AN OVERVIEW OF

MARKETING RESEARCH
 Learning Objectives
• Define marketing research and speak intelligently about its
relevance to marketing
• Describe how marketing research relates to the marketing concept
• Tell why you should study marketing research
• Explains who conducts marketing research
• Name two classifications of research and distinguish between them
• Explain who uses marketing research
• Discuss the ethical responsibility of marketing researchers to
society
 Ask Yourself
• Who really uses the results of the study?
• Why did they conduct the study the way
they did?
• Why wasn’t the Internet used to collect the
data?
Why Study Marketing Research?
• Marketing Research: Systematic and objective planning,
gathering, recording, and analyzing of information to
enhance the decision making of marketing managers.
• Marketing: Tool used by managers to satisfy consumer
desires. The AMA defines marketing as “the process of
planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion,
and distribution of ideas, goods, and services to create
exchanges that satisfy individual and organizational
objectives.”
• Marketing Concept: Management philosophy stating that
to satisfy organizational objectives, the wants and needs of
target markets must be determined so that products can be
created to satisfy those desires better than competitors do.
 Who Does Marketing Research?
Applied versus Basic Research

• Research: Systematic and objective investigation

of a subject or problem to discover relevant
information or principles.
• Basic research: Provides information about a
phenomenon (does not solve a specific problem).
• Applied research: Problem-specific research that
focuses on helping managers resolve specific
problems.
Top 10 Marketing Research Companies
ESOMAR - 2003
1. VNU(Netherlands) - $3,048.3 million
2. TNS(UK) - $1,565.1 million
• TNS - $1,050.5 Million
• NFO – 514.6 Million
1. IMS Health Inc.(USA) - $1,381.8 million
2. The Kantar Group(UK) – $1,002.1 million
3. Gfk Group(Germany) - $673.6 million
4. Ipsos Group(France) - $644.6 million
5. Information Resources Inc.(USA)-$554.3 million
6. Westat Inc.(USA) - $381.8 million
7. Synovate(UK) - $357.7 million
8. NOP world(UK) - $335.8 million
Evolution of Research and Marketing Research

• Early days
• Research has an extensive history.
• 1800s
• First formal practice of marketing research can be traced to the
1824 presidential race.
• In 1879, the pioneering agency N.W. Ayer & Son used market
research to solve marketing and advertising problems.
• Early 1900s
• In 1911, J. George Frederick set up his marketing research firm,
the Business Bourse.
• In 1926, important breakthrough in market research occurred
with the early gathering and sorting of business and marketing
data by the U.S. Department of Commerce.
Evolution of Research and Marketing Research –
cont’d
• Mid 1900s
• American Management Association, American Association of Public
Opinion Research, Advertising Research Foundation contributed to the
development of marketing research.
• American Marketing Association
• Formed in 1937.
• 1963 study found that more than half of the 860 firms surveyed were
organized after 1947, with two-thirds of the advertising agencies,
publishing companies, and broadcasting firms established after that
year. The computer, with its ability to analyze vast quantities of data,
began to revolutionize marketing research.
• Early 2000s
• Personal computer introduced in early 1980s. Its speed and memory
constantly increase and so do its marketing research capabilities.
Personal Computer Capabilities
• Computer-aided personal interviewing
• Integrated survey packaging
• Adaptive survey packages
• Fast tabulations
• Online panel/databases
• Automated fieldwork administration
• Online coding/data entry
• Online surveying
• User-friendly analysis software
• Improved presentation of results
 Marketing Research Companies
• Syndicated Services: Full-service agencies which
routinely collect information and report their
findings to several clients or companies that
subscribe to their service; data is not usually
problem specific.
• Standardized Research Services: Examines a
particular aspect of the market in a unique way
and uses a standard research method for different
clients, allowing for comparisons between studies
and across other evaluative standards.
• Custom Houses: “Ad hoc services” that tailor
their studies to the client’s needs.
Marketing Research Companies – cont’d
• Independent Consultants: Offer expert knowledge
and skills in specialized subjects.
• Field Services: Collect data via interviews in the
field. (A “field” is a place where information is
collected.)
• Coding and Data Entry Services: Edit collected
surveys from respondents and code the responses.
• Tabulation Houses: Quantitative specialists which
perform statistical analyses and turn raw data into
information that managers can use.
 Marketing Research
Companies Worldwide
• Strong need for marketing research companies to
exist throughout the world.
• Quite a few market differences.
• Thousands of marketing research organizations
around the world conduct research and shape
market strategies, but only a handful control the
bulk of revenues for marketing, advertising, and
public opinion research.
• The top 25 firms had revenues of $8.3 billion in
1999.
 Marketing Research Companies
Worldwide – cont’d
• Almost half of their revenues come from
operations outside their home country.
• Twelve of the top 25 global research organizations
in 1999 were from the United States.
• The largest conglomerate, ACNielsen
Corporation, has revenues exceeding $1 billion
and subsidiaries or branch offices in 110
countries.
 Global Research is Similar and
Different from U.S. Research
Brad Frevert’s Four-Stage Research Process:
• Planning
• What are the major objectives?
• Who is the key client(s)?
• Who has input on what?
• Who will gather/interpret/use the findings?
• Design
• What cannot be standardized? Is it affordable?
• Will it be actionable, and at what level?
• Will it be comparable?
• Should it be executed locally or centrally?
• Execution
• Interpretation
USERS OF MARKETING RESEARCH
Companies with Formal Departments (%)
Health Services

