Chapter 1

Marketing Research: A Pervasive Activity

Many people have a mistaken impression about marketing research. They believe it is simply
asking consumers what they think or feel about a certain brand or an advertisement. Although
marketing research does make use of consumer surveys, it involves much more than that.
Consider the following examples. 1
EXAMPLE After watching countless hours of videotapes of consumers entering various retail outlets
such as department stores, grocery stores, and banks, marketing researchers have advised against
investing in elaborate store displays for the first 30 feet from the entrance, the so-called
"decompression zone" in which shoppers are merely getting oriented to the store layout and are
not inclined to pick up merchandise for purchase. Similarly, the researchers noted that most
consumers are likely to veer right as they proceed into the store, not because most are righthanded, but because we drive on the rightBritish and Australian consumers veer left. 2
EXAMPLE Gillette develops new products (for example, Mach III razors) by watching consumers
shavenot by standing in their bathrooms, but by watching video from microcameras that have
been attached to razors that the consumers were using to shave. This closeup view shows clearly
what the blades do to the whiskers and surrounding skin, enabling Gillette to create more effective
shaving instruments, to make superior product claims, and to charge premium prices. 3
EXAMPLE When Wrigley found sales and market share for their Juicy Fruit gum declining, the
company asked teens who were frequent gum-chewers to find pictures that reminded them of the
gum and to write a short story about them. Marketing researchers studied each montage and
noted a common theme of "sweet tasting." Advertising was created with the tagline "Gotta Have
Sweet," which proved memorable, and sales rose 5 percent after the campaign. 4
EXAMPLE Many organizations are supplementing customer satisfaction surveys by deploying
"secret shoppers" to conduct discreet tests of the moments-of-truth between customers and
service providers. The secret shopper engages in a normal purchase transaction and reports back
to the firm his or her experience answering questions such as: Was the merchandise easy to find
and of high quality? Were the service people helpful? Could you get through to a knowledgeable
person when calling the company's 800 customer service center number? Did the Web site
function properly or were there dysfunctional links? 5
EXAMPLE In an attempt to speed up refueling and engender loyalty to its stations, Mobil Oil
Company test-marketed an electronic key-chain wand called a Speedpass in St. Louis. Customers
simply wave the device to activate the pump. The device automatically charges the gasoline
purchase to the purchaser's designated credit card when refueling is complete, without the

customer ever having to go inside the station or show the credit card. The Speedpass can be used
only at Mobil stations. 6
EXAMPLE Researchers are intrigued with the potential of online chat rooms as a focus group forum.
They cite large savings in travel expenses, because the participants can log in from all over the
world. They also say that new products or advertisements can be shown online just as easily as in
person, and they point out that the time-consuming and expensive step of transcribing focus
group tapes is unnecessary, because the online focus group is already conducted in text, which
may simply be downloaded and saved. Critics of online focus groups say that important cues and
reactions like nonverbal body language are lost in the online environment, but supporters respond
that they encourage online focus group participants to use emoticons, such as the smiley faces
[:)], and note that soon, video capabilities will allow all participants to see each other, simulating
more closely a traditional focus group. 7
EXAMPLE Dorothy Lane Market, in Dayton, Ohio, recently initiated a frequent-shopper program.
Customers sign up for the discount program by providing some personal information, such as
name and address, in exchange for a card, which the company uses to track buying habits. Price
discounts go only to club members, and the company's direct-mail promotions are customized to
reflect the individual's shopping habits. Not only are the store's customers happy that they don't
have to clip coupons to save, Dorothy Lane is more profitable. Moreover, the card has helped to
cut inventory and speed distribution. Because the card quickly reveals which products are selling
and how fast, the stores are more likely to get just what they need, when they need it, from their
suppliers.8
These examples simply scratch the surface regarding the scope of marketing research
activities. This book will provide a better perspective on what marketing research is and how it can
be used. For the moment, note that it involves more than asking individual consumers about their
likes and dislikes. Although consumer surveys are an important marketing research tool, other
methods are also used. The choice depends on the problem to be solved. The fundamental point is
that marketing research is a pervasive activity that can take many forms because its basic purpose
is to help managers make better decisions in any of their areas of responsibility.

Role of Marketing Research

Anyone planning a career in business should understand what marketing research can do. Every
day, marketing managers are called upon to make decisions, sometimes minor, sometimes farreaching, each of which will be better-informed and likely to produce better results with the
intelligent use of marketing research. Effective decision making depends on quality input, and
marketing research plays an essential role in translating data into useful information. Any business
seeking an edge in attracting and retaining customers in competitive market environments turns
to marketing. And in turn, marketing can create strategies to work toward these goals of attraction
and retention, if the business understands its customers. This understanding comes through
marketing research, both periodic projects directed toward specific problems at hand, and
continuing, ongoing measurement of the marketplace.
Beyond marketing researchers and marketers, the success of one's career in many related
fields would be enhanced by a working knowledge of marketing research. For example, much of
management consulting is fundamentally marketing research. Entrepreneurs enhance their
likelihood of staying in business by understanding their new and growing customer base. Financial
analysts need to understand the perceptions of their consumer and business customers in order to
sell their products. Those Internet service providers who invest the time to understand what their
customers value will be around long after their less knowledgeable upstarts crash. People beyond
traditional business boundaries also benefit from research. For example, land planners use

marketing research to understand better the desires of their constituentsanything from shopping
mall site location to where a new neighborhood park might be built. Politicians use marketing
research to plan campaign strategies. As much as citizens protest negative ad campaigns, such
ads continue because they are memorable and advertising agencies measure success in part
through short-term memory measures. Clergy and congregations use marketing research to
determine when to hold services, what genre of worship music to play, and how to serve the
different segments in the congregation.
You may recall from your introductory course in marketing that the principal task of marketing
is to create value for customers, where customer value is the difference between customer
perceptions of the benefits they receive from purchasing and using products and services, and
their perceptions of the costs they incur in exchange for them. Customers who are willing and able
to make exchanges will do so when (1) the benefits of exchanges exceed the costs of exchanges,
and (2) the products or services offer superior value compared to alternatives. In their attempts to
create customer value, marketing managers generally focus their efforts on the elements of the
marketing mix, or the four Psthe product or service, its price, its placement or the channels in
which it is distributed, and its promotion or communications mix.
The marketing manager's essential task is to develop a marketing strategy that involves
combining the marketing mix elements in such a way that they complement each other and
positively influence customers' value perceptions and behaviors. This task would be much simpler
if all the elements that affect customers' perceptions of value were under the manager's control
and if customer reaction to any contemplated change could be predicted with certainty. Usually,
however, a number of factors affecting the success of the marketing effort, including economic,
political and legal, social, natural, technological, and competitive environments, are beyond the
marketing manager's control, and the behavior of individual customers is largely unpredictable.
Figure 1.1 summarizes the task of marketing management. Customers are the target because
they are the focus of the firm's activities. Their satisfaction is achieved through simultaneous
adjustments in the elements of the marketing mix, but the results of these adjustments are
uncertain because the marketing task takes place within an uncontrollable environment (see
Figure 1.2). Consequently, as director of the firm's marketing activities, the marketing manager has
an urgent, continuous need for informationand marketing research is responsible for providing it.
Marketing research is the firm's formal communication link with the customer and environment. It
is the means by which the firm generates, transmits, and interprets information from the customer
and environment about or relating to the success of the firm's marketing plans.
The American Marketing Association's (AMA) definition of marketing research emphasizes its
information-linkage role (ama.org):
Marketing research is the function which links the consumer, customer, and public to the marketer
through informationinformation used to identify and define marketing opportunities and problems;
generate, refine, and evaluate marketing actions; monitor marketing performance; and improve our
understanding of marketing as a process.

