This document provides an overview of marketing research, including its role in strategic and tactical marketing decisions, sources of marketing information, and the typical marketing research process. It discusses how marketing research can help with segmentation, targeting, positioning, and the 4 Ps. The marketing research process involves identifying an information need, defining objectives, designing methodology, conducting secondary and primary research, analyzing results, and reporting findings to inform marketing actions. The document also covers types of research, ethical considerations, emerging issues like online research and data warehousing/mining.

1. Course: MBA
Subject: Research Methodology
Unit-1.1
Introduction , Evolution and Emerging issues

2. Role of Marketing Research
• 1. To provide information to decision makers in
the marketing department of an organization
• 2. Types of decisions – 1. Strategic and 2. Tactical
• 3. Strategic Decisions- Related to Segmentation of
the Market, Target Market Selection, and
Positioning of the Product
• 4. Tactical decisions- Related to the 4 Ps of
marketing – Product, Pricing, Promotion and
Place (distribution)

3. Marketing
Strategy
Segmentation
Target Market Selection
Positioning
Information for
Marketing
Decisions
Marketing
Plan
Ps of Marketing
PRODUCT
PRICING
PROMOTION
PLACE
LEVEL 1
(Strategic)
LEVEL 2
(Tactical)
Fig 1. The Role of Marketing Research

4. Marketing Information System
• 1. Information can come from multiple sources
• 2.Two main sources are Marketing Intelligence and Marketing
Research
• 3.Marketing Intelligence - a continuous process, usually internally
managed, based on published or otherwise available data, may be
stored for future use
• 4.Examples of Intelligence - Industry Data, Competitor’s
Announcements
• 5.Marketing Research - data collected for specific action or decision
problem, focused, with a time and budget, done by external
marketing research company or by company staff, usually with a
written report and/or presentation to the study’s sponsor

5. Marketing Intelligence Marketing Research
Ongoing Process Project based on
Information Gap
Usually done in-house Mostly outsourced to
M.R. Companies
Not meant for immediate
Action
oriented
action
General purpose Very specific answers
to questions
Focus on competition, environment Focus on consumers, influencers,
etc.
Table 1: Marketing Intelligence versus Marketing Research

6. Who Does The Marketing Research?
• 1. Professional marketing research companies like
ORG-MARG, IMRB, TN Sofres Mode, Gallup MBA.
• 2. In-house marketing research department
• 3. Company staff from marketing/sales/customer
service departments
Each of these has got advantages and disadvantages. What could they be?

7. Typical Applications of Marketing Research
1. Segmentation Studies to identify consumer segments based on their demographic,
psychographic or behavioral characteristics.
2. To evaluate specific product-markets/segments for the potential demand
3. Positioning Studies to study consumer perceptions regarding the brand being
studied vis-à-vis competing brands
4. Concept Testing, or Product –related research
5. Pricing research to determine price perceptions and correct levels of prices
6. Distribution Research to determine convenience of shopping channels, availability
of brands and point of purchase behavior
7. Advertising Research to test effectiveness of ads, media etc.
This is only a broad listing of categories. Can you give some specific
examples of marketing research applications ?

8. When To Do Marketing Research?
1. There is an information gap.
2. The cost of filling this gap is less than cost of a
wrong decision.
3. The research will be completed in time to
help in decision-making.

9. Limitations of Marketing Research
1.It is not fool-proof, and involves some errors
associated with measurement and interpretation
of findings
2.Other inputs for decision-making which should be
used along with M.R. are corporate policy,
marketing goals, judgment, experience, intuition,
and passion
3. The results of M.R. depend on the methodology
used

10. Research Process
• A marketing research project starts with an
information need.
• It ends with an actionable report or
presentation or both.
• In between are various steps to ensure that
the marketing research project achieves what
it set out to do.

11. A diagrammatic representation of the
Marketing Research Process
1. Information 4. Plan and do
Need Felt Secondary Research
2. Define the 5. Plan and do
Research Primary Research
Objective
3. Design the 6. Tabulation
Research and Analysis
Methodology
7. Report Writing
and Presentation
8. Marketing Action
We will now consider each of these steps in detail

12. Types of Research
1.Primary Research:
• Primary research is information specifically collected for the marketing
research being done.
• Some common forms of primary data collection are personal or telephonic
interviews with customers, retailers, mail surveys of respondents, focus
group discussions, etc.
2. Secondary Research:
• Secondary research is that which is available for reference to a researcher, but
collected for some other purpose (not for the current marketing research)
• Some common sources of secondary data are newspapers, magazines, the
internet, and internal or external reports compiled or published by various
organizations

13. Ethical Considerations in Marketing Research
• Like every profession, marketing research has its own ethical code of
conduct
• Information collected for research purposes should not be used out of
context
• Confidential information should be used only by M.R. agency and the
client.
• Marketing Researcher should not be biased towards any conclusions, and
should report accurately the findings of the research study
• Respondent’s right to privacy and right not to participate in a study must
be respected

14. Emerging Issues
Marketing Research using the internet
1. It is possible to do online research using the internet, but its
validity is not easy to establish, particularly in India
2. Online research can be done using email, HTML forms, or
downloadable survey forms
3. Qualitative research can also be done through chat sessions
as a substitute for focus groups. These days, voice chats are
also be possible

15. Data Warehousing and Data Mining
1. Data from various sources-scanners at supermarkets,
surveys, billing information etc. can be stored on computer
in a virtual warehouse.
2. This stored data can be examined (mined) for correlations,
patterns of purchase, and used to design CRM initiatives to
attract existing customers or target new customers for a
given product.
3. Huge amounts of data are involved, and require hardware,
specialized software, and creative and analytically skilled
people to make use of it

16. DATA SOURCES
Company Records
Surveys
Other Sources
BUILD DATA
WAREHOUSE
DATA MINING
Look for Patterns of
Purchase, Behavior,
Attitudes by analyzing
data from WAREHOUSE
Use the mined data to
design marketing or
communication
campaigns
Measure Results of the
Campaign, and
refine/repeat the
process if needed
Fig. 2. Using Data Warehousing and Data Mining

17. Reference
• Marketing Research Text & cases by Rajendra
Nargundkar