Manufacturers of
Industrial Products

Financial Services

Utilities

Advertising Agencies

Nonprofit

Publishing and
Broadcasting
Manufacturers of
Consumer Products

Retailing/Wholesaling

0 20 40 60 80 100
Who Uses Marketing Research?
• Company lacking information about its markets.
• study reveals the average marketing research
budget was $1.9 million(aprx.) for marketing
research departments.
• Consumer and industrial manufacturers,
advertising agencies, and retailers/wholesalers
spend about 1.2% of sales on marketing research.
Financial services, publishers/broadcasters, health
services, and utilities spend about 0.6%.
Percentage of Companies with Formal
Marketing Research Department
1. Retailing/Wholesaling - 91
2. Manufacturers of Consumer Products - 89
3. Publishing and Broadcasting - 86
4. Nonprofit Institutions - 85
5. Advertising Agencies - 79
6. Utilities - 79
7. Financial Services - 76
8. Manufacturers of Industrial Products - 66
9. Health Services - 43
 Entities of Marketing
• Marketing Manager is responsible for making the
decisions that will help the company achieve its objectives
in its target markets.
• Marketing Management is responsible for analyzing,
planning, implementation, and control of programs
designed to create, build, and maintain beneficial
exchanges with target buyers for the purpose of achieving
organizational objectives.
• The Decision-Making Process: Recognize the problem
or opportunity, define the problem or opportunity, search
for feasible courses of action, evaluate the options and
select the optimal course, implement the plan, and evaluate
the results.
 Responsibilities of Market
Researcher
• Ethics : General nature of morals and of specific moral
choices: moral philosophy and the rules or standards
governing the conduct of the members of a profession.
• Business ethics: “Moral principles and standards that
guide behavior in the world of business.”
• Social responsibility: Obligation a business assumes
toward society.
• Economic responsibilities: Produce goods and services
society needs and wants at a price that can perpetuate the
business and satisfy its obligations to investors.
 Do Marketing Researchers Have
an Ethical Responsibility?
• Legal responsibilities: Laws that businesses must obey.
• Ethical responsibilities: Behaviors or activities expected of
business by society.
• Voluntary responsibilities: Behaviors and activities society
desires and business values dictate.
• CASRO: Council of American Survey Research
Organizations – based in the United States. National trade
association for commercial research firms. 170 member
firms from United States.
• ESOMAR: European Society for Opinion and Marketing
Research - based in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Society of
over 4,000 individual members in 100 countries.
 DECISION TIME!
How vital do you think business ethics and social
responsibility are to companies today?

What responsibilities do you believe marketing

providers have to be ethical and socially
responsible?

What if such behavior hurts company profits?

 Training for Jobs in
Marketing Research
• Marketing research courses at universities
and training institutes
• Internships with research organizations
• Cooperative education with research
organizations
• Working in some capacity with marketing
departments within businesses
End of Presentation