Properly communicating research data to the decision-makers is a must for Marketing Researchers. As presentations are normally short & one-shot events, this is a risky challenge. Graphic visualisation of data can be the solution, if well done. Not any graphs will do the job. But good ones will, as readibility at a glance is the way to recognize them.
This paper deals with the way a company, Philips, has organized its marketing information activities for communication and information systems. The concept of business intelligence is introduced as a way of organizing and controlling the enormous load of available marketing information in this industry. It is argued that coping with data overload starts with priority setting and organization and that high tech databases could fit in this as a logical consequence but that databases and marketing information systems are not by their nature the definitive solution to the problem. A business intelligence cycle is described as a workable way of coping with data overload within a company that uses market research as one of the data sources.
While well-formalized, repetitive decision processes might adequately be represented by quantitative data and solved by algorithms the analysis of less formalized, ill-structured decision scenarios heavily relies upon qualitative data. For the latter, heuristic principles as applied by Decision Support Systems gain relevance. In general, strategic marketing decisions have to face a highly complex and dynamic environment. Therefore, a practicable decision tool is needed to assist the manager in structuring ill-defined, sporadically occurring marketing problems. The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) as described by SAAIY (19800 serves this purpose well. It decomposes a complex problem, structures its components hierarchically and evaluates the different decision alternatives according to their contribution to superior decision criteria. Firstly, this paper discusses the relevance of Decision Support Systems for strategic marketing decisions. Thereafter, approach and technical procedure of the AHP is described by an example. Finally, the paper points out the practical relevance of the AHP. As a Decision Support System the AHP fulfills all the requirements of Decision Calculus as defined by Little (1970): It is simple, robust, controllable, flexible, complete and easy to communicate.
Computers for Marketing Corporation, CfMC, a leading supplier of software to the marketing and survey research community both in Europe and the U.S., has recently developed a personal computer based tool kit designed for the research analyst and the marketing consultant, called SURVEYOR. SURVEYOR is derived from the most widely used system for data collection in the U.S., SURVENT, and one of the leading tabulation systems now available on PC - MENTOR. These systems are now fully introduced and supported throughout the European marketplace. A step-by-step demonstration will emphasise the completeness of this tool kit and the systematic way technology can now be used by any research analyst or consultant in collecting and analysing data without a great depth of computer expertise or training.
After nearly a twenty-year experience of collecting and analyzing marketing data, designing and implementing management support systems, Research International and Studio della Grisa committed themselves to create a new, powerful, easy-to-use, flexible software methodology designed for marketing people needs. The result of this joint effort is the software package KEOPSKEY. KEOPSKEY provides marketing people with an environment where data integrated from internal (for example ex-factory sales) and external sources (for example continuous panel data) may be compared and analysed, using sophisticated but easy-to-use techniques. This paper presents KEOPSKEYs main features and gives some examples of KEOPSKEYs targets and benefits.
We show how using one expert system allows us to go further and quicker in the analysis of the enormous amount of data collected by scanner in a sample of stores. In particular the first step of our research is to be able to condense, to structure this data in a automatically generated report, underlining the significant elements.
The MIS system is a system developed for management within Marketing and Sales at Volvo Car Corporation in Gothenburg, Sweden. The project started in 1986 and MIS has become a strategic product and a powerful support for management in their decision making. We have in MIS put together information from many different areas, for example sales, stocks, car market development, finance and research and we present this information in a clear and understandable way complemented with many different graphic display possibilities. The objective for the MIS project was: providing decision makers within Marketing & Sales with "management information" on a range of key areas and key markets. The guiding principle in our work was to "create order". In the first place MIS is developed for our Management Group, but we have gradually spread the use of the system and we have today some 100 users. As we have a considerable difference in computer experience among the users, we have made great efforts in keeping a uniform layout throughout the whole system and also to keep the system self instructive. The success factors for the MIS system is that we began to sell in the idea from the top and down through the organization, and that practically the entire organization was involved and last the close contact between the work group and the steering committee.
