This document describes the method of survey and analysis used to evaluate the performances of the "market research" function in twelve companies belonging to the BSN group. The principal objectives of this project were the following: - to formulate operational criteria for evaluating the market research function in a company; - to devise measurement tools corresponding to such criteria; - to apply these tools of evaluation within the framework of an audit of the companies being considered; - from the audit results, to formulate recommendations in the area of organisational structures, procedures and product manager training, with a view to improve the performances of the market research function.
This document describes the method of survey and analysis used to evaluate the performances of the "market research" function in twelve companies belonging to the BSN group. The principal objectives of this project were the following: - to formulate operational criteria for evaluating the market research function in a company; - to devise measurement tools corresponding to such criteria; - to apply these tools of evaluation within the framework of an audit of the companies being considered; - from the audit results, to formulate recommendations in the area of organisational structures, procedures and product manager training, with a view to improve the performances of the market research function.
There is a large amount of research which deals with the buying behaviour of organizations and which brings to the fore the concept of "Buy grid" where a buying centre and the different phases in the buying process are identified. Our research concerns the application of this concept in the field of buying for resale in France in integrated commerce (hypermarkets and department stores). This is an exploratory approach (case study) built around interviews with buyers and suppliers. We cover the existence of a buying centre, the different buying situations and the phases in the process. Two variables play an important role : - the variables linked to the company, in particular the centralisation or decentralisation of decision making - the variables linked to the environment, particularly the existence of fashion phenomena. However, the exploratory nature of this research, especially where the size of the sample is concerned, limits generalisation.
There is a large amount of research which deals with the buying behaviour of organizations and which brings to the fore the concept of "Buy grid" where a buying centre and the different phases in the buying process are identified. Our research concerns the application of this concept in the field of buying for resale in France in integrated commerce (hypermarkets and department stores). This is an exploratory approach (case study) built around interviews with buyers and suppliers. We cover the existence of a buying centre, the different buying situations and the phases in the process. Two variables play an important role : - the variables linked to the company, in particular the centralisation or decentralisation of decision making - the variables linked to the environment, particularly the existence of fashion phenomena. However, the exploratory nature of this research, especially where the size of the sample is concerned, limits generalisation.
The main objective was to draw the economic balance of each trade channel, in order for the administration to exert its arbitration in the best conditions of information. This general objective may be split into three separate ones, that we may sum up by three verbs: to clarify, to measure and to explain.
One of the most striking developments in data collection procedures in the U.S. over the past several years has been the increasing interest shown in protocol analysis. Protocol analysis aims to examine the individual's choice process in making decisions by getting the individual to think aloud while performing or recalling choice behavior or problem solving. This verbal record or protocol provides the basic data from which the individual's choice model is deduced. The approach thus avoids the artificial imposition of a hypothesised decision model as in structural models, and their impact on the choice process.
Several qualitative and quantitative approaches of the consumers have been developed. We shall give some examples of the feminine market, because it is more influenced by the fashion than the masculine and the children markets, which have also been studied in detail.
In order to prepare this paper, we have covered a considerable bibliography, including the conferences at the present seminar. There exist considerable redundancies, and present techniques seem already somehow stabilized, though wide fields of research remain open to mathematical improvements.
When the results of two surveys based on various samples are to be used simultaneously, a merged file will be generated by grouping individuals from both origins, according to certain criteria. If the explained variables (behavioural), special to each of the A and B surveys to merged, are closely correlated, whereas they offer but few relationships with the usual socio-demographic characteristics common to both surveys, the link between behaviours described by A and B, which subsists after merging, is almost entirely due to random marriages between individuals. To get rid of this difficulty, two methods have been proposed: - some surveys dealing at once with all the behavioural information that are to be put in conjunction: all media and product surveys (AMPS) - some reduced surveys limited to some strongly correlated questions from A and B: bridge surveys. As the problem of merging listenership and readership surveys arises in assessing media campaigns, the Orphee Association (Havas, Publicis and SINCRO) has carried out the following experiments.
When the results of two surveys based on various samples are to be used simultaneously, a merged file will be generated by grouping individuals from both origins, according to certain criteria. If the explained variables (behavioural), special to each of the A and B surveys to merged, are closely correlated, whereas they offer but few relationships with the usual socio-demographic characteristics common to both surveys, the link between behaviours described by A and B, which subsists after merging, is almost entirely due to random marriages between individuals. To get rid of this difficulty, two methods have been proposed: - some surveys dealing at once with all the behavioural information that are to be put in conjunction: all media and product surveys (AMPS) - some reduced surveys limited to some strongly correlated questions from A and B: bridge surveys. As the problem of merging listenership and readership surveys arises in assessing media campaigns, the Orphee Association (Havas, Publicis and SINCRO) has carried out the following experiments.
In 1963 "Se Centre Francais de Recherche Operationnelle whilst associated with the CEIR Inc. was examining the possibility of adopting the Mediametrics method in France. Such a tool - integrating numerous intuitive values into a linear model by segments and disregarding the non-additivity of the various publics - seemed to me too unsuited to our special advertising problem. To give an example in as easily grasped field - the same methods cant be used to determine the objectives fo/either hundreds of H bombs or a few A bombs. Thus our work introduces a group of methods whose common characteristic is to exploit as thoroughly as possible the existing information obtained from individual enquiries into what is read carried out by the C. E. S. P. and to do this using modern information analysis methods.