The Role of Marketing Research Chapter 1

Marketing Mix Political/Legal Environment Economic Environment Competitive Environment Technological Environment Natural Environment Social Environment Churchill and Peter 1998) Source: The Marketing Environment

Marketing Research Defined The firm’s formal communication link with the environment. The function that links the consumer, customer & public to the marketer through information Definition provided by the American Marketing Association

What kind of Information? Information used to:  identify & define marketing opportunities & problems;  generate, refine, & evaluate marketing actions;  monitor marketing performance; and  improve our understanding of marketing as a process Definition provided by the American Marketing Association

Who Does Marketing Research? Producers of Products and Services Advertising Agencies Marketing Research Companies Can you think of any others?

When NOT to conduct Marketing Research Resources are lacking Research results would not be useful The opportunity has passed The decision has already been made Managers cannot agree on what they need to know to make a decision Decision-making information already exists The costs of conducting research outweigh the benefits taken from McDaniel & Gates (2005)

What Skills are Needed? Management skills (hire, train, supervise) Project planning Librarian (resource center) Questionnaire design, execution, pretest People skills (interviewer) Editing/Coding of questionnaires Statistical skills (number crunching) Report writing

Why Study Marketing Research? Some students eventually become marketing researchers. Everyone needs to be a smarter consumer of marketing research. Every manager needs to understand what marketing research CAN and CANNOT do.