Note that this definition indicates that marketing research provides information to the marketer for
use in at least four areas: (1) the generation of ideas for marketing action, including the
identification of marketing problems and opportunities; (2) the evaluation of marketing actions; (3)
the comparison of performance versus objectives; and (4) the development of general
understanding of marketing phenomena and processes. Further, marketing research is involved
with all phases of the information-management process, including: (1) the specification of what
information is needed; (2) the collection and analysis of the information; and (3) the interpretation
of that information with respect to the objectives that motivated the study in the first place.
A periodic survey (Table 1.1) conducted by the American Marketing Association details how
many organizations use marketing research. 9 Much research, for example, is done to measure
consumer wants and needs. Other research assesses the impact of previous adjustments in the

marketing mix or gauges the potential impact of new changes. Some research deals directly with
the environment, such as studies of legal constraints on advertising and promotion and studies of
social values, business policy, and business trends.
Another way of looking at the function of marketing research is to consider how management
uses it. Some marketing research is used for planning, some for problem solving, and some for
control. When used for planning, it deals largely with determining which marketing opportunities
are viable and which are not promising for the firm. Also, when workable opportunities are
uncovered, marketing research provides estimates of their size and scope, so that marketing
management can better assess the resources needed to develop them. Problem-solving marketing
research focuses on the short- or long-term decisions that the firm must make with respect to the
elements of the marketing mix. Control-oriented marketing research helps management to isolate
trouble spots and to keep abreast of current operations. The kinds of questions marketing research
can address with regard to planning, problem solving, and control decisions are listed in Table 1.2.
It is important to highlight the key role of marketing research in the decision-making process.
Marketing research is an essential element of marketing. Consider the following:

"Market research is crucial to a corporation's marketing process." So says Herb Baum, President and
CEO of Hasbro Inc. toy manufacturer. "I don't think anybody ought to be making marketing decisions
without some form of research, because you can waste a lot of time and money. What it really does is
it helps you understand your . . . customers." 10

In addition, the communication link that marketing research serves between the firm and its
customers and its environment is becoming increasingly critical and difficult as the world moves to
a highly competitive global economy. Firms operating in the international arena often use
marketing research to get a perspective on what it is like to do business in specific countries. Some
of the questions that marketing research has been used to investigate in this capacity are listed in
Table 1.3. Globalization of marketing research naturally follows the globalization of large,
multinational clients, and just as products are adapted and tailored for local cultures and tastes, it
is also important to recognize that for research too, what works in one environment does not
necessarily work in another (see Research Realities 1.1). Marketing researchers point to
international business as one of three key influences on changes in how they conduct their
businessthe other two factors being the Internet and one-to-one marketing:

The Internet, globalization, and one-to-one marketing are expected to be the primary influences on
marketing research, says a survey of marketing research professionals. Interactive research and
virtual reality are expected to flourish over the Internet and future broadband electronic
communications technologies. The globalization of business will drive more cross-cultural research, to
recognize increasing diversity and changing demographic bases. And as companies build
relationships with their customers as unique individuals, they will need marketing and marketing
research like never beforejust who is this customer and what does he or she want? "Marketing
research in the 21st century may be barely recognizable by a 20th century researcher" and the
marketing research industry will be under more pressure to attract top talent. 11

We say more about the Internet later in this chapter and throughout the book, and we examine
some one-to-one direct marketing and database marketing issues in the next chapter. See Table
1.4 for a summary of current marketplace phenomena that are impacting marketing research and
increasing its applicability and importance.

Who Does Marketing Research?

Marketing research, as a significant business activity, owes its existence to the shift from a
production-oriented to a consumption-oriented economy that occurred in this country at the end of
World War II. However, some marketing research was conducted before the war, and the origins of
formal marketing research predate the war by a good number of years:

More by accident than foresight, N. W. Ayer & Son applied marketing research to marketing and
advertising problems. In 1879, in attempting to fit a proposed advertising schedule to the needs of
the Nichols-Shepard Company, manufacturers of agricultural machinery, the agency wired state
officials and publishers throughout the country requesting information on expected grain production.
As a result, the agency was able to construct a crude but formal market survey by states and
counties. This attempt to construct a market survey is probably the first real instance of marketing
research in the United States. 12

There were even formal marketing research departments and marketing research firms before
World War II.13 However, marketing research really began to grow when firms found they could no
longer sell all they could produce but rather had to gauge market needs and produce accordingly.
Marketing research was called upon to estimate these needs. As consumer discretion became
more important, there was a concurrent shift in the orientation of many firms. Marketing began to
assume a more dominant role and production a less important one. The marketing concept
emerged and along with it, a reorganization of the marketing effort. Many marketing research
departments were born in these reorganizations. The growth of these departments was stimulated
by a number of factors, including past successes, increased management sophistication, and the
data revolution created by the invention of the computer. The success of firms with marketing
research departments caused still other firms to establish departments.
Currently, the firm that does not have a formal marketing research department, or at least a
person assigned specifically to the marketing research activity, is the exception rather than the
rule (see Figure 1.3). Marketing research departments are prevalent among industrial and
consumer manufacturing companies, but they also exist in other types of companies. Publishers
and broadcasters, for example, do a good deal of research to generate statistics on market
coverage to measure the size of the audience reached by the message and to provide a
demographic profile of this audience. These data are then used to sell advertising space or time.
Financial service companies also use marketing research. Much of the research done by these
departments involves forecasting, measurement of market potentials, determination of market
characteristics, market share analyses, sales analyses, location analyses, and product mix studies.
Many advertising agencies have formal research departments. Much of the research conducted
by these agencies involves such things as studying the effectiveness of alternative ad copy and
optimizing the frequency of exposures of customers to ads. Many agencies also do marketing
research for their clients, for example, measuring the market potential of the brand they are
advertising, or the client firm's market share.
The enterprises included in the "all others" category shown in Figure 1.3, described earlier,
include public utilities, transportation companies, and trade associations, among others. Public
utilities and transportation companies provide their customers with statistics on area growth and
market potential. Trade associations collect and disseminate operating data gathered from their
members.
The entire spectrum of marketing research activity also includes specialized marketing
research and consulting firms, government agencies, and universities. Most specialized research
firms are small, but a few are quite large. Research Realities 1.2, for example, shows the revenues
of the largest U.S. marketing research firms and the proportion of their revenues generated outside
the United States. Some firms provide syndicated research; they collect certain information on a
regular basis, which they then sell to interested clients. The syndicated services include such
operations as ACNielsen, which provides product movement data for grocery stores and
drugstores, and the NPD Group, which operates a consumer panel. The syndicated services are

