Industrial Marketing Research and Intelligence

Vipin Kumar

2

Why do research?

The external environment is dynamic.

Knowledge becomes outdated.

To gather more information

Better Information Better Decisions

3

Limitations

Managers NEVER have all of the relevant information that they need.

Constraints of time and moneyDesired information is often more costly

than it’s worth.Decisions are time sensitive. Can’t wait for

all of the information.

4

When NOT to do research

Good research has already been done.

When decisions have been made and won’t be altered by new information.

When management does not understand scope necessary and won’t commit $.

Don’t have talent, won’t hire.

Uncertainty reduction justifies cost.

5

Marketing Research Tasks

Estimate market potential

Analyze market share/share of customer

Track competitors

Identify market characteristics & trends

Analyze sales data

Sales forecasting: Existing/new products

6

Key Concerns

Reliability: measures/methods yield consistent results

Validity: research measures what it says it measures; i.e. little or no error

7

Types of Data

PrimaryNew information generated for specific task.Can be expensive/time consuming.Gather by survey, tests, observation, focus

groups, interviews.

SecondaryExisting information.May not be in useful form.Sources: government, trade/professional

associations, company records

8

Sampling Issues

Sample vs. CensusProbability

Random, equal chanceRandom, stratified

Non-ProbabilityConvenienceJudgment

9

Questionnaires

Ask what you want to knowWatch lengthAestheticsEasily understood; watch vernacularSocial desirability biasNon-response biasQuestion order effects

10

Coding-Analysis-Interpretation

Data entry tedious. Mistakes are madeNeed to clean data

Use statistical tools to analyze data.SPSS/SASCan data mine

Important to understand analysisWhat results meansLimitations of method

11

B2B vs. B2C Research I

TechnologyNeed to understand technical needs of

customers

Direct economic effectQuality/Price trade-off very important

Organization, professionalsUnderstand multiple players, in socio-

political setting

12

B2B vs. B2C Research IISmaller #s of buyers to studySmaller sample sizesSecondary data often existsTough to get buyer’s attention for

researchNeed to know which buyer(s) to studyNeed technical knowledge for researchSurveys take longer, cost more

13

14

Marketing IntelligenceContinuous flow of information

Strategic and TacticalSystematic and periodic

Better understanding of environment over time

Collect from variety of sourcesCustomers, competitors, regulators, etc.Constant vigilance

15

Marketing Intelligence System I

People, Procedures, Computers

Acquires, Disseminates, Interprets, Stores information about internal and external environments

16

Marketing Intelligence System II

Transform raw data to useful information Can organize information by customer, competitor,

product line, territory, activity Sources

Internal: sales, service, accountingExternal: government, trade associations, competitor

literature, customers, publications Output

Periodic reportsSpecial information needs

17

Decision Support Systems

Computer-aided decision-makingInvolve analysis, not just retrievalDatabase: Repository of dataStatistics: Analyze dataModel: Patterns in the data; relationshipsOptimization: Decisions leading to best

outcome given model

18

Economic/Financial Factors

Competition oligopolisticPower/Dependency relationshipsReciprocal: Doing business with

companies that do business with them.Economic variables: interest rates,

inflation, business cycle