Operative market surveying is an important branch of market research; it has for quite some time been so neglected that several of the methods currently applied are not sufficiently developed and, indeed, hardly proven. For this reason the standard of our market monitoring system 24 does not cater to present day-today requirements and much less so to the emerging new conditions of our economy. In order to bring about substantial changes in these conditions, scientists and market researchers will have to work in close co-operation. What we need in the first instance are clear definitions of the tasks and of the objectives that are associated with the work of operative market research.
Market research is a fact in all industrial countries and, obviously, it begins to be a fact also in Spain. It consists in determining in an effective manner, accurately and methodically, the situation of the products in the market - the way they are distributed or accepted - to forecast more rationally their sales.
In a readership survey conducted in London, one interview in every three had been tape recorded. Through follow-up intensive interviews, conducted the next day, estimates were developed of the accuracy of certain of the information collected in the first interview. This situation provided an opportunity to compare: a. the estimated accuracy of information collected in the readership survey when a tape recorder was used with b. the estimated accuracy of such information when a tape recorder was not used. The recorded and the non-recorded samples were closely matched, on an empirical basis, in order to increase the meaningfulness of the comparison of (estimated) accuracy with and without the recorder being used. The comparison made here is of 189 recorded estimates (from 105 people) and of 430 non-recorded estimates (from 226 people). The small numbers involved make this a small-scale study, so that its results must be regarded as indicative and not final.
It may be useful to open this article by asking what is the present-day state of the Art; where does marketing research stand today. Certainly, it is no longer in its infancy, and if the postwar period was one of somewhat troubled adolescence, the whole field shows unmistakable signs of growth. Marketing research today stands on the threshold of its most productive years . In the post-war period , marketing research stressed techniques; with the emergence of an integrated approach, the focus has shifted to being more problem orientated and more scientific. There is, however, some controversy as to whether marketing research is , in fact, 'scientific'.
The rapid rate of technical development and the continual widening of choice necessitate methods of product development which can be constantly geared to changing market trends. In the previous mechanism of the Hungarian economy, the products of various manufacturing branches reached the consumers through centralised distribution. After the abolition of centralised quotas, however, many manufacturers and consumers failed to recognise in time the practical interconnections between market research and planning. Thus it came about that a product was not manufactured because demand for it was lacking, and demand was lacking because the product could not be obtained. Market research will help to supply reliable data for measuring the profitability of product development.
I am writing this paper as an employee of a large manufacturing company with a fairly stable readership. Reports have gradually been moulded to the readership and the principles developed may not be universally applicable. I suggest, however, that many other manufactures have moulded their reports similarly and come up with the same sort of answer. Market research agencies , on the other hand, have a changing, and perhaps multi-company, clientele and this obviously leads to many exceedingly difficult reporting problems about which I cannot write.
The need for marketing research in Poland arises from the fact that, although the economy is planned, it has a monetary character. Products are manufactured as goods, that is not for the producer's own needs but for sale, while the distribution of the national product is achieved through the medium of money. It is with money that we buy in the market the goods we need, which then become objects of consumption. In this way each cycle of social production is closed.
The intensive development of productive forces leads to permanent quantitative and qualitative changes in the market relations. In the sphere of tenders the changes occur not only in the dynamics of the development and of the selling conditions, but also in the assortment of the goods offered. In the sphere of demand, the volume and assortment of demand is also showing a developing tendency. In order to be successfully included in the market in present conditions of production it is of essential importance for every enterprise not only to know these developments but also to know their relevant factors. The enterprises should not be indifferent to the conditions, by whom and how it is going to be supplied and with the means of production because this affects the production costs, the quality and the selling of its products, thus affecting its income and prosperity. Therefore there arises the need for study and research of the phenomena on the supply market.
The English language distinguishes between market research and marketing research. These concepts overlap. Market research is research into the size and structure of the market. Marketing research is, moreover, research into the effect of the various elements of the marketing mix. When marketing research does not refer to consumer households, or products or services for this group, the American terminology is difficult to translate. Industrial marketing research has a wider scope than market research for industrial products. Unless very detailed descriptions are given, it is not easy to say exactly what is meant by industrial marketing research.
This article describes a marketing experiment which we believe to be the first of this type in Ireland. This controlled experiment was an attempt to test consumer reaction to price and display changes of a specific consumer product, a branded aerosol air freshener, within the limits imposed by time and the variations allowed by the co-operating grocery chain store.
Insight into our behaviour and motivation both as "sellers" and "buyers" can help us produce more effective market research. It is important in doing market research that a high level of rational behaviour be maintained - and that the goals are clearly stated in manifest terms untainted by the more subversive motivations which can undermine research undertakings. Effective - rational communication between the users of research and the suppliers of research is vital if constructive "usable" information is to be produced.
The basis of the Business Cycle Tests consists in systematic selected investigations and evaluations of changes and trends in the circulation of goods as shown by the chief indicators (deliveries, stock, sales), and by the state of supply and demand connected with them. It is our intention to acquire, by using the Business Cycle Test in our country, above all, the global evaluation of the market situation, and to formulate in this way additional information for individual products , chiefly for the planning of the retail turnover and prices, and also for the formulation of the business policy and, at the same time, for the preparation of the bases for short-time forecasts.