Chapter 6 - Global Information Systems and Market Research Flashcards
Define Information Technology, Management Information System & Big Data
IT: An organization’s processes for creating, storing, exchanging, using, and managing information.
MIS: A means for gathering, analyzing and reporting relevant data to provide managers and other decision makers with a continuous flow of information about markets, customers, competitors and company operations.
Big Data: Extremely large data sets that can be subjected to computational analysis to reveal patterns and trends.
What is the business intelligence network and what is its major objective
- A component of MIS
Major Objective:
To enable interactive access to data,
enable manipulation of these data,
and to provide managers and analysts with the ability to conduct appropriate analysis.
By analyzing historical and current data, situations, and performances,
decision makers get valuable insights upon which they can base more informed and better decisions.
Define Intranet, RTE and EDI as a part of an IT Infrastructure
- Intranet: A private network that allows insiders or outsiders to share information securely and without paper
- RTE: Real Time Enterprises are companies like Google, Amazon, FedEx that leverage big data
- EDI: Electronic Data Interchange systems allow computer systems to speak the same language
Define ECR and EPOS as a part of an IT Infrastructure
- ECR: Efficient Consumer Response is a joint initiative of supply chain members to optimize the supply chain to benefit customers.
- EPOS: Electronic Point of Sale data read on checkout scanners help firms identify sales patterns & geographical consumer preferences.
Define CRM as a part of an IT Infrastructure
CRM: Customer Relationship Management
is a philosophy that values two‐way communication between the company & the customer.
– Touchpoints are any point of contact between the two.
– 360‐degree view of the customer
– SFA: Sales Force Automation software automates routine sales & marketing functions
– Data warehouses
Describe personal sources as sources of market information
– As much as 2/3rd of corporate information
– Executives based abroad, company subsidiaries and affiliates
– Travel builds contacts and rapport
– 75% from face‐to‐face conversations
Describe Direct Sensory Perception
Seeing, feeling, hearing, smelling, or tasting firsthand to find out what is going on in a country
“I believe it is part of any good marketer’s job to be in touch with their audience and their product. There’s no substitute for face‐to‐face, eye‐to‐eye, hand‐to‐hand.”
Cindy Spodek‐Dickey Microsoft Executive
Give an overview of the steps of formal market research
Firm objective
|
Information requirement
|
problem definiton
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choose unit of analysis
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examine data avialability
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assess value of research
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research design
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data analysis
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interpretation and presentation
formal market research - deep dive into step 1 Information requirement
Which orientations with regard to firms needs are possible?
What categories exist and how can you cover them
Firms needs:
- Market orientation
- Strategic orientation
- Problem orientation
Possible Categories
- Market potential: Demand estimates, consumer behavior, review of products, channels, communcation media
- Competitor information: Corporate, business, and functional strategies; resources and intentions; capabilities
- Foreign exchange: Balance of payments, interest rates, attractiveness of country currency, expectations of analysts
- Prescriptive information: Laws, regulations, rulings concerning taxes, earnings, dividends in both host and home countries
- Resource information: Availability of human, financial, physical and information resources
- General conditions: Overall review of sociocultural, political, and technological environments
formal market research - deep dive into step 2: Problem Definition
Be aware! The Self‐Reference Criterion is at work when a person’s home‐country values and beliefs influence the assessment of another country.
– Mattel execs thought Japanese girls would like Barbie just like American girls. They didn’t.
– Disney’s detailed code about personal appearance was an insult to French culture, individualism, and privacy when Disneyland Paris opened.
formal market research - deep dive into step 3: Choose a unit of analysis
- Single country
- Region
- Global
- City, state, or province
formal market research - deep dive into step 4: Examine Data Availability
Also describe secondary data pros and cons
Can Secondary data be used?
Data from sources that already exist ‐ they have not been gathered for the specific research project
* Minimal effort and cost
* Possible problems
– accuracy
– Availability
– timeliness
– comparability of data
Sources:
* U.S. Government Resources
– National Trade Data Base (Dept. of Commerce)
– Bureau of Economic Analysis
– Census Bureau
* Eurostat
* Canadian Trade Commissioner Service
* Statistical Yearbook of the United Nations
* CIA World Factbook
* MarketResearch.com
formal market research - deep dive into step 5: Assess Value of Research
Cost-Benefit Analysis
- If secondary data are not available, managers may conduct further studies
- Assess the cost of research vs. what the information is worth
- Would the company enter the market without spending big money on research?
- Small markets may merit only modest research expense
formal market research - deep dive into step 6: Research Design
- describe primary Data and possible problems
- describe what’s to consider
Primary Data
– when secondary data not available – provides accurate data which give exact answers to a given research problem
Possible problems: difficulties in gaining the data; cost; more time is necessary to gather the data
Considerations:
* Use multiple indicators rather than a single measure
* Individual companies should develop customized indicators specific to the industry, product market, or business model
* Always conduct comparative assessments in multiple markets
* Observations of purchasing patterns, other behavior should weigh more heavily that reports or opinions about purchase intention or price sensitivity
formal market research - deep dive into step 7: Data Analysis
Data must be cleaned & tabulated
* Factor analysis
* Cluster analysis
* multidimensional scaling
* Perceptual mapping
* Conjoint analysis
* Comparative analysis
* Market estimation by analogy
* Comparative analysis
* Cluster analysis
