CONDUCTING MARKETING RESEARCH

Although each step in a marketing research project is important, problem definition is the most important step.  For the purpose of marketing research, problems and opportunities are treated interchangeably.  Problem definition involves stating the general problem and identifying the specific components of the marketing research issue.  Only when the marketing research problem has been clearly defined can research be designed and conducted properly.  Of all the tasks in a marketing research project, a proper definition of the research problem is more vital to the ultimate fulfillment of a client’s needs than other tasks.

SECONDARY SOURCES OF DATA

Secondary data have several disadvantages as well.  The investigator must examine the quality of both the source of the data and the data itself before deciding to use the data.  The main problems with the secondary sources of data may be categorized as follows: 

ENVIRONMENTAL CONTEXT OF THE MARKETING RESEARCH PROBLE

In order to understand the background of a marketing research problem, the investigator must understand the client firm and industry. Specially, the researcher ought to analyze the factors that influence  the marketing research problem.  The past information and forecasts pertaining to the industry and the firm, resources and constraints of the firm, objectives of the decision maker, buyer behavior, legal environment, economic environment, and marketing and technological skills of the firm are the factors, encompassing the environmental context of the problem.

MARKETING INFORMATION SYSTEM AND INTELLIGENCE

In 1966 Professor Philip Kotler  used the terms marketing nerve center to describe a new unit within marketing to gather and process marketing information and identified three types of marketing information.

MARKETING INFORMATION & FUNCTIONAL SYSTEM

Answer: Marketing Information system is a computer-based system intended for use by particular marketing personnel at any functional level for the purpose of solving marketing problems.  It is designed for specific research problems to support individual marketing problems.  It provides information to facilitate a specific decision.  It is designed to focus on narrow problems such as facilitating the design of sales territories, evaluation of outcomes of new product or launching of brand, or specific target markets for marketing actions.

MARKETING RESEARCH IN INDIA

With the entry of MNCs into India in all types of industries, the amount of marketing research is likely to grow at a healthy pace.  Any competitive industry requires marketing research to keep a company in tune with its customers.  Consumer goods companies are typically the highest users of marketing research.  But new companies entering the market are also likely to do a lot of research during concept state, prototyping, product testing, promotion, decisions related to pricing and even after the launch of a product to tract customer satisfaction. 

MARKETING RESEARCH PROCESS

Answer: Steps in Marketing Research-The marketing research process consists of six steps. 

Step 1: Problem Definition: The statement of the problem is the first step in any research project where the researcher ought to take into consideration the purpose of the study, the related background information, the knowledge needed and the way it will be used in decision-making. 

SELF-CONFIDENCE POSITIVE IMAGE

Self-confidence has belief in yourself trust in your ability in whatever scenario you would to perform. It is the boldness of the sort. ‘I will do it’.  I have the ability to do this’. Even if you have a lot of abilities and knowledge, if you do not have self-confidence you cannot be successful. But, on the contrary, even though you have got average abilities and knowledge, if you have got an unfailingly true self-confidence, you may be ready to come through what you would like to realize.

PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL & MOTIVATION OF TEACHERS

This study aimed to examine the impact of Performance Appraisal on the Motivation of teachers of Professional Institutes. A sample of 170 teachers was selected through Random Sampling Technique from a list of 650 teachers working in 7 Professional Institutes in Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India. The research followed an Ex post facto survey design. A Questionnaire was developed and administered on the sample in order to measure the Performance Appraisal and Motivation variables. 


The results of the study indicated that there is a positive and significant relationship between Performance Appraisal and Motivation. The analysis of individual component of Performance Appraisal found that Goal Setting and Performance Feedback significantly predicted the motivation of teachers of Professional Institutes.

The full text is available at Researchgate.

MARKETING MANAGEMENT

The main activity of any manager is to decide on different aspects of planning, organizing and controlling.  It is also important for him to get the decision implemented, check the results and then to further make decisions to achieve the described targets.

ETHICAL IN MARKETING RESEARCH

Ethical considerations arise with respect to the four types of potential errors that may occur when designing surveys that use random probability samples. We have already discussed the four types of errors. Coverage error becomes an ethical issue only if particular groups or individuals are deliberately excluded from the population frame so that the survey results are skewed, indicating a position more favorable to that of the survey’s sponsor.

MARKETING INFORMATION SYSTEM

The information as well as information system could be understood in terms of the quality and quantity they possess.  However, it is necessary to realize that the quantity and quality of information needed at various levels of management differs.  Thus it is important to give emphasis not only to generation, storage and retrieval of the relevant information to fill in the existing gaps but attention should also be paid to elimination of irrelevant data.

