Developing a Global Vision
through Marketing Research
Chapter 8
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
Copyright © 2013 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Learning Objectives
LO1 The importance of problem definition in
international research
LO2 The problems of availability and use of
secondary data
LO3 Sources of secondary data
LO4 Quantitative and qualitative research methods
LO5 Multicultural sampling and its problems in
less-developed countries
LO6 Using international marketing research
8-2
International Marketing Research
 Cross-cultural communications are difficult
 Environments are different
 Important to recognize cross-country similarities and
differences
 Important to recognize and overcome SRC
8-3
International Marketing Research
 Research processes and methods are same whether
applied in Columbus, Ohio, or Colombo, Sri Lanka.
 Marketing research is traditionally defined as the
systematic gathering, recording, and analyzing of data
to provide information useful to marketing decision
making.
8-4
International Marketing Research
 International marketing research involves two
additional complications:
1. Information must be communicated across cultural
boundaries.
2. The environments in which research tools are applied are
often different in foreign markets.
8-5
Breadth & Scope of International
Marketing Research
 Foreign market research is broader in scope than
domestic research
 Research can be divided into three types based on
information needs:
1. general information about the country, area, and/or
market;
2. information necessary to forecast future marketing
requirements by anticipating social, economic, consumer,
and industry trends within specific markets or countries;
and
3. specific market information used to make product,
promotion, distribution, and price decisions and to
develop marketing plans
8-6
The Research Process for All Countries
1
2
3
4
5
6
• Define the research problem and establish research objectives.
• Determine the sources of information to fulfill the research objectives.
• Consider the costs and benefits of the research effort.
• Gather the relevant data from secondary or primary sources, or both.
• Analyze, interpret, and summarize the results.
• Effectively communicate the results to decision makers.
8-7
Defining the Problem and Establishing
Research Objectives
 Begin with a definition of the research problem and
the establishment of specific research objectives.
• The market researcher must be certain the problem definition is
sufficiently broad to cover the whole range of response
possibilities and not be clouded by his or her SRC.
• Once the problem is adequately defined and research objectives
established, the researcher must determine the availability of
the information needed.
8-8
Problems with Secondary Data
Availability
Comparability
Reliability
Validation
8-9
Checking the Accuracy of
Secondary Data
 Secondary data from any source, including the United
States, must be checked and interpreted carefully.
 The following questions should be asked to effectively
judge the reliability of secondary data sources:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Who collected the data? Would there be any reason for
purposely misrepresenting the facts?
For what purposes were the data collected?
How (by what methodology) were the data collected?
Are the data internally consistent and logical in light of known
data sources or market factors?
8-10
Sources of Secondary Data:
Websites for International Marketing
1.
2.
3.
4.
www.ita.doc.gov
www.usatradeonline.gov
http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/www/
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-worldfactbook/
5. http://www.cbp.gov/
6. www.opic.gov
7. www.exim.gov
8-11
Sources of Secondary Data:
Websites for International Marketing
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
www.imf.org
www.wto.org
www.oecd.org
www.jetro.go.jp
www.euromonitor.com
University-based websites, e.g.,
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/BUSI/
7. www.worldchambers.com
8. www.ipl.org/ref/RR/static/bus4700.html
8-12
Sources of Secondary Data:
Websites for International Marketing
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
http://www.wtcaonline.com/cms_wtca/
www.worldtradewt100.com/
MSU-CIBER- Globaledge
World Bank
IMF
OECD
U.N.
Syndicated data sets: A.C. Nielsen and Information
Resources Inc.
8-13
Gathering Primary Data:
Quantitative & Qualitative Research
Often the market researcher must collect
primary data—that is, data collected
specifically for the particular research
project at hand.
8-14
Gathering Primary Data:
Quantitative & Qualitative Research
 Begin with a definition of the research problem and
the establishment of specific research objectives.
• The market researcher must be certain the problem
definition is sufficiently broad to cover the whole range of
response possibilities and not be clouded by his or her
SRC.
• Marketing research methods can be grouped into two
basic types:
• qualitative
• quantitative
8-15
Problems with Qualitative Research
 Focus group interviews are
difficult to conduct in Confucian
societies
 Personal referrals are needed to
contact consumers
 People are often hesitant to
criticize new product ideas
when companies seek candid
opinions.
8-16
Problems with Primary Research
 Ability to communicate opinions:
• context
• meaning
• cultural habits
 Willingness to respond
8-17
Midnight in New Delhi—both customer service and telephone survey
research are being outsourced to lower-wage English-speaking
countries. Cost savings of such outsourcing must be balanced with
consumer reluctance in cross cultural communication settings,
particularly those involving voluntary responses to marketing research.
8-18
Problems with Primary Research
 Sampling in Field Surveys:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
reliability of lists
poor postal service
availability of data
census and socioeconomic data
SS# data
street maps
telephones
postal unit
sample size & sampling procedure
8-19
Problems with Primary Research
 Language and comprehension
• Back Translation
• Parallel Translation
• Decentering
8-20
Marketing researchers in India have to consider the problems of language
diversity. Here the primary 13 languages (besides English) are listed on a
20-rupee bill.
8-21
Problems with Quantitative Research
 Different types of biases:
•
•
•
•
•
non-response bias
courtesy bias
yea or nay saying
social desirability bias
income and gender-related questions may be taboo
8-22
Research on the Internet:
A Growing Opportunity
 For many companies the Internet provides a new and
increasingly important medium for conducting a variety of
international marketing research
 There are at least seven different uses for the Internet in
international research:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Online surveys and buyer panels
Online focus groups
Web visitor tracking
Advertising measurement
Customer identification systems
E-mail marketing lists
Embedded research
8-23
Estimating Market Demand
 Expert opinion
• experts are polled for their opinions about market size and
growth rates.
• the key in using expert opinion to help forecast demand is
triangulation , that is, comparing estimates produced by
different sources.
 Analogy
• assumes that demand for a product develops in much the
same way in all countries, as comparable economic
development occurs in each country.
8-24
Problems in Analyzing & Interpreting
Research Information
 Both secondary and primary data collected by the
market researcher are subject to many limitations
 Accepting information at face value in foreign
markets is imprudent.
 The meanings of words, the consumer’s attitude
toward a product, the interviewer’s attitude, or the
interview situation can distort research findings.
8-25
Analogy Example
DVD Player DemandPoland= DVD Player DemandHungary
Color TV DemandPoland
Color TV DemandHungary
8-26
8-27