The main objective of this paper, therefore, is to show through a series of examples and specific applications how the Middle East Marketing Research Bureau has applied and adapted modern market research techniques and standards across the whole Middle Eastern region. The paper is divided into two parts: The first part deals with the different framework within which research company operates in developing countries and the implications these differences have on the tasks and duties the research company has to fulfil. The second part will show, through two case studies, the solutions and techniques adopted by MEMRB in order to ensure that universally accepted survey principles are successfully applied to the local social, economic, demographic and cultural conditions.
The paper identifies a trend towards greater sophistication of research in the developing world, and considers how some of the practical issues posed by Third World markets - diversity, religion, culture, language and literacy, sampling problems and scaling constraints - impinge upon research implementation. A number of techniques now commonly used in Western markets are examined in terms of their application to developing countries, both the modification required to make them effective and the degree to which they can yield reliable results. The techniques discussed are factorial-design experiments, repeat preference and extended use tests, advertising pre-tests, design tests of packaging and durables, Trade-Off, Brand Price Trade-Off, simulated test markets and market measurement. The paper concludes by considering the overall features necessary for application of sophisticated research to the developing world, and argues for a team approach as the method most likely to achieve success.
This paper describes a system that I have been developing within the MRB International Group of companies: a system designed to overcome some of the problems associated with co-ordinating/quality-controlling qualitative research in multi-country studies.
The objective of this paper is to examine the character of market research in the CMEA countries by comparing it with those of the western market economy and Arab countries. The leading idea for the examination is that the planning system of a country has a distinct influence upon import decision making and through this on the character of market research used. In this paper the character of market research is described by means of the main types of research, information sources and information types.
The paper queries whether the "international consumer" exists as such; in determining the best research method in multi-country research projects, it suggests that no single rigid approach (standardised comparability:non-comparability, centralised:decentralised) should he taken as being always right. The particular product field must determine the best course of action, and the final decision is up to the intelligence of the researcher. However, if there is an area where the truly "international consumer" exists at all it is in the field of travel, and especially business travel, where the nature of the product itself, the travel experience, must remain the same from country to country, irrespective of the nationality of the purchaser, the promotional activity to which he may have been exposed, and the source of purchase. Thus, travel research is particularly suitable for centralised standardised research techniques. The paper concludes with two brief case histories (one for Air Canada, and one for the London Hilton, both of which used centralised telephone interviewing from London to good advantage in terms of efficiency, speed and economy.
The trend towards multinational marketing is growing. Fewer companies now dominate fields such as housekeeping products, health and beauty aids, paper products, hot and cold beverages and so on. Increasingly, the potential for international expansion is built into new products from the start, which can lead to lower development and marketing costs and a reduction in the risk of product failure. Clearly this trend creates a need for an international on-line management information system; which is exactly what we have established at Nielsen International in Paris over the past five years.
The aim of the study was to obtain an understanding of current and future international marketing research needs in the United States. The paper analyses the data by the type of corporation/advertising agency, the size of the international research budget, the type of international research firms employed and the top management interest in international marketing research.
The brief for this research project came from the Brussels based product manager responsible for commercial stationery products. A new commercial product had been launched with great success in the USA in 1980 and then gradually released to Europe, country by country, during the following two years. In the United States a retail consumer range of products of a related kind has now been introduced, and an overall objective of the research was to judge whether any country in Europe was ready to take the step into the retail market.
The aim of this paper is to assess the comparative costs and benefits of single location and multiple location telephone interviewing for multi-national research projects. Special attention is paid to studies involving two or more European countries, as it is this type of multi-national research that is most likely to lend itself to telephone interviewing as an alternative to other methods - particularly as a result of the rapid growth in telephone penetration amongst private households in European countries.