Marketing Research

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• Marketing Research

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Definition

• The systematic gathering, recording and analyzing
  of data about problems relating to the Marketing
  of goods and services.
• -American Marketing Association
• Systematic problem analysis, model-building and
  fact-finding for the purpose of improved
  decision-making and control in the marketing of
  goods and services.
• -Kotler

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• The function which links the consumer, the
• customer, and public to the marketer
• through INFORMATION

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Redefining Marketing Research
Information
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Classification of Marketing Research

• Problem Identification Research
• Research undertaken to help identify problems
  which are not necessarily apparent on the surface
  and yet exist or are likely to arise in the
  future. Examples market potential, market
  share, image, market characteristics, sales
  analysis, forecasting, and trends research.
• Problem Solving Research
• Research undertaken to help solve specific
  marketing problems. Examples segmentation,
  product, pricing, promotion, and distribution
  research.

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A Classification of Marketing Research
Marketing Research
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Problem Solving Research
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Problem Solving Research
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Problem Solving Research
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• Basic research
• Basic research is also called fundamental or pure
  research. As the name itself refers, Basic
  Research is of basic nature which is not carried
  out in response to a problem. It is more
  educative, towards understanding the fundamentals
  and aim at expanding the knowledge base of an
  individual or organization. It does not have any
  commercial potential.

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• Applied research
• Applied Research on the other hand is carried out
  to seek alternate solutions for a problem at
  hand. Applied research is done to solve specific,
  practical questions its primary aim is not to
  gain knowledge. It specifies possible outcomes of
  each of the alternatives and its commercial
  implications.
• Applied research can be carried out by academic
  or industrial institutions. Often, an academic
  institution such as a university will have a
  specific applied research program funded by an
  industrial partner interested in that program.
  Electronics, informatics, computer science,
  process engineering and drug design are some of
  the common areas of applied research.

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• Applied research can further be divided into
• Problem-solving research It involves research
  oriented towards a crucial problem facing the
  organization which may be issue specific.
• Ex How do we improve the communication skills of
  our employees?
• Problem-oriented research The research is
  oriented towards a crucial problem facing the
  organization. It is undertaken inside the
  organization or by an external consultant on its
  behalf. This research is conceptual in nature and
  newer innovative techniques of problem-solving
  are applied.

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Scope of Marketing Research

• Marketing research can be used in
• Product Management One of the major scope of
  marketing research is to manage the current
  products and new products. In product management
  Marketing Research is helpful in
• Competitive Intelligence To understand the
  competitive product strategy.
• Pre-launch strategy for new products
• Test Marketing To monitor the performance of
  the brand by launching in a select area and then
  taking it across the country. In other words it
  is a small-scale product launch used to determine
  the likely acceptance of the product when it is
  introduced into a wider market.
• Concept testing - to test the acceptance of a
  concept by target consumers.

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• Sales analysis Marketing research is used to
  study the sales trend and make suitable
  strategies when required. It is used to
• Assess market potential
• Estimation of demand for a product
• Market share estimation
• Study seasonal variation for a product
• Market segmentation studies
• Estimate size of the market
• Need analysis to find out where the product fits
  in
• Corporate Research Marketing Research is used to
  analyze the corporate effectiveness. Some
  examples are

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• Assessing the image of the company
• Knowledge of the company activities
• Advertising Research Advertising is an arena in
  which Marketing Research is extensively used.
  Some scope are
• Readership feedbacks Mainly carried out for
  newspapers and magazines
• Advertising Recall To assess the recall of
  television or other advertising and thereby
  assess its effectiveness.
• Syndicated Research This is compiled by agencies
  on a regular basis and sold to organizations on
  subscription basis.

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The Marketing Research Process
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The Marketing Research Process 11 Steps

• Step One Establishing the Need for Marketing
  Research
• Step Two Defining the Problem
• Step Three Establishing Research Objectives
• Step Four Determining Research Design
• Step Five Identifying Information Types and
  Sources
• Step Six Determining Methods of Accessing
  Data

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• Step Seven Designing Data Collection Forms
• Step Eight Determining Sample Plan and Size
• Step Nine Collecting Data
• Step Ten Analyzing Data
• Step Eleven Preparing and Presenting the Final
  Research Report

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Step One Establish the Need for Marketing
Research

• Marketing Research is not needed when the
• required information is already available
• decisions need to be made now
• organization cant afford the research
• costs outweigh the value of the research

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Step Two Define the Problem

• The most important step in the marketing research
  process is defining the problem.

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Step Three Establish Research Objectives

• What information is needed in order to solve the
  problem?

