Research is viewed by many as a step to be conducted before starting the project, but in fact it’s needed throughout
the Product Life Cycle (PLC). One of my friends recently opened an Italian takeaway
restaurant in Riffa (JOEYS PIZZA), he conducted exploratory research at the start
before starting his small business. He just finished 6 months in the business and
is looking to expand soon, in class we talked about the importance of reacting
to competitor’s quick and being able to switch from one strategy to another.

When JOYES first opened they were the only Italian restaurant in the block and where able to generate good
revenue during the first three months, they started with a small simple menu
and added new dishes along the way. The owner of JOYES thought that his research
phase was over, but one morning he was surprised to hear that two new Italian restaurants
will be opening soon in the area. He needed to research the market one more
time with two new businesses competing for his customers.

JOEYS had to look at their competitors pricing, food varieties and marketing strategies. At the beginning people where
complaining of his high pricing, which was because of the high quality ingredients
that he uses in his dishes. He was worried that he might lose some of his customers
so he lowered the prices even though there was no competition at the time. On the
other hand today he has managed to deal with the new challenge in the best way
possible and was able to maintain his customers. At the end I think that his quick
reaction and research helped him deal with the situation in the best way
possible.

In this example we can see how important
and critical the research was for JOEYS PIZZA success, but now he needs to answer a
lot of questions, dose he expand? If yes where to? And how can he keep his
loyal customers away from others??