distinguished by the fact that their research is not custom designed, except in the limited sense
that the firm will perform special analyses for the client from the data it regularly collects. Other
research firms, though, specialize in custom-designed research. Some of these provide only a field
service; they collect data and return the data-collection instruments directly to the research
sponsor. Some are limited-service firms that not only collect the data but also analyze them for the
client. And some are full-service research suppliers that help the client in the design of the
research as well as in collecting and analyzing data.
Government agencies provide much marketing information in the form of published statistics.
In fact, the federal government is the largest producer of marketing facts through its various
censuses and other publications. 14
Much university-sponsored research of interest to marketers is produced by the marketing
faculty or centers on business research found in business schools. Faculty research is often
reported in marketing journals, whereas research centers often publish monographs (such as
"white papers") on topics of interest.

Organization of Marketing Research

The organizational form of marketing research depends largely on the size and organizational
structure of the individual company. In small firms, where one person often handles all the
organization's research needs, there are few organizational questions other than determining to
whom the research director will report. Most often, this will be the sales or marketing manager,
although some marketing research managers report directly to the president or the executive vice
president. Larger research units can take a variety of organizational forms, often one of these:
1.
2.

3.

Organization by areas of application, for example, by product line, brand, market segment, and
geographic area.
Organization by marketing function performed, for example, field sales analysis, advertising
research, or product planning. An important new variant of this type of organization is the
development in marketing research firms, advertising agencies, and manufacturers of centers,
or groups of people, whose responsibilities focus on the Internetboth e-commerce and
electronic forms of research, as described in Research Realities 1.3.
Organization by research technique or approach, for example, sales models, mathematical
and/or statistical analysis, field interviewing, or questionnaire design.

Many firms with very large marketing research departments combine two or more of these
organizational structures.
The organizational structure of the firm itselfparticularly whether it is centralized or
decentralizedalso affects the organization of the marketing research function. With decentralized
companies, the fundamental question is whether each division or operating unit should have its
own marketing research department, whether a single department in central headquarters should
serve all operating divisions, or whether there should be research departments at both levels. The
primary advantages of a corporate-level location are greater coordination and control of corporate
research activity, economy, increased capability from an information system perspective, and
greater usefulness to corporate management in planning. The primary advantage of a division or
group-level location is that it allows research personnel to acquire valuable knowledge about
divisional markets, products, practices, and problems. Even though shifting between the corporate
and divisional structures occurs quite frequently, the recent trend is toward a mixed arrangement
in an attempt to secure the advantages of each.
For example, Kodak has a combination centralized/decentralized marketing research function.
The people in the divisions work directly with managers of those business units. The centralized
group is responsible for staying abreast of industry trends and changing technology, because

changes here could affect numerous business units. Researchers assigned to corporate marketing
research are also responsible for competitive analysis to ensure the most objective view. Finally,
the centralized group serves as a quality control center for the research activity. Division-initiated
projects are passed before this group for possible changes in method. One benefit of this review is
that it provides better ways to approach specific tasks.
The Japanese are more likely to view research as a "line" function performed by all involved in
the decision process rather than as a "staff" function performed by professional marketing
researchers. Those involved in the decision team may play a role in gathering and interpreting
information. For example, in developing its "Pro Mavica" professional still-video system, which,
unlike conventional 35mm still cameras, records digital images on a two-inch-square floppy disk,
Sony did extensive marketing research. This research involved a mail survey, personal and
telephone interviews, and on-site tests to elicit user response to the product during its
development. A unique aspect was that the Pro Mavica task force included both engineers and
sales/marketing representatives from Sony's medical systems and broadcast units. In addition to
working with their marketing peers, Sony's engineers gained insights from talking with prospects;
they then incorporated user comments into product modifications. 15
The most appropriate summary comment about the organization of the marketing research
function is that this organization may be expected to be dynamic and ever-changing. It will depend
on the relative importance of the marketing research function within the firm, on the scale and
complexity of the research activities to be conducted, and on the firm's philosophy as to how
marketing research should interface with the firm's decision making. The data indicate that large
firms, for example, are likely to spend a larger proportion of the marketing budget on research
than are small firms. As the firm's size and market position change, the emphasis and organization
of the marketing research function must also change so that it is continually tailored to suit the
firm's information needs.
One important change that has been occurring in marketing research in recent years is the
transition from a specific-problem perspective to a total marketing intelligence perspective. This
perspective is usually called a marketing information system (MIS) or decision support system
(DSS).16 The emphasis in such systems is on diagnosing the information needs of each of the
marketing decision makers so that these people have the kinds of information they need, when
they need it, to make the kinds of decisions they must make. We shall have more to say on
marketing intelligence systems in the next chapter.

Employment Opportunities in Marketing Research

It is important to acknowledge once more that consultants, entrepreneurs, Internet marketers, and
many more types of business people will frequently find themselves conducting and using
marketing research to enhance their business efforts. Thus, it is important that the reader whose
heart is set on one of these career paths think creatively about how to incorporate marketing
research into his or her corporate responsibilities. In addition, it is important to be a
knowledgeable and discerning consumer of marketing research. That is, whether one conducts the
research or commissions it, it is important to be able to evaluate the quality of the research and its
implications or caveats. It is true that CEOs may not be analyzing spreadsheets on a daily basis,
but they do not forget that marketing research helps them understand their customers. Marketing
research is the premier means to competitive advantages.
Having made the point that marketing research opportunities abound, in this section, we
describe the traditional kinds of job opportunities that have marketing research as its central
focus. Even with this narrower focus, it is difficult to generalize about the kinds of tasks a
marketing researcher might perform. The responsibilities will depend upon the type, size,
organizational structure, and philosophy of the firm with which the individual is employed. They
will also depend upon whether the person works for a research supplier or for a consumer of
research information.

