Applied Research Assignment based on the presentation in Week 1:

Apple's iPod fueled the company's success in recent years, helping to increase sales from $5 billion in 2001 to $32 billion in the fiscal year 2008. Growth for the music player averaged more than 200% in 2006 and 2007, before falling to 6% in 2008. Some analysts believe that the number of iPods sold will drop 12% in 2009. "The reality is there's a limited group of people who want an iPod or any other portable media player," one analyst says. "So the question becomes, what will Apple do about it?"

Assume you are the Research Manager at Apple and want to conduct research to find out why sales are declining. Answerallthe following questions:

1. Would you conduct applied or basic research? Why?
2. Would you use internal or external researchers? Why?
3. In this situation there is an action problem. What is this action problem faced by Apple?
4. Briefly describe how you would use the seven step process to solve this problem.

What are the limitations of your study?