Part 1

A&W

Founded in 1919 by Frank Wright and Roy Allen, A&W is brand name after their surname is a food franchising well known in the United States because of their frosty mug, which is used to serve customers with root beer (A&W 2019).

Since A&W is a fast food restaurant, one of its target markets can be demographic. Tigert et al. (1971, p. 83) claims that women who like to order fast food take away are usually peoples who are young, having a full-time job with above average income, and have children. In addition, another target market for A&W is psychographic. Based on the research done, they concluded that women that are more likely to order fast food take way are those middle-income earners, who like to socialize, being optimistic about their appearance, and love to spend on clothing (Tigert et al. 1971, p. 88).

Product Life Cycle

PLC, also known as the product life cycle, is 4 stages of the process that each product will go through, from introduction until the decline stage (Bhambri 2015, p. 781). In order words, each product itself has an unmeasurable lifespan, from the day it is introduced into the market until the product is unable to generate any sales. The first stage is introduction, whereby the product goes through R&D before being launch into the market (Bhambri 2015, p. 781). During this stage, consumers are not aware of the product yet since the company only start to launch marketing activities to promote their product. The second stage is growth. During this time, the company sales start to grow tremendously and able to cover the cost of marketing and R&D (Bhambri 2015, p. 781). The third stage is maturity, this is where a product reaches its peak sales growth and start to diminish in terms of overall revenue. This is due to the substitution of other product by new competitors (Bhambri 2015, p. 781). Lastly is the decline stage, whereby the sales of the product decline because customers who bought the product before having purchased it or due to price competition from other substitute product (Bhambri 2015, p. 781).

By linking it to A&W, it can be seen that currently the products of A&W fall under the decline stage due to substitution like Burger King, McDonalds, and KFC. Furthermore, Bernama (2019) from The Star reported that Restoran Kualiti Sdn Bhd (KUB) have closed down more than 20 outlets that generate losses in 2012 before selling the entire business to Inter Mark Resources Sdn Bhd (IMRSB).

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Hierarchy of Needs is a theory of motivation introduced by Abraham Maslow whereby everyone has 5 type of needs and each level of need must be fulfilled from lowest to highest (Kaur 2013, p. 1062). Physiological need is basically daily necessities like food, air, water, clothing, and shelter (Kaur 2013, p. 1062). This need is at the bottom of the hierarchy that is needed to be satisfied by every consumer before moving onto the next level of need. One will not even bother to have other needs when physiological need is not satisfied. For example, employees will not be productive if the company does not provide meals for its employees. When the first level of need is satisfied, the next need will be safety need (Kaur 2013, p. 1062).

Safety need is about being in a secure or safe environment free from any danger and threat (Kaur 2013, p. 1062). For example, a company that provides a safe environment for their employees to work will ease their mind. Hence, increase in employee’s productivity can improve company performance.

The third level will be social need, it represents the need to be love, appreciate, needed, and accepted by others and will be triggered when the second level of need is fulfilled (Kaur 2013, p. 1062). For example, an organization usually will organize annual dinner, gathering, parties, celebration for employees to join with the purpose of allowing their employees to know each other, expand their network, and create a good bonding for the future benefit of both parties.

The fourth need is esteem need, which is the need of being recognized and respected by others for the capabilities of oneself (Stewart et al. 2018, p. 68). For example, a company will organize an award ceremony for employees who achieve top performance annually as a sign of recognition for their continuous hard work. 

The last need will be self-actualization. This need occupies the highest level of the hierarchy and it is the most difficult need to fulfill compare to the bottom of the hierarchy (Stewart et al. 2018, p. 68). This is a kind of need for those who want to achieve self-fulfillment, personal growth, gaining more experience, and want to be the best (Stewart et al. 2018, p. 68). For example, some of the employees in an organization not just willing to work, but also at the same time acquiring more skills and experiences to improve themselves in order to gain better achievement and rise to the top position. By applying this theory, A&W can be categorized under physiological needs due to A&W provides basic necessities that can satisfy everyone. For example, consumers who goes to A&W have only one reason, to have a meal that satisfy their hunger. Some consumer may even crave for burger, root beer float or even curly fries once in a while, so the most suitable place will be A&W.

Ethical consumerism

According to Kang and Namkung (2017, p. 1133), ethical consumerism is a type of practice whereby consumers seek to purchase and avoid usage of product and service that supposed to have a bad impact on the environment and society. For example, in order to preserve the environment, McDonalds and Starbuck replace plastic bags with paper bags for takeaway orders and avoid using plastic straws for drinks. By applying this theory onto A&W, it can be seen that A&W in Canada have started reducing environmental impact by using compostable packaging for their burger since 2013 (A&W Canada 2019). Furthermore, along the years, A&W implement various changes that help preserve the environment like serving beef, chicken, and pork without the use of antibiotics, steroids, and hormones, eliminating the usage of plastic straws, and replacing plastic cutlery with metal cutlery (A&W Canada).

