CHAPTER 7
Global Marketing Research
CHAPTER OUTLINE
XLIV. The Scope of Global Marketing Research
XLV. Challenges in Planning International Research
XLIX. Collecting Primary Data
A. Observation
B. Focus Groups
C. Surveys
D. Social Media and Big Data
E. Government Regulation of Data Collection
CHAPTER OBJECTIVES
At the end of this chapter, students should be able to do the following:
List and describe the four steps involved in the research process.
Differentiate between the challenges posed by secondary data collection and those posed by
primary data collection.
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QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
1. Why is it so difficult to do marketing research in multi-country settings?
Primary Research. Not all cultures are equally open to the idea of research. Cultural norms
and values will determine the research method, type of interviewer, and question structure
2. What are the challenges of using a marketing research questionnaire that is developed
in the United States but will be used in Japan and Mexico as well?
Differences in culture, infrastructure, and language may present challenges in taking a U.S.-
developed survey instrument to Japan and Mexico.
The United States, Japan, and Mexico may present several challenges in research design. In
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3. If you were estimating the demand for vacuum cleaners, what type of inference analysis
would you use? Give a specific example.
One way to estimate the demand for vacuum cleaners via inference analysis is to identify the
vacuum cleaner demand for a country at a similar level of economic development with a
4. Note various ways in which the Internet could assist international marketing
researchers.
Primary Research. As Internet penetration increases around the globe, the Internet
increasingly becomes a viable, attractive channel from which market research data can be
collected. It is important to remember, however, that until the Internet penetration approaches
100 percent in a country, the Internet population is only a subset of the general population.
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CASE 7.1: SURVEYING THE TURKISH CLOTHING INDUSTRY
The case heroine, Gretchen Renner, is a graduate student conducting primary research for her
thesis in a foreign country, Turkey. Gretchen seeks to conduct a survey to measure Turkish
clothing firm owners use and satisfaction with the services offered by the Textile Association of
Istanbul (a fictitious organization). Gretchen experiences several obstacles before she can launch
the survey. First, she has had to delay her trip in order to get Turkish government permission for
her research project and a required research visa. Next, officials at the Textile Association of
Istanbul are reticent to share the sampling frame of Turkish clothing firm owners that Gretchen
needs. Once she finally gets the list, respondents are suspicious of Gretchens survey and her
motives for conducting the study. Then, Gretchen discovers that Turkish clothing firm owners are
not likely to participate in telephone interviews and prefer to be interviewed in person in their
offices. Gretchen must decide whether the potential increased response rate will be worth the
increased cost and time associated with conducting face-to-face interviews.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. What cultural factors might contribute to the obstacles Gretchen encountered while
attempting to execute the survey? How might Hofstede’s dimensions of culture explain
Gretchen’s difficulties?
According to Hofstedes measures, Turkeys score is low on individualism (37) and high on
uncertainty avoidance (85) and power distance (66).
In Turkeys collectivist society, in-groups are salient and powerful. Foreigners like Gretchen
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2. Why do you think Gretchen finally received the list of Turkish clothing exporters from
TAI? If TAI had not supplied the list, where else could Gretchen have looked to find a
suitable list?
It is clear in the case exactly why the list was finally released. The case does mention that
Gretchen spent months developing relationships with key TAI officials. It may be that as TAI
officials got to know Gretchen over time they began to trust her personally and became
3. How should Gretchen proceed with the survey? Do you think the benefits of the face-to-
face option outweigh the costs? Or could changes be made to the telephone survey to
increase response rates? Are there other research options that Gretchen could consider
instead?
What are Gretchens data collection options? It may be helpful to make a list of them on the
board, noting the pros and cons of each, and then taking a class vote on what they think
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CASE 7.2: SELECTOR’S EUROPEAN DILEMMA
Problems collecting and using secondary data across countries is the central issue addressed in this
case. Selector is a market research firm that provides market analyses to restaurant and retail
chains. Selectors products help their clients select optimal geographic locations for successful
chain expansion. Selector has amassed a large warehouse of U.S. secondary data, including
demographic, business, and consumer behavior data. This data warehouse enables Selector to
provide a trade-area profile for any site under consideration for a future client location. Trade-area
profiles include a precise description of the households, businesses, and individuals that exist
around any potential site (e.g., 2-mile radius around the location). Selectors largest client, Big
Burger (a fictitious company), has asked Selector to provide trade-area profiles for seven potential
sites in Europe (two in London, one in Madrid, and four in Berlin). Ken Barbarino, CEO of
Selector, accepts this assignment; it is Selectors first international project. Katrina Walsh,
Selectors research director, discovers that it is not easy to acquire the secondary data that Selector
needs to create the trade-area profile product for European markets.
