Marketing Research Possibilities

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C H A P T E R 2

THE MARKETING RESEARCH INDUSTRY AND RESEARCH ETHICS

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

➤ 1. To appreciate the structure of the marketing research industry. ➤ 2. To comprehend the nature of corporate marketing research departments. ➤ 3. To learn about the various types of firms and their functions in the marketing research industry. ➤ 4. To understand the impact of the Internet on the marketing research industry. ➤ 5. To learn who uses marketing research. ➤ 6. To understand the growing importance of strategic partnering. ➤ 7. To appreciate trends in global marketing research. ➤ 8. To examine unethical practices among marketing research suppliers, clients, and marketing research field services. ➤ 9. To become familiar with respondents’ rights. ➤ 10. To discover methods by which the level of professionalism in marketing research can be raised.

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itting in his company’s Caracas, Venezuela, headquarters, A. G. Lafley, chief executive officer of Procter & Gamble Company, shared some advice with a group of laundry executives: “The simple principle in life is to find out what she wants and give it to her. It’s worked in my marriage for 35 years and it works in laundry.” The attention to what women want reflects a philosophical shift at P&G that Mr. Lafley is urging: to look outside the company for solutions to problems, instead of insisting P&G knows best. P&G has always aimed its marketing at women. But it used to develop consumer goods in its labs and market them based on the product’s best technical feature. Its market research tended to be about the pros and cons of specific products. These days, employees spend hours with women, watching them do laundry, clean the floor, apply makeup, and diaper their children. They look for nuisances that a new product might solve. Then, they return to the labs determined to address the feature women care about most. “We discovered that women don’t...