Developing a Global Vision through Marketing Research

1. Developing a Global Visionthrough Marketing Research Chapter 8

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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.

5. International Marketing Research • International marketing research involves two additional complications: • Information must be communicated across cultural boundaries. • The environments in which research tools are applied are often different in foreign markets.

6. 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: • general information about the country, area, and/or market; • information necessary to forecast future marketing requirements by anticipating social, economic, consumer, and industry trends within specific markets or countries; and • specific market information used to make product, promotion, distribution, and price decisions and to develop marketing plans

7. The Research Process for All Countries

8. 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.

9. Problems with Secondary Data

10. 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: • 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?

11. Sources of Secondary Data:Websites for International Marketing • www.ita.doc.gov • www.usatradeonline.gov • http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/www/ • https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/ • http://www.cbp.gov/ • www.opic.gov • www.exim.gov

12. Sources of Secondary Data:Websites for International Marketing • 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/ • www.worldchambers.com • www.ipl.org/ref/RR/static/bus4700.html

13. Sources of Secondary Data:Websites for International Marketing • 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.

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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.

17. Problems with Primary Research • Ability to communicate opinions: • context • meaning • cultural habits • Willingness to respond

18. 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

19. 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

20. Problems with Primary Research • Language and comprehension • Back Translation • Parallel Translation • Decentering

21. 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

22. 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

23. 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

24. 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.

25. 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.

26. Analogy Example = 8-26

27. 8-27