Characteristics of Good Marketing Research

Market Research is a continuous process for collecting, investigating and interpreting information about a particular market a company operates in or a product/service the company offers for selling in that market, and also about potential and existing competitors and the past, present and potential customers who purchase and consume the offered product/service. Conducting market research means making an analysis of all information about the market, product/service, customers and competitors in order to investigate possible ways for the company to successfully operate in the market, sell the product/service, attract the target audience and gain competitive advantages. Why it’s Important for organization?

There is no doubt about the importance of market research. To prove this statement, let’s view why you should research markets. Marketing research is important to better understand how and why your particular market functions. Market research is important for your business because it provides you with the following opportunities: Increased Sales Through researching your market you gain valuable information that helps you identify how successful your product/service is likely to be, what the best price you can set for the product/service, and which customers are interested in purchasing and consuming the product/service. Having investigated this information helps you increase sales.

Better Customer Management The importance of market research is that you can use tools of marketing campaigns (questionnaires, meetings, discussions, messaging) to reach a wide audience of customers, reduce the timeframe within which your product/service reaches the customers, investigate current and future needs and expectations of the customers, and achieve higher customer satisfaction. Business Growth As due to market researching your sales tends to an increase and your customer management gets better, your company gains an opportunity for further business growth and development. Which Research Instruments?

A market researcher can choose to collect primary data, secondary data, or both types of information. Primary data are gathered for the first time for a particular research project or for a specific purpose. Secondary data exists prior to the initialization of a new research project, having been collected for another purpose. There are four main types of research instruments available to market researchers: (1) Questionnaires or surveys

For gathering data surveys are the most commonly used of the instruments. Although the survey instrument is flexible and relatively inexpensive, it requires careful attention during development. All surveys should be piloted tested, before they are released and administered to a target sample. The forms that the questions take should be carefully considered to ensure they perform as expected.

(2) Psychological tools
Three commonly used psychological tools used to collect primary data are:
(1) Laddering questions techniques
(2) In-depth interviews

(3) Mechanical devices
Mechanical devices are sometimes used to measure physiological responses of research participants to product attributes or advertisements. Mechanical devices used in primary research data collection include Galvanometers, cameras, eye gaze recorders, audiometers that show an image for a brief flash.

(4)Qualitative measurements
Qualitative measures are becoming more common in primary research as advanced in technology support different approaches. Consumers are being turned loose with sophisticated technology on which they can record their impressions of product or aspects of their consumer experience.

Q no 2:
Define the Microenvironment of one of the following company:
1. Coca cola
2. Mobilink
3. Honda
4. Nestle

Coca-Cola Microenvironment
A company’s microenvironment consists of the company, suppliers, marketing intermediaries, customers, competitors, and publics. Coca-Cola’s microenvironment consists of the following:
Company: Coca-Cola and its valuable employees. Coca-Cola prides itself in employing passionate and driven individuals. Its employees are inspired workers who can make a difference. Suppliers: The Coca-Cola website offers a special page dedicated to suppliers. On the page are a list of supplier expectations, diversity, and guiding principles. Because suppliers are linked to customer value, Coca-Cola wants its suppliers to maintain the best quality possible. Coca-Cola provides extensive training to suppliers, and also routine inspections. Suppliers are considered to be Coca-Colas partners.

Marketing Intermediaries: Coca-Cola works directly with its intermediaries to maximize sales. Coke offers a website “www.cokesolutions.com” to help it’s intermediaries with problems such as: was to build traffic and strengthen operations, training employees to sell “value meals”, and improving server hospitality to foster consumer satisfaction. Coca-Cola works directly with its retailers, as they too are partners in business. Customers: Coca-Cola touches millions of lives per day. They also provide Coca-Cola recipes, interactive quizzes, and even email alerts for the lasts Coca-Cola news. Coke cares about every one of its customers, and strives to reward its customers with great service, and a great product.

Competitors: Coke’s objective is to deliver a better product to its consumers than any other competitor. Coke is successful in doing so, because it has created brand awareness with its costumers, is successful in its advertising, and is also constantly developing new products for its’ customers to enjoy. Publics: Coca-Cola provides up-to-the minute financial information on its website for investors. Coke is interested in creating value for consumers and is successful in doing so. Coke also provides a section on its website to respond to the public. Coca-Cola macro environment includes demographic forces, economic forces, natural forces, technological forces, political forces, and cultural forces. Coca-Cola’s macro environment includes the following:

Demographics: Coca-Cola employs certain employees to monitor the constant change in the population. The change in individuals leads to different preferences of brand or taste. The ever-changing factors in population must be constantly monitored to deliver the best product to consumers. Economic Forces: Consumers are beginning to cut down on spending. For Coke’s off-brand competitors, this could mean an increase in sales. Coca-Cola must begin watching consumer spending habits, as many could be opting to purchase a cheaper alternative cola. Natural Forces: Coca-Cola is constantly monitoring natural forces on planet Earth. Coke has started a foundation for polar bears, to assist in the preservation of these incredible animals.

They have also built the world’s largest plastic bottle recycling plant. Coca-Cola is constantly finding ways to help our natural environment. Technological Forces: Technology is hard to keep up with in today’s day in age. For instance, one promotion that I found interesting was the conversion of Coke cans into GPS devices. In 2004, Coke ran a promotion that 120 lucky cola drinkers could find a Coke can with a GPS device attached. This type of technology allowed the can to turn into a mobile phone. Political Forces: All business must deal with political forces, such as laws and regulations. With increased awareness of sanitary issues, Coca-Cola must abide by many laws and regulations set forth by the government. Cultural Forces: With Coca-Cola plants positioned throughout the world, Coke must be sensitive to the cultural needs of its consumers and employees