1. Marketing Research & Information System
Marketing Research (MR)
Definition
Scope of MR
MR Process
Ethical Issues in MR
Marketing Information System
MKIS & MR
Basic MKIS
Commercial Databases
Database Marketing
MIS in Action
Marketing Decision
Support System
Additional Reading:
Bearden, Chp 3)

2. Marketing Research (M R)
Definition & Concept
By AMA:
The Process that links the customer, consumer and the
public through information. This information is used to:
Identify & define the marketing opportunities
Generate, refine and evaluate the marketing actions
monitor the marketing performance
improve the understanding of marketing as a process
By Evans:
The systematic gathering, recording and analysing of
information about specific issues ( related to the marketing of
goods, services, organisations, people, places and ideas).

3. Marketing Research (MR) (Cont.....)
MR Tasks
Specifies the information required to address the issues;
Designs the methods for collecting information;
Manages and implements the data collection process;
Analyses the results;
Communicates the findings and implications .
From the definition & concepts as wells as the tasks, we could say that the emphasise of MR is the GENERATION of INFORMATION that assists in MANAGERIAL DECISION MAKING

4. MR: The Roles Professional Roles Managerial Roles
Role of Consultant; Designer; Analyst; Information Communication
Managerial Roles
In Planning - Guidance in DM and to allocate the use of resources more effectively;
Problem Solving;
Control.

5. Managerial Roles of MR Problem Solving: Planning:
Product - Which of various product designs is likely to be the most successful? What kind of packaging should we use?
Price - What price should we charge for our products? As production costs decline, should we lower our prices or try to develop higher quality products?
Place - Where & By whom, should our product be sold? What kinds of incentives should we offer the trade to push our products?
Promotion - How much should we spend on promotion? How should it be allocated to products and to geographic areas? What combination of media should we use?
Planning:
What Kinds of People buy our products, where do they live? How much do they earn? How many of them are there?
Are the markets for our products increasing or decreasing? Are there promising markets that we have not yet reached?
Are the channels of distribution for our products changing? Are new types of marketing institutions likely to evolve?

6. Managerial Roles of MR (Cont.....)
Control:
What is our market share overall? In each geographic
area? By each customer type?
Are customers satisfied with our products? How is our record for service? Are there many returns?
How does the public perceive our company? What is our reputation with the trade?

7. Marketing Research: The Scope
Industry & Market Characteristics & and Trends - Customer satisfaction studies, advance technology & single source data collection are among the growing trends.;
Market-Share Analysis;
Demand Analysis;
Concept Development and Testing;
Product Satisfaction;
Advertising Effectiveness;
Competitive-Pricing Analysis.

8. MR: Process Data Issues & Research Collection Problems Design
Definition
Research
Design
Data
Collection
Data
Analysis
&
Interpretation
Developments
of Data
Collection
Forms
Implementation

9. Issues & Problems Definition
Problems of business
Research problems need to be understand clearly by both, the managerial people as well as the researcher
Differences between the way things should be and the way things are
Focusing the real problems not the symptoms, by anticipating how the information will be used.
A good problems definition directs the research process toward collecting and analysing appropriate information for the purpose of decision making.

10. Issues & Problems Definition (Cont.....)
Precise Research Topic (Conclusive)
Why is turnover of sales personnel so high?
Do adults recall an advertisement the day after it appears?
Will a 10 % price reduction have a significant impact on sales?
Vague Research Topic (exploratory)
Why are sales declining
Is advertising effective?
Will a reduction in price increase sales volume?
If uncertain, then use
exploratory!!!!

11. Research Design
The strategies and plan of actions for addressing the research problems and the data collection and data analysis process
Problem definition normally suggests the approaches for determining the research design to use.
Research generally has three purposes:
Exploratory, Descriptive and causal.

