1. Marketing Research for Managerial Decision Making
Chapter 1
Marketing Research for Managerial Decision Making
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
Copyright © 2013 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

2. Learning Objectives
Describe the impact marketing research has on marketing decision making
Demonstrate how marketing research fits into the marketing planning process
Provide examples of marketing research studies
Understand the scope and focus of the marketing research industry

3. Learning Objectives
Recognize ethical issues associated with marketing research
Discuss new skills and emerging trends in marketing research

4. The Growing Complexity of Marketing Research
Technology and growth of global business are increasing the complexity of marketing research
New data collection tools, including Twitter, clickstream tracking, and GPS, pose serious questions in regard to consumer privacy
Current variety of available tools and techniques makes choosing a method for a particular research project increasingly challenging

5. Marketing Research
Links an organization to its market through the gathering of information

6. The Growing Complexity of Marketing Research
Marketing research is a systematic process
Tasks include:
Designing methods for collecting information
Managing the information collection process
Analyzing and interpreting results
Communicating findings to decision makers

7. The Role and Value of Marketing Research
Marketing research draws heavily on the social sciences both for methods and theory
Marketing research methods:
Are diverse
Span a wide variety of qualitative and quantitative techniques
Borrow from disciplines such as psychology, sociology, and anthropology

8. The Role and Value of Marketing Research
Marketing research can be applied to a wide variety of problems involving the four Ps:
Price
Place
Promotion
Product

9. Marketing Research and Marketing Mix Variables
Product - Product decisions are varied and include:
New product development and introduction
Branding
Positioning products
Perceptual mapping: Used to picture the relative position of products on two or more product dimensions important to consumer purchase decisions

10. Marketing Research and Marketing Mix Variables
Place/Distribution - Decisions include choosing and evaluating:
Locations
Channels
Distribution partners
Retailing research: Focus on trade area analysis, store image/perception, in-store traffic patterns, and location analysis

11. Marketing Research and Marketing Mix Variables
Behavioral targeting: Displays ads at one website based on the user’s previous surfing behavior
Shopper marketing: Marketing to consumers based on research of the entire process consumers go through when making a purchase

12. Marketing Research and Marketing Mix Variables
Promotion - Important influences on any company’s sales
Essential that companies know how to obtain good returns from their promotional budgets
Most common research tasks in integrated marketing communications:
Advertising effectiveness studies
Attitudinal research
Sales tracking

13. Marketing Research and Marketing Mix Variables
Price - Pricing decisions involve:
Pricing new products
Establishing price levels in test marketing
Modifying prices for existing products

14. Marketing Research and Marketing Mix Variables
Marketing research provides answers:
How large is the demand potential within the target market at various price levels?
What are the sales forecasts at various price levels?
How sensitive is demand to changes in price levels?
Are there identifiable segments that have different price sensitivities?
Are there opportunities to offer different price lines for different target markets?

15. Consumers and Markets – Segmentation Studies
Major focuses of a marketing research project:
Creating customer profiles
Understanding behavioral characteristics

16. Consumers and Markets – Segmentation Studies
Benefit and lifestyle studies: Examine similarities and differences in consumers’ needs
Researchers use these studies to identify two or more segments within the market for a particular company’s products
Marketers use ethnographic research
To study consumer behavior as activities embedded in a cultural context and laden with identity
Requires extended observation of consumers in context

17. Marketing Theory Important to many businesses
Can be useful in thinking business problems and opportunities

18. Types of Marketing Research Firms
Internal or external
Custom or standardized
Brokers or facilitators

19. Types of Marketing Research Firms
Internal
External
Organizational units that reside within a company
Benefits:
Research method consistency
Shared information across the company
Lower research costs
Ability to produce actionable research results
Perform all aspects of the research
Benefits:
Objective suppliers
Less subject to company politics and regulations
Specialized talent for the same cost
Greater flexibility in scheduling studies and specific project requirements
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20. Types of Marketing Research Firms
Customized research firms: Provide tailored services for clients
Standardized research firms: Provide general results following a standard format so that results of a study conducted for one client can be compared to norms
Syndicated business services: Services provided by standardized research firms that include data made or developed from a common data pool or database

21. Changing Skills for a Changing Industry
As marketing research firms expand, requirements for successfully executing marketing research projects will change
Top five skills:
Ability to understand and interpret secondary data
Presentation skills
Foreign-language competency
Negotiation skills
Computer proficiency

22. Ethics in Marketing Research Practices
Major sources of ethical issues are the interactions among the three key groups:
Research information providers
Research information users
Respondents

23. Exhibit 1.1 - Ethical Challenges in Marketing Research

24. Ethical Questions in General Business Practices
Potential ethical pitfalls for research providers:
Unethical pricing
Unnecessary or unwarranted research services
Client confidentiality issues
Use of “black-box” methodologies
Branded “black-box” methodologies: Offered by research firms that are branded
Do not provide information about how the methodology works

25. Conducting Research Not Meeting Professional Standards
Reasons:
Fearful of losing the business entirely
Client pressure to perform research to prove a predetermined conclusion
Cost cutting
Interviewers working for research firms may also engage in unethical behavior
Curbstoning: Data collection personnel filling out surveys for fake respondents

26. Abuse of Respondents
Potential ways to abuse respondents in marketing research:
By not providing promised incentive to respondents for completing interviews or questionnaires
By stating that interviews are very short when in reality they may last an hour or more
By using “fake” sponsors

27. Abuse of Respondents
At the end of any study involving deception, subjects must be “debriefed” to explain deception
Subject debriefing: Fully explaining to respondents any deception that was used during research

28. Abuse of Respondents
Sugging/frugging: Claiming that a survey is for research purposes and then asking for a sale or donation
De-anonymizing data: Combining different publicly available information, usually unethically, to determine consumers’ identities, especially on the Internet

29. Unethical Activities of the Client/Research User
Requesting detailed research proposals from several competing research providers with no intention of actually selecting a firm to conduct the research
Promising a prospective research provider a long-term relationship or additional projects in order to obtain a very low price on the initial research project
Overstating results of a marketing research project

30. Unethical Activities by the Respondent
Providing dishonest answers
Faking behavior

31. Marketing Research Codes of Ethics
Marketing Research Society summarizes the central principles in ESOMAR’s code as follows:
Conform to all national and international laws
Behave ethically
Be particularly careful with children and other vulnerable groups
Ensure respondents are cooperating voluntarily and are well informed of risks

32. Marketing Research Codes of Ethics
Respect rights of respondents
Protect personal data and use only for intended purpose
Conduct projects with accuracy, transparency, objectivity, and quality
Conform to principles of fair competition

33. Emerging Trends
Increased emphasis on secondary data collection methods
Movement toward technology-related data management
Expanded use of digital technology for information acquisition and retrieval
Broader international client base
Movement beyond data analysis toward a data interpretation/information management environment

34. Marketing Research in Action: Continuing Case: The Santa Fe Grill
What kind of information about products, services and customers should the owners of Santa Fe Grill consider collecting?
Is a research project actually needed?
Is the best approach a survey of customers?
Should employees also be surveyed?
Why or why not?