CRAVENS
PIERCY
8/e
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
© 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved.
5-2
Chapter Five
Continuous
Learning About
Markets
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
© 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved.
5-3
Continuous Learning
About Markets
Market orientation and
organizational learning
Marketing research information
Information systems
Marketing intelligence systems
and knowledge management
Ethical issues in collecting and
using information
5-4
Market Orientation
and Organizational
Learning
Market orientation
perspective includes all
relevant sources of
knowledge and ideas
Characteristics of the
learning organization
Learning and competitive
advantage
5-5
Learning About Markets
OpenMinded
Inquiry
Keeping and
Gaining Access
to Prior
Learning
Synergistic
Information
Distribution
Mutually
Informed
Interpretations
Source: George S. Day, Journal of Marketing, October 1994.
Illustrative Example: The
Bombay Company
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
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
5-6
Turnaround strategy at The Bombay
Company started with customer research
examining shopping experiences and
what consumers really wanted from a
home furnishings supplier
This drove major changes in how goods
were displayed and presented to
overcome perceptions of confused
merchandizing and pricing
Stores were re-merchandized around
themes to overcome consumer feelings
that the company was too “stuffy”
The research showed that catalogs were
used for decorating ideas not product
listings, so they were restyled around
lifestyle choices
The Bombay Company strategy is driven
by extensive market research and
rewsponse to customer feedback
5-7
A Framework for
Market Sensing
Probability of the Event Occurring
High
Medium
Low
7
6
Effect of the
Event on the
Company*
Field of
Dreams
Utopia
5
Things to
Watch
4
3
2
Danger
Future
Risks
1
* 1=Disaster, 2=Very bad, 3=Bad, 4=Neutral, 5=Good, 6=Very good, 7=Ideal
5-8
Types of Marketing
Information
Marketing research studies
Standardized information
services
Management information
systems
Database systems
Decision support systems
Customer relationship
management (CRM) systems
Competitor intelligence
systems
5-9
Strategies for Obtaining Information
Internal Data
Collect existing
information
Published
information
Subscription
Strategy
alternatives
Use standardized
research services
Single purchase
Exploratory
Conduct
research study
Full-scale
Advantages and Limitations
5-10
of Questioning Methods
Advantages
Limitations
Personal Interviews
Most versatile and
flexible
Long questionnaires
handled more easily
Presence of interviewer
allows more flexibility
in procedure
More enjoyable for
respondents
Fewer refusals
High cost
Possibility of interviewer
bias
Possibility of cheating by
interviewer due to lack
of supervision
Project time often lengthy
Telephone Interviews
Fewer interviewers needed
Relatively inexpensive
Rapid method of data
collection
Can reach large number of
households
More control over interviewers
More noncommittal
answers
Some households
overrepresented
Lengthy and detailed
questions often not
feasible
Mail surveys
Higher-quality information
Better for collecting
information on possibly
embarrassing subjects
Relatively cheaper to conduct
No interviewer bias
Questionnaire cannot be
changed
Complex
Can be completed by
person other than intended
Follow-up expensive
Response often slow in
coming
Source: Harper W. Boyd, Jr., Ralph Westfall, and Stanley F. Stasch, Marketing Research:
Text and Cases, 5th ed. (Homewood, IL Richard D. Irwin, 1981), Chap. 4.
5-11
Special Research Studies
Problem
Definition
Information
Required
Research
Method
Sampling
Plan
Questionnaire
Design
Data
Collection
Analysis and
Report
5-12
Screening A New
Research Supplier
1. Client  Would you recommend
this supplier?
2. Supplier  Do you have
sufficient funds for this project?
3. What parts of the project will be
subcontracted, and how do you
manage subcontractors?
4. May I see your interviewer’s
manual and data entry manual?
5. How do you train and supervise
interviewers?
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6. What percentage of interviews are
validated?
7. May I see a typical questionnaire?
8. Who draws your samples?
9. What percentage of your data entry
is verified?
10. Managers  What do you think
about this supplier?
Source: Seymour Sudman and Edward Blair,
Marketing Research, A Problem-Solving Approach, Irwin/McGraw-Hill, 1998, 67.
5-14
Impact of the Internet on
Marketing Costs and
Availability

Online Surveys
–
–
–
–
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Fast
Inexpensive
Limitations in population coverage
Resistance to excessive Web communications
Customer feedback and peer-to-peer Web
communications
Monitoring customer Web behavior
Illustrative Example:
Knowledge Sharing at
Buckman Labs
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5-15
Buckman has more than 50 Internet
discussion groups focused on its main
products – employees post 50-100
messages a day
The company has amassed an easily
searchable database of in-house expertise
and past lessons learned, all accessible to
employees and customers
The Web harnesses the brainpower of an
entire global speciality chemicals
company around customer problems
Knowledge sharing is the foundation for
superior learning about customers
5-16
Marketing Decision-Support
System Components
Database
Display
Analysis
Capabilities
Models
Marketing Intelligence and
Knowledge Management
5-17
Market sensing does not rely
on hard data alone
–
intelligence from publications, sales
calls, customer visits, social contacts,
Internet, rumor
Knowledge management
Role of the Chief Knowledge
Officer
Leveraging customer
knowledge
–
–
–
–
creating “customer knowledge
development dialogues”
operating enterprise-wide “customer
knowledge communities”
capturing customer knowledge at the
point of customer contact
management commitment to
customer knowledge
5-18
Ethical Issues in
Collecting
and Using Information
Invasion of customer privacy
– e.g., use of medical databases to
sell healthcare products
Information and ethics
– e.g., guidelines for sharing of
confidential information
– e.g., collecting data from children