Notes from Kolter’s
MIS
“MIS consists of people, equipment, and procedures to gather ,sort, analyze,evaluate,and distribute needed, timely,and accurate information to marketing decision makers.” Kotler, MM, 11th edition
Internal company records, marketing intelligence activities, marketing research, and marketing decision support system help develop MIS.
Internal records system
Dealers , customers and sales reps dispatch orders
Invoices to different departments
Shipment and billing
Timely and accurate reports on current sales facilitates managers. Sales information system help you know what product was sold most today etc.
Databases, data warehouses and data-mining
Marketing intelligence
Continuous intelligence reports on customer , competitors and even the Government Policy is a part of marketing war. Customer intelligence means customer’s business, preferences, loyalties and demographics etc. while competitor intelligece focuses on competitor’s strengths / weaknesses in a territory , its strategy and tactics and how the customer gets the brand. (Rajan Saxena, 3rd Ed)
Training and motivating sales people
Distributor, retailer etc, hiring specialists,by purchasing competitor’s products,newsstories, employees,trad-shows, company largest customers , buy information from outside suppliers (research firm).
Marketing Research System
Marketing Research
“ Systematic gathering ,recording, and analyzing of data relating to the marketing of goods and services.” AMA
“Links the consumer, customer, and public to the marketer through information—information used to identify and define marketing opportunities and problems, generate, refine, and evaluate marketing actions; monitor marketing performance; and improve understanding of marketing as a process. Marketing research specifies the information required to address these issues; designs the method for collecting information; manage and implements the data collection process; analyzes the results; and communicates the findings and their implications.” AMA
“Marketing research is the systematic design, collection, analysis, and reporting of data and findings relevant to a specific marketing situation facing the company.”
Scientific approach & Marketing research
Scientific approach is a decision-making approach that focuses on objectivity and order while testing ideas. A manager cannot just believe that his intuition or gut-feelings are correct. Instead , observation and intuition can help to develop a hypothesis—‘educated guess about the relationships between things or about what will happen in the future .”
A manager with intuition might go for a new product launch without testing consumer preference.
Marketing Research Process
Define the problem (opportunity)
Defining or recognizing the problem rightly is half of the solution. Don’t confuse problems with symptoms.
Analyzing the situation
Holding talking sessions with company employees. Get the information which already exists in the MIS. Get the “feel” of the situation. Also getting to know the company market, competition and industry in general. The can help refine the hypothesis.
Conduct informal investigation:
Outside the company, one can gather information from middlemen, competitors, advertising agencies, and consumers. This can be done through phone calls, field trips and trade-show visits etc. This step may help decide whether to go or reject the project.
Plan & Conduct the Formal Investigation
Select source of information
Secondary Data
Primary Data
Secondary data Sources
Libraries
Trade, professional ,and business associations
Private business firms
Advertising media
University research organizations
Internet
Government
Primary data
Through observation, focus groups ,surveys, behavioral data, and experiments
Observational method:
It is a part of exploratory research where the researcher physically observe the actors (or consumer/customer) . Besides personal observation ,mechanical observation can be done. For example through eye camera observing responses to visual stimulus (an ad etc).
Observation Method
Personal interview (shopping mall intercept)
Phone interview
Mail interview
Behavioral Data
Store scanning data, catalog purchases, and customer databases. Some people will give a very favorable opinion of popular brands but when it comes to buying they might buy another one.
Experiment
Cause and effect . Variables are made changes to by the researchers to see the response from a group of consumers gathered in a lab. For example , there response might be checked on packaging of a product etc. The drawback is that the setting is unnatural and the response from the consumer can be biased.
When you do an experiment in the field it is called test marketing. Advisable in a smaller geographical areas. Test marketing is real but it is expensive. And alarms the competitors because it cannot be kept secret that way at all.
The alternative to this is simulated test marketing. Here consumers are shown an advertisement for the product being tested and other products. Then they are allowed to shop in a “test store”.
