Research Technique

This research has been focused on the exploration of the existing consumer’s trends and awareness about the environmental impact of using plastic while analysing the environmental effect due to the existing operation of Woolworths. The research has three optional choice of choosing research philosophy namely positivism, interpretivism and realism (Neuman 2013.). On the other hand, this research aimed to collect data both from secondary sources as well as from real time environment. Therefore, the research will follow the realism philosophy that will allow the researcher to interpret the previous research data and information as well as the real time data collection. Two types of tools will be used to collect the primary data for this research, namely Survey and Interviews. At the same time, the survey report will be analysed by quantitative data analysis where the interview data and secondary data will be analysed with qualitative analysis.

 For survey a structured Likert scale based questionnaires will be developed with some interventions of demographical classification questions. The Likert scale will allow to analyse the paper with simplistic numerical analysis (Myers 2013). At the same time, for primary data collection the research will conduct a survey on the stipulated number of consumers and a face to face semi structured interview to the managers from various departments considering the research aims. As per the structure of the study, it will not consider any pre assumption or hypothesis (Taylor, Bogdan and DeVault 2015). Therefore, the research follows exploratory research design with group based interview session and survey. For secondary data collection the research focuses on the previous market analysis, published industry report, company report of Woolworths, articles on business strategy and environmental impacts.

The target population for this research is divided into two segments namely the consumers of the Woolworths and the personnel from operational and other departments of the company. The selection of these populations has been done strategically to explore the current situation while, finding the future optimum strategy for the company for environmental sustainability. Consumers are the service and the product receivers, who are also deeply engaged with the usage of plastic and polythene packages and carry-bags. At the same time, the existing environmental sustainability plan of Woolworths can only be analysed from the internal operator, where the management, production, logistics, marketing and other department work in a synchronised way (Bryman and Bell 2015).

This research has been focused on the exploration of the existing consumer’s trends and awareness about the environmental impact of using plastic while analysing the environmental effect due to the existing operation of Woolworths. Therefore, in order to understand the perspective of the external usage of the plastic material the information from the consumers will be very helpful (Sekaran and Bougie 2016). If the consumers stop accepting or using the plastic bags, the company has to reduce its usage for their packaging system. Therefore, the consumers must have certain environmental awareness, which will help to increase the environment friendly business activity as well. At the same time, the existing environmental sustainability plan of Woolworths can only be analysed from the internal operator. In terms of internal operator, the manager from the production, logistics and sales operation should be considered from both Woolworths and its competitor companies (Walliman 2017). At the same time the marketing manager would be also very helpful to present the market condition regarding the plastic use and environmental sensitivity. It will help to find the scope for betterment that would be beneficial for both the environment and the consumer reputation.

The Population

Considering the fact that both qualitative as well as quantitative research method will be used in fulfil the objectives of the research, both probability as well as non probability sampling will be used for the research. The probability sampling may be defined as the method of sampling that utilizes some form of random selection (De Vaus and de Vaus 2013). For randomly select the sample, the researcher will assure that different units in the population have equal probabilities of getting chosen. In order to conduct the survey, probability sampling will be used. The sampling frame for the survey will include 30 consumers of different age range. In order to conduct in-depth interview, non probability sampling will be done.  A non probability sampling can be defined as the sampling technique where samples are gathered with the help of a process which does not give all the individual in the population equal chances of being selected (Baltar and Brunet 2012). 3 managers of the Woolworths organization and 2managers of two of its competitors namely Coles and Aldi will be interviewed. Thus it can be clearly understood that purposive non probability sampling will be performed. The researcher will select the sample based on their knowledge about the population as well as the study itself.

For implementation plan the research method has to consider the data collection at the initial section. Since, the research considered both primary and secondary data collection, where the primary data will be collected by the interview and survey process and secondary data will be collected from literature review and article review (Pedhazur and Schmelkin 2013). The research will implement the secondary research method through collecting online data and information from secondary resources, such as articles, published report, journals, market report, company report and others.  For interview sessions, the appropriate questionnaires will be developed under the regulation of data protection act and other ethical consideration. It will be also maintained for the survey questionnaires.