The responsibilities of a marketing researcher could range from the simple tabulation of
questionnaire responses to the management of a large research department. Research Realities
1.4 lists some common job titles and the functions typically performed by occupants of these
positions. These job descriptions make clear that there are opportunities in marketing research for
people with a variety of skills. One could find a career as a technical specialist, a statistician, or a
research generalist managing others, such as a research director. The skills required to perform
each job satisfactorily will, of course, vary. 17
The typical entry-level position in consumer goods companies (for example, Kraft, General
Motors, Procter & Gamble) is analyst, usually for a specific brand. While learning the
characteristics and details of the industry, the analyst will receive on-the-job training from a
research manager. The usual progression of responsibilities is to senior analyst, research
supervisor, and research manager for a specific brand, after which time the researcher's
responsibilities broaden to include a group of brands.
The typical entry-level position among research suppliers (such as ACNielsen, Information
Resources, Market Facts, and NPD) is that of research trainee, a position which offers exposure to
the types of studies in which the supplier specializes and procedures that are followed in
completing them. Trainees may spend some time actually conducting interviews, coding
completed data collection forms, or possibly even assisting with the analysis. The idea behind
these simple tasks is to expose trainees to the processes that are followed in the firm so that when
they become account representatives, they will be sufficiently familiar with the firm's capabilities
to be able to develop intelligent responses, perhaps in the form of formal quotations, to client
needs for research information. Research Realities 1.5 presents recent job listings, in both
marketing research supplier and buyer firms, which gives some representation of the variety of
employment possibilities.
In particular, there is a need for technically skilled marketing researchershigh-level data
analysts and methodologists. Their skills are crucial to the excellence of a marketing research firm,
and these talented people are in short supply. Usually these researchers have training from several
of the following areas: probability and statistics, multivariate statistics and modeling, psychology,
psychometric measurement, marketing research, sociology, consumer buying behavior,
microeconomics, marketing management, and business communications. They stay current in
methodologies by subscribing to academic journals, such as the Journal of Marketing Research, the
Journal of Consumer Psychology, and the Journal of the American Statistical Association, and by
attending professional development conferences such as the American Marketing Association's
Advanced Research Techniques Forum and those sponsored by the Advertising Research
Foundation. Without these talented professionals, a great deal of analytical software (for example,
a statistical package) would be implemented by people with no understanding of models or
consumers, which could yield erroneous results, which would be immediately detrimental to the
research buyer, and ultimately would impact the marketing research supplier. "If we [marketing
researchers] are to continue to grow as a business and a profession, we should recognize [these
highly skilled methodologists] and nurture [their] growth" (p. 25). 18
A successful marketing researcher needs human relations, communication, conceptual, and
analytical skills. Marketing researchers must be able to interact effectively with others, because
they rarely work in isolation. They should be able to communicate well both orally and in writing. If
researchers cannot communicate the results and discuss what the results mean, it makes little
difference what they know or how good the research is. They need to understand business in
general and marketing processes in particular. When dealing with brand, advertising, sales, or
other managers, they must understand the issues with which these managers contend and the
types of mental models they use to make sense of the situations. Marketing researchers also
should have some basic numerical and statistical skills, or at least they should be capable of
developing those skills. They must be comfortable with numbers and the techniques of marketing
research. Their growth as professionals and their advancement within their organization will
depend on their use of these skills and their acquisition of other technical, management, and
financial skills.

An increasingly common career path for those working in divisional structures is to switch from
the research department to product or brand management. One advantage these people possess
is that after working intimately with marketing intelligence, they often know as much or more
about customers, the industry, and the competitors as anyone in the company with the same
amount of experience. Researchers desiring this switch need more substantive knowledge about
marketing phenomena and greater business acumen in general than those planning on staying in
marketing research, although all researchers need a good foundation of business and marketing
knowledge if they are going to succeed.
It is important to recognize that marketing research is a profession and that marketing
researchers are professionals. Qualities of professionalism that have been applied to professions
as varied as doctors, lawyers, accountants, and aeronautical engineers characterize marketing
researchers as well. Marketing researchers report that they generally feel that they can do much of
their work fairly autonomously, they enjoy a good variety in their work responsibilities, and
generally proceed without too much bureaucracy or rules, all of which contribute to their
employment satisfaction and esprit de corps among marketing researchers. 19
Successful marketing researchers tend to be proactive rather than reactivethey identify and
lead the direction in which the individual studies and overall programs go rather than simply
respond to explicit requests for information. Successful marketing researchers realize that
marketing research is conducted for only one reasonto help make better marketing decisions.
Summary
This chapter presented an overview of the nature of marketing research, its usefulness in marketing decision
making, the extent to which it is currently being used and by what types of companies, and the organization
of the research function. By definition, marketing research is the function that links the consumer, customer,
and public to the marketer through information, which is used to identify and define marketing opportunities
and problems; to generate, refine, and evaluate marketing actions; to monitor marketing performance; and to
improve understanding of marketing as a process.
Marketing research is indeed a pervasive activity. Marketing research departments exist in most large
firms and among most types of companies. Marketing research has been employed in every domain of
marketing management.
No one form of organization dominates the marketing research function. Rather, the research activity is
typically organized to reflect the specific firm's unique needs. Two factors that bear heavily on this
organization are the firm's size and the degree of centralization of its operations.
Job opportunities in marketing research are good and are getting better. There is a great deal of variety in
the positions available and in the skills needed for them. Most positions require analytical, communication,
and human relations skills. Marketing researchers must be comfortable working with numbers and statistical
techniques and must be familiar with a great variety of marketing research methods and techniques.

Questions
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

7.

What is marketing management's task? What is marketing research's task? What is the relation between
the two tasks?
How is marketing research defined? What are the key elements of this definition?
Who does marketing research? What are the primary kinds of research done by each enterprise?
How would you explain the fact that production research began in the 1860s but that marketing research
did not develop formally until the 1910s and did not experience real growth until after World War II?
What factors influence the internal organization of the marketing research department and its reporting
location within the company?
In a large research department, who would be responsible for specifying the objective of a research
project? For deciding on specific procedures to be followed? For designing the questionnaire? For
analyzing the results? For reporting the results to top management?
What are the necessary skills for employment in a junior or entry-level marketing research position? Do
the skills change as one changes job levels? If so, what new skills are necessary at these higher levels?

8.

How might your responsibilities vary if you conducted marketing research at the
following:

a marketing research firm

an ad agency
a large consumer packaged goods manufacturer
an Internet startup company

Applications and Problems

1.

2.

3.

Discuss whether or not marketing research would be valuable for the organizations that follow. If you
believe that marketing research would be valuable, describe in detail how it would be used to aid in
decision making.
a. A bank
b. A multinational oil company
c. A retail shoe store with only one outlet
d. A Mercedes dealership in Lafayette, Louisiana
e. A candidate for the U.S. Congress, representing a district in Chicago
f. The Los Angeles Lakers
g. A distributor of large-screen televisions, operating in Mexico City
h. The English Department at your university
i. A wheat farmer in Nebraska with 850 acres
What do the two following research situations have in common?
Situation I: The SprayIt Company marketed a successful insect repellent. The product was effective and a
leader in the market. The product was available in blue aerosol cans with red caps. The instructions were
clearly specified on the container in addition to a warning to keep the product away from children. Most of
the company's range of products were also produced by competitors in similar containers. The chief
executive officer (CEO) was worried because of declining sales and shrinking profit margins. Another
issue that perturbed him was that companies such as his were being severely criticized by government
and consumer groups for their use of aerosol cans. The CEO contacted the company's advertising agency
and asked it to do the necessary research to find out what was happening.
Situation II: This past April, the directors of a nearby university were considering expanding the business
school because of increasing enrollment during the past 10 years. Their plans included constructing a
new wing, hiring five new faculty members, and increasing the number of scholarships from 100 to 120.
The funding for this ambitious project was to be provided by private sources, internally generated funds,
and the state and federal governments. A previous research study completed five years earlier, using a
sophisticated forecasting method, indicated that student enrollment would have peaked last year.
Another study, conducted three years ago, indicated that universities could expect gradual declining
enrollments during the next 10 years. The directors were concerned about the results of the later study
and the talk it stimulated about budget cuts by the state and federal governments. A decision to conduct
a third and final study was made to determine likely student enrollment.
What do the two following research situations have in common?
Situation I: The sales manager of CanAl, an aluminum can manufacturing company, was wondering
whether the company's new cans, which would be on the market in two months, should be priced higher
than the traditional products. He confidently commented to the vice president of marketing, "Nobody in
the market is selling aluminum cans with screw-on tops; we can get a small portion of the market and yet
make substantial profits." The product manager disagreed with this strategy. In fact, she was opposed to
marketing these new cans. The cans might present problems in preserving the contents. She thought,
"Aluminum cans are recycled, so nobody is going to keep them as containers." There was little she could
do formally because these cans were the president's own idea. She strongly recommended to the vice
president that the cans should be priced in line with the other products. The vice president thought a
marketing research study would resolve this issue.
Situation II: A large toy manufacturer was in the process of developing a tool kit for children from 5 to 10
years old. The tool kit included a small saw, screwdriver, hammer, chisel, and drill. This tool kit was

