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106       Part 2  |  Marketing Research and Target Markets



                                          the site or making a purchase. Frequent-flyer programs ask loyal customers to participate in
                                          surveys about their needs and desires and to track their best customers’ flight patterns by time
                                          of day, week, month, and year. Supermarkets frequently offer store discount cards, which
                                          allow them to gain consumer data on purchases through checkout scanners.
                                                 Marketing researchers can also use databases, such as LexisNexis or online commercial
                                          databases, for a fee, to obtain useful information for marketing decisions. To find research
                                          within a database, a user typically searches by keyword, topic, or company, and the data-
                                          base service generates abstracts, articles, or reports. Information provided by a single firm on
                                          household demographics, purchases, television viewing behavior, and responses to promotions
                                          such as coupons and free samples is called   single-source data     . For example, BehaviorScan,
                                          offered by SymphonyIRI Group, screens the television and purchasing habits of markets with
                                                                            20
                                          populations between    75,000    and    215,000   .                                             It is important that marketers gather longitudinal
                                          (long-term) information on customers to maximize the usefulness of single-source data.

                                                      Marketing Decision Support Systems

                                             A   marketing decision support system (MDSS)      is customized computer software that aids
                                          marketing managers in decision making by helping them anticipate the effects of certain deci-
                                          sions. An MDSS has a broader range and offers greater computational and modeling capabili-
                                          ties than spreadsheets and lets managers explore a broad range of alternatives. For instance,
                                          an MDSS can determine how sales and profits might be affected by higher or lower interest
                                          rates or how sales forecasts, advertising expenditures, or production levels might affect over-
                                          all profits. For this reason, MDSS software is often a major component of a company’s MIS.
                                          Some decision support systems incorporate artificial intelligence and other advanced com-
                                          puter technologies.



                  LO 5  .                Identify key ethical and                 ISSUES IN MARKETING RESEARCH
                international considerations in
                marketing research.
                                              Marketers should identify and be aware of concerns that can influence the integrity of research,
                                          such as ethical issues and the international environment. Ethical issues are a constant risk in
                                          gathering and maintaining consistently high-quality information. International issues relate
                                          to environmental differences, such as culture, legal requirements, level of technology, and
                                          economic development.


                                                  The Importance of Ethical Marketing Research
                                                Marketing managers and other professionals increasingly rely on marketing research, mar-
                                          keting information systems, and new technologies to make better decisions. Therefore, it is
                                          essential that professional standards be established by which to judge the reliability of mar-
                                          keting research. Such standards are necessary because of the ethical and legal issues that can
                                          develop in gathering marketing research data. For example, many consumers are wary of how
                                          their personal information collected by marketers will be used, especially whether it will be
                                          sold to third parties.
                                                 It is important that marketers remain ethical at all times, to retain consumer and stake-
                                          holder trust and a positive reputation. To provide standards and guidelines, organizations such
                                          as the Marketing Research Association have developed codes of conduct and guidelines that
                  single-source data      Information
                provided by a single marketing   promote ethical marketing research. To be effective, such guidelines must instruct marketing
                research firm             researchers on how to avoid misconduct.   Table 4.4    provides sample steps researchers should
                                          follow when introducing a questionnaire to a customer in order to ensure respondent coopera-
                  marketing decision support
                system (MDSS)      Customized   tion and satisfaction.
                computer software that aids       As increasing amounts of personal information can be found online, consumer privacy
                marketing managers in decision   remains a significant issue. Firms have the ability to purchase tremendous amounts of detailed
                making                    data on customer demographics, interests, and more personal matters such as bankruptcy





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