NARRATIVE REPORT

Topic: Marketing Research and Information System

Introduction:
Information is one of the most basic ingredients of a successful marketing strategy.
Information or useful data is the raw material for executive action. For achieving success in
International Markets, information about buyer behavior and the overall business environment
is vital to effective managerial decision making. In order to research markets, marketers must
be aware about information sources, areas of interest, methods of data acquisition and
analysis.

Market research is done to identify problems and to discover opportunities existing / likely to
surface in near or imminent future. Research provides value accretions to business which
provides both sustainability of business and viable returns based on accurate decision making
mix. Marketing research provides both conceptual and practical viewpoints.

The marketers on international marketing are faced with a dilemma of both information
abundance and scarcity. The global marketer must scan the world for information about
opportunities and threats and make information available via a management information
system in order to reduce the uncertainty around marketing decision making.

There is nothing more embarrassing for a marketer than to hear a client say “…this
doesn’t quite address the business questions that we need to answer.” And
unfortunately, this is a rather common occurrence in market research reporting that
most marketers would care to admit.

So, why do most market research reports fail to meet client expectations? Well, in most
cases, because there is more emphasis on methodology and analytic techniques used to
craft the report rather than relying on data visualization, creative story-telling, and
outlining actionable direction/steps.

Overview of Global Marketing Information Systems

Marketing Information System (MIS) provides managers and other decision makers with
continuous flow of information about markets, customers, competitors, and company
operations. A MIS should provide a means of gathering, analyzing, classifying, storing, retrieving
and reporting relevant data about customers, markets, channels, sales and competitors.
A company’s MIS should also cover important aspects of a company’s external environment.
Global competition intensifies the need for an effective MIS.

Global companies like Caterpillar, Mitsui, Toyota, ABB, Ford and Texas Instruments have
sophisticated electronic data interchange (EDI) I systems to improve intercompany information
sharing. Internet has complemented and dramatically expanded the ability to access up to date
information anywhere in the world. MIS acts as a strategic competitive tool. MIS and research
function must provide relevant information in a timely, cost-efficient and actionable manner.
Information systems help geo-centric global companies to meet challenges in the dynamic
world markets due to political and economic events.

Today marketers need to study several important topics in order to make the most of modern
information technology. First, they need to understand the importance of information
technology and marketing information systems as strategic assets. Second, they need a
framework for information scanning and opportunity identification. Third, they should have
general understanding the formal market research process. Finally, they should know how to
manage the marketing information collection systems and the marketing research effort.

Now, our next big question is, how do you avoid your client’s dreaded  deer-in-the-
headlights reaction when presenting such a report? This report will answer this and
much more, as we go through the following:

What Is a Market Research Report?

Every business aims to provide the best possible product or service at the lowest cost
possible. Simply said, market research is important because it helps you understand
your customers and determine whether the product or service that you are about to
launch is worth the effort .Here is an example of a customer complaint that may result
in more detailed market research:

“Suppose you sell widgets, and you want your widget business to succeed over the long
term. Over the years, you have developed many different ways of making widgets. But a
couple of years ago, a customer complained that your widgets were made of a cheap
kind of foam that fell apart after six months. You didn’t think at the time that this was a
major problem, but now you know it.”

The customer is someone you really want to keep. So, you decide to research this
complaint. You set up a focus group of people who use widgets and ask them what they
think about the specific problem. After the conducted survey you’ll get a better picture
of customer opinions, so you can either decide to make the changes regarding widget
design or just let it go.
Marketing Information System as a Strategic Asset
The role of marketing information systems is changing from support tool to a strategic asset.
Information intensity in a firm impacts market attractiveness, competitive position and
organizational structure. The greater a company’s information intensity, the more the
traditional product /market boundaries shift. In essence, companies increasingly face new
sources of competition from other firms in historically non-competitive industries, particularly if
those firms are also information intensive.

Information Subject Agenda

The starting point for a global MIS is a list of subjects about which information is desired. The resulting
subject agenda is customized to individual needs and missions of company. There are 6 broad
information areas for global marketing. The categories along with their coverage are:

Category Coverage

1. Markets Demand estimates, consumer behavior, products, channels,

communication media availability and cost, market responsiveness

2. Competition Corporate, business, Functional strategies and plans

3. Foreign Exchange Balance of Payments, interest rates, attractiveness of country

currency, expectations of analysts

4. Prescriptive Information Laws, regulations, rulings concerning taxes, earnings, dividends in

both host countries and home country

5. Resource Information Availability of human, financial, information and physical resources

6. General Conditions Overall review of socio cultural, political, technological environments.

The above framework comprises of all the information subject areas relevant to a company
with global operations and are mutually exclusive i.e. any kind of information encompassed by
the framework can be correctly placed in one and only one category .
Scanning modes: Surveillance and Search
Once the subject agenda has been determined, the next step is the actual collection of
information. This can be accomplished using surveillance and search. In the surveillance mode,
the marketer engages in informal information gathering. Globally oriented marketers are
constantly on the lookout for information about potential opportunities and threats in various
parts of the world through a process called monitoring.