4.

5.

different from the competitors', as it included an instruction manual, "101 Things to Do." The product
manager was concerned about the safety of the kit and recommended the inclusion of a separate booklet
for parents. The sales manager recommended that the tool kit be made available in a small case, as this
would increase its marketability. The advertising manager recommended a special promotional campaign
be launched to distinguish this tool kit from that of the competitors. The vice president thought that all
the recommendations were worthwhile but the costs would increase drastically. She consulted the
marketing research manager, who further recommended that a study be conducted.
Evaluate the research in the following example:
The HiFlyer Airline company was interested in altering the interior layout of its aircraft to suit the
tastes and needs of an increasing segment of its marketbusiness people. Management was considering
reducing the number of seats and installing small tables to enable business people to work during long
flights. Prior to the renovation, management decided to do some research to ensure that these changes
would suit the needs of the passengers. To keep expenses to a minimum, the following strategy was
employed:
The questionnaires were completed by passengers during a flight. Because they were easy to
administer and collect, the questionnaires were distributed only on the short flights (those less than one
hour). The study was conducted during the second and third weeks of December, because that was when
flights were full. To increase the response rate, each flight attendant was responsible for a certain number
of questionnaires. The management thought this was a good time to acquire as much information as
possible, so the questionnaire included issues apart from the new seating arrangement. As a result, the
questionnaire took 20 minutes to complete. After the study, management decided that the study would
not be repeated, because the information was insightful enough.
Specify some useful sources of marketing research information for the following situation:
Dissatisfied with the availability of ingredients for his favorite dishes, Albert Lai would like to open his
own retail ethnic grocery store. Based on the difficulty of finding many specialty ingredients, Albert
realizes the need for a local wholesale distributor specializing in hard-to-find ethnic foodstuffs. He
envisions carrying items commonly used in Asian and Middle-Eastern recipes.
With the help of a local accountant, Albert prepared a financial proposal that revealed the need for
$150,000 in start-up capital for Lai's Asian Foods. The proposal was presented to a local bank for review
by its commercial loan committee, and Albert subsequently received the following letter from the bank:

Dear Mr. Lai:

We have received and considered your request for start-up financing for your proposed business.
While the basic idea is sound, we find that your sales projections are based solely on your own
experience and do not include any hard documentation concerning the market potential for the
products you propose to carry. Until such information is made available for our consideration, we have
no choice but to reject your loan application.

6.

Albert does not wish to give up on his business idea because he truly believes that there is a market
for these ethnic food products. Given his extremely limited financial resources, where and how might he
obtain the needed information? (Hint: First determine what types of information might be useful.)
Suppose that you have decided to pursue a career in the field of marketing research. In general, what
types of courses should you take in order to help achieve your goal? Why? What types of part-time jobs,
internships, and volunteer work would look good on your resume? Why?

Thorndike Sports Equipment Video Case

1.
2.

If you were interviewing for a position as a research analyst with Thorndike Sports Equipment, what
company research would you do to prepare for the meeting with Thorndike's president?
Would Joyce Hernandez's position be described as marketing research? Explain.

3.
4.

Imagine that Luke, the president of Thorndike Sports, is boasting to you that the company is customerdriven because of the existence of an 800 telephone number. How would you respond to this statement?
What changes to the customer service department are necessary to make it an integral part of the
research department?

Endnotes
1

Do not worry if some of the terms and data collection methods mentioned in the examples are unfamiliar, as they are
described later in the book. The intent in the examples is simply to provide some flavor of the types of problems that
marketing research is used to address and some of the approaches that are used.
2

Kenneth Labich, "Attention Shoppers: This Man Is Watching You," Fortune (July 19, 1999), pp. 131134.

"Innovation Miniseries," Industry Week (July 19, 1999), p. 38.

Jennifer Lach, "How Sweet It Is," American Demographics (March 2000), pp. s4s21.
Bob Donath, "It's Time for You to Be a 'Mystery Inquirer,'" Marketing News (January 17, 2000), p. 6.

5
6

Del Jones, "Mobil Speedpass Makes Gas a Point-at-Pump Purchase," USA Today (February 20, 1997), p. B1.

James Heckman, "Turning the Focus Online," Marketing News (February 28, 2000), pp. 1516.

Calmetta Y. Coleman, "Finally, Supermarkets Find Ways to Increase Their Profit Margins," The Wall Street Journal (May 29,
1997), pp. A1, A6.
9
Thomas C. Kinnear and Ann R. Root, 1994 Survey of Marketing Research (Chicago: American Marketing Association, 1995).
This survey is the ninth in a series begun in 1947.
10
Michelle Wirth Fellman, "Marketing Research Is 'Critical,'" Marketing Research 11 (Fall 1999), pp. 45.
11
Doss Struse, "Marketing Research's Top 25 Influences," Marketing Research 11 (Spring 2000), pp. 59.
12

From Lawrence C. Lockley, History and Development of Marketing Research, in Robert Ferber, ed., Handbook of Marketing Research, pp. 14. Copyright
1974 by McGraw-Hill, 1974. Used with permission of McGraw-Hill Book Company.
13

The Curtis Publishing Company is generally conceded to have formed the first formal marketing research department with
the appointment of Charles Parlin as manager of the Commercial Research Division of the Advertising Department in 1911. The
ACNielsen Company, the largest marketing research firm in the world, began operation in 1934. For a detailed treatment of the
development of marketing research, see Robert Bartels, The Development of Marketing Thought (Homewood, IL: Irwin, 1962),
pp. 106124, or Jack J. Honomichl, Marketing Research People: Their Behind-the-Scenes Stories (Chicago: Crain Books, 1984),
especially pp. 95184.
14
Some government publications containing useful marketing information are reviewed in the appendix to Chapter 6.
18
William D. Neal, "The Marketing Research Methodologist: Demand Is Outstripping Our Supply of These Specialists," Marketing
Research 10 (Spring 1998), pp. 2125.
19
Robert F. Lusch and Matthew O'Brien, "Fostering Professionalism," Marketing Research 9 (Spring 1997), pp. 2531; Thomas E.
Boyt, Robert F. Lusch, and Drue K. Schuler, "Fostering Esprit de Corps in Marketing," Marketing Management 6 (Spring 1997),
pp. 2127.

