RBS Internationalization Models Market - Essay Example

School: Topic: RBS’s internationalization models market research proposal Lecturer: Background There are several factors that make the need for internationalisation among companies necessary. In the case of RBS, the overly competitive nature of the British banking market and the seemly choked market is one such need. Subhash (2006) found that based on the product/service lifecycle, when companies get successfully introduced, go through the growth stage and get to the maturity stage like RBS finds itself, it is very important options of sustainability begins to be developed. This is because from the maturity stage, the next stage is the decline stage, which comes as a result of several factors including the response to the economic theory of diminishing returns (Oviatt and McDougall, 2012). These are all factors and reasons that have necessitated the need for RBS to look for a new international destination where the company can continue its business in the manner that it has done in the British for years. But for the company to succeed with internationalisation, it is important that a market research will be conducted in the targeted market (Subhash, 2006). This market research proposal begins the process of actual market research of Mexico as an emerging market. Definition of the problem When the need to adopt sustainability strategies as a means of avoiding possible decline of a product arises on a given market, there are several modalities that can be used to salvage the situation. Paul, Alan and Arun (2014) mentioned that companies can resort to the use of new product development as a means of responding to this situation. Another solution is internationalisation, which finds an entirely new market base for the product or service (Oviatt and McDougall, 2012). As RBS selects the use of internationalisation, there are some important questions that the company has to answer. These questions form the central problem of the research proposal. The first problem has to do with the country-based factors of Mexico that makes it either conducive or challenging for RBS. There is also the problem of banking industry based factors of Mexico that makes the country either conducive or challenging for RBS’s internationalisation ambition. Finally, there is the problem of selecting the best internationalisation model that meets the current internal position of RBS as well as the external factors the company is faced with as it seeks to enter Mexico. Aims and Objectives With the identified research problems given above, the market research will be performed with the aim of identifying the best means by which RBS can enter the Mexican market with all opportunities available to the company fully utilised. To achieve this aim, the following specific objectives will be pursued: 1. To find the country factors of Mexico based on a PEST analysis which act as strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats with doing business in that country. 2. To find the banking industry factors of Mexico based on the Porter’s five forces which act as strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats with doing banking business in that country. 3. To find the best internationalisation model that helps RBS utilise its internal position whiles entering Mexico. Scope of the Study The market research which is to be prepared will be delimited in a number of ways. These delimitations will form the scope of the study. In the first place, the market research will only focus on the concept of internationalisation models. But to find the best internationalisation model, it will be important to understand the target country’s current external and internal positions so that an internationalisation model that better addresses these positions will be selected. Again, the scope of the market research shall be limited to primary data collection and some aspects of secondary data collection where the researcher shall engage human subjects in a one-on-one data collection exercise or use desk analysis where necessary. This scope is set, given the fact that the use of testing is a possible market research method that could be opted for the study. Research Approach and Methodology The major type of research that will be used is quantitative primary research. This means that the researcher shall engage people in the actual collection of data from the research setting, which is will be Mexico (Clifford & Clark, 2004). As a quantitative research, a lot of emphasis shall be put on the use of mathematical and statistical methodologies in collection, handling, analysing, and presenting data (Blaxter, Hughes & Tight, 2001). There are several advantages that the use of primary research offers to market researchers. In the first place, primary research ensures that the researcher gains first hand information to factors and issues that prevail within the research setting (Gerrish & Lacey, 2013). Because the data to be collected comes to the researcher at first hand, they can be trusted for authenticity, accuracy and validity. What is more, it is possible to engage the people directly affected or impacted about a situation in the market research when primary research is used (Diriwächter & Valsiner, 2006). On the other hand, a quantitative research will ensure that the data collected can be given an empirical analysis which can easily be tested wherever they are presented (Moballeghi & Moghaddam, 2008). As part of the primary data collection, the researcher shall employ the use of