1. Developing a Global Vision through Marketing Research
Chapter 8

2. Learning Objectives
LO1 The importance of problem definition in international research LO2 The problems of availability and use of secondary data LO3 Sources of secondary data LO4 Quantitative and qualitative research methods LO5 Multicultural sampling and its problems in less-developed countries LO6 Using international marketing research

3. International Marketing Research
Cross-cultural communications are difficult
Environments are different
Important to recognize cross-country similarities and differences
Important to recognize and overcome SRC
It is important to pay attention to differences and similarities in cultures and consumption by conducting marketing research. Many multinationals have committed blunders due to the lack of meticulous marketing research as well as the presence of SRC when operating in a foreign market. An example would be that of Sears in Brazil when they failed to adjust the shelf heights to fit the shorter height of the average Brazilian. Marketing research and in turn information obtained from it are critical in developing successful marketing strategies. Information needs range from the general data required to assess market opportunities to specific market information for decisions about product, promotion, distribution, and price. Information can be gathered from a variety of sources ranging from consumers to suppliers to competitors.

4. International Marketing Research
Research processes and methods are same whether applied in Columbus, Ohio, or Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Marketing research is traditionally defined as the systematic gathering, recording, and analyzing of data to provide information useful to marketing decision making.
International marketing has some additional complexities such as communicating information across cultures. For example, the headquarters in the U.S has to convey the results of a research project to the Brazilian subsidiary and the Brazilian subsidiary has to translate that into meaningful information that they can put to use. This could be vice versa as well, the U.S using information collected in the Brazilian subsidiary. Many marketing research firms are able to provide services such as cross-cultural translations. The other complexity with international marketing research is that environments in which research is conducted may vary. Tried and tested methods may not be meaningful or apply in a foreign culture.

5. International Marketing Research
International marketing research involves two additional complications:
Information must be communicated across cultural boundaries.
The environments in which research tools are applied are often different in foreign markets.

6. Breadth & Scope of International Marketing Research
Foreign market research is broader in scope than domestic research
Research can be divided into three types based on information needs:
general information about the country, area, and/or market;
information necessary to forecast future marketing requirements by anticipating social, economic, consumer, and industry trends within specific markets or countries; and
specific market information used to make product, promotion, distribution, and price decisions and to develop marketing plans
In domestic operations, mostly emphasis is placed gathering specific market information, because the other data are usually available from secondary sources. In an international setting, a country’s political stability, cultural attributes, and geographical characteristics are some of the kinds of information not ordinarily gathered for the purpose of domestic marketing research. See the example of Unisys Corporation and the steps it uses to gather information.

7. The Research Process for All Countries1
Define the research problem and establish research objectives. 2
Determine the sources of information to fulfill the research objectives. 3
Consider the costs and benefits of the research effort. 4
Gather the relevant data from secondary or primary sources, or both. 5
Analyze, interpret, and summarize the results. 6
Effectively communicate the results to decision makers.

8. Defining the Problem and Establishing Research Objectives
Begin with a definition of the research problem and the establishment of specific research objectives.
The market researcher must be certain the problem definition is sufficiently broad to cover the whole range of response possibilities and not be clouded by his or her SRC.
Once the problem is adequately defined and research objectives established, the researcher must determine the availability of the information needed.
This is the first and most crucial step in the research process as it is the backbone of the entire research. Errors could be made because of overlooking local culture or due to one’s own Self Reference Criterion (SRC). An example of this would be Disney when they established their first European location in Paris failed to take into account that flights from Germany to Florida were cheaper than getting to Paris and that didn’t make the opening of Disney Paris attractive to many Europeans.

