INTERNATIONAL MARKET RESEARCH

Master in International Business Administration and

Modern Languages

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February, 2021
 Learning objectives

Explain the importance of having a carefully designed

international information system
Link international marketing research to the decision-making
process
Discuss the key problems in gathering and using
international market data
Distinguish between different research approaches, data
sources and data types
Discuss opportunities and problems with market research
methods
Understand the relevance of the World Wide Web as an
important data source in global marketing research
Relevance of marketing research in the
context of international management
Globalization of markets
and international marketing research
• Information is a key ingredient in the development of successful
international marketing strategies.
• Globalization is a factor of growing importance. It represents the growing
interdependence of national economies, involving consumers, producers,
suppliers, and governments of different countries.
• Lack of familiarity with customers, competitors and the market environment
information, coupled with the growing complexity and diversity of
international markets makes it increasingly critical to collect information
pertaining to these markets.
• An international market researcher has to deal with a number of countries
that may differ considerably in a number of important ways. Therefore,
many of the international marketing decisions are concerned with priorities
and allocation of resources between countries.
Globalization of markets
and international marketing research

National vs. International Research

New parameters: duties, different coins,
transportation, international documents...
New environments: culture, political system, social
structures, language, legal requirements,
technological level, economic conditions…
Broader definition of competition
Globalization of markets
and international marketing research

Important results of these trends

Information needs are changing and becoming ever more complex
and diverse. Timely and relevant information is essential to provide
on adequate basis for day-to-day decision-making as well as to
chart the firm’s path in an increasingly fast-paced, turbulent and
competitive environment.

Marketing researchers will participate more and more in marketing

decision-making. The speed of business, the flood of information
provided by the new technologies and flatter organizational
structures are driving this trend.
ESOMAR’s[i] definition of ‘Marketing
Research’:

Marketing research is a key element within the total field of

marketing information. It links the consumer, customer and
public to the marketer through information which is used to
identify and define marketing opportunities and problems; to
generate, refine and evaluate marketing actions; and to
improve understanding of marketing as a process and of the
ways in which specific marketing activities can be made more
effective.

[i] ESOMAR = European Society for Opinion and Marketing

Research
Important phases in the marketing research
process

The ESOMAR definition points out two important phases in the

marketing research process:

1. “Define marketing opportunities and problems” (problem-

identification research): Undertaken to help identify problems
that are not apparent on the surface, but are likely to arise in the
future. For example, a declining market share indicates that there
are problems with the elements of the international marketing
strategy.

2. “Generate and refine marketing actions” (problem-solving

research): Once a problem or opportunity has been identified, the
“problem-solving research” is undertaken to help develop a
solution. The findings of problem-solving research are used to
support decisions that tackle specific marketing problems.
International marketing research

What kind of information should

provide the international market
research?

Stage of decision making process

Table 2.2
Research approaches. Categorization of
data
 Research market process

1. Definition of research problem and

determination of objectives
2. Formulation of the research design
3. Data recopilation
4. Data analysis
5. Reports presentation
Research problem

Definition of the research problem and

identification of specific objectives

Difficulty: to translate the corporative

problem into a research problem with a
group of specific objectives
The Iceberg Principle
Categorization of data

Internal vs. External data

Primary vs. Secondary data
Quantitative vs. Qualitative data
 Internal data sources

Total sales Sales volume by type of

Sales by country channel distribution
Sales by products Pricing information
Sales volume by Communication mix
market segment information
Sales representatives’
records and reports
 External data sources

Library
resources

Electronic
databases Internet
Secondary vs. Primary data sources
 What is this?

Information that is collected first-hand,

generated by original research tailor-made
to answer specific research questions is
known as ______.

Primary data
 What is this?

Information that has already been collected

for other purposes and thus is readily
available is known as ______.

Secondary data (= desk research)

Categorization of data for assessment of market potential in a
country
Advantages and disadvantages of secondary data

Advantages Disadvantages
- Quick way of obtaining data - Collected for some other
purpose
- Low cost - No control over data collection
- Less effort expended - May not be very accurate
- Less time taken - May not be reported in the
required form
- Sometimes more accurate than primary data - May be outdated

- Some information can be obtained only from - May not meet data
secondary data requirements
-A number of assumptions have
to be made
-Reliability and comparability of
data
 Questions to ask when judging
the reliability of secondary data sources

To determine the reliability of secondary data,

marketing researchers must evaluate it. This is done
by answering the following five questions:

Who collected the data?