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Step Four Determine Research Design

• Exploratory Research collecting information in
  an unstructured and informal manner
• Descriptive Research refers to a set of methods
  and procedures describing marketing variables
• Causal Research (experiments and other
  approaches) allows isolation of causes and
  effects

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Step Five Identify Information Types and Sources

• Secondary Data information that has been
  collected for some purpose other than the
  research at hand
• Primary Data information that has been gathered
  specifically for the research objectives at hand

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The Marketing Research Process Step Six
Determine Methods of Accessing Data

• Secondary Data accessing data through sources
  such as the Internet and library
• Primary Data collecting data from participants
  through methods such as telephone, mail, online,
  and face-to-face (quantitative), and observation
  studies and focus groups (qualitative)

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Step Seven Design Data Collection Forms

• The design of the data collection form that is
  used to ask or observe and record information in
  marketing research projects is critical to the
  success of the project.
• It is easy to write a set of questions but very
  difficult to construct a questionnaire.
• General types of instruments (forms)
• Questionnaires
• Observation Study forms (protocols)

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The Marketing Research Process Step Eight
Determine Sample Plan and Size

• Sample plan refers to the process used to select
  units from the population to be included in the
  sample
• Sample size refers to determining how many
  elements (units) of the population should be
  included in the sample

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The Marketing Research Process Step Nine Collect
Data

• Sound data collection is very important because,
  regardless of the data analysis methods used,
  data analysis cannot fix bad data.
• Nonsampling errors may occur during data
  collection. These are related to poor design
  and/or execution of the data gathering.
• Sampling errors may occur based purely on chance

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The Marketing Research Process Step Ten Analyze
Data

• Data analysis involves entering data into
  computer files, inspecting data for errors (data
  cleaning), running tabulations (frequencies), and
  conducting various statistical tests

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The Marketing Research Process Step Eleven
Prepare and Present the Final Research Report

• Findings are presented, often by research
  objective, in a clear and concise way.
• The need for a good report cannot be overstated.
  It is the report, and/or its presentation, that
  properly communicates the results to the client.
  

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What is a Marketing Information System (MIS)?

• A marketing information system consists of
  people, equipment, and procedures to gather,
  sort, analyze, evaluate, and distribute needed,
  timely, and accurate information to marketing
  decision makers.

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Objectives

• Understand the importance of information to the
  company.
• Know the definition of a marketing information
  system and be able to discuss its subparts.
• Learn the steps in the marketing research
  process.

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Objectives

• Learn how companies analyze and distribute
  marketing information.
• Realize the special issues some marketing
  researchers face, including public policy and
  ethical issues.

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Characteristics of Marketing Information System

• Information- Accurate, continuous flow to all
• Scientific base with the help of OR techniques
• Future Oriented
• Ongoing Process
• It provides pertinent information, collected from
  sources both internal and external to the
  company, for use as the basis of marketing
  decision making.

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Need for Marketing Information System

• Complexity of Marketing
• Competitor Analysis
• Demand Forecasting
• Better understanding of the consumer
• New Innovation
• Economic Indicators
• Planning of resources

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Components of marketing Information System
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Kotler Model of MKIS
Marketing Information System
Assessing Information Needs
Developing Information
Internal Records
Marketing Intelligence
Marketing Managers Analysis, Planning,
Implementation, Control
Marketing Environment Target Markets, Marketing
Channels, Suppliers, Competitors, Publics,
Macro-environment Forces
Distributing Information
Marketing Research
DecisionSupport
Marketing Decisions and Communications
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• Internal Marketing System
• Detailed reports on Orders, Sales, Prices,
  Inventory Levels, Payables and so on
• Marketing Intelligence System
• Marketing research is focused, Market
  intelligence is not
• Unfocused Scanning -The manager, by virtue of
  what he/she reads, hears and watches exposes
  him/herself to information that may prove useful.
  Whilst the behavior is unfocused and the manager
  has no specific purpose in mind, it is not
  unintentional
• Semi-Focused Scanning -Again, the manager is not
  in search of particular pieces of information
  that he/she is actively searching but does narrow
  the range of media that is scanned. For instance,
  the manager may focus more on economic and
  business publications, broadcasts etc. and pay
  less attention to political, scientific or
  technological media.

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• Informal Search -This describes the situation
  where a fairly limited and unstructured attempt
  is made to obtain information for a specific
  purpose. For example, the marketing manager of a
  firm considering entering the business of
  importing frozen fish from a neighboring country
  may make informal inquiries as to prices and
  demand levels of frozen and fresh fish.
• Formal Search -This is a purposeful search after
  information in some systematic way. The
  information will be required to address a
  specific issue. Whilst this sort of activity may
  seem to share the characteristics of marketing
  research it is carried out by the manager
  him/herself rather than a professional
  researcher.

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Marketing Decision Support System

• .. a coordinated collection of data, systems,
  tools and techniques with
• supporting software and hardware
• by which an organization
• gathers and interprets relevant information from
  business and environment and
• turns it into a basis for marketing action.
• -Kotler

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Marketing Decision Support System

• ... a set of statistical tools and decision
  models with supporting hardware and software
  available to marketing managers to assist them in
  analyzing data and making better marketing
  decisions.

