Wk5 –BM3309

International Marketing Research

Session Objectives

After the session, you should be able to

1. explain the major “problems” in Int. Mkt
Research.
2. recognise the importance of “local knowledge”
in conducting successful Int. marketing
research
3. Use multiple information sources to carry out
desk research
 Elements of Marketing
Research
Marketing Research:
“A systematic gathering, recording and analyzing of data to
provide information useful in marketing decision making”
International Marketing Research:
2 additional components
1. information must be communicated
across cultural boundaries
2. differences with research tools,
techniques and validity need to be taken
into account
Elements of Marketing
Research
• Scope of International Marketing Research falls into 3
types
– 1. General information about the country

– 2. Information needed to forecast future marketing requirements

• Understanding social, economic, consumer and industry trends

– 3. Specific marketing information needed to:

• Make decisions about how to manufacture, promote, distribute,
price the product, and develop marketing plans.
The Research Process

– Key to successful international marketing research

includes these 6 steps:
• 1. Define the problem and establish objectives
• 2. Determine sources of information to reach research
objectives
• 3. Consider costs and benefits of research
• 4. Gather relevant data from primary and secondary
resources
• 5. Analyze, interpret and summarize results
• 6. Effectively communicate results to the decision makers
Research Process in Detail

• 1. Define the problem and establish objectives

– Critical step because of unfamiliarity with international
markets
– Problems can arise when researchers:
• Fail to recognize or anticipate the influence of the local
culture or fail to identify the SRC effect
– Treats the problem as if it exists in the home country
• Fail to establish problem limits broad enough to include all
relevant data
For example,

A company did conduct a survey of Germans, French

and Italians. It concluded that Germans and French
ate more spaghetti than Italians.

David A. Ricks, Blunders in international business, 1999

Data Collection Methods

Questionnaire survey
Primary Focus group interview
One-2-one In-depth interview
+ Specific; Observation
+ validity Experiment (e.g., product testing)
- costs

Secondary Based on existing information

(Desk Research) and data (e.g., Statistics, research
reports, speeches/comments by
+ costs (money/time)
political/industry leaders, news, etc)
- non-specific
Problems of Gathering
Primary Data

1. Ability to communicate opinions

• Product familiarity

2. Willingness to respond
• Overt and covert reasons that directly or indirectly affect
willingness to respond--E.g. government’s ability to trace
activities of individuals, sex of the data gatherer who
interacts with respondent, inability of respondent to
articulate response.
Problems of Gathering
Primary Data

3. Sampling in field surveys

• LACK OF Adequate demographic data and available lists from
which to draw meaningful samples---Greatest problem
• Detailed social and economic information---makes sampling more
difficult
• Communication effectiveness--mail, telephone, personal interview
Methods of collection vary
internationally…

Japan
20%
5%
19% *

30%
14%

*In surveyor’s
office.
Problems of Gathering
Primary Data

3. Sampling in field surveys

• LACK OF Adequate demographic data and available lists from
which to draw meaningful samples---Greatest problem
• Detailed social and economic information---makes sampling more
difficult
• Communication effectiveness--mail, telephone, personal interview
• Adequate mailing lists and postal service
4. Language and comprehension
Country and industry information
http://www.uktradeinvest.gov.uk

Click this first

Additional Information Sources

• Government departments
– (e.g., UK Department of Trade and Investment; US
Department of Commerce)
• Research Reports (e.g., Global Business Insights; Snapdata,
Fame)
• Foreign Chambers of Commerce (e.g., British,
http://www.chamberonline.co.uk/)
• International Organisations (e.g., World Trade Organisation; World
Bank; OECD www.oecd.org; United Nations Conference on Trade and
Development (UNCTAD),
• Stock Exchanges (e.g., London, NY, NASDAQ)
• Foreign embassies
A document entitled “global marketing
information sources”
available on Blackboard
Problems in Secondary
Research

• Absence of secondary data in general

• Lack of of comparable data among countries
(e.g., different definitions for supermarket)
• Outdated data
• Data errors
 One Example:
…the population estimates made by the World
Bank differ from estimates by the United Nations
Population Division (UNPOP) for a significant
number of countries (with a difference between
5-30% for over 30 countries and, in the case of
Bhutan, the UNPOP estimate is 1.5 times higher
than the those of the World Bank estimate.

Fu (2004) “DATA INCONSISTENCY, STATISTICAL CREDIBILITY AND

THE HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT”