Industrial Marketing Research, Marketing Intelligence & Decision Support System

Group I :

M. Owais Alam (8127)

Priya V.S. (8136) Smita Sinha (8150)

Industrial Marketing Research

Marketing Research is defined as the objective and systematic process of obtaining, analyzing and reporting of data (or information) for decision making in marketing.

How it Differs From Consumer Marketing Research?

1. More reliance on secondary data, exploratory research and expert opinion in industrial research. 2. Understanding of technical factors is important for industrial marketing researcher. 3. Managers of industrial products companies generally perform less marketing research studies than the marketing managers of consumer product companies. 4. More emphasis is given to descriptive method in industrial marketing research compared to experimental and observational methods used for primary data collection.

Scope
1. Development of marketing potential 2. Market Share Analysis 3. Sales analysis 4. Forecasting 5. Competitor Analysis 6. Benchmarking 7. New product acceptance and potential 8. Business trend studies

Marketing Research Process

Identify the problem/o pportunity and define research objectives Develop the research design
Collect the data (or information

Process and analyze the data

Present the research findings or reports

1. Identifying the Problem (or Opportunity) & Defining Research Problem

The first step in the marketing research process is to identify the marketing problem or opportunity accurately and define the objectives of marketing research.

2. Develop the Research Design or Plan The industrial marketing researcher or the marketing research agency develops the research design, which basically indicates the procedure and the cost of conducting the research study.

Decision areas in Research Design

Decision Areas
Information type Sources of data Research methods Sampling plan Method of contacts Data collection methods

Particulars
Prepare a list of information required from research objectives Primary, secondary, commercial or combination Observational, exploratory, descriptive or survey, experimental Sampling unit, sample size, sampling procedure Mail, telephone, or personal interview Questionnaire, mechanical devices

Information Type
Based on the research objectives, prepare a list of information required. For instance, if the research objectives are to obtain competitors information, the list of information shall include: The list of competitors, their market share, major competitors strength etc.

Sources of Data
Primary Data Methods for Data Collection: - Observational - Exploratory - Survey - Experimental Secondary Data

Survey Research Method

Most commonly used in B2B. Provides information on awareness, attitudes, and business buying behaviour. Data collection may be structured or unstructured. Four possibilities of data collection : - Structured Direct Interview - Unstructured Direct Interview - Delphi technique - Indirect Interviews (Focus Group)

Sampling Plan
The sample is a part of population (or universe) which is selected to obtain the necessary information. Sampling plan consists of three main decisions : Sampling Unit Sample Size Sampling procedure - Probability or Random Sampling (SRS & Systematic Sampling) - Non-probability Sampling (Judgment Sampling or Quota Sampling)

Data Collection Methods (Instruments)

Questionnaires Mechanical Research Instruments

Methods of Contact
Mail Surveys

Personal Interviews
Telephone Interviewing

3. Collecting the Data

This phase is referred to as field work. It is expensive and problem oriented phase. In survey method, the types of problems are : Not available are to be contacted again or replaced, Some respondents may not cooperate as they may say they are too busy, Some respondents may give biased or dishonest replies. Some interviewers may be dishonest or biased.

4. Processing & Analysis of Data

Editing Coding Classification - Descriptive - Numerical Tabulation

Data Analysis
Descriptive Analysis
Univariate Analysis Bivariate Analysis Multivariate Analysis - Multiple Regression Analysis - Multi-discriminant Analysis - Inferential Analysis

5. Presenting the Research Findings

1. Points to be kept in mind while making presentation : The researcher should collect the information about the profile of the executives who would be interested in the research of the user company. The major research findings should be relevant to the marketing research objectives. The researcher should logically justify the choice of research method, data collection method, data analysis techniques, etc. The researcher must not try to satisfy the personal likes or dislikes of the executives in the user company. The research report should have clarity of thought and expression.

2.

3.

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5.

General Format of Report

1. 2. 3. 4.

Title Page Table of Contents Executive Summary Introduction (or Research Brief) 5. Problem formulation and Research Objectives 6. Research Methodology 7. Results (or Findings) of the Research 8. Conclusions and Recommendations 9. Appendix 10. Bibliography

Industrial Marketing Intelligence System

It provides relevant, accurate and timely information on continuous basis to the industrial marketing manager to make decisions. It gathers, stores, analyses, interprets, and disseminates relevant marketing information.

Components of MIS
Marketing Research Studies

Internal Information System

Secondary Data Sources

Industrial Marketing Intelligence System

Marketi ng researc h studies Industri al marketi ng intellige nce system

Second ary data sources

Decisi on suppo rt syste m

Marketin g strategy develop ment

Market respo nse

Internal informati on system

Components of DSS
Data Base Decision Models
Statistics Display

Decision Support System

Action Questions Marketing Manager Answers

Decision Models Display

Statistics

Data Base

Environment