A Global

Perspective
Philip Kotler
Gary Armstrong
Swee Hoon Ang
4 Siew Meng Leong
Chin Tiong Tan
Oliver Yau Hon-
Ming
Managing Marketing PowerPoint slides adapted by
Peggy Su

Information

Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education South Asia Pte Ltd 4-1

Learning Objectives
After studying this chapter, you should be able to:
1. Explain the importance of information to the company and
its understanding of the marketplace
2. Define the marketing information system and discuss its
parts
3. Outline the steps in the marketing research process
4. Explain how companies analyze and distribute marketing
information
5. Discuss the special issues some marketing researchers
face, including public policy and ethics

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Chapter Outline
1. Assessing Marketing Information Needs
2. Developing Marketing Information
3. Marketing Research
4. Analyzing Marketing Information
5. Distributing and Using Marketing Information
6. Other Marketing Information Considerations

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Assessing Marketing
Information Needs
• A marketing information system (MIS)
consists of people, equipment, and
procedures to gather, sort, analyze, evaluate,
and distribute needed, timely, and accurate
information to marketing decision makers.
• Assess the information needs
• Develop needed information
• Analyze information
• Distribute information

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Assessing Marketing
Information Needs

The marketing
information
system

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Assessing Marketing
Information Needs
• MIS provides information to the company’s marketing and
other managers and external partners such as suppliers,
resellers, and marketing service agencies

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Assessing Marketing
Information Needs
• A good MIS balances the information users
would like to have against what they need
and what is feasible to offer.
• Issues to consider:
• Amount of information
• Availability of information
• Costs

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Developing Marketing Information
Marketers can obtain information from:
• Internal data
• Marketing intelligence
• Marketing research

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Developing Marketing Information
Internal Data
• Internal databases are electronic
collections of consumer and market
information obtained from data
sources within the company
network, including accounting,
marketing, customer service, and
sales departments.

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Developing Marketing Information
Advantages and Disadvantage of
Internal Databases
Advantages: Disadvantages:
• Can be accessed more • Incomplete information
quickly • Wrong form for decision
• Less expensive making
• Timeliness of information
• Amount of information
• Need for sophisticated
equipment and
techniques

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Developing Marketing Information
Marketing Intelligence
• Marketing intelligence is the systematic
collection and analysis of publicly available
information about competitors and
developments in the marketplace.
• The goal of marketing intelligence is to:
• Improve strategic decision making,
• Assess and track competitors’ actions, and
• Provide early warning of opportunities and
threats.

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Marketing Research
Marketing research is the
systematic design,
collection, analysis, and
reporting of data relevant
to a specific marketing
situation facing an
organization.

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Marketing Research
Steps in the marketing research process

1. Defining the problem and research objectives

2. Developing the research plan
3. Implementing the plan
4. Interpreting and reporting the findings

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Marketing Research
Defining the Problem and Research Objectives
Types of objectives:
• Exploratory research
• Descriptive research
• Causal research

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Marketing Research
Defining the Problem and Research Objectives
• Exploratory research is the gathering of
preliminary information that will help to define the
problem and suggest hypotheses.
• Descriptive research is to describe things such
as market potential for a product or the
demographics and attitudes of consumers who
buy the product.
• Causal research is to test hypotheses about
cause-and-effect relationships.

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Marketing Research
Developing the Research Plan
The research plan
• Outlines sources of existing data
• Spells out the specific research approaches,
contact methods, sampling plans, and
instruments that researchers will use to gather
data

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Marketing Research
Developing the Research Plan
The research plan is a written proposal that
includes:
• Management problem
• Research objectives
• Information needed
• How the results will help management
decisions
• Budget

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Marketing Research
Developing the Research Plan
• Secondary data consists of information that
already exists somewhere, having been
collected for another purpose.
• Primary data consists of information
gathered for the special research plan.

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Marketing Research
Marketing Research
+ Advantages: – Disadvantages:
• Speed • Availability
• Cost • Relevance
• Accuracy
• Provides data that a
company cannot • Impartial
collect on its own

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Marketing Research
Primary Data Collection
• Research approaches
• Contact methods
• Sampling plan
• Research instruments

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Marketing Research
Research Approaches
• Observational research involves gathering
primary data by observing relevant people,
actions, and situations.
• Ethnographic research involves sending trained
observers to watch and interact with consumers in
their natural environment.

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Marketing Research
Research Approaches
• Survey research is the most widely used
method and is best for descriptive information—
knowledge, attitudes, preferences, and buying
behavior.
• Flexible
• People can be unable or unwilling to answer
• Gives misleading or pleasing answers
• Privacy concerns

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Marketing Research
Research Approaches
• Experimental research is best for gathering
causal information
• Tries to explain cause-and-effect
relationships.

