Marketing Research

Marketing, Marketing Information System and Marketing Research

Introduction
Marketing

a fast changing and dynamic field. Substantial increase in labour force engaged in marketing. Pronounced shift in the orientation of firms from production to marketing. An ever-increasing premium placed on making sound marketing decisions Companies becoming more market-driven in their strategic decision making. To meet such requirements, emergence of a formalized means of acquiring information to assist in such a decision making process marketing research

Meaning
Marketing

Research is a part of Marketing Therefore, we should understand what is Marketing Marketing Concept Marketing Strategy

What is Marketing?
Marketing

has been defined by the American Marketing Association (AMA) as an organizational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders.

What is the Marketing Concept?

The Marketing Concept is a business philosophy that holds that the key to achieving organizational goals consists of the companys being more effective than competitors in creating, delivering, and communicating customer value to its chosen markets.

What is Marketing Strategy?

A

Marketing Strategy consists of selecting a segment of the market as the companys target market and designing the proper mix of the product/service, price, promotion, and distribution system to meet the wants and needs of the consumers within the target market.

Lets Apply Marketing to a Restaurant

Target

market segment? Marketing strategy Location? Menu? Prices? Type? Advertising?

Restaurant Marketing Decisions

What

if you owned a restaurant located in Durbar Marg? Or near a University/Campus? What would be your marketing strategy? How certain are you that you made the right decisions? What if you want to open a restaurant in a different city? In Pokhara, for instance? How certain are you that you made the right decisions now?

Key Points
To

practice marketing; to implement the marketing concepts; to implement marketing strategy, managers must make informed decisions. Many decisions require additional information and marketing research is needed in order to supply that information.

What is Research?
Research.What

kinds of images does this word

conjure up for you? Other ways of acquiring information and knowledge? Examples: Do Nepali consumers make buying decisions in terms of quality or price? In general, who has higher self-esteem, a first born child or a last born child? Are love marriages happier than arranged ones?
Tenacity..Intuition..Authority..Rationalism.. Observation

What is Research?
Research

connotes a systematic and objective investigation of a subject or problem in order to discover relevant information or principles. Classification: Basic/Fundamental/Pure Research seeks to extend the boundaries of knowledge in a given area with no necessary immediate application to existing problems Applied/Decisional Research attempts to use existing knowledge as an aid to the solution of some given problem or set of problems.

 In

a problem solving context the emphasis is on applied or decisional research. Hence, Marketing Research is the systematic and objective search for and analysis of information relevant to the identification and solution of any problem in the field of marketing. Note
Systematic Objectivity Thoroughness Problem

What is Marketing Research?

According to American Marketing Association Marketing Research is the function that links the consumer, customer, and public to the marketer through information information used to identify and define marketing opportunities and problems; generate, refine, and evaluate marketing actions; monitor marketing performance; and improve the understanding of marketing as a process.

What is Marketing Research?

Marketing

research specifies the information required to address these issues, designs the methods for collecting information, manages and implements the data collection process, Analyzes the results, and communicates the findings and their implications.

Market research is an aid to decision making not a substitute for it.

Marketing Research in Practice

The

function of marketing research within a company is to provide the informational and analytical inputs necessary for effective planning of future marketing activity control of marketing operations in the present evaluation of marketing results. Marketing research are conducted on abroad array of topics market potential, market
share, market characteristics, sales analysis, short-range and long-range forecasting, business trend analysis

by a variety of types and sizes of organizations for different purposes.

The Characteristics of Marketing Management

The

primary characteristic of management is decision making. Six types of management decisions Deciding what the problems are Selecting the immediate problem for solution Solving the problem selected Implement the solution Modifying the original solution based on observation or results Establishing policy

Problem-Situation Models and Decision Making

Example:

A marketing manager is considering increasing the advertising appropriation for one of the companys products. Net additional sales will depend upon factors such as The nature of the campaign The advertising-sales response relationship The action of the competitors A necessary part of the process of this decision is the formulation of a problem-situation model.

Model
A

conceptual scheme that specifies a measure of the outcome(s) to be achieved, the relevant variables, and their functional relationship to the outcome(s). Problem-situation model may be defined as: U=f(Ai, Sj)
U = the measure of the outcomes

Ai = the variables that are under the control of the decision

maker

Sj = the environmental factors or constants f = the functional relationship between the dependent
variable and independent variables

Model of Sales-advertising Relationship

Sales

Advertising

 Or,

analysis of the sales-advertising relationship in the past might indicate that it takes the form of a Gompertz-type (S-shaped) curve such that it is represented by the equation as follows: Log Y = log k + (log G)BP where Y is sales response, p is amount of advertising, and k, G, and B are constants which provide a reasonably good predictive equation over the range of advertising of interest to the decision maker.

Model
Explicit

Models - expressed

Verbal Graphical Logical Flow Symbolic (Mathematical)

Implicit

Model Models are necessarily simplification and abstraction to some degree of the reality of the problem situation The decision maker attempts to abstract the important elements of the problem situation and represent them so that they are simple enough to be understood and manipulated, yet realistic enough to portray the essentials of the situation.

Information and Decision Making

Information

refers to the recorded experience that is useful for decision making. Consists of recorded experience which will reduce the level of uncertainty in making a decision Dependent on the decision maker and the context of the decision Information must be
Accurate Current Sufficient/Complete Available Relevant

Information and Decision Making

Many

companies develop more or less formal system for obtaining, processing and disseminating decision information. To a large extent in many companies, such systems are not formally structured and/or are equated with the activity of marketing research. There is more to marketing information system (MIS) than marketing research. Marketing research can be considered as one of the subsystems

Marketing Information System

MIS
The

activities performed by an MIS and its subsystems include the capability to: Store and retrieve data easily Generate reports and analyses, both standard and as hoc as required Provide modeling and what-if analysis Create high quality visual aids Integrate all of functions listed above. As marketing research becomes increasingly tied to overall corporate strategic planning, the MIS must have the capability to link with corporate information system.

The Role of Marketing Research

Customer Groups Consumers Employees Shareholders Suppliers Controllable Variables Product Price Promotion Distribution Assessing Information

Marketing Research

Providing Information

Marketing Decision Makeing

Uncontrollable Environmental Factors Economy Technology Laws and Regulations Social and Cultural Factors Political Factors

Marketing Mangers Market Segmentation Target Market Selection Marketing Programs Performance and Control

A Classification of Marketing Research

Marketing Research

Problem Identification Research Market Potential Research Market Share Research Market Characteristics Research Sales Analysis Research Forecasting Research Business Trends Research

Problem Solving Research Segmentation Research Product Research Promotion Research Distribution Research

Problem Solving Research

Segmentation Research Determine the basis of segmentation Establish market potential and responsiveness for various segments Select target markets Create lifestyle profiles: demography, media, and product image characteristics Product research Test concept Determine optimal product design Package tests Product modification Brand positioning and repositioning Test marketing Control score tests

Problem Solving Research

Pricing Research Pricing policies Importance of price in brand selection Product line pricing Price elasticity of demand Initiating and responding to price changes Promotional Research Optimal promotional budget Sales promotion relationship Optimal promotional mix Copy decisions Media decisions Creative advertising testing Evaluation of advertising effectiveness

Problem Solving Research

Distribution

Research

Determine Types of distribution Attitudes of channel members Intensity of wholesale and resale coverage Channel margins Location of retail and wholesale outlets