the company.

Research Approach

The role of the research approach keeps huge importance in this research proposal which would be helpful to evaluate the selected research designs and methods. With the help of this research, the researcher would be able to show the data in an appropriate way. Inductive and deductive are two approaches which help researchers to rationalize the use of specific data analysis and data collection for projects. The researcher would use inductive approach over the deductive approach as this would be facilitated the researcher to attain the more subjective knowledge related to the research concerns. The inductive approach of research will be used for this research as it would facilitate researcher to amplify the validity as well as the reliability of the research results. By taking consideration of this approach, the researcher helped to gather the data and enhance the particular conclusion to demonstrate the product characteristics and its influence on the reputation of the company (McNabb, 2015).

Research philosophy

There are three kinds of research philosophy such as interpretivism, positivism and realism philosophy. The role of the interpretivism philosophy sustains the researchers for the purpose of making in-depth understanding regarding the research concerns through gathering the point of views and insights of participants (Schwartz-Shea and Yanow, 2013). The use of Interpretivism philosophy will be taken for this research proposal because, with the help of this philosophy, the researcher would be able to get the access of the perceptions and the views of participants (Marshall and Rossman, 2014). It will help out the researcher to draw an effective conclusion regarding the product characteristics and its influences on the reputation of the company.

Research Methodology

Research designs

There are three kinds of research designs such as exploratory, casual and descriptive. The use of exploratory research design is considered for this research proposal which helps the researcher to gather in-depth data regarding the product characteristics and its influence on the reputation of the company. The use of exploratory research design shows the preliminary research, in which researchers reach the explore matter by considering the developed hypothesis.

Research strategy

The research strategy is an important aspect for the research which helps researchers to explore the concerns of the research by responding to the proposed research questions in an adequate way. There are various kinds of research strategies such as observation, literature review, questionnaire, survey, case study and experiment which help the researcher to attain the aim and objectives of the research. Interview as the research strategy is considered for this research proposal by which researcher would be able to gather a huge amount of information and data regarding the product characteristics and its influence on the reputation of the Nestle Company. The questionnaire is prepared for the research which would be asked by the researcher to the selected people for interview. Sample of Questionnaire is attached in Appendices. For this research study, survey and interview research strategies are used by the researcher. Interview strategy of the research would help out the researcher to complete the needs of the participants on an individual basis and get their perceptions regarding the research issues. Along with that, this would be helpful in the embryonic validity of the research (Balasubramanian, Gopal and Reefana, 2016).

Sampling

The importance of sampling in the research refers to the selection of adequate participants for the research study for the purpose of answering the research questions in the interview. Probability and non-probability are two kinds of a sampling method for the research that facilitates researcher to choose the effective observation from a distinct population (Robinson, 2014). The research will use probability sampling strategy wherein the samples are accumulated in a way that provides the equal change to all individuals in the population of being selected. For Interview, the researcher selects the University Students in Melbourne, particularly from India. Random sampling technique which is the aspect of the probability sampling strategy will be chosen for this research study as it gives equal chance to everyone to get selected. Along with that, it is the fast form of data collection. For this 50 people will be selected for interview in this the participants are moved towards when they are free to give their point of view regarding the research concerns and interview questions.

Ethical Considerations

Data collection methods

Data collection is the method of collecting the data in an adequate manner by taking help of the various sources in order to complete the research objectives. Primary and secondary are two kinds of data collection in which primarily refers the data which is collected for the very first time by the researcher.  For this research study on “Product characteristics and its influence on a company’s reputation”, both methods will be considered for the research in order to draw an effective conclusion regarding the same. Qualitative data collection has various kinds such as interviews, focus groups, case studies, videoing (observations), and qualitative analysis of document. With respect to primary data, the researcher would use the interview research strategy to gather the information regarding the proposed topic. Face to face interview will be conducted in which open-ended questions will be asked which allows participants to develop option for responding and participants can voice their experiences. The interview question will be in-depth in which interviewees’ perspectives will be explored on a particular topic. 

The role of the secondary data collection sources is appropriate for the aim of generating the theoretical perceptive about the research concern. By taking consideration of this collection method, the researcher will be enabled to gather the data from various resources such as article, websites, journals, and books in order to develop the reliability and validity of research results.

