If a firm are to assign new products or to set up a new company, many things and problem have to be taken under consideration and resolved. In order to prevent losses and before other serious matters occurs, marketing research play a very important role before marketing strategy. This report will discuss few questions and the ways to solve any upcoming problem.
1 In what ways can marketing research influence the development and implementation of marketing strategy?
2 Does that means that organizations that conduct market research will perform better than organisations that does not?
3 What possible issues associated with consumer behaviour and consumption patterns might be extremely sensitive ones to directly question respondents about?
4 How might researchers overcome the difficulties of collecting these types of sensitive data?
Definition of Marketing Research
Marketing research covers a wide range of phenomena. It can be defined as “The systematic and objective process of generating information to aid in making marketing decisions.” (Zikmund et al. 2007, 4). Marketing research is not a fast path to finding solutions to all managerial problems. It involves collecting and specifying what information is required, recording and making sense of available information, define the way to collect useful data, managing and implementing the collection of data, lastly analysing the result through the right information given. By doing so, will help a business to understand more about its market, then planning the right marketing strategic for a better outcome. Information collected through marketing research is to identify the opportunities and problems, specify and get the most accurate information to prevent uncertainty when comes to decision making. The intelligent use of market research is the key to business achievement. (David 2001,18)
There are 2 types of marketing research.
Basic Research
Basic research can also be called Pure research. This is a type of research which researcher use to expand the limit of knowledge, verify the acceptability of given theory and to learn more about a certain concept. It does not aim at solving any problems. Basic research is done just to verify the acceptability of a given theory and to learn more about some particular concept. Moreover, Philip believes that such research can only achieve short-term gains. “The example of Japan shows that sustainable economic competitiveness can only be achieved by investing more in research than average [currently 3.1% of gross domestic product], with a strong emphasis on basic research,” he insisted. (Philip 2006)
Applied Research
Applied research is designed to solve practical problem of the world rather than just to acquire knowledge. Studies and research are to be done in this stage to answer question about some specific problems or have a clear mind when comes to decision making.
The value of marketing research for the development and implementation of marketing Strategic
An effective marketing strategic requires a proper marketing research. Marketing research alone, does not guarantee the success, but it helps to clear out unnecessary problems and focus on particular problems, helps to improve management decision-making by giving an accurate, relevant and timely information. Marketing research help by identifying and evaluating opportunities, analysing market segments and selecting target markets, planning and implementing a marketing mix that will satisfy customer needs, lastly analysing marketing performance. Before coming out with a proper marketing strategy, a company should determine what is the goal and the way to achieve it. Marketing research may give diagnostic data about what is happening in the market. Some problems such as trends in consumer purchasing power, behaviour, may helps a company to recognise these problems and identify the opportunity to compete in the market. For example, McDonald's identify whether the number of target customers is growing or shrinking and whether their buying habits will change in the future. (marketing research and development n.d.).
One reason that Mc Donald has been so successful in the whole world is because of 24 hours operation and free wireless services provided for customers. This services attracts lots of student and employee because of the convenience of having refreshment available while dealing with their studies. Most of the studies group are now held at McDonalds' as students can discuss in fine and hygienic environment, free wireless services provided for internet usage, as well as food and drinks in the middle of studies. The second stage of research is to analyse market segments and select target markets. Market research helps to determine which characteristics of market segments that will guide a company to set their target markets on the selected category of consumers. By using the 2 types of research mentioned, a company can plan and implement a marketing mix strategy. There are 4 P's that determine the marketing mix strategy which are Price, Promotion, Place or Distribution and Product that we will look at using Mc Donald as an example.
Price
Pricing includes price list, promotion price, comparing competitors' prices were considered in their research to attract the middle and lower class consumers in order to increase overall sales volumes of Mc Donald.
Promotion
Research investigates the effectiveness of coupons, sampling deals and limited edition product promotion for a better purposes. “Make people aware of an item, feel positive about it and remember it.” Three main objective of advertising for McDonald. (Ritabrata et al. 2009)
Place/Distribution
Research for distribution channels is important as part of the research. It is important that the product is always available to consumer at the right place, right time and in the right quantity.
Product
Product research has to be done while to develop new products and learn to adapt into existing product lines. McDonald continuously innovates its products according to the preferences and tastes of its customers. (Ritabrata et al. 2009)
Lastly, after implementing in marketing mix strategy, analyse marketing performance are to be done in order to succeed in total quality management. As mention by Zikmund et.at (2007), Performance-monitoring research refers to research that regularly provides feedback for evaluation and control of marketing activities in future.
Conclusion
From the information given above, it shows that organizations that conduct market research will perform better than organisations that does not. Marketing research helps to fulfils the marketing manager's need for knowledge of the market. It is also a principal tools for answering questions which links to consumers and customers' need. With marketing research, specified and supplied accurate information can help the managers to make a better decision-making when a problem occurs. It save lots of time and cost to solve any incoming complication. Without a proper marketing research, finding solutions can be more time consuming which can cause losses to the company. It is proven that by conducting a marketing research, it influences the development and implementation of marketing strategy and it promotes better performance as David (2001,18) stated, “the intelligent use of market research is the key to business achievement.”
Question 2
Introduction
Quantitative and qualitative researches are the two main sources used for market research. The advantages and disadvantages of the two are argued and debated by researchers. Research has shown that one or the other is more useful than the other. The definition of qualitative and quantitative research will be discussed, the disadvantage and advantages of the two sources, and followed by a conclusion.
Quantitative Research
“Quantitative research is used to determine the quantity or extent of some phenomenon in the form of numbers” (Zikmund et al. 61, 2007). Quantitative research is used by researchers to determine how people perform, believe or feel. Survey interviews usually include numbers ranging from 30 to any number that is required. Closes questions are created to result in set responses. Various techniques are used to collect quantitative information. Common types of techniques are telephone interviews, street interviews, and email.
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-difference-between-quantitative-and-qualitative-research.htm
http://www.marketresearchworld.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=11&Itemid=64
http://www.gifted.uconn.edu/siegle/research/Qualitative/qualquan.htm
http://e-articles.info/e/a/title/THE-DIFFERENCE-BETWEEN-QUALITATIVE-AND-QUANTITATIVE-RESEARCH/
Advantages and Disadvantages
There advantages and disadvantages in using a Quantitative research method.
Reference
David A.A., V. Kumar, G Day. 2001. Marketing Research: Means Business. John & Sons, Inc.
Marketing research and Development n.d. http://www.thetimes100.co.uk/case-study--the-marketing-process--28-240-2.php (accessed March 16, 2009)
Philip H 2006.Science and society. Science cannot be left to the market alone: Meshing basic research with fiscal competitiveness is the key to economic success 7(6): 575-578. EMBO Journal. http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1479589
Ritabrata G, D. Balaji, J. Shah, S. Niket, and D. Sidana. 2009. McDonald's: Behind The Golden Arches.http://www.scribd.com/doc/11520753/Marketing-Strategies-of-McDonalds (accessed March 20, 2009)
Zikmund W.G., S Ward, B Lowe, and H Winzar. 2007. Marketing research: Asia Pacific Edition. Victoria: Nelson Australia Pty Limited.
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