THE RESEARCH PROCESS INTERNATIONALLY

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THE RESEARCH PROCESS INTERNATIONALLY

• By
• Elisante Ole Gabriel (Tanzania)
• Chartered Marketer
• egabriel_at_edenconsult.net, www.olegabriel.com
• 255-784-455-499

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INTERNATIONAL MARKETING RESEARCH

• a study conducted to assist decision-making in
  more
• than one country
• research that crosses national borders and
  involves
• respondents and researchers from different
  countries
• and cultures

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Challenges

• overlooking cross-cultural market behaviour
• employing standardized research methodologies
• across the international markets
• using English as a standard language for market
• communication
• inappropriate sample selection
• misinterpretation of cross-country data
• failure to use locals to conduct field surveys

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Cross-cultural marketing behaviour and research
The collective programming of the mind which
distinguishes the members of one group or
category from the other
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Comparison of cross-cultural behaviour

• Power distance
• the degree of inequality among the people that
  are viewed
• equitably
• Individualism vs. collectivism
• the tendency of people to look after themselves
  and their
• immediate familys interests alone
• Masculinity vs. femininity
• masculine societies, the dominant values
  emphasize work
• goals such as earnings, advancement, and success
• feminine society are achievement of personal
  goals such as
• quality of life, care for others, and friendly
  atmosphere
• Uncertainty avoidance
• lack of tolerance of ambiguity and the need for
  formal rules

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Comparison of cross-cultural behaviour

• Cultural context
• The context of a culture has crucial implications
  in communicating and interpreting verbal and
  non-verbal messages
• Cultural homogeneity
• homophilous culture countries where people
  share the
• same beliefs, language, and religion
• heterophilous culture countries that have a
  fair amount
• of differentiation in language, beliefs, and
  religion

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Process
Problem dentification
Decide Research Methodology
Workout Information Requirement
Identify Sources of Information (Both Primary
and Secondary)
Prepare Research Design
Collect Primary Information
Analyse Information
Evaluation and Interpretation
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International marketing research and marketing
decisions

• Marketing mix decision
• product policy
• Type of research
• focus groups and qualitative research to
  generate ideas
• for new product
• survey research to evaluate new product ideas
• concept tasting, test marketing
• product benefit and attitude research
• product formulation and feature testing

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International marketing research (contd)

• Marketing mix decision
• Pricing distribution
• Type of research
• pricing sensitivity studies
• Marketing mix decision
• Distribution
• Type of research
• survey of shopping patterns and behaviour
• consumer attitudes toward different store types
• survey of distributor attitudes and policies

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International marketing research (contd)

• Marketing mix decision
• Advertising
• Type of research
• advertising pre-testing
• Marketing mix decision
• Advertising post-testing, recall scores
• Type of research
• surveys of media habits

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International marketing research (contd)

• Marketing mix decision
• Sales Promotion
• Type of research
• surveys of response to alternative types of
  promotion
• Marketing mix decision
• Sales force
• Type of research
• tests of alternative sales presentations

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Emic vs. Etic dilemma
EMIC Holds that attitudes, interests, and
behaviour are unique to a culture and best
understood in their own terms, and emphasizes
studying the research problem in each countrys
specific context ETIC Emphasizes identifying
and assessing universal attitudinal and
behavioural concepts and developing
pan-cultural measures
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Researching Global Markets
Marketing Research Building The Knowledge Base

• Breadth and scope of international marketing
  research.

• Greater uncertainties in global markets.

• Marketing research defined

Marketing Research is the function which links
the consumers and customers to the organization
through information information used to identify
and define marketing problems generate, refine
and evaluate marketing actions monitor marketing
performance and improve our understanding of
marketing as a process
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Role of Marketing Research

• Reduction of uncertainty and facilities
  management decision making

Information for

• Planning (Market entry strategies)

• Problem Solving

• Control

Nature of Marketing Research

• Applied research

• Cost-benefits assessment

• Dynamic environment and need for frequent updates

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Stages in the Research Process
Formulate Problem
Determine Research Design
Determine Data Collective Method
Design Data Collection Forms
Design Sample and Collect Data
Analyze and Interpret the Data
Prepare the Research Report
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Type of Data Needed for International Marketing
Research

• Secondary data

• Internal

• External

• Published

• Commercial

Advantages and Disadvantages of Secondary Data

• Availability

• Reliability

• Compatibility of data

• Validation of secondary data

• Outdated

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Gathering Primary Data

• Types of primary data

• Socioeconomic / demographic data

• Attitudes / Options

• Awareness / knowledge

• Intentions

• Motivations

• Behaviors

• Qualitative (V.S) Quantitative

• Surveys (V.S) Observations

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Survey Research

• Personal interviews

• Mail Surveys

• Telephone interviews

• Mall intercept interviews

• Internet new opportunity for data collection

Observation

• Human

• Mechanical Devices

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Development of Survey Instrument

• Structured (V.S) Unstructured

• Disguised (V.S) Undisguised

Qualitative Research

• Disguised and Unstructured

• Word Association

• Sentence Completion

• Story Telling

• Focus Groups

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Sample Design and Issues

• Non probability samples (Finding not
  generalizable)

• Probability samples

• Types of probability samples

• Issues related to probability samples

• Lack of sampling frame

• Outdated sampling frame (Street and Telephone
  directories)

• Validation of random samples

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Data analysis and inferences

• Univariate Data Analysis

• Bivariate Data Analysis

• Multivariate Data Analysis

• Choice of Data Analysis Techniques

• Non-parametric (V.S) Parametric methods

• Statistical Software Packages for Data Analysis

• Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

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Estimating Market Demand

• Expert opinion

• Delphi method

• Analogy

• Use of quantitative techniques

• Income elasticity

Assessment of Country Attractiveness

• Market potential / size

• Business climate

• Political stability / risk

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The Research Report

• Written Report

• Communication with the reader

• Accuracy and completeness

• Form of Report

• Title page

• Table of contents

• Executive summary

• Introduction / problem statement

• Methodology

• Findings

• Conclusions and recommendations

• Appendix

• Oral Report

• Use of powerpoint and graphics

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Conclusion

• Doing research internationally is more
  challenging than Local
• IM research is extremely important, hence the
  lifeblood of the International Business
• Not all problems are solved using the same
  solution hence a need of various research
  approaches. AND..
• International Companies ought to invest and value
  of research Internationally.