1. Decision Support Systems and Marketing Research
Lamb, Hair, McDaniel
Chapter 9 Decision Support Systems and Marketing Research
CHAPTER 9
Decision Support Systems and Marketing Research
Marketing cannot be accomplished in isolation. Even though the marketing function resides with marketers, the concept of marketing must permeate the entire organization.

2. Marketing Decision Support Systems
Chapter 9 Decision Support Systems and Marketing Research
Marketing Decision Support Systems
There will be no questions on Marketing Decision Support Systems
Notes:
Marketing decision making relies on accurate and timely information. Good information is used to maximize sales, to use scarce company resources efficiently, and to prepare and adjust marketing plans.
The system used for gathering marketing information is called a marketing decision support system.
LO1

3. The Role of Marketing Research
Chapter 9 Decision Support Systems and Marketing Research
The Role of Marketing Research
Marketing Research
The process of planning, collecting, and analyzing data relevant to a marketing decision.
Notes:
Marketing research plays a key role in the marketing system. It provides data on the effectiveness of the marketing mix and insights for necessary changes.
Marketing research is a main data source for management information systems and DSS.
LO2

4. Marketing Research Studies
LO2
Chapter 9 Decision Support Systems and Marketing Research
Marketing Research Studies
Products
Advertising
Prices
Packages
Names and Logos
Services
Buying habits
Colors
Uses
Awareness
Familiarity
New concepts
Traffic patterns
Wants
Needs
Politics
Notes:
About $7 billion is spent each year on marketing research in the U.S. Studies include the listings on this slide.

5. The Role of Marketing Research
Chapter 9 Decision Support Systems and Marketing Research
The Role of Marketing Research
Diagnostic
Predictive
Descriptive
Gathering and presenting factual statements
Explaining data
“What if?”
Notes: Marketing research has three roles: descriptive, diagnostic, and predictive.
Descriptive: What is the historic sales trend in the industry? What are consumers’ attitudes toward a product?
Diagnostic: What was the impact on sales after a change in the package design?
Predictive: “What if questions,” such as how can descriptive and diagnostic research be used to predict the results of a marketing decision?
LO2

6. Management Uses of Marketing Research
Chapter 9 Decision Support Systems and Marketing Research
Management Uses of Marketing Research
Improve the quality of decision making
Trace problems
Focus on keeping existing customers
Understand the marketplace
Alert them to marketplace
trends
Gauge the value of goods
and services, and the level
of customer satisfaction
Beyond the Book
NOTE: Supplemental content – not in book.
LO2

7. The Importance of Marketing Research
Chapter 9 Decision Support Systems and Marketing Research
The Importance of Marketing Research
Why marketing research?
Improve quality of decision making
Trace problems
Focus on keeping existing customers
Understand changes in marketplace
LO2

8. Steps in a Marketing Research Project
Chapter 9 Decision Support Systems and Marketing Research
Steps in a Marketing Research Project
There will be no questions on this topic
Notes:
The scope of a marketing research project may range from several hundred dollars to millions of dollars. In any case, the same general research process should be followed.
LO3

9. Sources of Secondary Data
Chapter 9 Decision Support Systems and Marketing Research
Sources of Secondary Data
Government Agencies
Trade and Industry Associations
Business Periodicals
News Media
Internal Corporate Information
Online
Coca-Cola Store
When you are asked for your opinion on the Coke Store Web site, is Coca-Cola doing marketing research, or gathering information for a DSS? Read the whole survey before deciding. Which did you pick and why?
LO3

10. Advantages of Secondary Data
Chapter 9 Decision Support Systems and Marketing Research
Advantages of Secondary Data
Saves time and money if on target
Aids in determining direction for primary data collection
Pinpoints the kinds of people to approach
Serves as a basis of comparison for other data
LO3

11. Disadvantages of Secondary Data
Chapter 9 Decision Support Systems and Marketing Research
Disadvantages of Secondary Data
May not give adequate detailed information
May not be on target with the research problem
Quality and accuracy of data may pose a problem
LO3