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Marketing Research
Contact Methods
Mail questionnaires
• Collect large amounts of information
• Low cost
• Less bias with no interviewer present
• Lack of flexibility
• Low response rate
• Lack of control of sample

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Marketing Research
Contact Methods
Telephone interviewing
• Collects information quickly
• More flexible than mail questionnaires
• Interviewers can explain difficult questions
• Higher response rates than mail questionnaires
• Interviewers communicate directly with respondents
• Higher cost than mail questionnaires
• Potential interviewer bias

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Marketing Research
Contact Methods
Mail, telephone, and personal interviewing
• Personal interviewing
• Individual interviewing
• Group interviewing

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Marketing Research
Contact Methods
• Personal interviewing
• Individual interviewing
• Involves talking with people at home or the
office, on the street, or in shopping malls
• Flexible
• More expensive than telephone interviews
• Group interviewing or focus group interviewing
• Involves inviting 6 to 10 people to talk with
a trained moderator

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Marketing Research
Contact Methods
Online marketing research
• Internet surveys
• Online panels
• Online experiments
• Online focus groups

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Marketing Research
Contact Methods
Online marketing research
• Low cost
• Speed to administer
• Fast results
• Good for hard-to-reach groups
• Hard to control who’s in the sample
• Lack of interaction
• Privacy concerns

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Marketing Research
Sampling Plan
• A sample is a segment of the population selected
for marketing research to represent the population
as a whole.
• Who is to be surveyed?
• How many people should be surveyed?
• How should the people be chosen?

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Marketing Research
Sampling Plan
• Probability samples: Each population member
has a known chance of being included in the
sample.
• Non-probability samples: Used when probability
sampling costs too much or takes too much time.

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Marketing Research
Research Instruments
• Questionnaires
• Mechanical devices

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Marketing Research
Research Instruments
• Questionnaires
• Most common
• Administered in person, by phone, or online
• Flexible
• Open-end questions
• Closed-end questions

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Marketing Research
Research Instruments
• Closed-end questions include all the possible answers,
and subjects are to make choices among them.
• Provides answers that are easier to interpret and tabulate

• Open-end questions allows respondents to answer in

their own words.
• Useful in exploratory research

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Marketing Research
Implementing the Research Plan
• Collecting data
• Processing the information
• Analyzing the information

Issues to consider:
• What if respondents refuse to cooperate?
• What if respondents give biased answers?
• What if interviewer makes mistakes or takes shortcuts?

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Analyzing Marketing Information
Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
• Consists of sophisticated software and
analytical tools
• Integrates customer information from all
sources
• Analyzes it in depth
• Applies the results to build stronger customer
relationships

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Analyzing Marketing Information
Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
• Data warehouses are comprehensive companywide
electronic databases of finely-tuned, detailed
customer information.
• Uses:
• To understand customers better
• To provided higher levels of customer service
• To develop deeper customer relationships
• To identify high-value customers

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Analyzing Marketing Information
Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
• Touch points: Every contact between the customer and
company
• Customer purchases
• Sales force contacts
• Service and support calls
• Web site visits
• Satisfaction surveys
• Credit and payment interactions
• Research studies

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Distributing and Using Marketing
Information
• Information distribution involves entering
information into databases and making it
available in a time-useable manner.
• Intranet provides information to employees and
other stakeholders.
• Extranet provides information to key customers and
suppliers

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Other Marketing Information
Considerations
Marketing Research in Small Businesses and
Nonprofit Organizations
• Need information about their industry,
competitors, potential customers, and
reactions to new offers
• Must track changes in customer needs and
wants, reactions to new products, and
changes in the competitive environment

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Other Marketing Information
Considerations
Marketing Research in Small Businesses and
Nonprofit Organizations
• Sources of marketing information:
• Observing their environment
• Monitoring competitor advertising
• Evaluating customer mix
• Visiting competitors
• Conducting informal surveys
• Conducting simple experiments

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Other Marketing Information
Considerations
Marketing Research in Small Businesses and
Nonprofit Organizations
• Sources of marketing information:
• Secondary data
• Trade associations
• Chambers of commerce
• Government agencies
• Media

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Other Marketing Information
Considerations
International Marketing Research
• Additional and different challenges:
• Level of economic development
• Culture
• Customs
• Buying patterns
• Difficulty in collecting secondary data
• Hard-to-reach respondents

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Other Marketing Information
Considerations
Public Policy and Ethics in Marketing
Research
• Intrusions on consumer privacy
• Consumer resentment
• Misuse of research findings

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