| Course | GB532 Marketing Research |
|---|---|
| Unit | Unit 2 |
| Paper type | Problem definition memo |
| Length | About 800 words, 5 pages double-spaced |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Purdue University Global |
| Program | MBA |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for GB532 Unit 2
One Decision Named in the First Line: A Unit 2 Problem Definition Memo for a Propane Distributor
[Student Name]
Purdue University Global
GB532: Marketing Research
Unit 2 Problem Definition Memo
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
The propane distributor and every figure are composite and illustrative; the sources cited are real.
To: General Manager, Otter Creek Propane
From: Marketing Analyst
Subject: Decision on a backup-heat plan for hybrid households, needed by August 1
The Decision
Should Otter Creek offer a pricing and delivery plan designed for households that heat mainly with a heat pump and keep propane as backup? The decision must be made by August 1, before next winter's automatic-delivery contracts are mailed.
Background
Residential gallons fell about 11 percent last winter. Heating degree days, a measure of how cold the season was, fell about 6.5 percent, and net residential accounts fell about 1 percent. About 1,140 of our 8,160 automatic-delivery customers burned at least a fifth less propane per degree day than a year earlier. Some of these households have probably installed heat pumps; others may have added insulation or lowered thermostats.
Management Decision Problem and Research Problem
Management decision problem: whether to create a backup-heat plan for hybrid households, and if so, on what terms.
Research problem: to determine how many automatic-delivery customers now heat partly with heat pumps, how much propane those homes still use and when, what they value in a propane supplier, and how they would respond to a plan built around backup heat.
Malhotra (2019) emphasizes that a research problem should be broad enough to cover the information the decision needs and narrow enough to guide the study. This one excludes questions the decision does not need, such as how to market heat pumps or why customers chose them.
If the research cannot change the August decision, it is the wrong research, however interesting its findings might be.
Research Objectives
1. Estimate the share of automatic-delivery households with a heat pump in use, within about 4.5 percentage points.
2. Describe how hybrid households use propane through the winter, including in the coldest weeks.
3. Measure hybrid households' interest in a backup-heat plan, and what features matter most to them.
4. Identify how delivery schedules should change for hybrid homes, which use less propane and less predictably.
5. Gauge interest in buying heat pump installation or service from Otter Creek.
Hypotheses
H1: At least 15 percent of automatic-delivery households now heat partly with a heat pump.
H2: Hybrid households rate a backup-heat plan more favorably than other customers.
H3: Hybrid households still depend on propane in the coldest weeks, when heat pumps lose efficiency.
How Each Objective Serves the Decision
Each objective earns its place by changing what the plan would look like. If the heat pump share is small, under about 10 percent, a separate plan may not be worth building, and a few contract terms could serve those households instead. If hybrid homes still need propane in the coldest weeks, the plan must guarantee delivery when demand peaks, which shapes its price. If hybrid households rate the plan no higher than others, the plan may need to be offered to everyone rather than marketed to hybrids. Delivery patterns determine how much the company can save by rerouting trucks. Interest in heat pump installation tells the company whether to treat heat pumps as a threat to resist or a service to add.
What a Wrong Definition Would Cost
If the company accepted the original complaint as the problem, it might spend on a campaign to persuade heat pump owners to abandon them, which few would do, while ignoring the larger effect of weather and the chance to serve hybrid homes better. A precise definition costs a few weeks; a wrong one could cost a heating season.
Limits Set in Advance
This research will not estimate how many customers a plan would keep, because a survey can measure stated interest but not future behavior. If the plan goes ahead, a pilot in a few towns could measure retention directly.
Information Already Available
Before any survey, our own delivery tickets, degree-day records and state data on heat pump rebates should be reviewed. Stewart and Kamins (1993) recommend starting with secondary data, since it is cheaper and faster and may answer part of the problem. That review can estimate how much of last winter's loss was weather and how much points to heat pumps.
Timing
The secondary review should be finished by mid-March, a survey fielded in April and May, and results reported by mid-July, leaving two weeks before the August decision. A mailed survey with a reminder sequence, as Dillman et al. (2014) recommend for household samples, fits that window, since most responses arrive within three weeks of the first mailing.
References
Dillman, D. A., Smyth, J. D., & Christian, L. M. (2014). Internet, phone, mail, and mixed-mode surveys: The tailored design method (4th ed.). Wiley.
Malhotra, N. K. (2019). Marketing research: An applied orientation (7th ed.). Pearson.
Stewart, D. W., & Kamins, M. A. (1993). Secondary research: Information sources and methods (2nd ed.). Sage.
