MARKETING RESEARCH PART 3 pot

The Marketing Research
Industry


The Marketing Research Industry:
Evolution of the Industry
• Charles Coolidge Parlin
is known as the “father
of marketing research.”

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The Marketing Research Industry:
Evolution of the Industry
• Parlin conducted the first continuous
marketing research in the early 1900s
for the Curtis Publishing Company.
• The purpose of Parlin’s research was
to increase advertising for The
Saturday Evening Post magazine.

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Growth of the Need for
Marketing Research

• The Industrial Revolution led to
manufacturers producing goods for
distant markets.
• Manufacturers needed to know about
faraway consumers.
• This led to the growing need for
marketing research.

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The Marketing Research
Industry Today
• World Revenues
– The marketing research industry
today accounts for about $21.5
billion spent annually.
– The top 25 firms can be found in
the report Honomichl Global Top
25 (See page 44.)
– The top 50 U.S. firms can be found
in the Honomichl Top 50. (See
Ch 3
5
page 46.)


Honomichl Top 25

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Honomichl Top 50

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Classifying Firms in the
Marketing Research Industry
• Research Suppliers
– Internal Suppliers
– External Suppliers
• Limited Service Suppliers
• Full Service Suppliers

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The Marketing Research Industry
Outside firm
May or may
Can perform

hired to formal
not belimited
only a
all marketing
perform some
department
marketing
research
sort of
research
functions for
marketing for
functions
the client
research
the client

Classification of Marketing Research
Suppliers

Online research
Standardized
Syndicatedfirms
Customized
services data
service firms
service firmsin offer
service
specialize
provide firms

collect
a variety services
providing
syndicated of
informationservices
research
online.
marketing that
is madeareservices,
that available
research tailored
to multiplethe
asto meet to
opposed
subscribers. data,
client’s specific
syndicated
toneeds.
clients.
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Industry Structure:
Internal Suppliers
• Internal suppliers: an entity within the
firm supplies marketing research
• Methods of Organization
– Own formal departments: organized

around:

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• Marketing function: ad research, product
research, pricing research, channel…
• Research process: data analysis, data
collection…
10
• Area of application: brands, customers...


Industry Structure:
Internal Suppliers
• Methods of Organization…
– Single individual or committee
– No responsibility assigned

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Industry Structure:
External Suppliers
• External suppliers: outside firms hired to
fulfill a firm’s marketing research needs
• Methods of Organization:
– Function: data analysis & collection…
– Type of research application: ad

research…
– Geography: domestic, international…
– Types of customers, finance, health
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Industry Structure:
External Suppliers
• Classification:
– Full service
– Limited service

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Where to Find External
Research Suppliers
• www.greenbook.org
• www.quirks.com
• www.bluebook.org

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Challenges to the Marketing

Research Industry
• Marketing researchers should focus
on diagnosing problems in the
market…need for portability led to
Walkman, Watchman.
• Marketing researchers should speed
up marketing research by using IT.
• Marketing researchers should take an
integrative approach…avoid being
“silos” of isolated information.
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Challenges to the Marketing
Research Industry
• Marketing researchers should expand
their strategic impact...get away from
standard reports & get involved in
strategic issues.
• Other criticisms – lack of creativity,
too survey oriented, lack of
understanding of real problems, lack
of concern for respondents.
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Suggested Improvement:
Certification
• For several years certification has
been debated.
• The MRA started a certification
program in February 2005.
• Professional Researcher Certification
– go to www.mra-net.org, and see
menu item “Certification.”

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Other Suggestions for Industry
Improvements
• Auditing…being used in other areas,
i.e. Advertising…audits websites via
Audit Bureau of Circulations.
• Education…MR industry has made
much progress here. Examples
include AMA’s Notre Dame School of
Marketing Research, Burke Institute,
Advertising Research Foundation
seminars, etc.
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Some Ethical Marketing Research
Situations: Class Exercises

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Is this Ethical?
1. A research company decides to
leave a message on prospective
respondents’ answering machines
telling them that if they call back in
the next 24 hours, they will receive
a valuable prize if they take part in a
survey.
Ethical as long as true
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Is this Ethical?
2. Upon completion of an interview,
the respondent is asked to provide
the names and telephone numbers
of others he or she thinks should
take part in the survey.
Ethical - snowball sampling,

referral sampling

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Is this Ethical?
3. A door-to-door salesman finds that
by telling people that he is
conducting a survey, they are more
likely to listen to his sales pitch.
Unethical – sugging
What is frugging?

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Is this Ethical?
4. The cover letter of a mail
questionnaire says that it will "only
take a few minutes to fill out." But
pretests have shown that at least
fifteen minutes are needed to fill it
out.
Unethical as “few” is vague

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Is this Ethical?
5. Telephone interviewers are
instructed to assure the respondent
of confidentiality only if the
respondent asks about it.
Ethical as long as confidentiality is
true

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Is this Ethical?
6. A client insists on inspecting the
completed questionnaires to assess
their validity, but the researcher
suspects that the client is really
interested in finding out what
specific respondents said about the
client.
Unethical if the survey is confidential
or anonymous
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