Part 2

News issue

Recently this news issue had become a hot topic in Malaysia, which is about government planning to shut down Malaysian Airline. According to Jo (2019), he stated that there are few factors that led the government into this situation on whether to continue or shut down the business. First is the disappearance of MH370 bound for Beijing from Kuala Lumpur, which has become the largest aviation hunt in history (Jo 2019). After the incident of MH370, it is followed by another incident whereby MH17 bound for Kuala Lumpur departed from Amsterdam had been shot down in eastern Ukraine in 2014, killing all 298 people onboard (Walker 2018). With these two major incidents happened, it has badly affected the reputation of Malaysian Airline and further reducing the performance of the company tremendously by incurring heavy losses over the years (Jo 2019). Based on these news issues, it can be related to the Product Lifecycle model. In simple term, Edward (1992, p. 6) explains that Product Life Cycle model is used to measure a particular product unit of sales over time.  In relation to Malaysian Airline, it can be seen that they currently fall under the decline stage. According to Bernama (2018), Malaysian Airline recorded a total of RM 1 billion in financial loss in 2014, at the same time, which is the year where two tragic incidents happened, MH 370 and MH 17. For example, these incidents have tarnished the brand of Malaysian Airline and due to the availability of substitution, more consumers are switching to AirAsia, and this further drags down the performance of Malaysia Airline.

Viral marketing

Khaneja (2016) explains in an interesting way that viral marketing also known as ‘virus of marketing’ because the convey message is spread at maximum effect with minimal effort, time, and budget which is the same as the virus spread through our body. Lately, one of the viral videos has been circulated around regarding a man who thrashed a luxurious unit at Tropicana’s The Residence (Choong 2019).

According to Choong (2019), the representative condemned Tropicana Corporation Berhad that the luxurious unit was not luxurious enough due to several defects which include sliding doors, marble flooring, and curtain. Based on this situation, it can be related to psychological need and self-esteem need of Maslow Hierarchy of Needs. Shahrawat and Shahrawat (2017, p. 940) explain psychological need represent the most basic need including food, shelter, clothing, water, and etc. esteem need can be defined as the need of recognition, status, fame, and social success (Shahrawat & Shahrawat 2017, p. 940). In relation to the situation, it can be seen that the defects of the luxurious condominium unit have not satisfied the requirement of the owner. In other words, the owner’s psychological need is not satisfied because of the shelter not comply to the representative’s demand. Furthermore, the esteem need for the representative is not fulfilled. This is because the luxurious condominium does not fulfill the luxurious requirement based on the representative point of view after highlighting all the defects of the unit.

Another situation whereby the safety of staff, consultant, and the contractor were threatened. When the staff intends to leave the unit, the representative threatened to cause more damages to the unit, which left her traumatized (Choong 2019). This situation can be related to safety need of Maslow Hierarchy of Needs. According to Shahrawat and Shahrawat (2017, p. 940), safety needs comprise the need of protection, freedom from fear, and safety. In relation to the situation, the safety need of the staff is not satisfied because she fears that she will get hurt when the representative is damaging the unit.

PEST Analysis

Gupta (2013) explains that PEST analysis which comprises of politic, economy, social, and technology is a common approach to consider macroenvironment where businesses operate. For politic, it can be changes implemented by the government like law and legislation, government policy, and taxation (Gupta 2013). For example, an increase in taxes means corporation need to pay more tax to the government which results in lower net profit.  As for the economy, it can be changes like supply and demand, inflation, and interest rate (Gupta 2013). For example, when the economy is experiencing inflation, the prices of all products and services will also increase which result in lower purchasing power for consumers. Social changes can include purchasing behavior, education level, and average income level (Gupta 2013). For example, a consumer with higher education level and income level tends to purchase more through online rather than offline because is hassle-free. As for technology, the changes can include securities, processes, and transactions. For example, due to the advancement of technology, online shopping is made possible due to high securities and fewer processes where a transaction can be done at the tips of your hand. The PEST analysis provides the framework of the external environment to the organization so that they can allocate sufficient time and resources prior to strategic management that allows them to adapt to the changes and maintain their business. 