FIGURE 1.1

The Task of Marketing Management

Source: Gilbert A. Churchill, Jr. and J. Paul Peter, Marketing: Creating Value for Customers, 2nd ed. (Burr Ridge, IL: Irwin/McGraw Hill, 1998), p. 22.

FIGURE 1.2

THE ENVIRONMENTS AFFECTING MARKETING

Source: Gilbert A. Churchill, Jr. and J. Paul Peter, Marketing: Creating Value for Customers, 2nd ed. (Burr Ridge, IL: Irwin/McGraw-Hill, 1998), p. 29.

FIGURE 1.3

Organization for Marketing Research

*Excludes marketing research and consulting firms.

Source: Thomas C. Kinnear and Ann R. Root, 1994 Survey of Marketing Research, p. 7. Reprinted with permission from American Marketing
Association, Chicago, IL 60606.
TABLE 1.1

Research Activities of 587 Companies

A. Business/Economic and Corporate Research

% Engaged in Activity
A. Business/Economic and Corporate Research
1. Industry/market characteristics and trends
2. Acquisition/diversification studies
3. Market share analyses
4. Internal employee studies (morale, communications, and so on)
B. Pricing
1. Cost analysis
2. Profit analysis
3. Price elasticity
4. Demand analysis
a. market potential
b. sales potential
c. sales forecasts
5. Competitive pricing analyses

92%
50
85
72

57%
55
56
78
75
71
71

C. Product
1. Concept development and testing
2. Brand name generation and testing
3. Test market
4. Product testing of existing products
5. Packaging design studies
6. Competitive product studies

78%
55
55
63
48
54

D. Distribution
1. Plant/warehouse location studies
2. Channel performance studies
3. Channel coverage studies
4. Export and international studies

25%
39
31
32

E. Promotion
1. Motivation research
2. Media research
3. Copy research
4. Advertising effectiveness
a. prior to marketplace airing
b. during marketplace airing
5. Competitive advertising studies
6. Public image studies
7. Sales force compensation studies
8. Sales force quota studies
9. Sales force territory structure
10. Studies of premiums, coupons, deals, etc.
F. Buying Behavior

56%
70
68
67
66
43
65
34
28
32
47

1. Brand preference
2. Brand attitudes
3. Product satisfaction
4. Purchase behavior
5. Purchase intentions
6. Brand awareness
7. Segmentation studies

78%
76
87
80
79
80
84

Source: Thomas C. Kinnear and Ann R. Root, 1994 Survey of Marketing Research, 1995, p. 49. Reprinted with permission from American
Marketing Association, Chicago, IL 60606.

TABLE 1.2

Kinds of Questions Marketing Research Can Help Answer

A. Planning
1. Segmentation: What kinds of people buy our products? Where do they live? How much do they earn? How many of
them are there?
2. Demand estimation: Are the markets for our products increasing or decreasing? Are there promising markets that we
have not yet reached?
3. Environmental assessment: Are the channels of distribution for our products changing? What should our presence on
the Internet be?
B. Problem Solving
1. Product
a. In testing new products and product-line extensions, which product design is likely to be the most successful?
What features do consumers value most?
b. What kind of packaging should we use?
c. What are the forecasts for the product? How might we re-energize its life cycle?
2. Price
a. What price should we charge for our products?
b. How sensitive to price changes are our target segments?
c. Given the life-time value assessments of our segments, should we be discounting or charging a premium to our
most-valued customers?
d. As production costs decline, should we lower our prices or try to develop higher quality products?
e. Do consumers use price as a cue to value, or a cue to quality, in our industry?
3. Place
a. Where, and by whom, are our products being sold? Where, and by whom, should our products be sold?
b. What kinds of incentives should we offer the trade to push our products?
c. Are our relationships with our suppliers and distributors satisfactory and cooperative?
4. Promotion
a. How much should we spend on promotion? How should it be allocated to products and to geographic areas?
b. Which ad copy should we run in our markets? With what frequency and media expenditures?
c. What combination of medianewspapers, radio, television, magazines, Internet ad bannersshould we use?
d. What is our consumer coupon redemption rate?
C. Control
1. What is our market share overall? In each geographic area? By each customer type?
2. Are customers satisfied with our products? How is our record for service? Are there many returns? Do levels of
customer satisfaction vary with market? With segment?
3. Are our employees satisfied? Do they feel well-trained and empowered to assist our customers?
4. How does the public perceive our company? What is our reputation with the trade?

TABLE 1.3

Marketing Research Questions about International Markets

What is the nature of competition in the international market? Who are the major direct and indirect competitors?
What are their characteristics?
What are our firm's competitive strengths and weaknesses in reference to such factors as product quality, product
lines, warranties, services, brands, packaging, distribution, sales force, customer service, advertising, prices,
experience, technology, capital and human resources, and market share?
What are the trade incentives and barriers in the country under consideration? What specific requirements (for
example, import or export licenses) must be met to conduct international trade?
Are we likely to encounter any prejudice against imports or exports among the country's customers? Its government?
What are different governments doing specifically to encourage or discourage international trade? How difficult are
the government regulations for our firm?
How well-developed are the international mass communication media? Are the print and electronics media abroad
efficient and effective?
Are there adequate transportation and storage or warehouse facilities in the foreign market? What is the state of the
retailing institutions?

See also Philip R. Cateora, International Marketing, 9th ed. (Burr Ridge, IL: Irwin, 1996); Johny K. Johansson, Global Marketing: Foreign Entry,
Local Marketing, and Global Management (Burr Ridge, IL: Irwin, 1997), pp. 272304, for discussion of the insights to be gained from and the
problems involved in researching foreign markets.

TABLE 1.4

Factors Helping to Expand the Scope and Importance of Marketing Research

Management Recognizes the Importance of Marketing Research

1. There is a greater desire for knowledge-based decisions; managers are seeking to rely on empirically based
knowledge for all management decisions.
2. Marketing researchers and management are partnering more closely; increasingly, research professionals are
bringing their methodological expertise to dialog with business knowledge of management.
3. Marketing research is being designed more and more as an integral part of a knowledge center to address specific
management needs, which allows improvement of decision making and the analysis of "what-if" scenarios.
Continuity in the Need for Information
1. There is an ongoing use of data; marketing research is expanding beyond single-event projects, implemented more
as an ongoing process of knowledge acquisition.
2. Continuous evaluation and experimentation allow for adaptive experimentation and continuous improvement in
decision making in changing business environments; even the marketing research is being regularly reviewed.
Technology
1. Databases are being developed on customers and prospects, and the databases are being augmented with userfriendly decision support systems.
2. Internet-based research can be used in creative research designs; at the least it can be fast and economical.
Globalization
Where appropriate, data are being collected from multiple countries for comparisons.

