Lecture 4; The role of Marketing Research

Question 1

Key lessons from the Kraft CMO video

Answer 1

• It is crucial to always understand the consumers perspective. Particularly when change is happening, be that economic, environmental or social change
• Seeing things through the consumers eyes allows companies to adapt their products rapidly to align with their consumers’ needs and wants.
• Companies can get insight into their consumers perspective through many types of market research, a classic example is a focus group

Question 2

What is the example of going the ‘extra mile’ Mary Beth West used in the Kraft CMO video.

Answer 2

• The example used was calculating the median income of their target consumers, and then going further by figuring out on average how much disposable income they have available to spend in a week

Question 3

What can Kraft do with information they gathered?

Answer 3

• Kraft can adjust the marketing of their products and reframe the values of their brand to better suit and relate to their target consumers in a time of economic difficulty.

Question 4

What is the key takeaway of the Kraft CMO video?

Answer 4

• By having a deep understanding of who their consumers are, what they want, why they want it, where they stand economically, and how they feel about the brand, companies can adjust their marketing approach and capitalise on the factors affecting consumer behaviour.

Question 5

What are the 4 main business orientations?

Answer 5

• Production orientation
• Product orientation
• Sales orientation
• Market Orientation (Best for Long-Term Success)

Question 6

Characteristics of Production orientation

Answer 6

• Focus is on production and distribution efficiency
• Own operations become obsession

Question 7

Characteristics of Product orientation

Answer 7

• Focus is on continuous product improvement
• Ignores changing markets and environments

Question 8

Characteristics of Sales orientation

Answer 8

• Focus in on finding and converting prospects.
• Emphasis is on transactions, not relationships

Question 9

Characteristics of Market orientation

Answer 9

• Focus is on the customer.
• Goal is understanding the needs and wants of customers

Question 10

Why is a market oriented approach important to businesses according to Liu et al (2002)

Answer 10

“Market orientation is significantly important in enabling firms to understand the market place and develop appropriate product and service strategies to meet customer needs, wants and requirements”

Question 11

What is the need for Market Orientation?

Answer 11

• Consumer’s needs, preferences, demands and expectations change over time
• Technology is continually changing
• Structure of competition changes
• As such, companies MUST change.
• Market Orientation = makes change seamless and manageable.

Question 12

What is the challenge for marketers?

Answer 12

• Understand what customers want?
• Understand why they want it?
• Understand how consumers go about choosing
• Understand where they buy?
• Attitudes
• How much they pay / are willing to pay?

Question 13

What is a misinformed view of Market Research?

Answer 13

• Perception that it is an invasion of privacy.

Question 14

Why, according to Riston (2016) is market research important to market oriented companies?

Answer 14

If you are market oriented, you don’t just do research, you depend on it because you know nothing. Riston (2016)

Question 15

Research is formalised….

Answer 15

curiosity. It is poking and prying with a purpose

Question 16

Define market research according to Wilson 2012

Answer 16

“The collection, analysis and communication of information undertaken to assist decision making in marketing

Question 17

Marketing research is vital to develop….

Answer 17

A marketing strategy that delivers value to customers

Question 18

What is the market research process?

Answer 18

1. Identification of the problem
2. Formulation of research needs/brief

3a. Selection of research agency/ provider

Or

3b. Creation of research design/choice of method

4. Collection of secondary data
5. Collection of primary data
6. Analysis of data
7. Preparation and presentation of research findings and recommendation

Question 19

What are effective marketing decisions based on?

Answer 19

• Information on customers
  *Information on other organisations / competitors
  *Information on the marketing environment.

Question 20

What are the two sources of information?

Answer 20

• Primary data
• Secondary data

Question 21

What are the benefits of secondary data?

Answer 21

• Faster to collect
• Less costly vs primary data

Question 22

What are the drawback of secondary data?

Answer 22

• Availability; Applicability; Accuracy
• Was collected for some other purpose

Question 23

What are the benefits of primary data?

Answer 23

• Relevant to specific research question at hand
• More typically accurate and up to date
• Allows researchers to control the study’s focus and depth tailoring methodology to the precise needs of the research.

Question 24

What are the drawbacks of primary data?

Answer 24

• Expensive
• Time consuming
• Collection can be complex, requiring specialized skills and resources
• Risk of bias
• Data collection process could influence responses of participants.
• Researchers own preconceptions can affect the interpretation of data

Question 25

What is the order of conducting primary and secondary data research?

Answer 25

• Secondary data ALWAYS done before Primary data

Question 26

List the qualitative research methods.

Answer 26

• In-depth interviews
• Focus Groups
• Projective techniques
• Observation approaches
• Netnography

Question 27

List the quantitative research methods.

Answer 27

• Survey Research
• Experimental Research
• Quantitative Structured Observations

Question 28

How does Qualitative and Quantitative research differ in terms of Nature of data?

Answer 28

Qualitative:

• Visual and verbal recordings in rich detail

Quantitative:

• Responses distilled into numeric scores

Question 29

How does Qualitative and Quantitative research differ in terms of Relevance of context?

Answer 29

Qualitative:

• Results are generally assumed to be specific to time, place, people and culture studied

Quantitative:

• Results are generally assumed to be generalisable across contexts and cultures

Question 30

How does Qualitative and Quantitative research differ in terms of Nature and control of potential causes?

Answer 30

Qualitative:

• Ideally naturalistic with multiple factors shaping the behaviours observed and discussed

Quantitative:

• Ideally settings are controlled and variables are manipulated or measured to allow simple casual inferences

Question 31

How does Qualitative and Quantitative research differ in terms of Key research instrument?

Answer 31

Qualitative:

• The researcher is the instrument and uses skills and rapport to gain insights based on trust

Quantitative:

• Researcher tries to be invisible and relies on responses to structured measures or choices.

Question 32

Should you ALWAYS trust what research tells you? Provide an example of why or why not.

Answer 32

• No, you should not always trust what research tells you as this can lead to catastrophic failure
• The prime example that comes to my attention is the New Coke fiasco. Where in the 1980s, Coca-Colas CEO at the time came to a decision to alter the iconic formula of Coke based on market research that said his new formula tasted better. “New Coke” was born, and it replaced the old formula
• Initially most people were indifferent to the change, but a vocal minority in the South of the USA were devastated. They felt as if there rights, and freedom were being infringed on by taking away the option to drink the original formula. And they were so vocal about there disgust that it affected people indifferent to the change’s perception of New Coke.
• Became stigmatised to be a “New Coke” drinker, so a lot of people just stayed away from the product to avoid the hassle
• Pepsi continued to eat away at Coke’s market share until finally Coca-Cola gave in, and reintroduced the original formula back to shelves, with option of “New Coke” also being there for a time, until it was finally discontinued years later.

Question 33

Key takeaways from lecture

Answer 33

• Being market oriented will deliver greater success.
• Being a market-oriented organisation DEMANDS you use market research.
• Market research aids in effective decision making.
• Secondary research should ALWAYS be undertaken first.
• Qualitative research helps us answer – Why?
• Quantitative research helps us answer – What? & How Many?

Question 34

Example of Market research?

Answer 34

• Loyalty cards, e.g., Tesco Clubcard or Sainsburys Nectar card.
• You need to give them your data such as your age and email address for you to get a card