Developing a Global Vision

through Marketing
Research
Chapter 8

McGraw-Hill/Irwin

Copyright 2013 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Learning Objectives
LO1 The importance of problem definition in
international research
LO2 The problems of availability and use of
secondary data
LO3 Sources of secondary data
LO4 Quantitative and qualitative research
methods
LO5 Multicultural sampling and its problems in
less-developed countries
LO6 Using international marketing research
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International Marketing
Research
Cross-cultural communications are difficult
Environments are different
Important to recognize cross-country similarities and differences
Important to recognize and overcome SRC
Research processes and methods are same whether applied in
Columbus, Ohio, or Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Marketing research is traditionally defined as the systematic
gathering, recording, and analyzing of data to provide
information useful to marketing decision making.
International marketing research involves two additional
complications:

1. Information must be communicated across cultural boundaries.

2. The environments in which research tools are applied are often
different in foreign markets.

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Breadth (size) & Scope of

International Marketing Research
Foreign market research is broader in scope
than domestic research
Research can be divided into three types
based on information needs:
1.general information about the country, area,
and/or market;
2.information necessary to forecast future
marketing requirements by anticipating social,
economic, consumer, and industry trends within
specific markets or countries; and
3.specific market information used to make
product, promotion, distribution, and price
decisions and to develop marketing plans
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Effectively communicate the results to decision makers.

Analyze, interpret, and summarize the results.
Gather the relevant data from secondary or primary
sources, or both.
Consider the costs and benefits of the research effort.

6
5
4
3

Define the research problem and establish research

objectives.

Determine the sources of information to fulfill the

research objectives.

The Research Process for All

Countries

Defining the Problem and

Establishing Research Objectives
Begin with a definition of the research
problem and the establishment of specific
research objectives.
The market researcher must be certain the problem
definition is sufficiently broad to cover the whole
range of response possibilities and not be clouded
(unclear) by his or her SRC.
Once the problem is adequately (enough )defined
and research objectives established, the researcher
must determine the availability of the information
needed.

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Problems with Secondary Data

Availability

Comparabi
lity

Reliability

Validation

8-7

Checking the Accuracy of

Secondary Data
Secondary data from any source, including the
United States, must be checked and interpreted
carefully.
The following questions should be asked to
effectively judge the reliability of secondary data
sources:
1. Who collected the data? Would there be any reason
for purposely misrepresenting the facts?
2. For what purposes were the data collected?
3. How (by what methodology) were the data collected?
4. Are the data internally consistent and logical in light of
known data sources or market factors?
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Sources of Secondary Data:

Websites for International Marketing
1. www.stat-usa.gov (National Trade Data Bank)
2. www.ita.doc.gov
3. www.usatradeonline.gov
4. www.census.gov/foreign-trade/www/
5. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/
6. http://www.cbp.gov/
7. www.opic.gov
8. www.exim.gov
9. www.imf.org
10.www.wto.org
11.www.oecd.org
12.www.jetro.go.jp
13.www.euromonitor.com
14.University-based websites, e.g., www.lib.berkeley.edu/BUSI/bbg18.html
15.www.worldchambers.com
16.www.ipl.org/ref/RR/static/bus4700.html
17.http://iserve.wtca.org
18.www.worldtrademag.com
19.MSU-CIBER- Globaledge
20.World Bank
21.IMF
22.OECD
23.U.N.
24.Syndicated data sets: A.C. Nielsen and Information Resources Inc.

8-9

Gathering Primary Data:

Quantitative & Qualitative Research
Begin with a definition of the research
problem and the establishment of specific
research objectives.
The market researcher must be certain the
problem definition is sufficiently broad to cover
the whole range of response possibilities and
not be clouded by his or her SRC.
Marketing research methods can be grouped
into two basic types:
qualitative
quantitative
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Problems with Qualitative

Research
Focus group interviews are difficult
to conduct in Confucian societies
Personal referrals
recommendation) are needed to
contact consumers
People are often hesitant to
criticize new product ideas when
companies seek candid (honesty)
opinions.
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Problems with
Primary Research
Ability to communicate opinions:
context
meaning
cultural habits

Willingness to respond
Sampling in Field Surveys:

reliability of lists
poor postal service
availability of data
census and socioeconomic data
SS# data
street maps
telephones
postal unit
sample size & sampling procedure

Problems with
Quantitative Research
Different types of biases:

non-response bias
courtesy bias
yea or nay saying
social desirability bias
income and gender-related
questions may be taboo

Language and comprehension

Back Translation
Parallel Translation
Decentering
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Research on the Internet:

A Growing Opportunity
For many companies the Internet provides a new
and increasingly important medium for conducting
a variety of international marketing research
There are at least seven different uses for the
Internet in international research:

Online surveys and buyer panels

Online focus groups
Web visitor tracking
Advertising measurement
Customer identification systems
E-mail marketing lists
Embedded research

8-13

Estimating Market Demand

Expert opinion
experts are polled for their opinions about
market size and growth rates.
the key in using expert opinion to help forecast
demand is triangulation , that is, comparing
estimates produced by different sources.

Analogy
assumes that demand for a product develops
in much the same way in all countries, as
comparable economic development occurs in
each country.
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Problems in Analyzing & Interpreting

Research Information
Both secondary and primary data collected
by the market researcher are subject to
many limitations
Accepting information at face value in
foreign markets is imprudent.
The meanings of words, the consumers
attitude toward a product, the
interviewers attitude, or the interview
situation can distort research findings.

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