Unit 1:

The Role of
Marketing Research
in Managerial
Decision-Making
STAND AUG 2018
Why do we need marketing research?

Marketing research helps marketing

managers do their jobs.

Imagine you have a great idea for a new product or service. So are you
ready to start your business? Probably not. You will at first try to find out if
your product/service already exist in the market. Would people be interested
in your offer? And if so who specifically? And how can you reach them best?
How much are they willing to pay? You need answers to such questions and
thus need marketing research.
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 SEITENTITEL

Should we launch a new product? What benefits should this product offer?

How should we package the product?

Which segment should we
target?
Marketing research is
an information-
How should we distribute Marketingfunction
gathering Decisions
to
this product? support decision-
making in marketing. How much should we
charge?

How should we promote this product?

What improvements should we

make to the product?
Should we reposition an existing product?

etc. 3
Why do we need
marketing research?
- Delivers insights about consumers and their preferences
- Helps develop marketing strategy
- Helps develop overall business strategy
- Provides source of competitive advantage
- Helps managers achieve their objectives

Success

Plan

Sound information

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How does marketing research relate to
marketing in general?
• Four out of five new products that are Marketing research is the
introduced in market without m. research information-gathering tool to
fail in the market. achieve marketing objectives.
• 3 out 4 that are introduced based on
M.Research succed.
• So marketing research seems to be
important.
• But does its relationship to marketing look
like?

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Marketing Research and the Marketing
Concept
Marketing concept: a business philosophy that focuses on delivering value to customers better than
the competition

Consumer Orientation Goal Orientation Systems Orientation

Information is required to support these orientations.

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 Consumer Orientation Goal Orientation Systems Orientation

Fulfill the needs of the Meet financial objectives at Implement a set of strategies
consumers the end of each period that support the marketing
concept

Marketing research: tool to gather information

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How does marketing research relate to
the marketing mix? Marketing research helps adapt the
marketing mix to the ever-changing
• Imagine you’re opening a marketing environment.
cupcake bakery. You know that
marketing research is
important, but how so?
• What aspects of the business it
effect? Maybe the cupcake
recipe, or the store location,
prices, or the flyers?
• How does M.R related to
marketing mix?

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Marketing Research and the Marketing
Mix
Marketing mix: 4 Ps meet the needs of the target market
Think of your marketing mix as a toolbox that helps you meet the
Needs of your target market and thus achieve your
Financial objective.

Marketing mix: controllable factors

How do we
respond to
changes?

Marketing environment: uncontrollable

There are things going on around you’re the company that we cannot control E.G Cultural
factors, Political/Legal, technological factors.

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Marketing Research and the Marketing
Mix
Marketing research helps determine how to adapt the marketing mix to changing external environments.

Roles

Descriptive Diagnostic Predictive Proactive

Gather and present Explain and make Predict the results of Make changes before
existing information sense of data planned marketing the environment
action indicates necessity
e.g. What do e.g. Why do consumers e.g. Which commercial e.g. What are future
consumers think about not buy our product? will be most needs and trends?
our brand? successful?
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Are there different types of research?

Yes, we generally distinguish between basic

and applied research.

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Types of Questions
Would consumers buy our product
from a vending machine?

Will they like the new flavor?

How would our product sell in Spain?

How will consumers react if we raise the price?

How popular is our brand?
All these questions are very
specific related to a product
or brand and are answered
will the help of applied
research
Specific 15
Types of Questions
How do consumers perceive
advertising?

How does memory work?

What triggers needs?

How is brand attachment formed?

How do consumers make
purchasing decisions?

Such general questions do not

apply to one company only but
are helpful for whole industry
and these are answered by
basic research. General 16
Applied vs. Basic Research
Applied Basic

Specific questions or problems faced by General questions to develop and test

a company new theories

Typical for the business world Typical for academia

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STAND AUG 18
What companies conduct marketing
research? Almost all companies use some type
of marketing research. It can either
be done in-house or be outsourced.

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Who does marketing research?
If company decides to do marketing research by themselves, it is called
inhouse marketing research because it is done by the company itsef and
marketing research dept will be in-charge of that.

If company decides to hire someone from outside they have multiple options:

Custom research company

Syndicated research company

Marketing
research Advertising agency
department

Field service firm

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Players of the marketing research
industry
Marketing research department Can be part of the marketing department

Deals with planned research projects

Custom research company Research based on specific client needs/questions
Work on project basis and always together with client

Syndicated research company No client as such collects data and sell to industries
More general data for sale

Advertising agency Need marketing research as input

Field service firm Data collection, analysis, interviewing etc.

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What jobs exist in marketing research?

There are various positions in the

market research industry, from entry
level to senior.

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Senior Positions in the Marketing
Research Industry
• Master’s or doctorate
• Oversees the overall research program of the company
• Allocates resources based on budget and objectives
• Recruits staff
• Alternative titles: Vice president of research or Vice
president of consumer insight
Head of
marketing
research
aka
Research
director

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Senior Positions in the Marketing
Research Industry
• Reports to director
• Runs research activities

Assistent
director

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Other Positions in the Marketing
Research Industry

MR Project Lab Data Field

Manager analyst/ processor/ interviewer
statistician data
analyst
• Responsible for • Analysis • Data • Data
one or more processing collection
research
projects
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Does ethical behavior matter in
marketing research?
Yes, because privacy and
confidentiality play a role and are
important for long-lasting relationships.

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Unethical behaviors
Supplier Client

- Subjectivity - Requesting bids with ulterior motive

- Mistreating respondents - Requesting bids when supplier is already
- Violating client confidentiality identified
- Unnecessary research

- “Professional” focus groupers

- Participant observation and informed
consent

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Code of Ethics
- “The Marketing Research Association’s (MRA) Code of Marketing Research Standards (Code) is
designed to promote an ethical culture in the marketing research profession where principles of
honesty, professionalism, fairness and confidentiality combine to support the profession’s
success. The Code sets standards of ethical conduct for all MRA members applied against the
background of applicable law.”

- Download:
https://www.insightsassociation.org/issues-policies/mra-code-marketing-research-standards

- MRA enforces code and imposes sanctions

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STAND AUG 18
What are some current challenges in
marketing research?
Challenges may be related to
research, technology and data
management.

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Challenges

Research Being up to date with research techniques to provide effective and

efficient marketing research

Technology Proliferation of data collection devices, including social media

Data Management Big data management

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Internationalization
- Language and semantic differences
- Cultural norms
- Sampling
- Administration

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Can marketing research solve all
organizational problems?
No! Whether marketing research would
be productive depends on issues such
as timing, resources and coordination.

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When not to conduct marketing research
Product life cycle
Timing Decision stage

Cost/benefit
Resources Existing data

Common objective
Coordination Marketing research agreement

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STAND AUG 2018