-Dyer and Forman
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Characteristics of DSS

• DSS offer users flexibility, adaptability, and a
  quick response
• DSS allow users to initiate and control the input
  and output
• DSS operate with little or no assistance from
  professional programmers
• DSS provide support for decisions and problems
  whose solutions cannot be specified in advance
• DSS use sophisticated analysis and modeling tools

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Identifying DSS Problem

• Problems should be identified by users
• There must be a body of data to work with and
  analyze
• The problem must be one for which no simple
  formula provides a solution
• There must be some systematic way of thinking
  about the problem that a DSS can automate or
  assist
• The problem must be important enough to engage
  the time and energy of management groups ranging
  from first line supervisors to senior management

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Components of DSS
Internal Records Marketing Intelligence Marketing
Research
DSS Software System Decision Models OLAP
Tools Data Mining Tools
User Interface
Interactive Quick response
(Adapted from Laudon and Laudon)
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Levels of DSS
Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
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DSS Level 1 Data Management

• Tools
• Database
• Database management system (DBMS)
• Query facilities
• Report writers
• Document and image management system

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DSS Level 1-Data Management

• The difficulties
• The amount of data increases exponentially
• Data are scattered through out organizations and
  are collected by many individuals using several
  methods and devices
• Only small portions of an organizations data are
  relevant for specific decisions
• An ever-increasing amount of external data needs
  to be considered in making decisions

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DSS Level 2 Data Analysis

• Basic data analysis tools
• Spreadsheet
• What-if analysis
• Goal seeking analysis
• Sensitivity analysis
• Graphical tools
• Statistical tools

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DSS Level 2-Data Analysis

• OLAP (online analytical processing) tools
• Access very large amounts of data
• Analyze the relationships between many types of
  business elements
• Involve aggregated data
• Compare aggregated data over time periods
• Present data in different perspectives
• Involve complex calculations between data elements

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DSS Level 3 -Decision Analysis

• Nature of Marketing criteria
• Quantitative criteria
• Monetarye.g. sales value, costs, contribution
• Non-monetarye.g. sales growth rate, market
  share
• Qualitative criteria e.g. image, satisfaction

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DSS Level 3 -Decision Analysis

• Difficulties in decision making
• Human cognitive limitations
• Short term memory (72)
• Scaling technique
• Need to combine different scales
• No scales for qualitative factors

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Measurement

• The assignment of numbers to characteristics of
  objects, persons, states, or events, according to
  rules

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Scales of Measurement

• What you can or cannot say about the object
• Which statistical analyses you may use

Interval

• Performance rating on a 0 to 10 scale

Nominal
Ratio

• Numbers assigned to runners

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• Time to finish

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Ordinal

• Rank order of winners

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Components of Measurement

• True Characteristic Direct reflection of the
  characteristic of interest
• Short term characteristic of Respondent hunger,
  fatigue or anger
• Situational characteristic reflection of the
  surroundings in which the measurement is taken
• Characteristic of the measurement process
  reflection of the interviewer, interviewing
  method and the like
• Characteristics of the measuring instrument
  reflection of ambiguous or misleading questions
• Characteristics of the response process
  reflection of mistaken replies caused by
  checking wrong response and the like
• Characteristics of the analysis reflection of
  mistakes in coding, tabulating and the like

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Mapping Rules

• Classification
• Order
• Distance
• Origin

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Difficulty of Measurement

• Dangerfield Syndrome
• Less Training
• Delegation
• Response is Inaccurate
• Irrelevant Data

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Secondary Data

• Problems Encountered with Secondary Data
• Availability
• Relevance
• Accuracy
• Sufficiency
• Internal sources of Secondary data
• Accounting Records
• Sales Force Reports
• Miscellaneous Reports
• Internal Experts

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• External Sources Of Secondary data
• Computerized databases
• Bibliographic databases
• Numeric databases
• Database Systems
• Associations
• Government agencies
• Data on Population, Income, and Housing
• Data on Industrial and Commercial Product sales,
  Agricultural producers, wholesalers, retailers
  and Service Organizations
• Data on Financial and other Characteristics of
  Firms
• Data on Employment
• Miscellaneous reports

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• Syndicated services
• Directories
• Other Published Sources
• External Experts
• International secondary data
• Nature of International secondary data
• Internal Sources of International Secondary data
• External Sources of Secondary data
• Databases
• Foreign Government Sources
• U.S. Govt.
• International Political Organizations

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Attitude

• A predisposition or a tendency to respond
  positively or negatively towards a certain idea,
  object, person, or situation. Attitude influences
  an individual's choice of action and responses to
  challenges, incentives, and rewards (together
  called stimuli).

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Procedure In Attitude Scaling

• Collection of data
• Processing of the data
• Formation of Scale

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Components of Attitude

• Cognitive Component
• Affective Component
• Behavioral Component

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Advanced Scaling Techniques

• Single Item Scales
• Itemized Category Scales
• Rank Order Scales
• Comparative Scales
• Paired Comparison Scales
• Constant Sum Scales
• Pictorial Scales
• Q-Sort Scale
• Considerations for Developing Single Item Scales
• Number of Scale category
• Types of Poles used in the scale
• Balance of Scale
• Strength of Anchor
• Types of Poles used in the scale
• Labeling of Categories

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• Continuous Scales
• Multi Item Scales
• Profile Analysis
• Thurstone type of Scale
• Likert Scales
• Semantic differential
• Stapel Scales