Name of the student: Maria Theresa Agabao

Title of the Journal Article: Making marketing research more

effective by using the administrative process

Authors: Boyd, Harper W, Jr; 

Steuart Henderson Britt.
JMR, Journal of Marketing Research (pre-1986); Chicago Vol. 2, 
Iss. 000001,  (Feb 1965): 13.

Objectives of the Course Reading/Study

According to the author, a lot of business executives are

disappointed with the results of marketing research because more
often, marketing research was viewed as simply semi scientific
hindsight. Though the primary role of the researcher is one of
providing valid information which management can and should use
in its decision-making activities, how can the research function be
performed most effectively?

The authors would like to demonstrate how marketing research

can be more efficient by the use of administrative process.

Highlights of the Findings, Conclusion, and

Recommendations

 How can the research function be performed most effectively?

To say that improvement will come only when management
specifies what kind of information are needed IS NOT THE
ANSWER.
 The answer is: researchers and decision makers must interact
in such a way as to make explicit how the research information
will be use. This interactions can best accomplished through
the use of “administrative process” which consists of the
following:
 Setting objectives:
 Objectives must be articulated in terms of how
certain wants and needs of a segment of consumers
can be satisfied. Failure to set objectives makes it
impossible to monitor through research to detect the
need for a change because there’s no base point.
  Develop a plan to achieve the objectives
 A plan is a specification of the ways by which the
firm intends to attain its objectives for a stated period
of time. In doing this, management must consider
various ways of accomplishing the objective and this
requires to evaluate the inputs and outputs. Decision
makers must stare the POSSIBLe consequences
that might be derived from the acceptance of the
proposed action plan. This includes risk assessment
and management and determining what marketing
information would be most helpful.
 The administrative process should facilitate
experimentation in marketing.

 Organize to put plans into actions.

 This includes addressing the number and size of
sales territories, establishment of quotas by
individual items in the product line, setting of quotas
by key accounts, analysis of the duties of salesman.

 Controlling and reassessing the plan that has been

carried out.
 Represents 2 steps that form the bridge between
completing the administrative process and starting
the process anew. This measures the effectiveness
of the current plan and answers the why aspect that
is so important, for it enables management to take
remedial action.

 Anatomy of decision: Decisions are made only because

decision-makers want to achieve something and have certain
goals or objectives. And too rarely, does the researcher receive
a clearcut statement of the objectives. In short, the decision-
maker seldom formulates his objectives accurately and is likely
to state his objectives in the form of platitudes or statement that
has been used too often to be interesting which have no
operational significance.

 It recommends that researchers must participate in the

formulation of problem, as well as contribute to effective action.
It concludes that if we look closely at the anatomy of a decision,
we can see how the researcher can not only aid in the
formulation of a problem but can also gain valuable insights
 into the extent to which a solution will contribute to the firm’s
welfare.

 The author concluded that decision-makers make a decision

only because they want to achieve a certain goal/s. The
researcher clearly understand the objectives. The decision-
maker seldom formulates the objectives accurately because
they would just state their objectives in a form of statement
which has no operational significance. Whereas, the researcher
who formulate the design has a better understanding of the
goal. Therefore, both the researchers and the decision-makers
should work together to evaluate the environment with which
the decision makers operates and create an accurate objective
to effectively formulate an action plan.

 The objective settings cannot be accomplish with high

probability of success, unless the researcher can furnish data
of the following: What “generic uses” the firm wishes to satisfy.
What other products or services are likely yo be substituted for
the firm’s products or services. What market segments exist
and their relative importance. The ability of the firm to meet the
wants and needs. A selection of the segments to be served
and an estimate of the share of sales the firm probably can
capture over a given period of time.

 Marketing research executives cannot make decisions for

management executives. But marketing research executives
can provide management executives with information which will
help them in solving and diagnosing problems.

 Three (3) major points of agreement:

 Many marketing problems are more than mere marketing

problems. It may not be possible to confine them to just the
marketing department. As Peter Drucker has said, “marketing
…is the whole business seen from the point of view of its final
result, that is, from the consumer’s point of view. Concern and
responsibility for marketing must therefore permeate all areas
of the enterprise.

 Since researcher was the one who create the research design,
they are the one’s who knows better how to proceed in creating
 a solution. Thus, one possible way to ensure that a problem is
properly dissected is to focus on the administrative process in
some details. In this process, which consist of series of
interlocking steps, no one step can be considered
independently. The 4 steps flow together to form a totality.

 Research conducted on problems having to do with “the plan”

runs the risk of being ineffective. The use of administrative
process, which is comprehensive will avoid inappropriate
research and decision.

 Recommended areas for further study:

 Author should clearly identify how the decision maker and the
researcher will collaborate for effective formulation of objectives
and action plan.
 Otherwise, author should suggest a certain role who will
conduct the risk analysis.
 “Even companies that have adopted well-defined processes
for identifying and selecting projects may remain vulnerable
to the prospect of running headlong into significant
unfavorable business impacts brought on by those projects.
Why? Because they failed to incorporate risk analysis into
their project selection process. “
 "It doesn't matter how well you execute a project if you're
working on the wrong project!" And the simple fact is that
companies that do not include risk and uncertainty as basic
elements of their project selection criteria run the
risk of choosing a set of projects not suited to meet their
business goals.”

 References - source(s) of information used in analyzing the

article

Heerkens, G. (2006). 11 - risk management, decision-making, and

business. New York: The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., The
Professional Book Group. Retrieved from
https://www.proquest.com/books/11-risk-management-decision-
making-business/docview/749493969/se-2?accountid=38643
Boyd, H. W., & Britt, S. H. (1965). Making Marketing Research
More Effective by Using the Administrative Process. Journal of
Marketing Research, 2(1), 13–19. https://doi.org/10.2307/3149331