survey research design. Kasim, Alexander and Hudson, 2010) explained a survey as a form of data collection technique where the researcher samples as many people within a given population as possible and engages these people in data collection, the outcome of which represents the collective opinion of the larger population. This means that when a sample is selected from Mexico and engaged in data collection, the responses from these people will be generalised to be the collective idea of customers or clients from Mexico. Survey research design has also been described as very ideal for quantitative research where the researcher wants to have data that can easily be represented with numeric indices (Hunter and Leahey, 2008). In the current situation, a questionnaire shall be used as a research instrument for the collection of data. The questionnaire shall be made up of close-ended questions, which present respondents with specific options to select their responses from. Once this is done, it is possible to itemise all the responses and use statistical and quantitative software such as SPSS in the data analysis process. Research Considerations and Rationale On the whole, survey research design is selected because it will offer the researcher the opportunity of coming into contact with as many stakeholders within the Mexican market as possible. This will also be done in a single research process without having to engage in series of researches before collecting data that addresses the research objectives. When compared to case study or qualitative research for example, because of the need to have in-depth understanding of human behaviour, the researcher will only be required to study a very small population or sample size (Given, 2008). Meanwhile when this is done, it may be difficult to have a very fair and generalised representation of the Mexican market. Having said this, it will be acknowledged that there are some limitations with the use of the survey research design. A typical example of this has to do with the generalisation of responses or results to represent the entire population that the sample stands for (Hart, 2008). To address this limitation, there are a number of factors that will be put in place. The first of this to ensure the sample size is as large as possible. While making the sample size large, it is also important to ensure representatives will be taken from almost every demographic area of the population. What is more, it is important to ensure that a random sampling technique which ensures an equal opportunity for every member within the population to be part of the sample size is used. Sampling It is generally expected that the internationalisation process will start from the capital of Mexico, which is Mexico City. For this reason, Mexico City is the population of the market research. This population shall be divided into districts, which is expected to yield an average of 40 districts. From each of these 40 districts, 10 people shall be selected at random. This means that there will be a total of 400 people in the sample size. The sampling shall however be available only to people who are 18 years and above as these are the people with the legal right to make decisions for themselves. The sampling shall also be limited to people with the ability to read and write so that they can better respond to the questionnaire. People with experience in banking as existing or previous customers or workers of banks will also be most preferred. The random sampling method shall offer several benefits or advantages. In the first place, it will ensure that there is fairness in the selection process. This way, it cannot be likely that the researcher will include respondents who may in any way satisfy the personal interest of the researcher for the study (Green, Johnson and Adams, 2006). Again, it will be possible to include people from as many different demographic backgrounds as possible. As the company’s business will concern people from several demographic backgrounds, it is important to have a representation of all such people in the sample size. This means that the issue of bias shall be catered for through the random sampling procedure. References Blaxter L., Hughes C., & Tight M. (2001). How to research. 2nd edition. Buckingham: Open University Press. Clifford C. & Clark J. (2004). Getting research into practice. Churchill Livingstone, London. Diriwächter, R. & Valsiner, J. (2006) “Qualitative Developmental Research Methods in Their Historical and Epistemological Contexts” FQS. Vol 7, No. 1, Art. 8 Gerrish, K & Lacey, A. (2013). The Research Process in Academic Research. Wiley. Kindle Edition. Given, L. M. (2008). The Sage encyclopedia of qualitative research methods. Los Angeles, Calif.: Sage Publications. Green, B. N., Johnson, C. D. & Adams, A. (2006) "Writing Narrative Literature Reviews for Peer-Reviewed Journals: Secrets of the Trade". Journal of Chiropractic Medicine; 5(3), pp. 101–114. Hart, C. (2008). Literature Reviewing and Argumentation. United Kingdom. London: Sage Hunter, L. and Leahey, E. (2008). "Collaborative Research in Sociology: Trends and Contributing Factors". The American Sociologist 39 (4): 290. Kasim, R., Alexander, K. & Hudson, J. (2010). A choice of research strategy for identifying community-based action skill requirements in the process of delivering housing market renewal. Research Institute for the Built and Human Environment, University of Salford, UK. Moballeghi, M. & Moghaddam, G.G. (2008). 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