9. Problems with Secondary Data
Availability
Reliability
Comparability
Validation
Availability of Data The United States is by far the country with the largest quantity of data available. The data available on and in Japan is a close second, and several European countries do a good job of collecting and reporting data. Sometimes, the quality of data collected in these other countries may be better than that collected in the U.S. Another problem with the availability of data is the lack of language skills in the country that a firm is operating in. For example in Japan, one needs to know Japanese to access the available data.
Reliability of Data Data may be available but not reliable. Data reported may be biased depending on who reported it, for example government reported data may be biased in population or economic statistics. Less developed countries tend to be overly optimistic and unreliable in reporting relevant economic data about their countries. Th e European Union (EU) tax policies can affect the accuracy of reported data also. Production statistics are frequently inaccurate because these countries collect taxes on domestic sales.
Comparability of Data Comparability of available data is the third problem for companies. In the U.S. data is readily available through a variety of sources and is usually current. In other countries, especially less developed ones, data can be old and outdated and is not updated frequently enough. Either things may be changing too rapidly for these countries to document (lack of currency) or there is a lack of historical data (they only started documenting recently).
Validating Secondary Data Checking the consistency of one set of secondary data with other data of known validity is an effective and oft en-used way of judging validity. For example, a researcher might check the sale of baby products with the number of women of childbearing age and birthrates, or the number of patient beds in hospitals with the sale of related hospital equipment.

10. Checking the Accuracy of Secondary Data
Secondary data from any source, including the United States, must be checked and interpreted carefully.
The following questions should be asked to effectively judge the reliability of secondary data sources:
Who collected the data? Would there be any reason for purposely misrepresenting the facts?
For what purposes were the data collected?
How (by what methodology) were the data collected?
Are the data internally consistent and logical in light of known data sources or market factors?

11. Sources of Secondary Data: Websites for International Marketing

12. Sources of Secondary Data: Websites for International Marketing
University-based websites, e.g.,

13. Sources of Secondary Data: Websites for International Marketing
MSU-CIBER- Globaledge
World Bank
IMF
OECD
U.N.
Syndicated data sets: A.C. Nielsen and Information Resources Inc.

14. Gathering Primary Data: Quantitative & Qualitative Research
Often the market researcher must collect primary data—that is, data collected specifically for the particular research project at hand.
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15. Gathering Primary Data: Quantitative & Qualitative Research
Begin with a definition of the research problem and the establishment of specific research objectives.
The market researcher must be certain the problem definition is sufficiently broad to cover the whole range of response possibilities and not be clouded by his or her SRC.
Marketing research methods can be grouped into two basic types:
qualitative
quantitative
In quantitative research, a firm is usually collecting very specific information in large quantities, usually a large number of respondents using a method such a survey. Experimental research conducted using scientific methods are also used, particularly for consumer product testing, in conjunction with surveys administered in person, via the telephone or internet. New toppings or flavors or a new formula of shampoo would be examples of the use of experiments.
Qualitative research involves asking open ended unstructured questions that are documented by a skilled researcher. Qualitative research could also include observation of consumers while they use a product or shop. The most often used form of qualitative questioning is the focus group interview. Qualitative research is used in international marketing research to formulate and define a
problem more clearly and to determine relevant questions to be examined in subsequent research.

16. Problems with Qualitative Research
Focus group interviews are difficult to conduct in Confucian societies
Personal referrals are needed to contact consumers
People are often hesitant to criticize new product ideas when companies seek candid opinions.

17. Problems with Primary Research
Ability to communicate opinions:
context
meaning
cultural habits
Willingness to respond
First of all, consumers in another country should be able to respond and communicate opinions. Whether it is due to language, meaning, context or cultural habits, they may not be able to respond to the question in the way it is posed to them. Gerber foods often engages in observational research or interviewing mothers of babies to find out babies’ preferences for Gerber products. Secondly, they should be willing to respond, this could be because the culture doesn’t allow it for example, women in many countries may not be willing to participate even when your target market is women! Then firms have to get creative and involve the husband or a male in order to reach the women. People also tend to be suspicious of any questions related to income or taxes.

18. Marketing research is now being outsourced to low wage countries, particularly India. United Airlines after its merger with Continental in 2012 has outsourced most of its customer service to India.
Midnight in New Delhi—both customer service and telephone survey research are being outsourced to lower-wage English-speaking countries. Cost savings of such outsourcing must be balanced with consumer reluctance in cross cultural communication settings, particularly those involving voluntary responses to marketing research.
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19. Problems with Primary Research
Sampling in Field Surveys:
reliability of lists
poor postal service
availability of data
census and socioeconomic data
SS# data
street maps
telephones
postal unit
sample size & sampling procedure
There are many issues related to sampling and field surveys as listed on the slide, mostly relates to infrastructure and availability of data that we take for granted exists in all countries. Many times, there are no street addresses available in countries. In India for example, it is typical to state in your address that your house is located “Opposite to the State bank of India.”
Language is an impediment and surveys need to be translated into the local language. For translation, one of two methods can be used, parallel translation or back translation, the questionnaire is simultaneously developed in English and the local language and parallel translated until they are equivalent or it is done English to the local language and then back to English until the surveys sound alike and are meaningful. The third alternative is decentering which is a hybrid of parallel and back translation. It is a successive process of translation and retranslation of a questionnaire, each time by a different translator. Even Spanish can be different depending on which region of the world, the word for juice is “zumo” in Spain and “jugo” in Mexico. On my first visit to Portugal I prepared by learning basic Portuguese phrases, only to find out that I had learned Brazilian Portuguese (which is what is available in the U.S.) and no one could understand me.