Although information systems are essential tools enabling companies to make the most of their resources when faced with excess information, it is frequently only fair to observe that they are ineffective. From our point of view the principal problem is one of organisation and conception. In a project of this type, a company often spends longer on the production phase than on the conception phase. This is a deep mistake which prevents the system from adapting to new trends and makes it less flexible. To build such a system on solid foundations, it is desirable to spend more time measuring the field it must cover and the precise manner in which it is to be used. This thinking period is important, as all existing systems must eventually be given a new dimension. Simultaneously, conception studies must be underpinned by a global, coherent and simple vision providing a sense of purpose for the whole. Finally, the implementation must be the fruit of a rigourous approach, built around four essential key points : - creating or building up a common language for the entire marketing and sales department, - being very vigilant to ensure proper balance between the different users, while attempting to provide the same level of service for all, - implementing a test phase, limited but full sized, - appointing a genuine head of information and system management. All these small items are necessary to ensure this major project results in a system that is durable, correctly managed and generally able to cope with excess information.
A survey of media departments in major U.S. advertising agencies examined the issue of data access, a topic that is becoming increasingly important as more and more data are made available. Issues considered included what users currently know about the subject; how they now deal with the mountains of data; and what they are prepared to do in the future to alleviate problems that arise. Results indicate a high level of awareness of the problems data overload can cause, together with considerable willingness to invest in additional equipment to improve the situation. Respondents are in fact eager to obtain more data and, even more so, better access to currently existing data, preferably via microcomputer. The continuing importance of this topic is underscored by respondents' feelings that the top priorities of the 1990s, in terms of data, are passive people meters and commercial ratings.
The aim of this presentation is to discuss the ways in which we have developed our software to meet the needs of the market researcher and to take advantage of the latest technology. My company, Market Research Software, has developed a range of software, which is centred around the researcher's most common form of information - the cross tabulation. Our software is designed to handle all aspects of survey processing from questionnaire design and data input through to tabulations and export of data to other specialist packages, such as graphics and spreadsheet programs. The area I will be covering in most detail in my presentation will be the area of secondary analysis on surveys. Market researchers and data users are now demanding data access on many surveys. The rationale seems to be : the data is available, the software is available and the hardware is reasonably priced - so why not? In recent history researchers have only gained access to their data on large scale surveys, usually linking up to a minicomputer. This has been inconvenient, often expensive and invariably rather slow. The arrival of a PC in almost every office has meant that a researcher can gain access to their data on small, as well as large scale surveys and, of course, it is very convenient.
This paper describes high technology data collection systems in consumer marketing research and their relationship to the more traditional methodologies and techniques. A brief background and history of data collection technology used in research is followed by a classification of the technologies in use today or just emerging. These include single use, multiple use and the latest single source systems. The intended uses of these technologies and systems are described, with emphasis on the way the systems and technologies are linked internally to achieve their data integration. Each of the systems and technologies is compared to each other in terms of their data collection abilities, followed by a description and comparison to existing traditional, methodologies. The data collection strengths and weaknesses of each are examined, and a side-by-side comparison shows the potential for data collection substitution in regard to their utility features. The paper concludes with several statistical and design issues related to the high technology systems.
SKIM Market and Policy Research was founded in 1979 as an industrial market research company and befriended the PC rather early. Thanks to the enthousiasm of the researchers at SKIM and good contacts with Sawtooth, the American developers of software for market research, SKIM started a software division by the end of 1987. Now SKIM Software Division is selling and supporting PC-based software systems all over Europe. Simultaneously, SKIM Market and Policy Research, the parent company, has built up a name applying multi-variate techniques in the research process and now has a strong position in the market for international computerized surveys. Our main software-tools are: . ACA for (adaptive) conjoint analysis . APM for (adaptive) perceptual mapping . CCA for (convergent) cluster analysis These three systems not only help control proliferation of data, but also help improve quality and quantity of profitable information. The combined forces of SKIM Market and Policy Research and these systems ensure a unique combination of sound knowledge of market research methods and techniques, practical knowledge of users of the systems and a full range of services, all adaptable to your marketing problems in a flexible, efficient way.