QUESTION 1 [40 MARKS] Read the case study below and answer the followig questions. Sara was in the final year of her studies in Marketing Management. She had been considering options for her research project during the past weeks. She was particularly interested in researching about issues in International Marketing. Being aware of the broad discipline of her project, she was struggling with how she could refine her topic and focus on a specific subject area within the International Marketing field. Sara was also concerned with how she could apply international marketing concepts throughout her project. She scheduled a meeting with her lecturer who happened to be a well-known scholar in this field. They discussed about her interests which also included sports. Sara felt nostalgic about her love for ski, in particular about the time she spent working in a Canadian ski resort during most of her gap year before coming to university. She was now hoping to work for one of the main ski tour operators upon graduation. Her lecturer pointed out the obvious solution; to combine her interests in skiing with the topic of International Marketing. Sara left the meeting feeling rejuvenated. She could now envisage spending her final year researching on something she was very interested in and that would be helpful in her career pursuits. On reading through her module notes and completed assignments, she came across one of the main academic and practitioner debates in the area, namely whether to standardise or adapt International Marketing practices. Levitt (1983) was the first main proponent of the expanded debate about standardised global marketing planning. His main argument was that well managed international companies should move their emphasis from customising items to offering globally standardised products that are advanced, functional, reliable and low priced. Meanwhile, authors such as Wind (1986) argued the case for the adaptation of marketing in the realisation that there are strong obstacles to standardisation. The debate is still a contemporary one. Sara found up-to-date refereed academic journal articles about marketing standardisation. However, with the exception of a limited number of studies, there were very few on the international marketing practices of service providers. Sara had now found a gap based on previous research, which her project could potentially fill. Reflecting back to her previous job at the ski resort, she remembered that the tour operator she worked for, offered skiing packages in a number of countries worldwide. She had met customers from the UK, Spain, Italy, Portugal and Russia. A large number of people in different markets were buying and experiencing their products and services annually. There are 100 different ski tour operators proposing their services within the Canadian market. The issue was now to design and implement an appropriate research strategy in consultation with her lecturer. The aim of her project was to investigate the international marketing management practices of Canadian ski tour operators. More specifically, she wanted to know how ski tour operators made decisions about marketing in the countries in which they operated.

(a) Based on the above case study, discuss the nature of Saras research study and recommend the most appropriate research design technique she could follow. [15 Marks]

(b) Evaluate the most appropriate sampling design strategy that Sara could follow to select her sample. Your response should include applied examples from the case study. [15 Marks]

(c) Elaborate on the considerations that Sara needs to take into account when determining her sample size. [10 Marks]