Sampling Plan
Simple random sample (each member equal chance of selection)
Stratified random sample (mutually exclusive gp e.g age, income etc)
Cluster(area-city block etc) sample
Non probability Sample
Convenience sample (most accessible)
Judgment sample ( good prospects for accurate information)
Quota sample
Kotler , M.Mgmt, 11th ed, chapter 5
Stanton,Etzel ,Walker, Fundamentals of Marketing ,3rd ed, chapter 3
Rajan Saxena,M.Mgmt, 3rd ed Chapter 6
Perreault Jr., Jerome McCarthy, Essentials of Marketing, 8th ed, Ch 7
Kotler, Armstrong, Principles of Marketing, 11th ed,
Question Types
A question with possible with two possible answers Yes or no
Multiple choice
Liker Scale : A statement with which the respondent shows the amount of agreement/disagreement
Semantic differential : A scale connecting two bipolar words. The respondent selects the point that represents his or her opinion.
Large small
Experience inexperienced
Modern old-fashioned
(to be edited, modified and improved......)
Marketing Research Marketing Research "Marketing research is the function that links the consumer, customer, and public to the marketer through information - information used to identify and define marketing opportunities and problems; generate, refine, and evaluate marketing actions; monitor marketing performance; and improve understanding of marketing as a process. Marketing research specifies the information required to address these issues, designs the methods for collecting information, manages and implements the data collection process, analyzes, and communicates the findings and their implications." Marketing Research Process Define the problem Ask the right questions to get to the problem Well-defined problems are half-solved Well-defined problems allow researchers focus on exact information Avoid confusing symptoms with the problem itself Ex. Sales decline, pizza etc market share loss etc etc Conduct situational analysis What information do we already have? Pick the brains around you—talking to informed people, inside or outside or even the customers Situation analysis helps educate a researcher In situation analysis researchers refine the problem and develops hypothesis. Hypothesis is a tentative proposition or a possible solution to a problem. Example “competitor is not a serious threat to our product. There is adequate demand for the product” Conduct an informational investigation “Gathering information from people outside the company middlemen, competitors, advertising agencies, and consumers.” Informal investigation is critical to decide the fate of the project. Conduct the formal investigation If the project is positive for further investigation, then getting the desired data will considered. Select sources of information Secondary Data: Already available Primary Data: Original data especially for a project at hand Sources of Secondary Data Libraries Government Trade, professional ,and business associations Private business research firms Advertising media(magazines, TV,Newspapers etc) University research organizations Sources of Primary Data Survey Method : Through personal interviews, telephone, interviewing by mail (mailing a questionnaire).Mall intercept ,focus group Interview by mail is less costly and biased. Person can fill it freely. Response is low Observational method: data is collected by observing the actions of a person . Usually no interviews but can be done as follow –up. If the costumer bought one product and not other , he be asked for reason.. cable TV monitoring system Scanners, eye cameras to record response to a stimulus, such as ad and brain wave monitors to test whether reactions to a commercial are emotional or logical. Observation—what happens but not why. Motives, attitude or opinions. Experimental Method A scientific investigation in which a researcher controls or manipulates a test group. Usually useful for test marketing a new product. Variables such as packaging,price,design,advertising theme and their relation to another variable such as sales. In field , experiment is called Test Marketing. In test marketing , a small geographic area is selected for product launch etc. Simulated Test Market: ads shown to the consumers and then allowed to shop in a test store which is like a grocery store. Questionnaire Open-ended Closed-ended Sampling A subset from a larger population. Population or universe Probability Sampling Random (lottery) , Stratified(opinion polls), Cluster Non-probability Sampling Convenience , Judgment(researcher using his judgment, quota sample Quota and stratified sample are different because in quota sample ,they are hand-picked MIS MIS is a planned , computer-based system designed to provide managers with a continuous flow of information relevant to their specific decisions and areas of responsibility.. A part of management information system of the whole organization. people , equipment ,and procedures to gather, sort, analyze,evaluate,and distribute needed, timely, and accurate information to marketing decision makers MIS interacts with information users (marketing managers) to assess information needs. It develops needed information It helps analyze information It distributes information to be used in decision making Uniliver once launched detergent powder called Persil that was supposed to contain extra scrubbing ingredients to get clothes cleaner. Instead , it shredded clothes, executive meetings called.. none of them had used /tried the detergent.
(4-10 people discussion)
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Thanks I am sure this would help
thanks. ok those who have blogs already should subscribe to marketingedu , then they will be notified by blogster through email anything new i post.