Introduction to Business Management

-4

Prof. Dr Allard Van Riel

 The Role of Customer Insights

• The term customer insight can be defined as

‘knowledge about the customer’ that is valuable for
a firm.
• Customer needs are continually changing, often in
ways that are very subtle.
• To innovate and create new forms of value for
customers, accurate and timely customer insights
are very important.
• These insights can inform everything from product
innovation, product design and features, advertising
campaign themes, and so on.
 The Importance of Marketing Research
Country Turnover in Spend per
US$ million capita in US$
• Market-led (or market-driven, market-
UK   6,642 101.29
oriented) companies recognize the France    2334   36.13
need to be in touch with what is Sweden      357   35.75
happening in the market place Germany    3,321   33.34
Norway      107   20.37
Denmark       121    21.21
• Market(ing) research can play a role in USA 19,487   60.28
many different activities Switzerland      205    24.61
Australia       791   32.56

• Market research helps companies to Finland         91    16.51

Netherlands      460   27.03
understand the needs and wants of
Ireland        80    17.11
the consumer and informs marketing Belgium      143   12.64
planning decisions (strategy, tactics) Canada      345     9.52
New Zealand        86    18.21

• Global spend on marketing research is Japan    1,891   14.90

Italy      614   10.13
very significant Singapore      173   30.87
China   1,884     1.36

Source: Esomar (2017) Global Market Research 2017: An Esomar Industry Report.

McGraw-Hill Education | Fahy and Jobber, “Foundations of Marketing , Sixth Edition" 3

 Marketing information systems
• A marketing information system is defined as a
system in which marketing information is formally
gathered, stored, analysed, and distributed to
managers in accord with their informational needs
on a regular planned basis.

• Marketing information system (MkIS) design is

important since the quality of a marketing
information system has been shown to influence
the effectiveness of decision-making.
 Marketing Information Systems

Focus on Focus on
current generic
customers: trends
CRM

Focus on Focus on
new answering
customers specific questions
 Market Intelligence
• Market intelligence is a catch-all term used to
describe the systematic collection of data on what
is happening in a market.
• Increasingly, the term ‘big data’ or ‘smart data’ is
used to describe the wide range of external sources
of information that can be used to aid marketing
decision-making.
• The collection, aggregation, and analysis of
information (data analytics) is becoming
increasingly sophisticated, supported by vast data
storage capabilities, faster software (AI), and
people equipped with necessary analytical skills.
 Big Data characteristics: Challenges

Variability
Visualization
Value

Etc.

Exhibit 4.4: The four Vs of Big Data

 The Research Life Cycle
• Not always followed in Big Data Analysis

• Ethics!

McGraw-Hill Education | Fahy & Jobber, “Foundations of Marketing, Sixth Edition" 8

Google Analytics
• Helps understand consumer behavior on
(e-commerce) web sites
• Tracking and tracing across websites
• Profiling of individual users
• Ethics and Privacy Issues

McGraw-Hill Education | Fahy & Jobber, “Foundations of Marketing, Sixth Edition" 9

Webscraping
• Software programmes that allow
massive collection of data from social
media sites (Facebook, Twitter, etc.)
• Allows ‘harvesting’ of opinions about
Brands, Products, Ideas, etc.
• Harvested data can be analyzed by using
Content Analysis software

Python, R, PHP, etc.

McGraw-Hill Education | Fahy & Jobber, “Foundations of Marketing, Sixth Edition" 10

 Marketing Research
• Marketing research is defined as the
systematic design, collection, analysis,
and reporting of data relevant to a
specific marketing situation.

• Marketing research describes a broad

range of potential activities, many of
which are quite different from each other
and therefore, it can be classified in a
number of different ways.
 Types of Marketing Research
Ad-hoc research
Focuses on a specific
marketing problem and
involves the collection of data
at one point in time from one
sample of respondents, such
as a customer satisfaction
study or an attitude survey.
Continuous research
Involves conducting the same
research on the same sample
repeatedly to monitor the
changes that are taking place
over time. This form of research
plays a key role in assessing
trends in the market and one of
the most popular forms of
continuous research is the
consumer panel.
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 Types of Marketing Research
1. Custom research: research that is conducted for a
single organization to provide specific answers to
the questions that it has.
2. Syndicated research: research that is collected
by firms on a regular basis and then sold to other
firms.
3. Exploratory research: used to carry out a
preliminary exploration of a research area to gain
some insights or form some research hypotheses.
4. Descriptive research: used to develop stronger
conclusions about a research problem.
5. Casual research: seeks to establish cause-and-
effect relationships.
The Marketing Research Process
 15