The social factor of PEST analysis can be related to Shopee, an online shopping platform. Depending on the social trend of the society like the demand of products during a certain season and spending pattern, Shopee can then utilize it, plan a strategy to increase the revenue of the company. For example, according to the statistic provided by SoyaCincau (2018), they mentioned that during 11th of November, the most sold items were, disposable diapers, Milo, and Telekung Arafah. Furthermore, within the application, Shopee will show their users trending searches and trending products to buy. Not to mention that 11th of November is considered as single’s day, which started in 1993 at Nanjing University, China (Kaur 2017). In 2009, Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba transformed that day into a global shopping festival (Kaur 2017). Until today, it has become a trend since many consumers willing to spend on this particular day. Many other online shopping platforms like Shopee, Lazada, and 11 Street also jump on the bandwagon by organizing the 11.11 day sale to take the opportunity to increase their revenue. From here, it can be seen that the analysis of social factor allows businesses to plan strategy and seize an opportunity to increase the overall performance of the company.

References

A&W Malaysia 2019, ‘A&W History’, viewed 10 April 2019, <https://www.anwmalaysia.com.my/about>

A&W Canda 2019, ‘Our Planet’, viewed 10 April 2019, <https://web.aw.ca/en/our-values/our-planet>

Bernama 2018, ‘Form a group of experts to review Malaysia Airlines’ operations, MAS ex-boss,’ The Star, 24 September, viewed 10 April, <https://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2018/09/24/form-a-group-of-experts-to-review-malaysia-airlines-operations-mas-ex-boss/>

Bernama 2019, ‘A&W eyes RM100mil sales,’ The Star, 18 March, viewed 10 April, 

<https://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2019/03/18/aw-eyes-rm100mil-sales/>

Bhambri, S 2015, ‘Product Life Cycle’, International Journal of Business Management, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 781-785, viewed 10 April, <http://www.ijbm.co.in/downloads/vol2-issue1/45.pdf>

Choong, J 2019, ‘Tropicana snubs man who thrashed luxury unit with sledgehammer (VIDEO),’ malaymail, 15 April, viewed 10 April 2019, <https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2019/04/15/tropicana-snubs-man-who-thrashed-luxury-unit-with-sledgehammer-video/1743583>

Edward, N 1992, ‘The Product Life Cycle of Engineered Metals: A Comparative Analysis of the Application of Product Life Cycle Theory’, Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 5-19, viewed 10 April 2019, <http://ey9ff7jb6l.search.serialssolutions.com.ezproxy.uow.edu.au/?genre=article&ID=doi:10.1108/08858629210037173&issn=08858624&title=Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing&volume=7&issue=2&date=19920101&atitle=The product life cycle of engineered metals: A comparative analysis of the application of product life cycle theory&spage=5&pages=5 – 19&sid=EBSCO:Scopus�&au=Nelson, E. – ?>

Gupta, A 2013, ‘Environment & PEST Analysis: An Approach to External Business Environment’, International Journal of Modern Social Sciences, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 34-43, viewed 10 April 2019, 

<https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/d9d2/86c5a903a91d4e5e6cff565f186f91383a02.pdf>

Jo 2019, ‘Malaysia Government May Close Malaysia Airline,’ Simple Flying, 12 March, viewed 10 April 2019, <https://simpleflying.com/malaysia-airlines-closure/>

Kaur, A 2013, ‘Maslow’s Need Hierarchy Theory: Application and Criticism’, Global Journal of Management and Business Studies, vol. 3, no. 10, pp. 1061-1064, viewed 10 April 2019, 

<https://www.ripublication.com/gjmbs_spl/gjmbsv3n10_03.pdf>

Kaur, T 2017, ‘11/11: Everything To Know About Singles’ Day,’ Forbes, 8 November, viewed 10 April, <https://www.forbes.com/sites/tarandipkaur/2017/11/08/1111-everything-to-know-about-singles-day/ – 6f70f60b6f61>

Kang, JW & Namkung, Y 2018, ‘The Effect of Coporate Social Responsibility on Brand Equity and The Moderating Role of Ethical Consumerism: The Case of Starbucks’,Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research, vol. 42, no. 7, pp. 1130-1151, viewed 10 April 2019, <https://journals-sagepub-com.ezproxy.uow.edu.au/doi/pdf/10.1177/1096348017727057>

Khaneja, S 2016, ‘Viral Marketing: A Magic Wand To Success’, GE-International Journal of Management Research, vol. 4, no. 7, pp. 95-108, viewed 10 April 2019, <https://www.researchgate.net/publication/307137906_VIRAL_MARKETING_A_MAGIC_WAND_TO_SUCCESS>

Shahrawat, A & Shahrawat, R 2017, ‘Application of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs in a Historical Context: Case Studies of Four Prominent Figures’, Psychology, vol. 8, pp. 939-954, viewed 10 April 2019, <https://file.scirp.org/pdf/PSYCH_2017051615234970.pdf>

Stewart, C, Nodoushani, O & Stumpf, J 2018, ‘Cultivating Employees Using Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs’, Competition Forum, vol. 16, no. 2, pp. 67–75, viewed 6 May 2019, <https://search-ebscohost-com.ezproxy.uow.edu.au/login.aspx?direct=true&db=s3h&AN=132606000&site=eds-live>.