12. Chapter 9 Decision Support Systems and Marketing Research
Primary Data
Information collected for the first time. Used for solving the particular problem under investigation.
Advantages:
Answers a specific research question
Data are current
Source of data is known
Secrecy can be maintained
Notes:
The main advantage of primary data is that they will answer a specific research question that secondary data cannot answer.
Primary data are current and the source of data is known.
Moreover, the information is proprietary.
LO3

13. Disadvantages of Primary Data
Chapter 9 Decision Support Systems and Marketing Research
Disadvantages of Primary Data
Expensive
“Piggybacking” may confuse respondents
Quality declines if interviews are lengthy
Reluctance to participate in lengthy interviews
Disadvantages are usually offset by the advantages of primary data.
Notes:
The cost of primary data may range from a few thousand dollars for a limited survey to several million for a nationwide study.
To save money, firms may cut back on the number of interviews, or piggyback studies by gathering data on two different projects using one questionnaire.
LO3

14. Survey Research LO3 Survey Research
Chapter 9 Decision Support Systems and Marketing Research
Survey Research
Survey Research
The most popular technique for gathering primary data in which a researcher interacts with people to obtain facts, opinions, and attitudes.
LO3

15. Forms of Survey Research
Chapter 9 Decision Support Systems and Marketing Research
Forms of Survey Research
Focus Groups
Executive Interviews
Mail Surveys
Telephone Interviews
Mall Intercept Interviews
In-Home Interviews
Notes:
In home personal interviews: Provide high-quality information, but are expensive because of travel time and mileage costs for the interviewer. Not a popular survey tool.
Mall Intercept interviews: Conducted in shopping malls or in a marketing research office in the mall. Surveys must be brief. It is hard to get a representative sample of the population. However, probing is possible.
Telephone interviews: Cost less and provide one of the best samples of any traditional survey procedure. Many facilities for telephone interviews utilize computer-assisted interviewing, where information is directly input into a computer application. The federal “Do Not Call” law does not apply to survey research.
Mail Surveys: Benefits are the low cost, elimination of interviews, centralized control, and anonymity for respondents. However, mail questionnaires usually produce low response rates. Consequently, the resulting sample may not represent the surveyed population. However, mail panels, consisting of a sample of households recruited to participate for a given period, yield response rates of 70 percent.
Executive interviews: Survey involves businesspeople at their offices regarding industrial products or services. This type of interviewing is expensive, due to the process of finding, qualifying, and interviewing respondents.
Focus groups: A type of personal interviewing, characterized by seven to ten people gathered in a meeting place. The interaction provides group dynamics, with an interplay of responses yielding richer information than individual interviews.
LO3

16. Questionnaire Design LO3 Open-Ended Question Closed-Ended
Chapter 9 Decision Support Systems and Marketing Research
Questionnaire Design
Open-Ended
Question
Closed-Ended
Scaled- Response
An interview question that encourages an answer phrased in respondent’s own words.
An interview question that asks
the respondent to make a selection from a limited list of responses.
A closed-ended question
designed to measure the intensity
of a respondent’s answer.
Notes:
Questionnaires contain three basic types of questions:
Open-ended questions
Closed-ended questions
Scaled-response questions.
LO3

17. Beyond the Book Questionnaire Design LO3
Chapter 9 Decision Support Systems and Marketing Research
Questionnaire Design
On the other hand, unless the researcher designs the closed-ended question very carefully, an important choice may be omitted.
Closed-ended and scaled-response questions are easier to tabulate than open-ended questions because response choices are fixed.
Beyond the Book
As mentioned in the slide, unless a researcher designs closed-ended questions very carefully, important choices may be omitted.
For example, suppose a food study asked this question: “Besides meat, which of the following items do you normally add to a taco that you prepare at home?”
A varied selection is provided. But suppose a respondent answers by saying, “I usually add a green, avocado-tasting hot sauce” or “I cut up a mixture of lettuce and spinach.”
How would you code these replies? As you can see, the questionnaire needs an “other” category.
LO3
NOTE: Supplemental content – not in book.