12. Research Design (cont.....)
Exploratory Designs
For better understanding, to develop preliminary background and suggest issues for a more detailed follow-up studies
Literature Reviews, Case Analysis, Interviews with knowledgeable persons, in-depth interview, focus groups.
E.g: Evaluation of new-product concepts, environmental trend analysis, identification of product attribute importance
Descriptive Designs
A formal research questions or hypothesis
Cross-sectional surveys, panel studies, product movement surveys, store audits, telephone, mail, personal interviews.
E.g. Market potential, image studies, competitive positioning analysis, market characteristic examinations

13. Research Design (cont...)
Causal Design
To identify the cause & effect relationships
Experimental designs (lab & Field Studies)
Market tests
E.g. Evaluation of alternative marketing mix combination, (varying price levels, changing promotional appeals, reallocations of saleforce efforts).

14. Data Collection Primary Data Vs Secondary Data Data Collection methods
PD: Collected for specific purposes
SD: Already collected for some other purposes
Data Collection methods
Primary Data
Survey (Mail, Telephone)
Interviews (Mall Intercepts, Personal Interviews
Focus Group
Observation (personal & mechanical)
Secondary Data Internal Data (company Records, MDSS Data)
External Data (Proprietary -Custom research, syndicated services) (non-proprietary - Published report, census data, periodicals)

15. Data Collection (Cont....)
Data Collection Instruments
Survey or Questionnaire
Pre-test or Pilot test (on representative sample), revise accordingly.
Unambiguous, concise, unbiased questions
Structured & Unstructured, semi-structured
Questions:
Scale (likert agree - disagree, semantic differential e.g. important - unimportant)
Multichotomous (multiple choice)
Categorical
Open-ended

16. Developments of Data Collection Forms
Sampling: Decisions & Data collection Issues
Basic
Research
Questions
Probability
Versus
Non-probability
sampling
Specification of
Sampling
Frame
Sample
Size
Data
Collection:
Sampling,
Follow-up
& Verification
Time, Cost
&
Precision Constraints

17. Developments of Data Collection Forms (cont.)
Sampling: Requires analysis of selected people or objects in the designated population, rather than all of them.
Approaches:
Probability (random, stratified, clustering)
Non-Probability. (non-probability for limited cost & time)- Based on judgement & convenience.
Sizes: large more accurate but costly, based on judgement: large enough to give the user confidence in the results.
Frame: The outline of working description of the population used in sample selection.

18. Developments of Data Collection Forms (cont.)
Field Work
The process of contacting respondents, conducting interviews and completing surveys.

19. Data Analysis & Interpretation
Techniques: Varies & determined at the design stage.
Appropriate to the data collection method. Focus on the original problems and objectives of the research.
Complex - multivariate statistical tests;
Straight forward frequency distributions, means and percentages.
Statistical differences typically look at group differences or strength of association between marketing variables (e.g. ads. & sales, prices & sales).
Most frequently used :
Mean differences ( t-tests, analysis of variance)
Correlation tests (Chi-Square cross classification tests, Pearson correlation, regressions)

20. Evaluating the Research Design
Provide enough and accurate information?
How well the problems were addressed?
Information justify the research cost?
Validity & generalisability of the result?
Ethically sounds?
Incomplete reporting of results, misleading reporting and nonobjective research
Subsequent use of data, confidentiality of information
Consistent with relationship perspective (not for other parties).
Covering all the research aspects?

21. Implementation
Researcher communicate and present the research findings for the decision making,
Planning, control and problem solving
The findings / information should be presented in a simple and understandable form.
Report should focus on the original problems and objective of the research.
The result is presented to the appropriate parties for further actions.

22. International Considerations
Eight common errors in conducting international research projects.
Global Vs Domestic (experience is important)
Rigidity standardising methods across countries e.g. postal problems, communication systems)
Interviewing in English
Inappropriate sampling techniques
Communication with local research companies (working culture)
Considerations in language (especially in interpretation)
Misinterpreting data across countries
Effectiveness in conducting the qualitative research (training in psychology - for focus group in Europe), In asia, mixed-sex group do not yield useful information