20. Problems with Primary Research
Language and comprehension
Back Translation
Parallel Translation
Decentering
There are many issues related to sampling and field surveys as listed on the slide, mostly relates to infrastructure and availability of data that we take for granted exists in all countries. Many times, there are no street addresses available in countries. In India for example, it is typical to state in your address that your house is located “Opposite to the State bank of India.”
Language is an impediment and surveys need to be translated into the local language. For translation, one of two methods can be used, parallel translation or back translation, the questionnaire is simultaneously developed in English and the local language and parallel translated until they are equivalent or it is done English to the local language and then back to English until the surveys sound alike and are meaningful. The third alternative is decentering which is a hybrid of parallel and back translation. It is a successive process of translation and retranslation of a questionnaire, each time by a different translator. Even Spanish can be different depending on which region of the world, the word for juice is “zumo” in Spain and “jugo” in Mexico. On my first visit to Portugal I prepared by learning basic Portuguese phrases, only to find out that I had learned Brazilian Portuguese (which is what is available in the U.S.) and no one could understand me.

21. Marketing researchers in India have to consider the problems of language diversity. Here the primary 13 languages (besides English) are listed on a
20-rupee bill.
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22. Problems with Quantitative Research
Different types of biases:
non-response bias
courtesy bias
yea or nay saying
social desirability bias
income and gender-related questions may be taboo
One may encounter many problems with quantitative research. A number of biases come into play such as not wanting to respond, being courteous to the interviewer and hence not providing a candid response, some cultures tend to say “Yea” or “Nay” to questions regardless of whether they understand the question, responses to some questions that relate to social class or residential area may involve social desirability bias. And, some questions related to income, gender or taxes may be taboo.

23. Research on the Internet: A Growing Opportunity
For many companies the Internet provides a new and increasingly important medium for conducting a variety of international marketing research
There are at least seven different uses for the Internet in international research:
Online surveys and buyer panels
Online focus groups
Web visitor tracking
Advertising measurement
Customer identification systems
marketing lists
Embedded research
International Internet use is growing almost twice as fast as American use. A variety of methods that were not available a few years ago can be used now in international marketing research due to the availability of technology and the penetration of the internet.

24. Estimating Market Demand
Expert opinion
experts are polled for their opinions about market size and growth rates.
the key in using expert opinion to help forecast demand is triangulation , that is, comparing estimates produced by different sources.
Analogy
assumes that demand for a product develops in much the same way in all countries, as comparable economic development occurs in each country.
Experts may be the companies’ own sales managers or outside consultants and government officials.

25. Problems in Analyzing & Interpreting Research Information
Both secondary and primary data collected by the market researcher are subject to many limitations
Accepting information at face value in foreign markets is imprudent.
The meanings of words, the consumer’s attitude toward a product, the interviewer’s attitude, or the interview situation can distort research findings.
First, the researcher must possess a high degree of cultural understanding of the market in which research is being conducted.
Second, a creative talent for adapting research methods is necessary.
Third, a skeptical attitude in handling both primary and secondary data is helpful.

26. Analogy Example = DVD Player DemandPoland DVD Player DemandHungary
Color TV DemandPoland
Color TV DemandHungary
The stuff on the right is an equation, country names are sub scripted. DVD Player Demand for Poland Over Color TV Demand for Poland Equals DVD Player Demand for Hungary Over Color TV Demand for Hungary. =
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27. Overcoming Cultural barriers and communicating with decision makers is a challenge. However, if the marketing research is well-executed, these barriers can be overcome as the options in Exhibit 8.2 indicate.
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