This paper is meant to be a discussion paper and a contribution to a more systematic approach to what is called "industrial marketing research" . This approach will be two-pronged, i. e. the product flow from the top to the bottom of the product pyramid and the product flow in a manufacturing process from conception to marketing. It is felt that in this way the research contribution to management thinking can be more clearly defined as also the contribution of research methods to the solution of research problems.
If I had to summarise in a short sentence all I have said till now, I would express myself as follows: "In industrial marketing you have to deal with individuals of high qualities; your skill is useless if it is not adapted for their personality and if you are not able to think and to act free from mental barriers and limitations".
Social psychology can teach us a good deal about the ways people behave and how they choose between possible alternative courses of action. Much of the work is difficult to find and difficult to follow. By its very nature it is rarely discussed in the marketing departments of industrial companies. The work is perhaps most often encountered in the advertising trade papers, indeed it is in the field of advertising communication that the most recent benefit of psychological research will be seen. This paper examines some cases where abstruse psychological research has become a prosaic useful and widely used weapon in the marketing man's armoury.
My purpose for being here today is to present the findings of communications studies conducted by Opinion Research Corporation, my parent company, among industrial customers. Opinion Research Corporation does not suggest itself as expert in such detailed problems as industrial pricing strategy and product line decisions. What is presented are the insights gained from studying a variety of industries. We hope that a contribution might be made toward constructing communications systems for the industrial marketer that will include consideration of the psychological aspects of industrial marketing. The research evidence for this presentation is gained from two sources. The first source is personal interviews conducted among top executives, technical personnel, and purchasing agents and directors of case study companies. These companies were chosen to represent a wide range of industry problems. The typical, or more usual, approach to such a study would be to talk to purchasing people exclusively. This study includes these 3 key groups and looks at industrial purchasing and communications problems in depth. The second source of research evidence is ORC's background of experience in conducting industrial marketing studies for individual clients.
Under the cover of terms such as evaluation of advertising policies, marketing plans, motivation studies designed to improve advertising impact or brand image evaluation, business firms often ask consultants to plan and foresee their advertising action with a view to improving its impact on the public. Nowadays, even large well established firms who enjoy a secure if not monopolistic market, come to us because they have doubts as to the effectiveness of their advertising. They want to know what the purpose of advertising is; whether it has a purpose; whether their advertising "works"; whether it brings results.
The aim of this paper is to convey to all marketing research experts present at the current ESOMAR Seminar some idea of the major changes taking place in Europe at this moment with respect to methods and techniques of market research on industrial products. Looking back over the past ten years of our activity in this field we believe that these changes are largely due to new requirements and increased possibilities in the field of data collection and processing. We shall expound this point of view in three points which, we hope, will provide a starting point for discussion and an opportunity of confrontation between various domains of experience. The three parts of our paper are entitled: - Limitations of traditional research; - Data collection at the industrial level; - Data and informatics.
Concepts of the meaning, definition, objects and role of industrial marketing research vary in accordance with a number of factors, most of which derive from the researcher's experiences and defined responsibilities and also the types of products and markets with which he is concerned. This becomes very apparent in all attempts to discuss industrial marketing research and this Seminar has been no exception. Indeed even the term IMR or industrial marketing has been quite rightly criticised as inaccurate in certain instances but such phrases as 'research in the markets for products or services supplied to industrial and commercial users' are too cumbersome. It has always been my hope that the term would contract to IMR and the original phrase be forgotten. However, both E.S.O.M.A.R. and EVAF are open to suggestions and will be jointly discussing terminology in the future. Perhaps we shall achieve better success than the widespread attempts to define 'Marketing".