NATURE AND SCOPE OF MARKETING RESEARCH

Marketing research must provide correct information that reflects a real state of affairs.  It might be objective and may be conducted impartially.  Though analysis is influenced by the researcher’s philosophy, it ought to be free from personal or political biases of the investigator or the management.   The investigator ought to never gather and analyze information to please show the opinions of the management.  Since the aim of research is to act as an aid to deciding for the management, the more unbiased and accurate such information is, the more correct would the decisions be.

MARKETING RESEARCH- INTRODUCTION

The increasing complexity of business makes it very difficult for an entrepreneur to remain in business and prosper in the highly competitive environment of business demands, entrepreneurial flair and skills.  It is necessary for a marketer to interpret market requirements, relate them to available resources and assume responsibilities of the enterprise.  Above all, the customer holds the key position in all circumstances and needs to be motivated to purchase the maximum of the firm’s products and services.

THOUGHTS ARE SUPERB THINGS

Thoughts are things and power thoughts are superb things, when they are mixed with determination of purpose, persistence, and a burning desire. One among the chief characteristics of burning desire should be definite desire or impulse of thought

ACHIEVEMENT MOTIVATION, EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE

ACHIEVEMENT MOTIVATION, EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE, JOB SATISFACTION  ,ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT AMONG UNIVERSITY TEACHERS
This study examined the relationships of demographic factors (age, gender, marital status, experience and education), emotional intelligence, achievement motivation and job- satisfaction with organizational commitment. 

THE POWER OF GRATITUDE

Pay gratitude to everything around you for whatever you have got. Pay gratitude to everyone around you, for helping you and making your life easy to live on. Nothing comes free, you have to pay something for it. Even the every breath we inhale  is not free. We inhale life giving oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide. Pay gratitude to Nature for giving  us fresh air, water, food and everything else for sustaining our life. Nature likes to pay back for your gratitude.

STRESS AND SUPPORT VARIABLES TO TEACHER RETENTION

STRESS AND SUPPORT VARIABLES PREDICTING TEACHER RETENTION- A STUDY OF PROFESSIONAL INSTITUTIONS

BE A WINNER

How to be a Winner?
A winner is someone who realizes his gifted talents, works vigorously to develop them into skills, and uses them to achieve his goals. A quitter is a person who gives up easily, a defeatist, a deserter or a shirker. Again, a winner is one who never gives up. An old proverb says,’ If we continue to do what we have forever done, we are going to still get what we have forever got.  We need to be persistent. Persistence is not allowing anything to stop us from doing an activity once we start it unless it's something really severe. It is really disappointing when someone brilliant and intelligent drops an activity just one week after he started it because of a tiny obstacle that appeared on his way.

EXPAND THE CIRCLE OF INFLUENCE

Every one of us has a variety of concerns –our heath, our kids, issues at workplace, the national economy, like dearness, debt, nuclear war, global warming etc. A wonderful way to become a lot of self-conscious concerning our own extent of pro-activity is to see at where we concentrate our time and energy. We might distinguish between those things in which we are emotionally involved from things in which we have no specific emotional involvement by making a ‘Circle of Concern’. 

ECONOMIC SYSTEMS

 The term ‘economic system’ refers to the mode of production and the distribution of goods and services within which economic activity take place in the country.  

COMMAND (PLANNED) ECONOMY

COMPETENCY MAPPING

Competencies are the skills and abilities of a person that lead to higher performance in a specific area. It is often expressed as the combination of knowledge, skills, attitude and personality of a person as applied to a job in the context of the current and future surroundings that accounts for sustained success within the framework of organizational values. Therefore, competency mapping is the process of identifying key competencies for an organization and the jobs and functions within it. It explains how a job might be done, a competence only describes what needs has to be done; not how.

IF YOU'RE GOOD, WHY CAN'T BE THE BEST

If you're good, why can't be the best. The reason is our own PAST negative thoughts, emotions and notions, does not let us to grow more towards upliftment and success. We keep living in our PAST and few of us keep living in our FUTURE. But we don't accept the truth and live in the reality of NOW. NOW is the truth of reality. PAST is something that is already gone and will fade away by the time. But we don't let that PAST to  fade away, we keep it alive by living it.

BE A VISIONARY LEADER

Modern specialists on management are perpetually emphasizing the assisting role of vision in achieving organizational success. The single and most vital quality of leaders is their ability to create and realize a vision.

VISION AND A GOAL

Vision is your dream of what you one day wish to be. It is foresight or farsightedness and therefore the ability to capture the entire trip before leaving the dock. 

APPRECIATE OTHERS

It is a common propensity to take individuals without any consideration and assumed that those near to us can forever remain with us. We should remember that without nourishment, even the foremost everlasting flowers can fade away. There is nothing like laurels, praise and thanks to make other people feel valued and loved. Let us never overlook that irrespective of our position within the organization, it is essential to understand the great work of our subordinates, offer credit once credit is due.