Applied Research

A sociologist who seeks to find out why crime is committed or how a person becomes a criminal is working for pure research. If this sociologist then tries to find out how a criminal can be rehabilitated and his deviant behaviour can be controlled, is doing applied research. Firms have realised that they have to build defences against competitors and fluctuating customer loyalty. This can be done by taking into account the likely shifts in areas like customer preferences, competition, distribution channels and media. Having understood that every consumer is a market, many firms have started building detailed customer database, which includes information on their personal characteristics, preferences and purchase decisions. oreover, relational marketing database, containing data on geographic, demographic, and psychographic characteristics of prospects, will help in offering tailor made products and services, make the same known to target customers as well as reach them in a most cost!effective way.