International

• Information


  Key component in developing successful marketing strategies, avoiding major marketing blunders, and promoting efficient exchange systems
• Information needs


  • General data required to assess market opportunities
  • Specific market information for decisions about product, promotion, distribution, and price
• Marketing research


  The systematic gathering, recording, and analyzing of data to provide information useful to marketing decision making
• International marketing research


  • Information must be communicated across cultural boundaries
  • The environments within which the research tools are applied are often different in foreign markets
• Breadth and Scope of International Marketing Research

  • General information about the country, area, and/or market
  • Information necessary to forecast future marketing requirements by anticipating social, economic, consumer, and industry trends within specific markets or countries
  • Specific market information used to make product, promotion, distribution, and price decisions and to develop marketing plans
• The research process


  1. Define the research problem and establish research objectives

  2. Determine the sources of information to fulfill the research objectives

  3. Consider the costs and benefits of the research effort

  4. Gather the relevant data from secondary or primary sources, or both

  5. Analyze, interpret, and summarize the results

  6. Effectively communicate the results to decision makers
• Defining the problem and establishing research objectives

  The major difficulty is converting a series of often ambiguous business problems into tightly drawn and achievable research objectives
• Quantitative research


  A large number of respondents are asked to reply either verbally or in writing to structured questions using a specific response format or to select a response from a set of choices
• Qualitative research

  Questions are almost always open-ended or in-depth, and unstructured responses that reflect the person's thoughts and feelings on the subject are sought
• Problems of gathering primary data


  • Ability to communicate opinions
  • Willingness to respond
  • Sampling in field surveys
  • Language and comprehension
• Multicultural research


  Involves countries that have different languages, economies, social structures, behavior, and attitude patterns
• Uses of the Internet in international research

  • Online surveys and buyer panels
  • Online focus groups
  • Web visitor tracking
  • Advertising measurement
  • Customer identification systems
  • E-mail marketing lists
  • Embedded research
  • Observational research
• Once data have been collected, the final steps in the research process are the analysis and interpretation of findings in light of the stated marketing problem
• Responsibility for conducting marketing research


  • Rely on an outside, foreign-based agency
  • Rely on a domestic company with a branch within the country in question
  • Conduct research using its own facilities
  • Employ a combination of its own research force with the assistance of an outside agency
• Getting the information is only half the job, analyses and interpretation of that information must also be provided to decision makers in a timely manner
• Problems in Analyzing and Interpreting Research Information

  • Data have been collected
  • Final steps in the research process are the analysis and interpretation of findings in light of the stated marketing problem
  • Secondary and primary data collected by the market researcher are subject to many limitations
  • Researcher must take into consideration these factors and, despite their limitations, produce meaningful guides for management decisions
• Responsibility for Conducting Marketing Research

  1. Rely on an outside, foreign-based agency

  2. Rely on a domestic company with a branch within the country in question

  3. Conduct research using its own facilities

  4. Employ a combination of its own research force with the assistance of an outside agency
• Getting the information is only half the job
• Analyses and interpretation of that information must also be provided to decision makers in a timely manner
• High-quality international information systems design will be an increasingly important competitive tool as commerce continues to globalize
• Resources must be invested accordingly