Adapted from Jerry Wind, "Start Your Engines: Gear Up for Challenges Ahead with Innovative Marketing Research Products and Services,"
Marketing Research 9 (Winter 1997), pp. 410.
RESEARCH REALITIES 1.1

International Steps and Missteps Caused by Environmental Differences

Misstep Dutch building company Fomabo formed a strategic alliance with two Malaysian companies to build
prefabricated housing in Malaysia. Following numerous bureaucratic delays in obtaining the proper licenses
from regional authorities, the first group of houses was finally built. However, sales proved discouraging and
the reasons were soon uncovered. The walls of the Fomabo houses were made of reinforced concrete, just like
those in the Netherlands. Traditional Malaysian houses are made of wood, a feature that permits Malaysians
to hang pictures and other objects on their walls. Hammering nails into concrete walls requires boring tools,
an inconvenience that contributed to the general "feeling" of the new homes as less comfortable than
traditional housing.
Step Domino's Pizza tried to enter the Japanese market even though Japanese consumers tend not to eat a
lot of tomato-based foods, many have allergies to dairy products, and complex navigation is required to
deliver pizza through the streets of Tokyo. Domino's should have conducted marketing research before
attempting to enter Japan, but, better late than never, upon entering the marketing, they conducted some
research and listened to their new customers. In reaction to the new consumer information, Domino's
introduced sushi pizza toppings and created a street address database for their delivery scooters. What could
have been another corporate export disaster tale was turned around to a highly successful overseas venture
by using marketing research.
Misstep Coca-Cola had little success in marketing a product in Chile. When the company attempted to
introduce a new grape-flavored drink, it soon discovered that the Chileans were not interested. Apparently,
the Chileans prefer wine as their grape drink.
Step Increasingly, U.S.-based corporations are importing back to the U.S. the variations of cultural tastes
and style they had accommodated in their successful exports. For example, Hagen-Dazs's caramel-milk ice
cream, "dulce de leche," developed in Argentina, is a best-seller in many markets in the States. Nike's
Brazilian soccer "boot," or its Kenyan running "mitten" (a shoe with a separate space for the big toe), and
Levi's dark, stiff denim products favored in Japan have had successful sales in the U.S. following their
international distribution. Marketing research on customer diversity and immigration have also supported the
successful introduction of salsa, Thai food, and soccer-related products to U.S. market segments.
Misstep Chase and Sanborn met resistance when it tried to introduce its instant coffee in France. In the
French home, the consumption of coffee plays a more significant role than in the English home. The
preparation of coffee is a ritual in the life of the French consumer, and instant coffee is rejected because it is
not "real" coffee.

Sources: David A Ricks, Blunders in International Business (Cambridge, MA: Blackwell, 1993), pp. 133136; Tevfik Dalgic and Ruud Heijblom,
"Educator Insights: International Marketing Blunders RevisitedSome Lessons for Managers," Journal of International Marketing 4, no. 1 (1996),
pp. 8191; Vijay Mahajan and Jerry Wind, "Rx for Marketing Research," Marketing Research 11, no. 3 (1999), pp. 713; David Leonhardt, "It Was a
Hit in Buenos AiresSo Why Not Boise?" Business Week (September 7, 1998), pp. 5658.
RESEARCH REALITIES 1.2

The Top 20 U.S. Research Organizations

Source: Developed from the information in Jack Honomichl, "2000 Business Report on the Marketing Research Industry," Marketing News (August
14, 2000), p. H4. This report also describes the services provided by these research organizations.

RESEARCH REALITIES 1.3

Marketing Research, E-Commerce, and the Internet

Electronic marketing research takes one of two forms:

1. Research on the Internet: These studies use the Internet or other high-tech means to study any
consumer or market behavior. The Internet becomes another modality for communicating with customers,
like paper-pencil surveys, telephone interviews, and so on.
2. Research about the Internet: These studies focus on e-commerce or consumer and market behavior
on the Internet as an end in itself. They often also use the Internet as a means of collecting data, for
example, through e-mail contacts, Web-based surveys, or surreptitious observation and measurement of
Web page visitations.
Electronic marketing research companies come in one of two forms:

1. Full-service established marketing research firms are extending their menu of services to include
the Internet as another means of gathering information to enable their clients to answer questions about
various consumer behavior. Most are also turning their attention to the Internet as an end to be studied
another class of customer behaviors to be understood. For example:
A. ACNielsen: best known for media and retail measurement, formed a subsidiary, eRatings.com, as a
global service to track audiences, advertising, and user activity on the Internet. Currently in five
countries, with a three-year plan to extend to thirty, this group measures traffic to Web sites, audience
exposure and response to banner advertising, and user demographics. ACNielsen also uses the medium
in its e-Panel services, an electronic variant of its traditional ongoing consumer panels, which are used
to assess reaction to new product concepts and movie trailers (previews), for example.
B. The NPD Group: traditionally strong in consumer diaries, conducts both research about the Internet
(for example, audience measurement, chats with Web site visitors, competitor site analysis, online
purchase tracking, quick polls, and so on) and research for which the Internet is the means for studying
other consumer behaviors (for example, online focus groups, mystery shoppers, and general surveys).
SiteSelect is an NPD tool that randomly samples Web users to invite them to participate in a survey.
The ongoing NPD Online Panel will occasionally be contacted via e-mail that an online NPD survey
awaits them. NPD Online Focus Groups gather international participants in virtual rooms for speedy
qualitative consumer insights.
C. Information Resources Inc.: the powerhouse of consumer packaged goods data, combined with
Media Metrix Inc. (described below) in e-SCAN, to let clients (for example, manufacturers of consumer
packaged goods) measure the value of their online marketing investments. Clients can track known
users of their brands to see which Web sites interest them, and in turn follow the Web site visitation
data with subsequent purchase data (on- or offline). Software is installed on the PCs of IRI's panel
members who already use a ScanKey to record all their take-home purchases. The two sources of data
are integrated to allow the Internet activities (sites visited, exposures to ads, surfing frequencies, and
patterns) to be correlated with purchase data (volume, purchase cycles, promotional effectiveness,
brand loyalty).
2. Internet specialists are newly formed or spun-off marketing research firms that concentrate their
research efforts on the Internet and e-commerce. These firms use the Internet both as a means (research
"on" the Internet) and as an end (research "about" the Internet) to studying customers and marketing.
Examples follow:
A. Media Metrix Inc. is the pioneer and leader in the field of Internet and other digital media
measurement services. A panel of more than 50,000 individuals in homes and in the workplace is
measured on which computer applications are open and which are in use, which Web pages are viewed
on their browsers, which ads drew clicks, and so on. Results on frequencies of unique visitors can be
reported per Internet or media industry, or per consumer usage segment.
B. i-tracks specializes in Web-based surveys. Computer-assisted interviews allow clients to formulate
quantitative surveys (such as rating scales) and qualitative surveys (such as open-ended questions),

which can be speeded up and tailored for the survey-taker by programming skip patterns (for example,
if yes, go to question 3; if no, go to question 4). Images, audio, and video can be presented. Surveys
can be addressed to customers or employees for in-house assessments.
C. eMarketer provides statistics and demographic data about Internet users, their usage patterns,
advertising, electronic commerce and market size, growth, and geography. They offer well-designed
reports on measured Internet activities and provide online weekly newsletters for business
professionals.
D. Jupiter Communications is a research, consulting, and publishing firm that focuses on consumer
online behaviors and interactive technologies for business-to-business and business-to-consumer
clients. They offer several analytical services, including using population measures and user
demographics for both online and offline consumers to enhance market-size forecasts.