Search is characterized by the deliberate seeking out of specific information. Search often
involves investigation, a relatively limited and informal type of search. Investigation often
involves seeking out books or articles in foreign trade publications or searching the Internet on
a particular topic or issue. Search may also consist of research, a formally organized effort to
acquire specific information for a specific purpose.

Information Scanning
The global marketer must know where to go to obtain information, the subject areas that
should be covered, and the different ways that information can be acquired. The process of
information acquisition and processing the acquired information in an efficient and useful way
is termed as Information Scanning.

Sources of Global Information

Sources of secondary data / information include documented sources, human resources or
perceived sources.

Documented Sources: These include government, international bodies, business / trade /

professional bodies, foreign embassies, trade missions, university sources.

Human Resources: These include executives based abroad, sales people, customers, suppliers,
distributors, and government officials. This information is "internal" to the firm as opposed to
documentary sources which are generally external.

Perceived Sources: These are "sensory" sources of information. Direct perception could be
achieved by in country visits, where it would be possible to exercise all the sensory receptors
sight, taste, touch, intuition, hearing and smell. Participation in exhibitions, discussions with
importing organizations and participation in Government working parties can all be useful
sources of data.
Elements of Information system
The following constitute the elements of the global information system:

· Economic - rate of growth of GNP, level of inflation, incomes

· Social - people, demographics, culture, subculture
· Political - risk, instability, attitudes to "foreigners"
· Technology - current, rate of change, infrastructure
· Resources - money, manpower, materials, acquisitions, joint ventures
· Fiscal - taxes, exchange rates
· Institutions - money markets
· Managerial – funds

Marketing Information Systems Architecture

Global Environment:
Business Driver and Challenges

Corporate Global Strategies

Organization Structure

Management &Business Process

Technology Platform

Business Driver - A business Driver is a force in the environment to which businesses must
respond and that influences the direction of the business.

Global Strategy and Systems Configurations

The configuration, management and development of systems tend to follow the global strategy chosen.
Systems means the full range of activities involved in building and operating information systems:
conception and alignment with the strategic business plan, systems development, and ongoing
operation and maintenance.
System
Configuration Strategy
Domestic Exporter Multinational Franchiser Transnationals
X
Centralized X
Duplicated
Decentralized X X X
Networked X X

Centralized Systems

Those systems in which systems development and operations occur totally at the domestic
home base.

Duplicated Systems

Those systems in which development occurs at the home base but the operations are
handed over to autonomous units in foreign locations.

Decentralized Systems

Those systems in which each foreign unit designs its own unique solutions and systems.

Networked Systems

Those systems in which system development and operations occur in an integrated and
coordinated fashion across all units.

Tools of Information Systems

• Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)

• Efficient Consumer Response (ECR)

• Electronic Point of Sale (EPOS)

• Intranets

• Data Warehouse

Challenges and obstacles to Global Information Systems

Global Specific

Cultural Particularism: Regionalism, nationalism, Standards: Different Electronic Data Interchange

language differences (EDI), email and telecommunication standards

Social expectations: Brand-name expectations, Reliability: Phone networks not uniformly reliable
work hours

Political Laws: Transborder data and privacy Speed: Different data transfer speeds, many
laws, commercial regulations slower than base country.

Formal Marketing Research

Marketing Research is the project specific systematic gathering of data in the search scanning
mode. Marketing research can be taken up in-house team of the global firm or outsourced to
outside firms specialized in marketing research.

Differences Between Primary and Secondary Market Research

Marketing research requires both primary and secondary market research. But what
does that mean and what are the main differences?

