1. Marketing Research
The systematic design, collection,
interpretation, and reporting of
information to help marketers solve
specific marketing problems or take
advantage of marketing opportunities

2. The Importance of International Research
 A frequent objective of international research is that of
foreign market opportunity analysis.
 Firms must learn where the opportunities are, what
customers want, why they want it, and how they satisfy their
needs and wants.
 Research allows management to identify and develop
international strategies.
 Firms must identify, evaluate, and compare potential foreign
business opportunities and the subsequent target market
selection.
 Research is necessary for the development of a business plan.
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3. Process of Researching Foreign Market Potentials
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Stage Three
Company Sales and Promotion Analysis
Key Question to be answered:
How attractive is the potential demand for our products and services?
Stage One
Preliminary Screening for Attractive Country Markets
Key Question to be answered:
Which foreign markets warrant detailed information?
Stage Two
Assessment of Industry Market Potential
Key Question to be answered:
What is the aggregate demand in each of the selected markets?

4. International Marketing Research Occurs at Different Levels…
Assessment of a
foreign market
(general
information
about a country)
• Economic
• Social / Cultural
• Political / Legal
• Technological
Industry
Information
(relates to
product category)
• Market size
• Segmentation
• Competition
• Consumer
Specific market
information (used
to develop
marketing plans)
• Product
• Pricing
• Distribution
• Promotion

5. Types of Market Research
By Source
- Primary
- Secondary
By Objectives
- Exploratory
- Descriptive
- Causal
(or experimental)
By Methodology
- Qualitative
- Quantitative

6. Types of Market Research: By Source
Primary Collection of data specifically for the problem or
project in hand
Secondary Based on data previously collected for purposes
other than the research in hand (e.g. published
articles, government stats, etc)

7. Secondary Data
 Secondary data is information that already has been collected by some
other organization.
 This data should be evaluated regarding the quality of the source, how
recent the data is, and the relevance to the task at hand.
 Because secondary data were originally collected to serve another purpose,
they can often only be used as proxy information.
 Precautions should be taken due to increasing sensitivity to data privacy.
Firms must inform their customers of privacy policies.
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8. Uses of Secondary Data
 May provide enough information to resolve the problem being investigated
 Can be a source of new ideas that can be explored later
 Acts as a prerequisite to collecting primary data and can help in designing the
primary data collection process
 Helps to define the problem and formulate hypotheses about its solution
 Helps in defining the population / sample / parameters of primary research
 Can serve as a reference base to compare validity of primary data

9. Sources of Secondary Data
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Governments
International
Institutions
Service
Organizations
Trade Associations
Directories
Other Firms

10. Benefits and Limitations of Secondary Data
 Low cost
 Less effort
 Less time
 Sometimes more accurate
 Sometimes only way to
obtain data
 Collected for some other purpose
 No control over data collection
 May not be accurate
 May not be in correct form
 May be outdated
 May not meet data requirements
 Assumptions have to be made
Benefits Limitations

11. Types of Market Research: By Methodology
Qualitative Quantitative
Type of Question Probing Simple
Sample Size Small Large
Information per respondent High Low(ish)
Questioner’s skill High Low(ish)
Analyst’s skill High High
Type of analysis Subjective, Objective,
Interpretative Statistical
Ability to replicate Low High
Areas probed Attitudes Choices
Feelings Frequency
Motivations Demographics

12. Types of Market Research: By Objective
• Exploratory Preliminary data needed to develop an idea
further. Eg outline concepts, gather insights,
formulate hypotheses
• Descriptive Describe an element of an ideas precisely. Eg
who is the target market, how large is it, how
will it develop
• Causal Test a cause and effect relationship, e.g. price
elasticity. Done through experiment

13. The Market Research Process
1. Defining the
problem and
objectives
2. Developing
the research
plan
3. Collecting
the
information
4. Analysing
the
information
5. Presenting
the findings
Steps
Comments
Distinguish between
the research type
needed e.g.
- exploratory
- descriptive
- causal
Decide on
- budget
- data sources
- research
approaches
- research
instruments
- sampling plan
- contact methods
Information is
collected
according to
the plan ( it is
often done by
external firms)
Statistical
manipulation of
the data collected
(e.g. regression)
or subjective
analysis of focus
groups
Overall conclusions
to be presented
rather than
overwhelming
statistical
methodologies
If a problem is
vaguely defined,
the results can
have little
bearing on the
key issues
The plan needs
to be decided
upfront but
flexible enough
to incorporate
changes/
iterations
This phase is
the most costly
and the most
liable to error
Significant
difference in
type of analysis
according to
whether market
research is
quantitative or
qualitative
Can take various
forms:
- oral presentation
- written conclusions
supported by analysis
- data tables