Market Research at UC Berkeley

This project opportunity involves a team of 4 MBA students in a Marketing Research course in the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley. The student team works for approximately 16 weeks on a marketing research project for a client company, in which qualitative and quantitative data collection and analyses are conducted. The data collected and accompanying findings are leveraged in providing strategic recommendations around areas of interest for the company, which typically involve a combination of: positioning, pricing elasticity, promotion responsiveness, market segmentation, competitive analyses, customer perception, and forecasting.

Goal Formulation - Students work with client companies to clearly identify the business problem, and begin to translate the identified problem into a research problem.

1. Research Design - This process begins with determining which information is needed, which research methods will be most appropriate, and choosing a sample method based on size and cost.
2. Data Collection - At this stage, students engage in primary data collection, and refine their tactics and research methods based on the results they are able to generate.
3. Data Analysis - Qualitative and quantitative analyses are conducted, and the analytical results are utilized in strategic recommendations to inform marketing actions.

• The types of analyses students typically conduct involve a mix of: regression, conjoint, factor, cluster and perceptual mapping.

1. Final Presentation - Students share the data collected and any related findings, along with accompanying actionable recommendations.

The student team will consist of 4 students in the MBA Program in the Haas School of Business at The University of California, Berkeley, that work on the project for approximately 16 weeks.

Projects that are the best fit for this opportunity typically focus on one or more of the following areas: positioning, pricing elasticity, promotion responsiveness, market segmentation, competitive analyses, customer perception, and forecasting.

About the professor:

Dr. Ming Hsu is an Associate Professor at Berkeley and holds appointments in the Haas School of Business and the Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute. His research involves using neuroscientific and computational tools to understanding economic and consumer decision-making, and how brain-based methods can be used to generate and validate insights into people's thoughts, feelings, and behavior. Hsu's overall research interests include decision making, neuroeconomics, neuromarketing, consumer neuroscience, cognitive neuroscience, behavioral economics. He also supervises research conducted by graduate students at the Neuroeconomics Laboratory at UC Berkeley.