Primary market research  takes in information directly from customers, usually as

participants in surveys. Usually, it is consisted of:

Exploratory Primary Research – This type of research helps to identify possible problem
areas, and it’s not focused on discovering specific information about customers. As with
any research, exploratory primary research should be conducted carefully. Researchers
need to craft an interviewing or surveying plan, and gather enough respondents to
ensure reasonable levels of statistical reliability.
Specific Primary Research – This type of research is one of the best ways to approach a
problem because it relies on existing customer data. Specific research provides a deeper,
more thorough understanding of the problem and its potential solutions. The greatest
advantage of specific research is that it lets you explore a very specific question, and
focus on a specific problem or an opportunity

Secondary market research  collects information from other sources such as

databases, trend reports, market or government statistics, industry content, etc. We can
divide secondary market research into 3 categories :

Public market data – Public sources range from academic journals and government
reports to tax returns and court documents. These sources aren’t always easy to find.
Many are available only in print in libraries and archives. You have to look beyond
search engines like Google to find public source documents.

Commercial data – Those are typically created by specialized agencies like Pew, Gartner
or Forrester. the research agencies are quite expensive, but they provide a lot of useful
information.

Internal data – Your organization’s databases are gold mines for market research. In the
best cases, your salespeople can tell you what they think about customers. Your
salespeople are your direct sources of information about the market. Don’t
underestimate your internal data.

Steps in Marketing Research

1. Problem definition: The purpose of the study, background and required information,
and decision making usage of the information is detailed. Defining the research problem
to be addressed is the most important step because all other steps will be based on this
definition.
2. Developing an approach to the problem: A broad specification of how the problem will
be addressed is developed to allow the researcher to break the problem into salient
issues and manageable pieces. Required information is identified. This step is guided by
discussions with decision makers, industry experts, along with secondary data analysis,
qualitative research and pragmatic considerations.
3. Research design formulation: Framework / blueprint for conducting the Marketing
Research project are prepared.
4. Fieldwork or data collection: A properly selected and trained field force gathers project
data through personal interviewing, telephone, mail or electronically.
5. Data preparation and analysis: Data collected is edited, coded, transcribed and verified
to allow researchers to derive meaning from the data.
 6. Report preparation and presentation: The research findings are documented and
presented to decision makers through written reports and presentations. The report
should address the specific research questions identified, describe approach, research
design, adopted data collection and data analysis procedures and conclude the results
and major findings.
In general, primary research is more reliable than secondary research, because
researchers have to interview people directly. But primary research is expensive
and time-consuming. Secondary research can be quicker and less expensive.

Types of Market Research

There are plenty of ways to conduct marketing research reports. Mostly, the type of
research done will depend on your goals. Here are some types of market research often
conducted by marketers.

 Interviews

 Focus Groups

 Product/Service Use Research

 Observation-Based Research

 Buyer Persona Research

 Market Segmentation Research

 Pricing Research

 Competitive Analysis Research

 Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty Research

 Brand Awareness Research

 Campaign Research
Interviews
An interview is an interactive process of asking and answering questions and observing
your respondent’s responses. Interviews are one of the most commonly used  tools in
market research . An interview allows an organization to observe, in detail, how its
consumers interact with its products and services. It also allows an organization to
address specific questions.

Focus Groups

A focus group is a group of people who get together to discuss a particular topic. A
moderator leads the discussion and takes notes. The main benefit of focus groups is that
they are quick and easy to conduct. You can gather a group of carefully-selected people,
give them a product to try out, and get their feedback within a few hours/days.

Product/Service Use Research

Product or service use research helps you obtain useful information about your product
or service such as :

 What your current customers do with the product/service

 Which features of the product/service are particularly important to your

customers

 What they dislike about the product/service

 What they would change about the product/service

Observation-Based Research
Observation-based research helps you to observe your target audience interacting with
your product or service. You will see the interactions and which aspects work well and
which could be improved. The main point is to directly experience the feedback from
your target audience’s point of view.

Buyer Persona Research

Personas are an essential sales tool. By knowing your buyers’ pain points and the
challenges they face, you can create better content, target messaging, and campaigns
for them. Buyer persona research is based on market research, and it’s built around data
that describes your customers’ demographics, behaviors, motivations, and concerns.
Market Segmentation Research
Market Segmentation Research is carried out to better understand existing and
potential market segments. The objective is to determine how to target different market
segments and how they differ from each other. The three most important steps in
writing a market segmentation research report are:

 Defining the problem

 Determining the solution [and]
 Defining the market

Pricing Research
A price that is too high, or too low, can kill a business. And without good market
research, you don’t really know what is a good price for your product. Pricing research
helps you define your pricing strategy

Competitive Analysis Research

In a competitive analysis, you define your “competition” as any other entity that
competes with you in your market, whether you’re selling a widget or a piece of real
estate. With competitive analysis research, you can find out things like:

· Who your competitors are

· What they’ve done in the past
· What’s working well for them
· Their weaknesses
· How they’re positioned in the market
· How they market themselves
· What they’re doing that you’re not

Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty Research

In today’s marketplace, companies are increasingly focused on customer loyalty. What
your customers want is your product, but, more importantly, they want it delivered with
a service that exceeds their expectations. Successful companies listen to their customers
and respond accordingly. That’s why customer satisfaction and loyalty research is a
critical component of that basic equation.