18. Reasonable terminology
Chapter 9 Decision Support Systems and Marketing Research
Questionnaire Design
Clear and concise
No ambiguous language
Unbiased
Reasonable terminology
Only one question
Online
CreateSurvey.com
Design a marketing questionnaire to post on your class Web site using the tools offered by Create Survey. Visit the demo polls on the site for ideas and tips.
Online
LO3

19. Observation Research LO3 Observation Research
Chapter 9 Decision Support Systems and Marketing Research
Observation Research
Observation Research
A research method that relies on three types of observation:
people watching people
people watching an activity
machines watching people
Notes:
Observation research is the systematic process of recording the behavioral patterns of people, objects, and occurrences without questioning them.
LO3

20. Observational Situations
Chapter 9 Decision Support Systems and Marketing Research
Observational Situations
Situation
People watching people
People watching phenomena
Machines watching people
Machines watching phenomena
Example
Mystery shoppers in a supermarket
Observer
at an intersection counting traffic
Video cameras recording behavior
Traffic-counting machine monitoring traffic flow
Notes:
Observation research depends on watching what people do. It may be conducted by human observers or machines.
LO3

21. Field Service Firms provide:
Chapter 9 Decision Support Systems and Marketing Research
Collecting the Data
Field Service Firms provide:
Focus group facilities
Mall intercept locations
Test product storage
Kitchen facilities
Retail audits
Notes:
Most primary data is collected by marketing research field service firms.
Field service firms conduct interviews, provide focus-group facilities, mall intercept locations, test product stores, and kitchen facilities to prepare test food products.
LO3

22. The Profound Impact of the Internet on Marketing Research
Chapter 9 Decision Support Systems and Marketing Research
The Profound Impact of the Internet on Marketing Research
Discuss the profound impact of the Internet on marketing research
LO4

23. Impact of the Internet LO4 Allows better and faster decision making
Chapter 9 Decision Support Systems and Marketing Research
Impact of the Internet
Allows better and faster decision making
Improves ability to respond quickly to customer needs and market shifts
Makes follow-up studies and tracking research easier
Slashes labor- and time-intensive research activities and costs
Notes:
Online Internet marketing research is being used by 88 percent of U.S. research firms.
The reasons for its success are shown on this slide.
LO4

24. Advantages of Internet Surveys
Chapter 9 Decision Support Systems and Marketing Research
Advantages of Internet Surveys
Contact with the
hard-to-reach
Improved respondent
participation
Personalized questions
and data
Reduced costs
Rapid development,
Real-time reporting
Notes:
Rapid development, real-time reporting: Survey results can be tabulated and broadcast in a much shorter time frame.
Reduced costs: Costs can be cut by 25 to 40 percent with results in half the time required for traditional telephone surveys.
Personalized questions and data: Personalization allows relevance to each respondent’s own situation, thus speeding the response process.
Improved respondent participation: Internet surveys take half as much time to complete as phone interviews and can be accomplished at the respondent’s convenience.
Contact with the hard-to-reach: Doctors, management, and high-income professionals are among the most surveyed and the most difficult to reach. Many of these groups are well represented online.
LO4

25. Uses of the Internet by Marketing Researchers
Chapter 9 Decision Support Systems and Marketing Research
Uses of the Internet by Marketing Researchers
Other types of marketing research
Conduct focus groups
Administer surveys
Online
Greenfield On-line
Find out how online focus groups work by signing up to be a participant. Check out some of Greenfield’s online surveys in the Survey Center.
Online
LO4

26. Methods of Collecting Online Surveys
Chapter 9 Decision Support Systems and Marketing Research
Methods of Collecting Online Surveys
Web Survey Systems
Survey Design and Web Hosting Sites
Online Panel Providers
LO4

27. Competitive Intelligence
Chapter 9 Decision Support Systems and Marketing Research
Competitive Intelligence
There will be no questions on competitive intelligence
LO7