International Marketing15th edition

Philip R. Cateora, Mary C. Gilly, and John L. Graham

The Research Process• Research process steps

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 effort4. Gather relevant data from secondary or primary

sources, or both5. Analyze, interpret, and summarize the results6. Effectively communicate the results to decision makers

• Research steps are similar for all countries– Variations and problems can occur in implementation

• Differences in cultural and economic development

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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

• The first, most crucial step in research is more critical in foreign markets because an unfamiliar environment tends to could problems definition

• Other difficulties in foreign research stem from failures to establish problem limits broad enough to include all relevant variables

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Problems of Availability and Use of Secondary Data• U.S. government provides comprehensive

statistics for United States• Marketing data not matched in other

countries– Quality– Quantity– Exceptions are Japan and several European

countries• Continuing efforts to improve data collection – United Nations– Organization for Economic Cooperation and

Development (OECD)

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Availability and Reliability of Data

• Most countries simply do not have governmental agencies that collect on a regular basis the kinds of secondary data readily available in the U.S.

• Researchers’ language skills impede access to information– Requires native speaker of language

• Official statistics are sometimes too optimistic, reflecting national pride rather than practical reality, while tax structures and fear of the tax collector often adversely affect data– Less-developed countries prone to optimism– Willful errors– “Adjusted reporting”

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Comparability of Data

• Issues with data (especially in less developed, countries)– Data can be many years out of date – Data collected on an infrequent and

unpredictable schedule

• Too frequently, data are reported in different categories or in categories much too broad to be of specific value

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Validating Secondary Data

• Questions to judge the reliability of secondary data sources– Who collected the data? – Would there be any reason for purposely

misrepresenting the facts?– For what purposes was the data collected?– How was the data collected?– Are the data internally consistent and logical in light of

known data sources or market factors?• Checking the consistency of one set of secondary

data with other data of known validity – An effective and often-used way of judging validity

• The availability and accuracy of recorded secondary data increase with level of economic development

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Gathering Primary Data –Quantitative and Qualitative

Research(1 of 2)• Primary data

– Data collected specifically for the particular research project

• Quantitative research– Usually a large number of respondents – Respondents answer structured oral or written

questions using a specific response format (such as yes/no) or to select a response from a set of choices

– Responses can be summarized in percentages, averages, or other statistics• Toto – a Japanese firm with the premiers

quantitative research on bathroom and toilet technology

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• Qualitative research– If questions are asked, they are almost

always open-ended or in-depth– Seeks unstructured responses that reflect the

person’s thoughts and feelings on the subject

• Qualitative research interprets people in the sample

• Qualitative research is helpful in revealing the impact of sociocultural factors on behavior patterns and in developing research hypotheses

Gathering Primary Data –Quantitative and Qualitative

Research(2 of 2)

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Problems of Gathering Primary

Data• Hinges on the ability of the researcher to

get correct and truthful information that addresses research objectives

• Problems in international marketing research– Stem from differences among countries– Range from inability or unwillingness of

respondents to communicate their opinions – Inadequacies in questionnaire translation

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Ability to Communicate Opinions• Formulating opinions about a product or concept

– Depends on the respondent’s ability to recognize the usefulness of such a product of concept

– Product or concept must be understood and used in community

• The more complex the concept, the more difficult it is to design research that will help the respondent communicate meaningful opinions and reactions– Gerber has more experience in trying to

understand consumers with limitations• Babies can neither answer questions or fill out

questionnaires

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Willingness to Respond

• Cultural differences provide best explanation for unwillingness or inability of many to respond to research surveys

• The role of the male, the suitability of personal gender-based inquiries, and other gender-related issues can affect willingness to respond

• Less direct measurement techniques and nontraditional data analysis methods may also be more appropriate

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Sampling in Field surveys

• Problems in sampling stem from the lack of adequate demographic data and available lists from which to draw meaningful samples

• Affected by a lack of detailed social and economic information– No officially recognized census information– No other listings that can serve as sampling

frames– Incomplete and out-of-date telephone

directories– No accurate maps of population centers

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Language and Comprehension

• The most universal survey research problem in foreign countries is the language barrier

• Literacy poses yet another problem• Marketers use three different techniques

to help ferret out translation errors ahead of time– Back translation– Parallel translation– Decentering

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Estimating Market Demand

• Two methods of forecasting demand– Expert opinion• The key in using expert opinion to

help in forecasting demand is triangulation

– Analogy• Assumes that demand for a product

develops in much the same way in all countries as comparable economic development occurs in each country

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