Brand Awareness Research

Who you are, what you stand for, what you offer, what you believe in, and what your
audience thinks of you is all wrapped up in brand. Brand awareness research tells what
your target audience knows about your brand and what’s their experience like.
Campaign Research

A campaign research report is a detailed account of how your marketing campaign

performed. It includes all the elements that went into creating the campaign: planning,
implementation, and measurement.

International Marketing Research Environment

With globalization of markets, marketing research has assumed a truly international character.
Conducting international marketing research is much more complex than domestic marketing
research.
The environment prevailing in the international markets being researched influences all six steps
of the marketing research process. Important aspects of this environment include marketing,
government, legal, economic, structural, informational and technological and socio-cultural
environment.

Marketing Environment
The role of marketing in economic development varies in different countries. The variety and
assortment of products policies, government control of media, the public’s attitude toward
advertising, the efficiency of the distribution system, and the level of marketing effort
undertaken should be taken into account by market researcher. Certain themes, words and
illustrations used in one country may be taboo some other countries. The types of retailers and
intermediary institutions available and the services these institutions offer vary from country to
country.

Government Environment
The type of government has a bearing on the emphasis on public policy, regulatory agencies,
government incentives and penalties, and investment in government enterprises. Government
has active roles in encouraging or controlling foreign competition, setting market controls,
developing infrastructure, distribution channels and act as an entrepreneur. At the tactical
level, the government determines tax structures, tariffs, and product safety rules and often
imposes special rules and regulations on foreign multinationals and their marketing practices.

Legal Environment
The legal environment encompasses common law, code law, foreign law, international law,
antitrust, bribery, and taxes. For marketing research, particularly salient are laws related to the
elements of the marketing mix – product, pricing, distribution and promotion.

Economic Environment
Economic environmental characteristics include economic size (GDP), level, source and
distribution of income, growth trends, and sectoral trends. A country’s stage of economic
development determines the size, the degree of modernization, and the standardization of its
markets. Consumer, 15 industrial, and commercial markets become more standardized and
consumers’ work, leisure and lifestyles become more homogenized by economic development
and advances in technology.

Structural Environment
Structural factors relate to transportation, communication, utilities, and infrastructure.

Informational and Technological Environment

Elements of the informational and technological environment include information and
communication systems, computerization and the use of the Internet, use of electronic
equipment, energy, production technology, science, and invention.

Socio-cultural Environment
Socio-cultural factors include values, literacy, language, religion, communication patterns, and
family and social institutions. Relevant values and attitudes toward time, achievement, work,
authority, wealth, scientific method, risk, innovation and change should be considered. The
marketing research process should be modified so that it does not conflict with the cultural
values.

Survey Methods in Global Marketing Research

Major interviewing methods in light of the challenges of conducting research in foreign countries
are:
· Telephone Interviewing and Computer Aided Telephone Interview (CATI)
· In-Home Personal Interviews
· Mall Intercept and Computer
· Mail Interviews
· Electronic surveys through email and Internet

Measurement and Scaling

In international marketing research, it is critical to establish the equivalence of scales and
measures used to obtain data from different countries
Construct
equivalence

Operational
Equivalence
Types of Equivalence
Scalar
Equivalence

Linguistic
Equivalence
Construct Equivalence
This deals with the question of whether the marketing constructs have same meaning and
significance in different countries.

Operational Equivalence
This concerns how theoretical constructs are operationalized to make measurements.

Scalar Equivalence
The demonstration that two individuals from different countries with the same value on some
variable will score at the same level on the same test; also called metric equivalence.

Linguistic Equivalence
The equivalence of both spoken and written language forms used in scale and questionnaire.

Questionnaire Translation
Research questionnaires need translation for administration in different cultures. Questionnaire
should be adapted to the specific cultural environment and should not be biased in favor of any
one culture or language. Direct translation in which a bilingual translator translates the
questionnaire directly from a base language to the respondent’s language is frequently used.
Errors may result due to incorrect translations. Back translations (source language – translate –
back to source language) and parallel translations (committee of translators in consensus) are
useful to eliminate translation errors.

