Market Research

• “If you’re hurt and you miss work”: This is the tag line for one of the
most popular U.S. advertising campaigns—for AFLAC Insurance.
• Research revealed that most consumers were unaware of AFLAC. The
vast majority of consumers would not list AFLAC when prompted to
name insurance companies. Instead, names like Allstate, State Farm,
and Prudential proved more familiar.
• Based on this research, AFLAC decided to invest in a national
television campaign to build awareness of the brand name
—“AFFLLAAACCK!!” The phonic similarity to “QUACK” proved
successful.
MARKET RESEARCH
• The systematic design, collection, analysis and reporting of data and findings
relevant to a specific marketing situation facing the organization

• It helps establish facts and reach new conclusions.

• Researching the immediate competitive environment of

the market place, including customers, competitors,
suppliers, distributors and retailers
TYPES OF RESEARCH
• Fundamental or Pure Research :
• Aims to generate new knowledge
• It attempts to expand the limits of knowledge in general, and as
such it is not aimed at solving a particular pragmatic problem.

E.g. Research on Theory of Motivation like Maslow's hierarchy of

needs
• Applied Research:
• It is conducted to address a specific business decision for a specific firm
or organization.
• Conducted with specific purpose, does not see new knowledge use
existing data to solve the problem
E.g. Research to investigate the effectiveness of sales promotions schemes
• Action Research: conducted simultaneously with a project., done in
order to make corrections and improvements
E.g. A research to investigate students interest in education after a change
in method.
 SCOPE OF MARKET RESEARCH
Market research covers the following items of study:
• Size of the present and potential market.
• Consumer needs wants, habits and behavior.
• Analysis of the market size according to age, gender, income, profession,
standard of living etc.
• Geographic location of customers.
• Analysis of market demand.
• Knowledge of competitors and their products.
• Knowing the profitability of different markets.
• Study the market changes and market conditions.
Factors affecting Marketing Research
Decision
• Availability of data
• E.g. Many African nations have never conducted a population census.
• Nature of the decision
• The more strategically or tactically important the decision, the more likely it is
that research will be conducted
• E.g. A computer company must update its operator’s instruction manual when it
makes minor product modifications. The research cost of determining the proper
wording to use in the updated manual is likely to be too high for such a minor
decision.
• Time Constraint
• Although making decisions without researching a situation is not
ideal, sometimes the urgency of a situation precludes the use of
research.
• Benefit vs. Cost
• When deciding whether to make a decision without research or to
postpone the decision in order to conduct research, managers should
ask three questions:
1. Will the payoff or rate of return be worth the investment?
2. Will the information gained by business research improve the
quality of the managerial decision enough to warrant the
expenditure?
3. Is the proposed research expenditure the best use of the available
funds?
MANAGERIAL VALUE OF BUSINESS
RESEARCH/ROLE
• Product-Oriented
• Prioritizes decision making that emphasizes the physical product
design, trendiness or technical superiority
E.g. The fashion industry makes clothes in styles and sizes that few
can adopt.
• Production-Oriented
• Prioritizes efficiency and effectiveness of the production processes in
making decisions U.S. auto industry’s assembly-line process is intent
on reducing costs of production as low as possible.
E.g. U.S. auto industry’s assembly-line process is intent on reducing
costs of production as low as possible.
• Marketing-Oriented
Well-known hotel chains are designed to address the needs of
travelers, particularly business travelers.
E.g. Prettyclick reward system
Why Domino's Spent Millions to Fix Its
Pizza
• After admitting its product was awful, Domino's Pizza decided to
change its product and advertising strategy. The results have been
amazing. But how does the company plan to keep growing?
• The company was founded in 1960 by two brothers who borrowed
$900 to pay for their first store and used a Volkswagen Beetle to
deliver their first pizzas. Since 2008, Domino's Pizza had experienced
massive international store growth, beating the growth rate of
competitors like Pizza Hut and Papa John's Pizza.
• However, Domino's future in 2010 looked quite bleak. Strong
competition, harsh criticism over the taste of its pizzas, and low
consumer satisfaction levels were playing against the company's
revenue.
• Domino's amazing turnaround was a result of extensive efforts to
improve the company's processes and menu offerings by introducing
new recipes, using mobile technology to attract new customers, and
improving supply chain management.
The decision-making process associated with the development and implementation of a business strategy involves four interrelated
stages:

• Identifying problems or opportunities

E.g. The description of the dividend history of stocks in an industry may point to an attractive
investment opportunity. Information supplied by business research may also indicate problems.
E.g. Employee interviews undertaken to characterize the dimensions of an airline reservation
clerk’s job may reveal that reservation clerks emphasize competence in issuing tickets over
courtesy and friendliness in customer contact.
• Diagnosing and assessing problems or opportunities
• After an organization recognizes a problem or identifies a potential opportunity, business research
can help clarify the situation.
• If there is a problem, they need to specify what happened and why. If an opportunity exists, they
may need to explore, refine, and quantity the opportunity.
• Selecting and implementing a course of action
• Even the best plan is likely to fail if it is not properly implemented. Business research
may be conducted to indicate the specific tactics required to implement a course of
action
• Evaluating the course of action
• Managers may use evaluation research to provide feedback for evaluation and control
of strategies and tactics
• Evaluation research is the formal, objective measurement and appraisal of the extent a
given activity, project, or program has achieved its objectives.
• Performance-monitoring research is a specific type of evaluation research that
regularly, perhaps routinely, provides feedback for the evaluation and control of
recurring business activity.
• E.g. In the grocery and retail drug industries, sales research may use the Universal
Product Code (UPC) for packages, together with computerized cash registers and
electronic scanners at checkout counters, to provide valuable market-share information
to store and brand managers interested in the retail sales volume
Scientific Research Process
• Scientific research involves a systematic process that focuses on being
objective and gathering a multitude of information for analysis so that
the researcher can come to a conclusion.
• This process is used in all research and evaluation projects, regardless
of the research method.
• In this process, the study is documented in such a way that another
individual can conduct the same study again. This is referred to as
replicating the study. Any research done without documenting the
study so that others can review the process and results is not an
investigation using the scientific research process.
CHARACTERISTICS OF SCIENTIFIC
RESEARCH
• Purposiveness: Should have a specific aim or purpose.
• Systematic: Should follow a defined plan of investigation.
• Objectivity: Should be free from opinion and feelings of the researcher.
• Replicability : Should be possible for others to reproduce the study and
get the same result if same procedure is applied.
• Testability: Should be able to test the hypothesis to understand and find
out the relationship between dependent an independent variables.
• Generalizability: The result obtained from the research must be
applicable and acceptable worldwide. The more generalizable the
research, the greater will be its usefulness and value.
Scientific Research Process

Identification Review of Hypothesis Research

of a problem literature Formulation Design

Interpretation
Collection of
Data Analysis and
Data
generalization
Approaches to Research
• Quantitative Used to measure how people feel, think or act in a particular
way
Mostly researches use surveys, observations and
experiments.
Eg: Choices, Frequency, Demographics

• Qualitative Based on depth of understanding rather than numerical

analysis of data,
Depth interviews or group discussions are two common
methods used for collecting qualitative information.
Eg: Attitudes, preferences, Motivations, feelings
Distinction of qualitative and quantitative research in terms of
objective, sample, data collection, data analysis and outcome:-
Qualitative research Quantitative Research

Objective To gain a qualitative To quantify the data and

understanding of the underlying generalize the results from
reasons and motivations sample to the population of
interest

Sample Small number of non Large number of representative

representative cases cases
Data Collection Unstructured Structured

Data Analysis Non Statistical Statistical

Outcome Develop an initial Recommend a final course of

understanding action
Ethics in Marketing Research
• Normally, three parties are involved in a research project
Sponsor
Researcher
Respondents
The issue of ethics in business research involves all three players in a research
project (some times public also).
Sponsor
The sponsor has to abide by a number of ethical or moral rules and regulations
when conducting a research study. The more common sources of ethical problems
in the client establishment stem from the following sources:
• Obvious and Hidden Purposes
• Dishonesty in Dealing with Researchers
• Misuse of Research Information
Researcher
• Violating sponsor's confidentiality
• Improper execution of research
• Abuse of respondents
Respondent
A respondent who of his or her own free will agrees to participate in a research
project has the ethical obligation to provide the researcher, and hence the sponsor,
with honest and truthful answers. The respondent can abstain from answering a
sensitive question, but falsifying the answer is ethical improper.
• Any respondent who participates in a research project has the following rights:
• The right to privacy
• The right to safety
• The right to know the true purpose of the research
Process in Marketing Research

Defining
Developing Plan Analysis and
Research Reviewing the Preparation of
for Research Data Collection Interpretation of
Problem and Literature Research Report
Methodology Data
objective setting
 Limitation of Marketing Research
• The results drawn from Marketing research is not very accurate and are very vague.
• Marketing research studies the behavior of customers; so it is quite impossible to
achieve mathematical accuracy.
• MR is not free from bias. The research conclusions cannot be verified
• Inappropriate training to researchers can lead to misapprehension of questions to
be asked for data collection
• Marketing Research faces time constraint . By the time the results are ready, the
circumstances might have changed; and then the whole study will be valueless.
• Huge cost is involved in MR as collection and processing of data can be costly
• The validity of marketing research is also limited by the limitation of tools and
techniques involved.
Thank you