FW+by+Jacqueline,+Leo,+Alan

**1.1 **This report was requested by Mr. Gary Tsang, the Marketing Manager of F. Worthington Electronics on 15 November 2008. The report is a response to the performance of our MP3 players in the market, compared with that of Keysound MP3 players. The main aim of the report is to understand the weaknesses of our products and then improve them in order to increase our market share. **1.2 **In the report, I present findings which attempt to explain the weaknesses and strengths of our MP3 players compared to Keysound MP3 players. Following the findings, brief conclusions are drawn and a number of recommendations are made as to how our MP3 players can improve their market share. ** 2. Method ** Data for the report were gathered on September 2008. Primary data were collected by interviewing 500 F.Worthington Electronics MP3 users and 500 Keysound MP3 users. The data was collected by M&D Market Research Company. ** 3. Findings and Discussion ** The attached table clearly shows the lower levels of satisfaction of FW MP3 users compared to Keysound MP3 users in most aspects. The dissatisfaction of FW MP3 users is strongest with the Headphone quality and design. Neither FW MP3 users or Keysound MP3 users find the functions satisfactory. **3.1 ****Headphone Quality** Just over one-third of the FW MP3 users are satisfied with the headphone quality, contrasting with nearly three quarters of Keysound MP3 users. One possible reason for this is that FW headphones are made in China while Keysound uses Japanese made headphones. This means that their headphones would have a better quality than ours. **3.2 ****Design** Nearly half of the FW MP3 users are satisfied with the design of FW MP3 players, while most of the Keysound MP3 users are satisfied with the design. This could be due to F.Worthington Electronics entering the market for MP3 players three years ago which implies that the design of the MP3 Players are not modern enough. **3.3 ****Functions** Both FW MP3 users and Keysound MP3 users are discontented with the functions of their MP3 players with only around half of the users expressing satisfaction with this aspect. It appears that nowadays, many people tend to buy a mobile phone with the functions of an MP3 player. This is because they can reduce the number of things carried outside. Also the FW MP3 players require a software program to transfer the music while Keysound MP3 players use simply drag-and-drop. It may cause the inconvenience for the MP3 users. ** 4. Conclusion ** The findings clearly indicate that the Keysound MP3 players are with the most satisfaction overall while FW MP3 players are with the least satisfaction. The results of the survey also show that among the two companies the aspect of function received the highest dissatisfaction level. However, sound quality generally received positive response from all users. It can be concluded that in order to boost satisfaction levels, special attention should be paid to the function of the MP3 players because the customers tend to be attracted by the high technology devices. ** 5. Recommendations ** After considering the report, the following recommendations are made: **5.1 **Given that the FW MP3 users were generally dissatisfied with the headphone quality, it is strongly recommended that more resources could be placed on improvement of the headphones. Examples could include cooperation with other electronic companies. **5.2 ** As a result of the dissatisfaction with the design, it is proposed that this area of our products was a huge problem because F.Worthington Electronics is a new company in this market. Perhaps fresh graduates of design could be employed in order to create more new ideas on the design. **5.3 **In view of the fact that the functions of the MP3 players also received low ratings in the survey, it is proposed that we can cooperate with the mobile phone manufacturers, so that we can import our products to the mobile phones. As a result, both our company and manufacturers can share the benefits.
 * A report on the performance between MP3 players of F.Worthington Electronics and Keysound: comparison and possible solutions **
 * 1. Introduction **