Chapter 3: Manage Marketing Information

Reasons for conducting exploratory research

1. Clarifying the research problem 2. Developing hypotheses for testing in descriptive or causal research 3. Gaining additional insight to help in survey development or to identify other research variables to study 4. Answering the research question

Behavioral data

Information about when, what, and how often customers purchase products and services as well as other customer "touches."

5 common internal sources of data collected as a regular part of doing business

1. Customer orders 2. Customer payments 3. Marketing plans 4. Salesperson information systems 5. Customer inquiries

3 major challenges researchers face as they collect data around the world

1. Data accessibility 2. Data dependability 3. Data comparability

2 fundamental types of market information decision makers need today

1. Data related to broad areas of interest such as demographic and economic trends, or the customer order fulfillment process inside the company 2. Addresses a specific question

Online research tools fall into 3 categories

1. Databases 2. Focus groups 3. Sampling

Market research process

1. Define the research problem 2. Establish research design 3. Search secondary sources 4. Collect the data 5. Analyze the data 6. Report the findings

2 reasons demographics are extremely useful in marketing

1. Demographics help define a market 2. Studying demographics helps identify new opportunities

3 basic types of research

1. Exploratory 2. Descriptive 3. Causal

2 primary advantages of secondary data

1. Fast way to get information 2. Cost

Good market research

1. Follows a well-defined set of activities and does not happen by accident 2. Enhances the validity of the information 3. Is impartial and objective

A sales information system includes

1. Formal systems for collecting data 2. Interpretation of data (analysis) 3. Distribution of data (getting the analysis to decision makers and back into the field

External sources of secondary data

1. Government sources 2. Market research organizations 3. The Internet

The data collected and analyzed in a CRM system enable companies to

1. Identify the frequency and size of customer orders 2. Determine the actual cost of a customer order 3. Rank customers based on established criteria like profitability 4. Calculate the efficiency of the company's production and distribution system

Defining the research problem involves the following 2 steps

1. Management defines the management research deliverable 2. Define the research problem

2 principal types of economic knowledge

1. Microeconomics 2. Macroeconomics

External forces that affect marketing decisions

1. Political / legal environment 2. Economic conditions 3. Technology transformations 4. Natural world 5. Competition 6. Demographics (Population of interest, ethnic groups, geographic changes)

2 basic approaches to sampling

1. Profitability sampling 2. Nonprofitability sampling

2 ways primary data are collected

1. Qualitative research 2. Quantitative research

Distinct disadvantages of secondary data

1. Secondary data will not fit the research problem exactly 2. Secondary data are not current 3. Without a clear understanding of the methodology used to collect and interpret the secondary data, one should be a little skeptical about its validity

5 activities of research designs

1. Type of research 2. Nature of data 3. Nature of data collection 4. Information content 5. Sampling plan

Problems of international primary data collection

1. Unwillingness to respond 2. Unreliable sampling procedures 3. Inaccurate Language Translation and Insufficient Comprehension

3 factors a company should consider when creating an MIS

1. What information should the system collect 2. What are the information needs of each decision maker 3. How does the system maintain the privacy and confidentiality of sensitive information

Census

A comprehensive record of each individual in the population.

Market information system

A continuing process of identifying, collecting, analyzing, accumulating, and dispensing critical information to marketing decision makers.

Focus group

A qualitative research method that consists of a meeting (either in person or increasingly online) of 6 to 10 people that is moderated by a professional who carefully moves the conversation through a defined agenda in an unstructured, open format. All will have at least one shared attribute.

In-depth interview

A qualitative research method that consists of an unstructured (or loosely structured) interview with an individual who has been chosen based on some characteristic of interest, often a demographic attribute.

Surveys

A quantitative research method that employs structured questionnaires given to a sample group of individuals representing the population of interest and intended to solicit specific responses to explicit questions.

Sample

A subgroup of the population selected for participation in research.

Secondary data

Data collected for some other purpose than the problem currently being considered.

Primary data

Data collected specifically for a particular research question.

Online database

Data stored on a server that is accessed remotely over the Internet or some other telecommunications network.

Causal research

Descriptive research designed to identify associations between variables.

Data collection

Distributing a survey to its respondents, recording the respondents' responses, and making the data available for analysis.

Qualitative research

Less structured research not meant to be used for statistical analysis than can employ methods such as surveys and interviews to collect data.

Open-ended questions

Question format that encourages respondents to be expressive and offers them the opportunity to provide more detailed, qualitative responses.

Closed-ended questions

Question format that encourages respondents to provide specific responses.

Descriptive research

Research designed to explain or illustrate some phenomenon.

Exploratory research

Research geared toward discovery that can either answer the research question or identify other research variables for further study. It is generally the first step in the marketing research process.

Quantitative research

Research used to develop a measured understanding using statistical analysis to access and quantify the results.

Demographics

The characteristics of human populations and population segments, especially when used to identify consumer markets.

Marketing intelligence

The collecting, analyzing, and storing of data from the macro environment on a continuous basis.

Research problem

The definition of what information is needed to help management in a particular situation.

Management research deliverable

The definition of what management wants to do with marketing research.

Observational data

The documentation of behavioral patterns among the population of interest.

Market research

The methodical identification, collection, analysis, and distribution of data related to discovering then solving marketing problems or opportunities and enhancing good decision making.

Nonprobability sampling

The selection of individuals for statistical research in which the probability of everyone in the population being included in the sample is not identified.

Profitability sampling

The specific protocol used to identify and select individuals from the population in which each population element has a known nonzero chance of being selected.

Macroeconomics

The study of economic activity in terms of broad measures of output and input as well as the interaction among various sectors of an entire economy.

Microeconomics

The study of individual economic activity