Market and Industry Research: Infographic Activity- Craft Beer

Learning Outcomes:

As a result of this instruction, students should be able to:

• Find market information as well as industry information
• Understand the following concepts: Market Share, Market Size, Secondary and Primary Market Research
• Find industry and market research reports in IBISWorld and Mintel
• Present industry information in a visual manner

Resources:

• A market research database (Mintel)
• An industry database (IBISworld)
• Giant sticky notes or poster paper
• Crayons and markers (We provide markers and tell the students to bring their art supplies)

Two optional pre-lectures and walk-throughs:

• Introduction to Industry Analysis: [1]
• Introduction to Market Research: [2]
• Mintel Walk-through (Interactive Tutorial): [3]
• IBISworld Walk-through (Interactive Tutorial): [4]

Premise (Given to Students):

The client, Mr. Grand, is a billionaire beer snob. He only drinks craft beers or unique imports whenever he goes out to his favorite pub. Mr. Grand has taken his preferences to the next level and begun to make his own homemade beers. He has shared these small batches with his friends and they have been very popular. All of his friends keep telling him that he should make larger amounts and go into business. Mr. Grand knows nothing about whether this is a good idea or not. He has money to start this venture but he wants to know if his chances are good that he will be successful. He has hired your team to investigate several issues. Mr Grand wants to know, what exactly is the market for craft brews? Mr. Grand needs to know if there is adequate demand and who are the potential customers. In order to accomplish this, you must:

• Be aware of the state of the industry.
• Understand who your major competitors are and what they are doing.

Deliverable:

It is your team’s job to present a summary and recommendation of the situation to Mr. Grand. Because Mr. Grand is a visual person, you will need to create a small “infographic” poster giving an overview of the market, the industry, the consumers and the projections for the future. You will be expected to present the following:

1. A title for your poster and your group number
2. Summary of the craft beer or larger brewery market
   1. Market Size
   2. Market Share
   3. Market Segmentation
   4. Consumer Preferences (who are craft beer buyers, where do they buy craft beer and why?)
   5. Industry information (Major Competitors, Operating Conditions, or Competitor Landscape)
3. Recommendation for the client- should he enter the market? Include this on the poster in 20 words or less. It should reflect the information you presented.

How Your Team Will Be Evaluated:

Use IBISworld and Mintel to find this information. If you use a chart or table from either database, please put in small letters where the information came from (IBISworld or Mintel). You will be evaluated on

1. Use of Market Research Information
   1. Accuracy of information
   2. Market properly summarized with all information requested provided correctly (e.g. Market Size is not included where Market Share should be)
2. Quality of recommendation
   1. Does it fit your stakeholder’s needs?
   2. Does it match the information you found?
3. “Neatness” meaning how clear your information is on your poster

Preliminary Discussion:

This is an activity that can stretch across one 50-minute class period with videos to watch before, or two class periods with one being lecture and other being activity. During the activity class period students should work in groups to answer the following questions for 5 minutes after reviewing the case:

• Based on the case presented and my own knowledge, what do I know about the case?
• What do I want or need to know in order to make the recommendation to Mr. Grand?
• Who would I talk to in order to find the things that I need to know? What keywords would I type into Google? Where else would I look?

In order for students to understand how to give a concrete recommendation about the state of the industry, several terms must be explained by the librarians. These include Market Segmentation, Market Share, Primary Market Research, and Secondary Market Research. To see some ways to introduce these concepts, please review our prezi on Market Research [5] and on Industry Analysis [6].

Resources:

Mintel and IBISworld: After a short database demonstration of both resources and definitions of market share, size and segmentation, the librarian should have students review market research reports on the craft beer reports in Mintel and in IBISWorld. Students are usually struck by the following teachable moments:

• Market definition: IBISworld and Mintel have different definitions of craft beer and therefore have very different numbers.
• Industry definition: Both resources have craft beer and larger beer production reports. The students have to consider what would be more useful for the stakeholder.
• Market size, share, and segmentation: These resources often don’t use these terms, so the students have to think about what those terms mean. Is industry revenue the same as market size?
• Recommendation: is there room for one more beer company? If lots of companies are successful, then perhaps the market is saturated. If lots of companies are failing, maybe there's low barriers to entry. Business information is contextual: there aren't "right" answers that are right for everyone.

Wrap-Up:

This case is intended for freshmen students in either Management or Hospitality & Tourism departments. It is possible for this to be done in a 50 minute session. Usually at the end we have the students put the infographics all up on the wall, so they can see how other students approached the assignment. It also creates very aesthetically pleasing information-rich student work examples to show to administrators.

Submitted By:

Ilana Stonebraker, Business Information Specialist, Purdue University, stonebraker@purdue.edu

With learning objects created by: Hal Kirkwood, Purdue University

Originally Submitted: December 11, 2014