Data analysis is the method which is done after collecting the data. The collected data will be analyzed by taking consideration of the thematic analysis as it will be help out to identify the pattern across a dataset. There are various ways of analysing the TA that is inductive way, deductive way, systematic way, realist way and constructionist way. An inductive approach will be chosen for this research in which three themes will be chosen. These three themes are “influence of product characteristics”, “trust of the customer” and “strategy to regain trust of the customer”. The data will be analyzed by considering above mentioned three themes. The questionnaire will be analyzed in an effective manner as it entails all sight of the research which will be helpful in gaining view of participants towards the products.

For this research study, the meaning of ethics is linked to the accomplishing of each and every task of research by taking consideration of valid way by complying with the University Students in Melbourne particularly from India guidelines and confidentiality of the participants. This would be helpful for the researcher to implement an appropriate behavior for the aim of completing the research in an appropriate method. There is another issue regarding the ethics in the relation of the plagiarism and copyright act’s violation with respect to the collection of the secondary data. Researcher uses references and in-text referencing in order to reduce this issue.

Strengths and limitations

Along with that the researcher has taken earlier appointment from the participants and the researcher does not force anyone to participate in the interview. Apart from that, the researcher will make sure participants that their information would not be revealed and their personal information would be destroyed by the researcher after using in the research.

With respect to the strength of this research proposal, it was evidence that this would be helpful for the readers to understand the concepts of the characteristics of the products and their influence on the reputation of the company. The data collection method of the research is effective in which both primary as well as secondary research methods are considered. The strength of this research is the selection of the right sampling method in which the random sampling method is being selected for the research proposal which would give equal chance to all participants. Along with that, it can be elaborated that an effective purpose of research methodology will empower the researcher to fulfill the aim of the research in a sophisticated manner. The researcher can enable to accumulate the information and the data regarding the product characteristics and its impact on the reputation of the company by investigating the research approaches, strategies, and philosophy and data collection method. Along with that, the researcher would be able to perform in an efficient manner by considering the ethical way.

In the context of the limitations, it can be said that the findings are not generalized to a wider population. Throughout the process of completing the research study, the researcher can face a number of issues which can put a negative impact on the study of the research and affect the outcomes of the research. There are three major factors such as money, time and data access is vital restraints that can bound the study of the researcher to develop reliable outcomes. Along with that, there is a less time for conducting the research which has become the limitation for this research. Money constraint can affect the outcome of the research and it would be done due to less funding by which the researcher would not be able to access the huge range of data resources from various geographic locations in order to gather the specific data and information. There is another limitation of focus on only one product of Maggie by which the researcher could not go beyond to collect the wide information. In the context of the ethical Issues, it can be said that the questions may be sensitive or the interviewee does not want to answer.

Value of Undertaking this Research

This study is worth for the Entrepreneurs, Existing organizations and for the ones who want to start a new Venture. It encourages companies to stand for a long time even having the worst situation due to a single product. This study will help out the entrepreneurs to increase awareness regarding the opening of the new venture. This would be proved as the lesson for marketers and entrepreneur by whom they will consider all steps which had been taken by Nestle for the condition of banning of Maggie. Big companies will learn about how to win the hearts of people to bring the product back to the market in case of crisis. The importance of the product keeps huge importance for the company and it is the responsibility of the company to take care all aspects which can hamper the goodwill of the company in the view of the outsiders. To sum up, the value of this research is crucial for the entrepreneur to solve a number of planning problems.

Conclusion

In the limelight of the above discussion, it can be concluded that the role of the product characteristics in the company keeps huge importance. Along with that, it has been analyzed that the company should focus on product portfolio diversification in order to avoid over-dependency on the single product. This research proposal will be helpful for conducting further research. The discussion has been made on the controversy of Maggie which will definitely lead develop awareness among customers of Nestle that bring better understanding to consider the influence of any product previous to consumption sooner than believing on wrong claims in the advertisements. The discussion has been made on the research methodology in which the research approaches, strategy, design, philosophy, data collection method are entailed. It has been found that the brand associations have an affirmative bonding with the purchaser buying intentions.

References 

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Balasubramanian, P., Gopal, A.V. and Reefana, S., 2016. A Case Study on Misleading Celebrity Endorsements and its Impact on Consumer Behavior. Bonfring International Journal of Industrial Engineering and Management Science, 6(3), pp.93-95.

Biswas, A.K., Tortajada, C., Biswas-Tortajada, A., Joshi, Y.K. and Gupta, A., 2013. Creating Shared Value: Impacts of Nestlé in Moga, India. Springer Science & Business Media.

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