Research Brief

• Begins by setting out the marketing problems to

be explored and company’s research objectives.
• Marketing problems might include the need to
attract new customers.
• Other required information:
 Background information e.g. company
history;
 Sources of information e.g. list of potential
customers;
 Scale of the project;
 Timetable.
 The Sampling Process

• The sampling process starts with the definition

of the population – that is, the group that forms
the subject of study in a particular survey.
• The survey objective will be to provide results
that are representative of this group.
• Once the population has been defined, the next
step is to search for a sampling frame – that is,
a list or other record of the chosen population
from which a sample can be selected.
 The Sampling Process

• Researchers then choose between three major

sampling methods:
a. Simple random sampling;
b. Stratified random sampling;
c. Quota sampling

• Finally, the researcher must select an appropriate

sample size. The larger the sample size the more
likely it will represent the population.
The Sampling Process
A Comparison of Different Survey Methods
 Market research expenditure by type (%),*2017
Method France Germany Italy Japan Finland Sweden UK

Focus group  5  5  4  7  4  3  3

Depth interview  2  2  2 10    1  2  2

Online qualitative  2  2  2    1  2  2    1

Other qualitative    1  0    1  3    1  0    1

Total qualitative 10 10  8 21  8  7  8

Telephone survey 10 26  9    1 25 24  5

Postal survey    1  2    1  7 10 13  2

Face-to-face  11 17  11  7 13  6  6

Online survey 29 34 12 50 30  31 30

Automated
22  3  0  0  5  7  0
digital/electronic

Other quantitative  2  4    1  0  0  2 10

Total quantitative 75 88 85 79 92 89 54

McGraw-Hill Education | Fahy & Jobber, “Foundations of Marketing, Sixth Edition" 20

 Questionnaire Design

To obtain a true response to a question, three

conditions must be fulfilled:

I. First, respondents must understand the

question;
II. Second, they must be able to provide the
information;
III.Third, they must be willing to provide it.
 Stages in the
Development of a Questionnaire

Planning stage

Design stage

Pilot stage

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Stages in the Development of a Questionnaire:
Planning Stage

Planning stage
• Definition of the research problem
• Exploratory research

Design stage

• Information required
• Definition of population
• Target groups
Pilot stage
• Survey method

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 Stages in the Development of a Questionnaire:
Design Stage

Planning stage
• Ordering of topics
• Type of question
• Wording and instructions
Design stage • Layout
• Scaling
• Probes and prompts
• Coding
Pilot stage

24
Stages in the Development of a Questionnaire:
Pilot Stage

Planning stage

Design stage

• Pilot testing
• Redesign
Pilot stage • Final questionnaire

25
Stages in the Development of a Questionnaire
Poorly Worded Questions
Quantitative Analysis

 Formulate research hypotheses (upfront)

 There is a (positive, negative) relation between
independent and dependent variables (cause and
effect).
 There is a difference in terms of a variable between
groups (behavior, attitude, evaluation).
 Show if the data confirm the hypotheses
 Predicted relationship is significant (correlation,
regression)
 Predicted difference is significant (t-test, Anova)
 Interpret the findings

Fahy & Jobber, “Foundations of Marketing, Sixth Edition" 28

Quantitative Analytical Tools

 R (free, open source)

 Python (free, open source)
 Excel
 Stata
 SPSS
 SmartPLS
 Etc.

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Exploratory Research

 Interviewing, Focus Groups, Etnography,

Observation Studies
 Data: qualitative
 Analysis: Content analysis
 Software: Nvivo
 Results:
 Propositions
 Not generalizable
 Not quantitative

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 Chapter Summary

1. The importance of marketing research (MR) and

customer insights: customer insights are key if an
organization is to be truly market-led.
2. The nature of marketing information systems: these
are systems in which marketing information is
formally gathered, stored, and distributed on a
regular, planned basis.
3. The three main types of market information: internal
market information, market intelligence, marketing
research.
4. The term ‘big data’ refers to the collection,
aggregation and analysis of data from multiple
sources in order to aid marketing decision making.
 32

Chapter Summary
5. The approaches to conducting research: marketing
research can be conducted either by the organization
itself or by employing the services of a professional
marketing research firm.
6. The stages in the market research process: these
include initial contact, the research brief, the research
proposal, exploratory research, the main data collection
phase, data analysis, and report writing/presentation.
7. Qualitative research techniques: a range of semi-
structured research techniques including focus groups,
depth interviews, observation studies, ethnographic
research and so on.
8. The four main survey methods: face-to-face, telephone,
mail, and Internet.