Would there be any reason to purposely
misrepresent the facts?
For what purpose was the data collected?
How was the data collected (methodology)?
How consistent is the information with other sources?
Secondary data sources

Governments (embassy, consulates…)

† European electronic information: Europa ([Link]),
Eurostat ([Link]/en/comm/eurostat, Europarl
([Link])
International organisms
† Statistical Yearbook of United Nations
† World Atlas of the World Bank
† World Trade Organization
† Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
† International Monetary Fund
† World Bank
Services entities (banks, accounting enterprises, international
management consultancies…)
Trade associations
Electronical information services (directories, bulletins and reports...)
Secondary data sources
S-1.1 Global Data Locators
MSU-CIBER [Link]
University of Kansas International Business Resource Center [Link]
VIBES: Virtual Business and Economic Sources [Link]/ref-bus/[Link]
Business Information on the Internet [Link]/sources/[Link]
University of Florida International Business Tutorial [Link]/cm/business/tutors/[Link]
S-1.2 Macroeconomic Data
United Nations [Link]
World Bank [Link]
OECD [Link]
The European Commission [Link]
Japan Statistics Bureau and Statistics [Link]/english/[Link]
Statistics Netherlands [Link]/en/
German Statistical Office [Link]/e_home.htm
US Office of Documents [Link]
International Trade Administration [Link]
US Department of Agriculture; Foreign Agriculture [Link]
CIA WorldFactbook [Link]/cia/publications/factbook/[Link]
S-1.3 Commercial Data
Economist Intelligence Unit [Link]
Euromonitor [Link]
Political Risk Group [Link]
EIU Viewswire [Link]
Market Research Organizations
Top 25 marketing research organizations
VNU N.V. [Link]
Taylor Nelson Sofres plc [Link]
IMS Health Inc. [Link]
The Kantar Group [Link]
GfK Group [Link]
Ipsos Group S.A. [Link]
Information Resources Inc. [Link]
Westat Inc. [Link]
Synovate [Link]
NOP World [Link]
Arbitron Inc. [Link]
Maritz Research [Link]
Video Research Ltd. [Link]
J.D. Power and Associates [Link]
Harris Interactive Inc. [Link]
Opinion Research Corp. [Link]
INTAGE Inc. [Link]
The NPD Group Inc. [Link]
AGB Group [Link]
Market & Opinion Research International [Link]
Lieberman Research Worldwide [Link]
Dentsu Research Inc. [Link]
Abt Associates Inc. [Link]
Nikkei Research Inc. [Link]
Wirthlin Worldwide [Link]
Online Directories of Market Research Organizations
ESOMAR [Link]
American Marketing Association, NY Chapter [Link]
Specialized Data Sources
Eurobarometer [Link]/en/data_service/Eurobarometer/standard_eb/
The Eurobarometer is a European-wide survey of consumer attitudes and interests
relating to a variety of topics such as health, the economy, etc. It is extremely
detailed and lengthy. Depending on how the course is structured, it can be used to
illustrate data coding, sampling, data tabulation and analysis, etc.

Schwarzer [Link]
The Schwarzer website contains a self-efficacy scale in 29 different languages. The
translations of this can be examined (see related exercise). In addition to the
general self-efficacy scale, there are nine other scales on the website, though some
are only in English and German. The website also contains a link to a file consisting
of 18,000 respondents who have completed the scale. These data can be used in a
variety of exercises, as, for example, assessing reliability, dimensionality, etc.
 Sources of secondary data
Data collection with a specific
purpose in mind -
Primary typical personal interviews
data sources

-Sales reports
-Market share reports
-Marketing activities
-Cost information
Internal
-Sales force feedback
data sources
-Sales reps’ reports
-Customer - End-user feedback
Data sources -Etc.

-Private market research firms

Internet (e.g. Euromonitor, Frost & Sullivan)
(electronic) -Governments
-Industry associations
-Trade magazines / journals
Secondary
Published data -Article databases (e.g. Proquest)
data sources
-Websites of competitors
-Firms’ annual reports
-Newspaper
Printed -Books

External
data sources

-Consumer purchase panels

(GFK)
-Store audits (Store checks)
Standardized -Nielsen’s Television Index
sources of marketing -Multimedia services
data -Web-traffic (monitoring
traffic on Web-sites)
When secondary data are not
sufficient…

Primary data
(quantitative and qualitative
research)
If and when to obtain primary data
 Forms of primary research

Quantitative research is data analysis based on

questionnaires from a large group of respondents

Qualitative research provides a holistic view of a

research problem by integrating a larger number
of variables, but asking only a few respondents
 RESEARCH PROBLEMS/OBJECTIVES
To determine the information requeriments

RESEARCH APPROACHES
Observation Surveys Experiments..
.
RESEARCH DESIGN

CONTACT METHOD
PRIMARY DATA

Phone Personal Mail/Internet

SAMPLING PLAN
Sampling Sample unit Sample size
procedures

SURVEY DESIGN
Questionnaire design Questions formulation

Pretest/Data gathering/Data analysis