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Chapter 1
Introduction, Evolution
and Emerging Issues
Marketing Research
Text and Cases
by
Rajendra Nargundkar
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Role of Marketing Research

1. To provide information to decision makers in the
marketing department of an organization
2. Types of decisions 1. Strategic and 2. Tactical
3. Strategic Decisions- Related to Segmentation of
the Market, Target Market Selection, and
Positioning of the Product
4. Tactical decisions- Related to the 4 Ps of
marketing Product, Pricing, Promotion and Place
(distribution)

Segmentation
LEVEL 1
(Strategic)

Marketing
Strategy

Target Market Selection

Positioning

Information for
Marketing Decisions

LEVEL 2
(Tactical)

Marketing
Plan

Ps of Marketing
PRODUCT
PRICING
PROMOTION
PLACE

Fig 1. The Role of Marketing Research

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Marketing Information System

1. Information can come from multiple sources
2.Two main sources are Marketing Intelligence
and Marketing Research
3.Marketing Intelligence - a continuous process,
usually internally managed, based on published
or otherwise available data, may be stored for
future use

4.

Examples of Intelligence - Industry Data,

Competitors Announcements

5.

Marketing Research - data collected for

specific action or decision problem,
focused, with a time and budget, done by
external marketing research company or
by
company staff, usually with a written report
and/or presentation to the studys
sponsor

Marketing Intelligence
Ongoing Process
Usually done in-house
Not meant for immediate
action
General purpose
Focus on competition,
influencers,
environment

Marketing Research
Project based on
Information Gap
Mostly outsourced to
M.R. Companies
Action oriented
Very specific answers
to questions
Focus on consumers,
dealers, etc.

Table 1: Marketing Intelligence versus Marketing Research

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Who Does The Marketing Research?

1. Professional marketing research companies like
ORG-MARG (Now Nielsen), IMRB, TN Sofres
Mode, Gallup India MBA.
2. In-house marketing research department
3. Company staff from marketing/sales/customer
service departments
Each of these has got advantages and disadvantages.
What could they be?
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Typical Applications of Marketing Research

1. Segmentation Studies to identify consumer
segments based on their demographic,
psychographic or behavioral characteristics.
2. To evaluate specific product-markets/segments
for the potential demand.
3.
Positioning Studies to study consumer
perceptions regarding the brand being studied vis-vis competing brands.
4. Concept Testing, or Productrelated research.
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5. Pricing research to determine price perceptions

and correct levels of prices
6. Distribution Research to determine convenience
of shopping channels, availability of brands and
point of purchase behaviour
7. Advertising Research to test effectiveness of ads,
media etc.
This is only a broad listing of categories. Can you
give some specific examples of marketing research
applications ?
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When To Do Marketing Research?

1. There is an information gap.
2. The cost of filling this gap is less than cost of a
wrong decision.
3. The research will be completed in time to help in
decision-making.

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Limitations of Marketing Research

1. It is not fool-proof, and involves some errors
associated with measurement and interpretation
of findings.
2. Other inputs for decision-making which
should be used along with M.R. are corporate
policy, marketing goals, judgement, experience,
intuition, and passion.
3. The results of M.R. depend on the
methodology used.
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Secondary and Primary Research

1. Primary research is information specifically

collected for the marketing research being done.
2. Secondary research is that which is available
for reference to a researcher, but collected for
some other purpose (not for the current
marketing research).

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3. Some common sources of secondary data are

newspapers, magazines, the internet, and internal or
external reports compiled or published by various
organizations.
4. Some common forms of primary data collection
are personal or telephonic interviews with
customers, retailers, mail surveys of respondents,
focus group discussions, etc.

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Ethical Considerations in Marketing Research

1. Like every profession, marketing research has its
own ethical code of conduct.
2. Information collected for research purposes
should not be used out of context.
3. Confidential information should be used only by
M.R. agency and the client.

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4. Marketing Researcher should not be biased

towards any conclusions, and should report
accurately the findings of the research study.
5. Respondents right to privacy and right not to
participate in a study must be respected.

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Emerging Issues
Marketing Research using the internet
1. It is possible to do online research using the
internet, but its validity is not easy to establish,
particularly in India.
2. Online research can be done using email, HTML
forms, or downloadable survey forms .
3. Sometimes, qualitative research can also be
done through chat sessions as a substitute for focus
groups. These days, voice chats are also possible.
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DATA SOURCES
Company Records
Surveys
Other Sources

BUILD DATA
WAREHOUSE

DATA MINING
Use the mined data to design
marketing or communication
campaigns

Look for Patterns of

Purchase, Behaviour, Attitudes
by analysing data from
WAREHOUSE

Measure Results of the

Campaign, and refine/repeat
the process if needed

Fig. 2. Using Data Warehousing and Data Mining

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Data Warehousing and Data Mining

1. Data from various sources-scanners at
supermarkets, surveys, billing information etc.
can be stored on computer in a virtual warehouse.
2. This stored data can be examined (mined) for
correlations, patterns of purchase, and used to
design CRM initiatives to attract existing
customers or target new customers for a given
product.
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3. Huge amounts of data are involved, and

require hardware, specialized software, and
creative and analytically skilled people to
make use of it.

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