Mercedes-Benz Dissertation Survey

[italianpurist]

Hello fellow ph'ers,

I'm currently in my final year of university studying business. My dissertation project is based on brand perceptions and how consumers react to different brands. The specific brand i'm focusing on is (you've guessed it) Mercedes-Benz (passenger cars only).

Anyways... I've made a short questionairre which is aimed at Daimler employees and other people who are involved with Mercedes in some shape or form, you do not neccessarily need to be a direct employee. The survey shouldn't take more than a few minutes, thanks in advance for your input.

Please find the link to the survey below.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/W77FM33


This research is being collected for my final year dissertation at Plymouth University and will only be viewed by myself, my tutor/assessor and representatives from the examining body. All of the information which I obtain from the surveys will be kept strictly confidential at all times in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998. You have the right to withdraw at any point throughout the survey.

Thank you for your support.


Dan (Italianpurist)
Plymouth Business School

[r129sl]

Bizarre questions. The premise seems to be that MB has "introduced" more expensive vehicles when the reality is that it has introduced cheaper vehicles and reduced its prices in real terms across the board. Have you read Leslie Butterfield's excellent book Enduring Passions?

[tyrrell]

Yes they have had cars at over £50k since 1986 very strange questions

[sneijder]

I think you're going at this back to front.

The old school at the dealership I worked at were wary when the 190E was introduced. Later came the W202 and eventually the A Class. They never had the balls to stick the 3 pointed star on a Smart though.

The barges have always been there, the additional customers have come at the bottom of the pile.

[chris333]

r129sl said:

Bizarre questions. The premise seems to be that MB has "introduced" more expensive vehicles when the reality is that it has introduced cheaper vehicles and reduced its prices in real terms across the board. Have you read Leslie Butterfield's excellent book Enduring Passions?

"Enduring Passions" certainly does look like a worthwhile read. And at £95 for the cheapest one on Amazon, Its only a bit more than a tank of petrol...

Does it go into much detail about the (r)evolution of MB in the mid 90s away from being Engineering-focussed and the resultant quality problems? Its a subject that I"d love read more about.

[r129sl]

chris333 said:

r129sl said:

Bizarre questions. The premise seems to be that MB has "introduced" more expensive vehicles when the reality is that it has introduced cheaper vehicles and reduced its prices in real terms across the board. Have you read Leslie Butterfield's excellent book Enduring Passions?

"Enduring Passions" certainly does look like a worthwhile read. And at £95 for the cheapest one on Amazon, Its only a bit more than a tank of petrol...

Does it go into much detail about the (r)evolution of MB in the mid 90s away from being Engineering-focussed and the resultant quality problems? Its a subject that I"d love read more about.

£95!!!!

It's a very good book and beautifully put together. While its subject matter is very much the brand of Mercedes-Benz rather than a model-by-model history of the firm's output, it is still very interesting for an enthusiast. It deals with the quality debacle in part albeit the really interesting thing is the author's conclusion that what we all regard as the glory years, i.e. 1976 to 1993, models r107, w116, w123, w126, w201, w124, r129, w140, would have killed the brand had they continued. The thesis is that those cars were dull and boring and unattractive in the market place and moreover that they were insufficiently profitable. Regrettably, I suspect there is something in this as both the market has changed and as the costs of developing a new model require much higher sales volumes. I'd shop around, but even at £95 it's probably worth it.

[italianpurist]

Thanks for all your response guys, great help! I will also look at that book...

I can't really divulge the exact research question for the project as I do not want to influence any future respondents answers. Apologies for some of the questions, they were designed to help minimise leading anyone to one answer. which was very difficult and it seems didn't work!

Great feedback so far, keep it coming and please forward the link onto anyone who is/was involved with Merc.

Dan

[chris333]

r129sl said:

chris333 said:

r129sl said:

Bizarre questions. The premise seems to be that MB has "introduced" more expensive vehicles when the reality is that it has introduced cheaper vehicles and reduced its prices in real terms across the board. Have you read Leslie Butterfield's excellent book Enduring Passions?

"Enduring Passions" certainly does look like a worthwhile read. And at £95 for the cheapest one on Amazon, Its only a bit more than a tank of petrol...

Does it go into much detail about the (r)evolution of MB in the mid 90s away from being Engineering-focussed and the resultant quality problems? Its a subject that I"d love read more about.

£95!!!!

It's a very good book and beautifully put together. While its subject matter is very much the brand of Mercedes-Benz rather than a model-by-model history of the firm's output, it is still very interesting for an enthusiast. It deals with the quality debacle in part albeit the really interesting thing is the author's conclusion that what we all regard as the glory years, i.e. 1976 to 1993, models r107, w116, w123, w126, w201, w124, r129, w140, would have killed the brand had they continued. The thesis is that those cars were dull and boring and unattractive in the market place and moreover that they were insufficiently profitable. Regrettably, I suspect there is something in this as both the market has changed and as the costs of developing a new model require much higher sales volumes. I'd shop around, but even at £95 it's probably worth it.

So after seeing the £95 one on Amazon, I had a look on Ebay: one for sale, starting bid of 99p. Popped a bid in, no-one else bid, so I've won it for less than £7 including postage. Bit of a result, and some nice new bedtime reading!