Research Plan

As quoted in its mission statement, Cold Stone Creamery aims to make people happy. It aspires to provide its consumers an experience that associates the pleasure of having super creamy, tasty Cold Stone ice cream with joy, contentment and delight. Quite simply, making the best ice cream for the world to enjoy is Cold Stone Creamery’s passion, and they want their consumers to perceive them as not an ice cream joint but as a place that delivers happiness.

Research Objective

Cold Stone Creamery ice cream is categorized by industry experts as "Super Premium." Their ice cream is better because it’s made fresh every day in every store, which puts Cold Stone completely in a class of its own. Being headquartered in the US, it needs to assess and analyze not just its consumer market in Myanmar but also the political climate, domestic regulation and supply chain infrastructure before venturing into this foreign market. It must do due diligence and explore the value the brand can create and deliver in Myanmar –

What is the macroeconomic environment within Myanmar? How about its political environment? Is it still risky for a US firm to invest or is the government heading towards reforms and democratization of its institutions?
How is its demographic setup? What are its age profile, rural/urban divide and income levels (gaps)?
How is the transport, electrical and communications infrastructure within Myanmar?
How is the ice cream industry performing in Myanmar and who will be Cold Stone’s major competitors? What is their market share? How do we differentiate from them? How about the dairy, packaging and other condiment suppliers?
Should Cold Stone venture into Yangon first and then diversify or should it enter in multiple cities simultaneously?
Should Cold Stone Creamery opt for a franchise model or should it go solo?
What should be the price point at which Cold Stone Creamery should sell and where should it locate its store?
What revenue will Cold Stone be able to achieve in its first year and in five years? What is the scope for expansion? Are there any capital controls in Myanmar?

The above objectives can be further deep dived by exploring and analyzing the following questions in detail –

Research Questions

i.What language do they speak? What’s their religion? Are they a homogeneous mix? What’s their ethnic makeup?

ii.What is their literacy rate and how about their education levels?

iii.What is their family structure? Is there a pre-determined role for men and women? What is their age group distribution?

iv.What is its urban/rural composition?

1. Generic Business Environment

To discover and understand its People

i.What type of governance does Myanmar have and who is its head of state?

ii.How about its political and currency stability? Is the political class reform oriented?

iii.How are its legal systems and regulatory framework? Is there economic freedom? Is it open to FDI?

iv.How pervasive is its bureaucracy and how fast do they move? What is the state of corruption?

Government

i.What is its climate like? Does it have four seasons? When are the hottest and wettest periods of the year?

Climate

i.What are its GDP and GDP per capita (PPP)? Is there a growth or potential for growth?

ii.How pervasive is poverty and what is the size of its labor force? What is its present unemployment rate?

iii.What are its major imports and exports and how is wealth distributed among the masses? Among the regions? What are its principal industries?

iv.Is there a huge income gap? What is their median income and how is inflation?

2. Myanmar’s market and size potential

Economy

i.How is its transport infrastructure? How are its roads? Are they well connected?

ii.How is their electrical infrastructure? Is it reliable? Are there backup options available?

iii.How about the channels of distribution? How is the supplier network?

Infrastructure

i.What are the types of media (Radio, TV, newspapers, magazines etc) available? And which media reaches whom in the market?

ii.How about TV, computer, and phone ownership?

iii.How is the country’s internet penetration and usage?

Media & Technology

i.What are Cold Stone Creamery’s three or four main existing competitors in the market? What are their market shares?

ii.How will Cold Stone Creamery be placed relative to these existing competitors?

Competitors

i.What is their snacking behavior? Do they eat ice creams?

ii.How frequently do they buy ice creams? Are they spontaneous buyers or do they buy to take home?

iii.Where do they go to buy ice creams? Will they be willing to walk the distance for quality, super premium ice cream? When do they normally have ice cream? Hot periods of the day? For fun and spend time with loved ones?

iv.Is there any dietary preference or aversion against milk, sugar, eggs? Is there any particular flavor that they prefer?

v.How is their social life and how frequently do they go out? And with whom? Is it with friends? Lovers? Or Family (including children)?

3. Consumers

Behavior

i.How much do they normally spend in these outings? And what is their WTP for ice cream?

ii.How sensitive are they to price changes?

Price

i.Have they ever heard about Cold Stone Creamery or Kahala Brands?

ii.What is their feeling towards a US brand? What is their perception about the brand’s country of origin?

iii.Are they willing to try a new brand or do they prefer a known brand?

4. Cold Stone Creamery

Brand Knowledge

i.Is there any regulations governing partnerships with a domestic player? Is it mandatory or is it optional?

ii.Are there many players willing to enter into such partnerships or franchise model?

Operational Model

We intend to employ the following research methods to gather information about Myanmar, its people and industry –

Primary Research

Research Method

Focus Groups - Qualitative

We have a few friends in college and at work from Myanmar whom we intend to use as a focus group to understand their take on the different flavors that Cold Stone Creamery currently offers. We would also like to capture their inputs on how to design the layout for the store/outlet and take on their WTP.

Interviews - Qualitative

We also intend to conduct some interviews to bring out any hidden biases amongst our Myanmar friends to better understand their preferences and tastes.

Online survey - Quantitative

Considering the short time and limited budget, we are also considering doing an online survey by reaching out to some friends of ours and leveraging their network to assess the price points, WTP and consumer behavior. We hope to reach out and receive responses from a diverse group that may or may not have travelled outside of Myanmar. We will be capturing details such as the respondents’ age, ethnicity, income levels, international exposure etc while recording their responses.

Secondary Research

We intend to use secondary research data available from government web pages and other consulting firm’s research paper to gather and analyze more about Myanmar’s macroeconomic and political climate.

http://export.gov/thailand/doingbusinessinthailand/doingbusinessinburma/index.asp provides a snapshot about Myanmar’s commercial guidelines and other resources for a US company doing business in Myanmar.

Likewise, https://www.pwc.com/sg/en/assets/document/myanmar_business_guide.pdf provides a Price Waterhouse Cooper’s consulting firm’s take on Myanmar and its business activities.

We also intend to use Myanmar government’s official website to gather details about the income levels and demographics. However, we recognize that data from such sources may at times be exaggerated. We therefore, intend to discount it by referring to more than one secondary source to cross verify most details.

http://www.myanmar-business.org/ for example is an association of independent business leaders in Myanmar who provide an insider’s view and insights about the country. We will also use http://en.unesco.org/ to get further information about the country and its people. We intend to take note and be vigilant on the recency of such secondary source data to ensure that the analysis reflects Myanmar’s current economic and political status.