The Purdue Global GB532 Unit 2 instructions
GB532 Unit 2 asks you to write a memo defining a marketing research problem. Name the decision in the first line, with the date it must be made. Give the background briefly. State the management decision problem and the research problem separately. Set out research objectives, each tied to what the decision needs, and testable hypotheses where appropriate. Explain how each objective would change the decision. Say what the study will deliberately not attempt, what existing information should be reviewed first, and the timeline. Address it to the decision maker, hold it to roughly two pages, cite research methods sources in APA 7, and leave out any question the decision does not depend on.
How the GB 532 Unit 2 example is put together
The first line names the choice and its August deadline. Background carries the season's figures forward. The decision and research problems are stated separately, citing Malhotra on scoping, and the highlighted sentence tests every objective against whether it could change the August choice. Five objectives and three hypotheses follow. A section shows how each objective would alter the plan, another estimates what a wrong definition would cost, and a section sets limits in advance, recommending a pilot to measure retention. Secondary data come first, citing Stewart and Kamins, and a timeline with a mailed survey and reminders, following Dillman, Smyth and Christian, fits the deadline.
Where the points sit in the GB532 Unit 2 rubric
For the GB532 problem definition memo, credit goes to a definition narrow enough to finish on time and broad enough to serve the decision. Naming the decision and its deadline first earns early credit. Separating the decision problem from the research problem shows understanding. Objectives tied to specific parts of the decision carry significant weight. Testable hypotheses stated as predictions show rigor. Saying what the study will not do, and why, shows honesty about methods. Reviewing existing data first and a realistic timeline show practical sense. The memo cites Malhotra, Stewart and Kamins, and Dillman, Smyth and Christian in APA 7.
GB532 Unit 2 help: mistakes that cost points
Many GB532 Unit 2 memos state a broad research purpose, such as understanding customers, that could never be finished before a decision. Others list objectives without showing how any of them would change what the manager does. A frequent gap is the limit: surveys measure stated interest, not future behavior, and the memo should say so before anyone expects otherwise. Some writers skip existing data. Name the decision and deadline, separate the two problems, tie each objective to the decision, write predictions as hypotheses, state what the study cannot show, review existing data and plan backward from the deadline. Estimating the cost of defining the problem wrongly makes the memo persuasive to a busy manager, who may otherwise see problem definition as a delay rather than a safeguard.
Get a GB532 Unit 2 example written to your instructions
What decision is the manager in your GB532 case facing? Put that in a sentence, attach the Unit 2 instructions and the rubric, and the memo is drafted around it: decision first, research problem beside it, objectives and hypotheses beneath. Turnaround is 24-48h, and a first custom sample carries no charge. The paper above is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Purdue University Global document.
More GB532 papers and MBA samples
- GB532 Unit 1: Discussion Board Post
- GB532 Unit 3: Secondary Data Review
- GB532 Unit 4: Research Proposal
- GB532 Unit 5: Sampling Plan
- GB532 Unit 6: Questionnaire Draft
- GB532 Unit 7: Seminar Reflection
- GB532 Unit 8: Data Analysis Report
- GB532 Unit 9: Findings Interpretation
- GB532 Unit 10: Research Report
- GB531 Unit 2: Advertising Objectives Memo
- GB530 Unit 2: Situation Analysis
- GB528 Unit 2: Industry Analysis
- GB527 Unit 2: Process Analysis
GB532 Unit 2 questions, answered
How long should a problem definition memo be?
Usually one to two pages, since the memo format rewards compression. If your section sets a length, follow it. The decision, the research problem, three or four objectives and a scope statement fit comfortably in that space. A memo that runs long is often carrying background the manager already knows, and cutting it tends to sharpen the rest.
Are hypotheses required in a marketing research memo?
Not always. Exploratory studies often have none, because the point is to learn what to hypothesize. Where the prompt asks for them, write each as a prediction the data could contradict, with a direction. A hypothesis that says customers' attitudes affect purchases cannot be tested and earns little credit even when it is technically present.
Can the memo change the problem my instructor supplied?
It can refine it, and graduate sections often reward that when the refinement is argued. Keep the original situation intact, then show why the decision is narrower or different than it first appears. What tends to lose points is replacing the case with a different one; the memo should read as a sharper version of the problem given.
Where can I find a free GB532 Unit 2 sample paper?
This page carries a full GB532 Unit 2 problem definition memo for a propane distributor, with the decision, the research problem, five objectives, three hypotheses, limits and a timeline, and APA 7 references.
Why will the study not estimate how many customers a plan would keep?
A survey can measure stated interest in a plan that does not yet exist, but not what customers will actually do. Only a pilot that offers the plan and compares retention with similar towns can answer that.