The Management Problem versus the Marketing Research Problem

Management Problem or Management Decision Problem:

- It asks what the Decision Maker needs to do
- Focuses on symptoms
- Action oriented

Marketing Research Problem:

- It asks what information is needed and how it can be obtained effectively and
efficiently.
-Focus on causes
-Data Oriented

The Problem Audit

What do we need to know to identify or define the problem?
- Distinguish between the symptom and the problem
- History of the problem
- Ask: What caused this to occur.
- What will the information be used for
- Environment in which it is being made
- What alternative courses of action are there?
- What criteria should we use to decide between alternatives
- Constraints
- Who are the decision makers and what are their purposes?
- Why is the information is being sought

Problem Definition Process:

Provides guidelines on how to correctly define the marketing research problem

Why is it important to clearly define the management decision problem?

- Because problem definition sets the course of the entire project
- Because the client is paying for the research so both need to know what to expect
- Because mistakes made at this level grow into larger, more expensive mistakes
later on.
- All the effort, time and money spent from this point on will be wasted if the
problem is not properly defined.

Define the Marketing Research Problem:

A statement of the information needed by a decision maker to help solve a
management decision problem.
Marketing research problem has to be Narrowly Defined

Tips for Accurately Defining Research Problem:

- Find out why the information is being sought.
- Determine whether the information already exists.
- Determine whether the question really can/should be answered.
- Use exploratory research to define background of the problem
- Situation Analysis
- The Iceberg Principle
-Determine relevant variables

Marketing Research Objectives

It is a restatement, in general terms, of what management needs to know to make a
decision
The specific bits of knowledge that need to be gathered to close the information
gaps highlighted in the research problem.
Serves as a standard to evaluate the quality and value of the research
Objectives should be Specific and Unambiguous
Problem Formulation and Approach:
-Understand and define the managerial decision problem/opportunity
-Translate into research objective(s) (what information is needed)
-Pose the right research questions
-State questions in terms of hypotheses

The Marketing Research Process:

1: Identify and define the Management Problem
2: Define the Marketing Research Problem
3: Establish Research Objectives
4: Specify the Research Design
5: Develop the Data Collection Procedure
6: Design the Sampling Procedure
7: Collect the Data
8: Process and Analyze the Data
9: Present the Results
10: Follow-up