The case illustrates that it is often difficult to acquire comparable secondary data sources across
marketseven between developed nations. It also demonstrates how history and government shape
a nations territorial units and how data is collected from these units.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. What assumptions have Ken and Katrina made in their response to Big Burger’s
request for European trade-area data?
They assumed that European countries were organized geographically in a similar way as the
United States. But the size (geographically and demographically) of European territorial units
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2. How—if at all—can Katrina utilize the available European data?
Since it is not possible to precisely report demographic, business, and consumer behavior data
at a small level of geography, Katrina may have to use geometry to estimate demographic and
business data from territorial units. For example, a two-mile radius circle can be drawn
3. What should be included on the trade-area profiles for Big Burger’s seven European
locations?
The deliverables are due in ten days. Using the inferential analytic techniques described
AGT, INC.
In this case, students are asked to evaluate a plan to survey Pakistanis about a possible amusement
park. This case is best used after Chapter 7Global Marketing Research. However, issues from
other chapters can be developed as well; in particular, issues from Chapter 3 (Cultural and Social
Forces) and Chapter 5 (Global Markets).
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. What are the objectives of the research project? Does the survey satisfy these
objectives?
This question underlines the importance of clarifying objectives in any research project.
Based on the first paragraph of the case, we are told that JST wants a research report that:
Looks at the potential market for an amusement park in Karachi.
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Key problems with the questionnaire may be pointed out:
Early questions (14b) ask respondents to rate recreational facilities. Given the
description of available facilities (a poorly maintained zoo and polluted beaches); this
Question 5 lumps all amusements parks together and the following question does as
well. Are Pakistani amusement parks the same as those abroad? Arguably not. This will
present data that are hard to interpret. If there are amusements parks already in Pakistan,
After looking at specific problems with the questionnaire, you may want to ask students how
JST would specifically use information from the survey to make an investment decision. If
decisions are made from hunches that is one thing, but if you need to run a breakeven
analysis that is another. Could a breakeven analysis be run? To perform such an exercise, one
needs to identify projected costs and revenues. Questions relating to the products offered and
where to locate the facility could help do this. Information as to how many people would
2. How do elements of culture affect the research design, collection of data, and analysis?
Contrast this case with the design, collection of data, and analysis of a similar survey
project in a more developed country such as the United States.
This may be broken down into sampling, questionnaire design, questionnaire administration,
and the analysis of results:
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Sampling
First off, AGT dismisses all Pakistanis that do not fall into the upper class (1 percent) or
middle class (1520 percent). Given the distribution of income in developing countries this is
probably a good assessment of the target market. Their ways of accessing this target market
Questionnaire Design
The questionnaire itself may generate less cultural-specific comments, but students should be
pushed to identify issues. Three issues could be:
Question 4. Why do you think Security is listed as the first option under why
Questionnaire Administration
Arguably, it is this section that lends itself to the most extensive cultural discussion. It is
important to note here that Pakistans most extreme rating among the Hofstede measures
relates to individualism. This indicates that similar to most developing countries, Pakistan is a
very collectivist society (Chapter 3). Also, most students (anyone who listens to or reads the
news) should know that Pakistan is a Muslim country, although this fact is not stated in the
case.
It is characteristic of collectivist societies to not trust outsiders. This helps explain the
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Collectivism also helps explain why AGT believes that they can collect quality
information from Karachis exclusive clubs. Here the respondents and the data
collectors (who themselves must have access to these clubs) will likely be from the
same group.
Analysis
The issues of analysis are not directly addressed in the case, but as noted above in Question 1,
the survey as is will not truly lend itself to breakeven analysis. JST probably is going to play a
3. What alternative data collection methods might be useful to pursue? What are the
strengths and weaknesses of these alternative methods?
Focus Groups
Focus groups would be usefulin fact, importantto this research project. They should be
undertaken even before the survey, since focus groups will help clarify what issues could
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