Cameron Research, a marketing research company in Victoria, has recently highlighted a real concern in the way that small businesses are oblivious to cybersecurity. Over the past two years, COVID has helped, if not pushed, small businesses well out of their technological comfort zone, and they have, for the most part, embraced it. The SME markets have probably implemented five to seven years of tech change-innovation in two, said Cameron. Even the luddites of the group have seen the progress that technology can bring to their organisation and have steadily moved forward with it. Cybersecurity, however, is something that SMEs have left for the bigger fish to take ownership of. Cameron explains, There has been a stunning lack of development in their thinking and approach to cybersecurity. One may have expected quite the opposite that is, with a greater awareness and usage of tech not to mention the cybersecurity issues that accompany a distributed workforce it would seem common sense that business owners would become more alert to cyber issues. They havent. There are probably a few reasons for this. Some are relying on built-in security and keeping their heads in the sand regarding anything more that might be required to keep their business safe. Many are unclear on who is responsible if there is a breach of security on one of their systems like the cloud or their banking app. They think that it is their supplier that is at risk. Some know that they need to do something but either dont know where to start, or just dont make it a priority. Theyre crossing their fingers and hoping for the best while they put other things first that appear to be more urgent. Cameron Research notes that there are a small group of SMEs who have always been ahead of the game with technology and those businesses are different. Technology is part of their thinking and cybersecurity is part of that, but these businesses are far from the norm. In contrast to small business, medium businesses (say, 10m+) see cybersecurity as their responsibility. The difference in size seems to translate to feeling a lot more vulnerable and a lot more accountable. They feel like they cant afford to downplay the potential devastation of cyber threats to an organisation and either school up on or outsource cyber protection. Unfortunately, cyberattackers appear indifferent to the size of the business they target. For a small business, one small breach could prove fatal. Hopefully we will see more small business making time for this important part of their business future with an opportunity for trainers and brokers to approach them with information and guidance on cyber awareness and the best way forward for their security.

QUESTION 1 (12 Marks) Marketing research serves four primary functions within an organisation. Assume that you are a junior researcher at Cameron Research tasked with writing an article directed at the SME market. Identify and explain the FOUR (4) main functions of marketing research as it pertains to SMEs and cybersecurity. Refer to information in the case to contextualise your answer. The objective of your article is to convince SMEs to make use of Cameron Researchs services

QUESTION 2

Over the past two years, COVID has helped, if not pushed, small businesses well out of their technological comfort zone and they have, for the most part, embraced it. SME markets have been forced to move their businesses online. As such, their marketing information systems have potentially been enhanced with more information than before. The information associated with a marketing information system can be classified in FIVE (5) ways.Identify the FIVE (5) classifications and provide an example of information relevant to SME markets.

Question 3

Marketing research has several objectives. Assume that you are a junior researcher at Cameron Research tasked with writing an article directed at the SME market. Identify and explain any FOUR (4) objectives of marketing research as it pertains to the SME market. The objective of your article is to convince SMEs to make use of Cameron Researchs services.