Issues in Global Marketing Research

Global market researchers face special problems and conditions that differentiate their task
from that of the domestic market researcher. First, instead of analyzing a single national
market, the global market researcher must analyze many national markets, each of which has
unique characteristics that must be recognized in analysis. The availability of data varies with
country. Second, marketing research expenditure is limited because market potential of smaller
world markets is limited. Global researcher must devise techniques and methods that keep
expenditures in line with the market’s profit potential. Thirdly, data may be inflated or deflated
either inadvertently or for political expediency in case of developing countries like Middle
Eastern countries. Fourthly, comparability of international statistics varies greatly due to
absence of standard data gathering techniques. Similarly, definitions may vary of same things
across countries. Finally, global consumer research is inhibited by people’s reluctance to talk to
strangers, greater difficulty in locating people and lack of communication facilities. It is possible
that both industrial and consumer research services are less developed though cheaper.
Location of Global Marketing Research Headquarters
A global company must decide where to place the headquarter of its Marketing Research to
ensure comparability of data. Comparability requires that scales, questions and research
methodology are standardized. A global company delegates responsibility for research to
operating subsidiaries but retains overall responsibility and control of research as a
headquarters function. In a multinational company, responsibility of research is delegated to
the operating subsidiary. Top management of marketing research must ensure proper
communication among research group in different countries, integrate worldwide results and
are responsible for overall research design and program and the overall strategy.

Epilogue

Successful marketing depends on identifying needs of customers and the creation of means to
address the need. To achieve this, marketing research is a valuable tool. Marketing research
helps identify the requirements of the customers and identify market opportunities for
successful placement of firm’s products or services. Formal marketing research consists of six
major steps of problem definition, approach development, research design, fieldwork, data
analysis and reporting.

The specific survey methods suitable for use in global marketing research are telephonic
interviews, mall intercepts, in-home personal / mail interviews. These survey methods can be
complemented using Information Systems through use of computer aided telephonic interview,
computer aided personal interviewing and electronic surveys through email and internet.
Global market research faces several challenges as compared to local market research. These
include variation in amount of data available by countries, limited budgets, inaccuracy, non-
comparability and differences in marketing research environments consisting of marketing,
government, legal, economic, structural and technological aspects.

Information Systems acts as a strategic tool to provide global marketers quick access to
worldwide information. Global information systems assist marketer in gathering large amounts
of data from world over and provide insights in to upcoming opportunities or threats to top
management through faster compilation of collected data. The advent of internet has changed
the way Market Research is done internationally. In the context of limited budgets for
International Marketing research, internet can help in cutting costs and sticking to budgets.
Expensive survey methods like personal interviews / telephonic surveys can be replaced with
electronic surveys. However, this requires understanding obstacles to Global Information
Systems like difference in electronic standards, unreliable networks, legal and cultural issues.
Proper location of headquarter of global marketing research is critical to achieve comparability
of research data collected, control and communication of results.

In summary, global information systems today complements global marketing research and
helps provide competitive advantage to firms in the world markets.
References

• Global Marketing Management (Seventh Edition - 2009) , Warren J Keegan

• Marketing research ( Fifth Edition – 2009), Naresh Malhotra Satyabhusan Dash, Pearson
• Management Information Systems (Eleventh Edition – 2010) Laudon & Laudon, Pearson
• Global Agricultural Marketing Management, S. Carter (1997) ISBN 92-851-1004-5, FAO
1997 • “Marketing research important for SMEs to succeed” - Vaid (Jan ‘10), Trade India
(SME Times)

End Notes

• Electronic data interchange (EDI) is the structured transmission of data between

organizations by electronic means. It is used to transfer electronic documents or
business data from one computer system to another computer system, i.e. from one
trading partner to another trading partner without human intervention.

• Efficient Consumer response (ECR) is about working together to fulfil consumer wishes
better, faster and at lesser cost. ECR encourages companies to pursue continuous
improvements under three focus areas: supply side, demand side and enabling
technologies.

• Electronic Point of Sale (EPOS)– refers to technologies which enable an efficient

recording of the sale of goods or services to the customer

• Intranet – It is a private network that is contained within an enterprise.

• Data Warehouse - A data warehouse (DW) is a database used for reporting.

Jesus Evardo Magtalas Doc. Ruwel Serrano Bunag

MBA -1A Marketing Management
Doc. Professor