This research has been aimed on the exploration of the existing consumer’s trends and awareness about the environmental impact of using plastic while analysing the environmental effect due to the existing operation of Woolworths. Therefore, the survey will be conducted on the consumers who will visit to the social media page of the Woolworths and the official website as well as marketing website. Before the conduction of the survey and interview the purpose of the research will be conveyed to the participants and respondents (Lewis 2015). Apart from that participant will be free to ignore any question or quit the interview or survey session. The willingness of the participants are the key concern of this research. Despite that, the research will make sure that any confidential data either from personal, professional or  industrial context will not be misused in any further study. Hard draft of the collected data will be completely administrated by the researchers of this research paper.

Suggested questions to be investigated

The following 4 questions will be asked to the selected managers of two major competitors of Woolworths, that is, Coles Supermarket and Aldi.

1. What are the strategies implemented by the organization to develop as well as maintain environmental sustainability of the organization?
2. Do you think that enhancing the sustainability of the company has direct link with the consumer loyalty? If so, please state the reason behind it.
3. What policies have the management of your organization taken in order to educate the consumers about the negative usage of plastic bag and benefits associated with the use of reusable bags?
4. Do you think the current strategies implemented for ensuring sustainability of the organization enough to deal with the issue of environmental degradation within the organization?

The following 3 questions will be asked in to the managers of Woolworths:

1. Do you think that the current vendor selection system is sufficient to maintain the use of plastic and plastic package in production cycle and logistics?
2. What are the strategies of your organization t o stay ahead of the latest developments in the environmental sector?
3. What challenges are currently faced by the company when it comes to maintain sustainability and remain competitive in the market at the same time?

The questions have been designed in a way so that the current measures to maintain environmental sustainability taken by the competitors of Woolworths can be evaluated. This will help the organization to make further decisions in regards to their commitment to sustainability. The question asked to the managers of Woolworths will help the researcher to understand the view point of the company when it comes to sustainability and analyse the strategies taken by the same.

The following 10 questions will be asked  to the choen sample of consumers of the Woolworths industry.

1. In what age group do you belong?
2. 15-20
3. 21-30
4. 31-40
5. More than 40
6. I fully understand the meaning of sustainability
7. Strongly Disagree
8. Disagree
9. Agree
10. Strongly Agree
11. How concerned are you about the environmental degradation happing due to lack of sustainability in the retail industry?
12. Extremely concerned
13. Moderately concerned
14. Slightly concerned
15. Not at all concerned
16. How many numbers of time per month do you order a packaged delivery from Woolworths Online?
17. Once in  month
18. Very less
19. Frequently
20. Regularly
21. What type of packaging materials do you obtain majority of times while marketing offline or offline?
22. Plastic bags
23. Recyclable
24. bio-degradable
25. 100% post-consumer recycled materials
26. How often do you receive plastic packaging while marketing at Woolworths?
27. Rarely
28. Sometimes
29. Most often
30. Majorly  

The above mentioned survey question will enable the researcher to understand the perception of consumers about environmental sustainability and the amount of usage op plastic bags during marketing in Woolworths.

Project Schedule 

Activities	Start date	Duration (days)
Selection of Topic	20-Aug	5
Constructing the Layout and Plan	25-Aug	10
Literature Review	05-Sep	20
Selection of research methods	20-Sept	10
Data Collection from Secondary Resources	01-Oct	15
Data Collection from Primary Collection	10-Oct	20
Analysis and Interpretation of Collected Data	25-Oct	15
Formulating Conclusion	10-Nov	5
Development of Draft	15-Nov	5
Final Work Submission	20-Nov	5

Table: Activities Timeline

Source (created by author)

Reference:

Baltar, F. and Brunet, I., 2012. Social research 2.0: virtual snowball sampling method using Facebook. Internet research, 22(1), pp.57-74.

Bryman, A. and Bell, E., 2015. Business research methods. Oxford University Press, USA.

De Vaus, D. and de Vaus, D., 2013. Surveys in social research. Routledge.

Lewis, S., 2015. Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches. Health promotion practice, 16(4), pp.473-475.

Myers, M.D., 2013. Qualitative research in business and management. Sage.

Neuman, W.L., 2013. Social research methods: Qualitative and quantitative approaches. Pearson education.

Pedhazur, E.J. and Schmelkin, L.P., 2013. Measurement, design, and analysis: An integrated approach. Psychology Press.

Sekaran, U. and Bougie, R., 2016. Research methods for business: A skill building approach. John Wiley & Sons.

Taylor, S.J., Bogdan, R. and DeVault, M., 2015. Introduction to qualitative research methods: A guidebook and resource. John Wiley & Sons.

Walliman, N., 2017. Research methods: The basics. Routledge.