RESEARCH REALITIES 1.4

Marketing Research Job Titles and Responsibilities

1. Directors and Managers
A. Research Director/Vice-President of Marketing Research: This is the senior position in research.
The director is responsible for the entire research program in the company. Accepts assignments from
superiors, from clients, or may, on own initiative, develop and propose research undertakings to
company executives. Employs personnel and executes general supervision of research department.
Presents research findings to clients or to company executives.
B. Assistant Director of Research: This position usually represents a defined "second in command," a
senior staff member having responsibilities above those of other staff members.
2. Analytically Skilled Methodologists
A. Statistician/Data Processing Specialist: Duties are usually those of an expert consultant on theory
and application of statistical technique to specific research problems. Usually responsible for
experimental design and data processing.
B. Qualitative Specialist: Some firms have a person specifically assigned to oversee interview
techniques and focus groups.
3. Analysts
A. Senior Analyst: Usually found in larger research departments. Participates in planning research
projects and directs execution of projects assigned. Operates with minimum supervision. Prepares or
works with analysts in preparing questionnaires. Selects research techniques, makes analyses, and
writes final report. Budgetary control over projects and primary responsibility for meeting time
schedules rests with the senior analyst.
B. Analyst: The analyst usually handles the bulk of the work required for execution of research projects.
Often works under senior analyst's supervision. The analyst assists in questionnaire preparation,
pretests them, and makes preliminary analyses of results. Most library research or work with company
data is handled by the analyst.
C. Junior Analyst: Working under rather close supervision, junior analysts handle routine assignments,
for example, editing and coding of questionnaires, statistical calculations above the clerical level, and
simpler forms of library research. A large portion of the junior analyst's time is spent on tasks assigned
by superiors.
4. Data Collection

A. Field Work Director: Usually only larger departments have a field work director, who hires, trains,
and supervises field interviewers.
B. Full-Time Interviewer: The interviewer conducts personal interviews and works under direct
supervision of the field work director. Many companies outsource this function.
5. Support Staff
A. Tabulating and Clerical Help: The routine, day-to-day work of the department is performed by these
individuals.
B. Clerical Supervisor: In larger departments, the central handling and processing of statistical data are
the responsibilities of one or more clerical supervisors. Duties include work scheduling and
responsibility for accuracy.
C. Librarian: The librarian builds and maintains a library of reference sources adequate to the needs of
the research department.

Source: Thomas C. Kinnear and Ann R. Root, 1994 Survey of Marketing Research, 1995, p. 93. Reprinted with permission from American
Marketing Association, Chicago, IL 60606.

RESEARCH REALITIES 1.5

A Sampling of Marketing Research Job Advertisements

1. Blockbuster Inc.: Rapid store growth, the launching of new business units, and a passion to understand
our consumers has created several exciting opportunities in our worldwide headquarters.
A. Manager of E-Commerce Marketing Research: Put your marketing research skills to work in the exciting
world of online retailing. Be on the ground floor with the opportunity to design and manage the
research function for blockbuster.com. Candidates for this position must have strong research skills, a
creative outlook, and insatiable desire to understand the consumer.
B. Manager of Database Analysis: Use your database analytical skills in this newly created position to
provide valuable information about Blockbuster's different market tests and the home entertainment
preferences of our consumers. Ideal candidates should have a strong working knowledge of database
design, maintenance, and analysis. 51 years experience is desired.
C. Sr. Marketing Research Analyst: Your advertising sales or media research background is desired for this
position. You are responsible for quantitative, qualitative, and secondary marketing research to support
new business opportunities and advertising sales. 21 years marketing research experience is desired.
D. Marketing Research Analyst: Use your strong quantitative skills to complete important analyses of our
different home entertainment offerings. In this position you will be responsible for preparing/presenting
written analytical reports/summaries of findings. Knowledge of statistical software is desired.
2. Washington Post: In search of an experienced Research Manager with excellent research,
communication, and people skills. The ideal candidate should have credentials in research analysis,
project coordination and facilitation, and presentation writing. Three to five years of management and
quantitative and qualitative research experience is strongly preferred. An understanding of
statistical/analytical research tools is important to success in this position. The person in this position will
act as consultant, mentor, and facilitator for three presentation writers and will assume quantitative
and/or qualitative projects on his or her own. The Research Manager will assist the Research Department
in communicating research more fully and completely to advertising sales, agencies, advertisers, News,
Circulation, and other inside and outside audiences.

3. The Gallup Organization: Do you have a career commitment to cutting-edge, data-based Fortune 500
consulting? The Gallup Organization hires consultants to work with executives, implementing data-based
management and client systems. Our work includes employee selection and development; and attitude,
customer, and brand research. Offices in San Francisco; Toronto; Irvine, California; Miami; New York; and
Detroit.
4. NFO Research Inc.: Insight is what NFO Research Inc. delivers. An NFO Worldwide company, we are an
exciting, growing marketing information company and the world's leading provider of insight into the
opinions, attitudes, and needs of consumers.
A. Marketing Project Director: We'll rely on your expert communication ability and analytical problemsolving skills to coordinate and monitor all phases of marketing projects with Account Executives and
our Marketing Manager.
B. Research Analyst: Responsible for providing support to the Analytical Service Manager, you'll prepare
data, assist with report writing, develop charts and graphs, and so on.
C. Assistant Analyst: You'll provide support, including data preparation and charting, to a Research Analyst
and the Analytical Service Manager. We'll rely on you to develop charts and graphs based on guidelines,
format reports and presentations using templates, and maintain an analytical project schedule.
5. ACNielsen
A. Positions in Systems: Senior Technical Analyst, Software Engineer and Senior Software Engineer, Project
Manager and Senior Project Manager, Software Quality Assurance Analyst, Senior Business Analyst.
B. Positions in Operations: Senior Software Engineer, Data Network Specialist, Manager of Contracts,
Senior Statistical Analyst.
C. Positions in Finance: Pricing Manager.
Excerpts taken from Marketing News (March 27, 2000), p. 22; (July 5, 1999), p. 16; (April 10, 2000), p. 23; acnielsen.com.