Chapter 8
Developing a Global Vision
through Marketing Research
Marketing research
• Marketing research is the systematic
gathering, recording and analyzing of data
to provide information useful to marketing
decision making.
• International complication – domestic
market researchers have to translate their
research into questions foreign market can
understand and the answers have to be
put in a way the domestic managers can
understand.
Scope of Research
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1. Economics and demography
2. Cultural, Social, Political
3. Overview of Market conditions
4. Summary of the technological
environment
• 5. Competitive situation
The Research Process
•
Research process steps
1. Define the research problem and establish research
objectives
2. Determine the sources of information to fulfill the
research objectives
3. Consider the costs and benefits of the research effort
4. Gather relevant data from secondary or primary
sources, or both
5. Analyze, interpret, and summarize the results
6. Effectively communicate the results to decision makers
•
Research steps are similar for all countries
– Variations and problems can occur in implementation
• Differences in cultural and economic development
Defining the Problem
and Establishing Research Objectives
• The major difficulty is converting a series of
often ambiguous business problems into
tightly drawn and achievable research
objectives
• The first, most crucial step in research is more
critical in foreign markets because an
unfamiliar environment tends to cloud
problems definition.
• Other difficulties in foreign research stem from
failures to establish problem limits broad
enough to include all relevant variables. Barbie
• Self reference criterion
Problems of Availability
and Use of Secondary Data
• U.S. government provides comprehensive
statistics for United States
• Marketing data not matched in other
countries
– Quality
– Quantity
– Exceptions are Japan and several European
countries
• Continuing efforts to improve data collection
– United Nations
– Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development (OECD)
Availability
and Reliability of Data
• Most countries simply do not have governmental
agencies that collect on a regular basis the kinds of
secondary data readily available in the U.S.
• Researchers’ language skills impede access to
information
– Requires native speaker of language
• Official statistics are sometimes too optimistic,
reflecting national pride rather than practical reality,
while tax structures and fear of the tax collector often
adversely affect data
– Less-developed countries prone to optimism
– Willful errors
– “Adjusted reporting”
Comparability of Data
• Issues with data (especially in less developed,
countries)
– Data can be many years out of date
– Data collected on an infrequent and
unpredictable schedule
• Too frequently, data are reported in different
categories or in categories much too broad to
be of specific value e.g supermarket
Validating Secondary Data
• Questions to judge the reliability of secondary data
sources
– Who collected the data?
– Would there be any reason for purposely
misrepresenting the facts?
– For what purposes was the data collected?
– How was the data collected?
– Are the data internally consistent and logical in light of
known data sources or market factors?
• Checking the consistency of one set of secondary data
with other data of known validity
– An effective and often-used way of judging validity
• The availability and accuracy of recorded secondary
data increase with level of economic development
Gathering Primary Data –
Quantitative and Qualitative Research
(1 of 2)
• Primary data
– Data collected specifically for the particular research
project
• Quantitative research
– Usually a large number of respondents
– Respondents answer structured oral or written
questions using a specific response format (such as
yes/no) or to select a response from a set of choices
– Responses can be summarized in percentages,
averages, or other statistics
• Toto – a Japanese firm with the premiers
quantitative research on bathroom and toilet
technology
Gathering Primary Data –
Quantitative and Qualitative Research
(2 of 2)
• Qualitative research
– If questions are asked, they are almost always
open-ended or in-depth
– Seeks unstructured responses that reflect the
person’s thoughts and feelings on the subject
• Qualitative research interprets people in the
sample
• Qualitative research is helpful in revealing
the impact of socio cultural factors on
behavior patterns and in developing research
hypotheses
Problems
of Gathering Primary Data
• Hinges on the ability of the researcher to get
correct and truthful information that
addresses research objectives
• Problems in international marketing research
– Stem from differences among countries
– Range from inability or unwillingness of
respondents to communicate their opinions
– Sampling in field surveys
– Inadequacies in questionnaire translation
Ability to
Communicate Opinions
• Formulating opinions about a product or
concept
– Depends on the respondent’s ability to recognize
the usefulness of such a product of concept
– Product or concept must be understood and used
in community
• The more complex the concept, the more
difficult it is to design research that will help the
respondent communicate meaningful opinions
and reactions
– Gerber has more experience in trying to
understand consumers with limitations
• Babies can neither answer questions or fill out
Willingness to Respond
• Cultural differences provide best explanation
for unwillingness or inability of many to
respond to research surveys
• The role of the male, the suitability of
personal gender-based inquiries, and other
gender-related issues can affect willingness to
respond
• Less direct measurement techniques and
nontraditional data analysis methods may
also be more appropriate
Sampling in Field surveys
• Problems in sampling stem from the lack of
adequate demographic data and available lists
from which to draw meaningful samples
• Affected by a lack of detailed social and
economic information
– No officially recognized census information
– No other listings that can serve as sampling
frames
– Incomplete and out-of-date telephone
directories
– No accurate maps of population centers
Language and
Comprehension
• The most universal survey research problem
in foreign countries is the language barrier
• Literacy poses yet another problem
• Marketers use three different techniques to
help ferret out translation errors ahead of
time
– Back translation
– Parallel translation
– Decentering
Internet research
• Internet users worldwide – 60% Male, 32
years old, 60% college degree, income
$60,000, usage time 2.5 hours a week.
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Online surveys
Focus groups
Web visitor tracking
Advertising Measurement
Customer identification systems
E-mail marketing
Embedded research
Observational research
Estimating Market Demand
• Two methods of forecasting demand
– Expert opinion
• The key in using expert opinion to help
in forecasting demand is triangulation
– Analogy
• Assumes that demand for a product
develops in much the same way in all
countries as comparable economic
development occurs in each country
Analyzing Information
• Accept that there are limitations in the
information.
• Have a high level of cultural understanding
of the market. – necessary to consult with
natives
• Creative talent for adapting research
methods.
• Skeptical attitude.
Analyzing Information
• Best situation is to have local researchers
in the market who co-ordinate closely with
the client company.
• There are also professional marketing
research firms.
• Decision makers should be involved in
problem definition and fieldwork.
• Be careful of misunderstandings from
language/cultural barrier.
Conclusion
• Market research – provide information for more
accurate decision making.
• Challenges to International MR are:
- understanding and respecting the respondents
culture in surveys
- Poor secondary information
• Key to success
- Include natives
- Use multiple methods and triangulation
- Include decision makers occasionally
Questions
• What is the difference between primary
and secondary data?
• How is international market research
complicated by the environment?
• What are common issues when gathering
primary data in an international market?
Internet tasks
Complete the International Awareness
survey for your country.