SoyaCincau 2018, ‘Shopee records over 11 million orders in 24 hours during 11.11 and you won’t be able to guess what the top-3 selling items were,’ SoyaCincau, 13 November, viewed 10 April, <https://www.soyacincau.com/2018/11/13/shopee-records-11-million-orders-sale/>

Tigert, DJ, Lathrope, R & Bleeg, M 1971, ‘The Fast Food Franchise: Psychographic and Demographic Segmentation Analysis’, Journal of Retailing, vol. 47, no. 1, p. 81, viewed 17 April 2019, <https://search-ebscohost-com.ezproxy.uow.edu.au/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=4673094&site=eds-live>.

Walker, S 2018, ‘MH17: Australia and Netherlands accuse Russia of complicity,’ The Guardian, 25 May, viewed 10 April 2019, <https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/25/mh17-australia-and-netherlands-accuse-russia-of-complicity>

Based on the recent completion of questionnaire in regards to Examining Instagram Influencer trustworthiness, attractiveness and Instagram activities influence towards consumer purchase decision making, there are few criticisms can be made.

First, the questionnaire provided is too lengthy. This plays a crucial role in the answer given by your respondent can be invalid. For example, one requires 5 to 10 minutes of his/her time to answer this questionnaire, but going through the first 10 questions, there are still plenty of questions behind that requires some reading. In order to finish it fast, he/she will not bother to read it anymore and just simply answer the questions, which can lead to the questionnaire being invalid.

Second, this questionnaire is dedicated to those who use Instagram, but the results obtain can be invalid because of choosing a sample size from a population that involve both Instagram users and non-users. For example, based on the 300 collected questionnaire, there maybe around 10%-15% might not be usable.

In conclusion, not to say that this questionnaire is not usable, but there are some ammendment can be made to make the questionnaire more respondent friendly.

According to the journal article, The Impact of Viral Marketing Through Instagram by Mr Darel Nicol Luna Anak Agam, it is stated that the method of data collection for this research was questionnaires.

It was distributed among Instagram users who are male and female, age between 17-40, which is also the clients of Maatin Shakir clothing line.

The data collected are tabulated any analyze through statistical software package. Krejcie and Morgan’s table of population were used in this research to determine the sample size for a given population.

I would like to share about my worst experience I have encountered with Malaysia Airline.

It happened on the 10th of December, I was looking forward for that day because I got the opportunity to travel to my favourite country, Japan. Since the departure time scheduled at 11.55pm, I went to the airport early as I worried that the check in counter will be crowded.

After all the hassle I gone through, I finally board the plane. The plane is spacious since it is a A380. Sharp at 11.55pm, my flight bound for Narita, Japan departed from KLIA. I was enjoying my movie, The Meg during the flight.

30 minutes later, I noticed that half side of the plane blackout, there was no light and the on screen entertainment was not working. 10min later, the pilot announced that they have to make an emergency departure back to KLIA since there is tecnical problem occur. After landed at KLIA, technicians checked the plane but unable to find out what causes the blackout.

Since customer safety is Malaysia Airline priority, they have to cancel the night flight for all passenger and schedule another flight to Japan tomorrow. After the announcement made, some of the customers are frustrated since some of them are unable to make it for business appointment or some of them have to delay thier travel itineraries by one day. As for me, I can’t do anything but to follow the instructions of the staff.

We are required to gather at a place dedicated for passengers who have their flight cancel. Some customer even scolded the staff for not handling the problem professionally and efficiently, while others are just queuing up to receive their compensation. As for me queuing up for more than 4 hours just to receive my new boarding pass is quite frustrating as there are more than 300 passengers to handle. When I received my boarding pass, I requested the staff to have my luggage send to the conveyor belt. They promised me that my luggage will be there . When I reached the conveyor belt, nothing was there. So I went to the lost and found centre to ask about my luggage, they requested my luggage bar code and told me that they will bring it to me.

I waited for 2 hours and ask the staff on duty, he said that there are not enough staff to handle the luggages during that time, which is 6am, because there are other departure and arrival flights to handle. It is unacceptable to say that there are not enough staff to handle the luggages when I have already requested my luggage 2 hours before. Then, the staff provide me another solution. He asked me to file a loss and found complain, and provide description about my luggage, he will then have someone send my luggage to my home prior to my flight. He could have just suggest it earlier, wasted so much of my time.

After all the hassle I have gone through, it was 8am. Just because of a flight cancellation, I spend more than 6 hours in the airport. In the end, I just call a Grab to fetch me home. It was an exhausting day, but I have the opportunity to experience something I never had before in my life.

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton