Abstract:

The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of the economic planning system on the import decision making of a country and through this on the problems, possibilities and methods of marketing research. From the point of view of practical export marketing research these problems, possibilities and methods are to a great extent reflected by the importance of the different information types and the use of the different information sources. Within these problem areas the examination is concentrated upon the contrast which may be the most controversial, namely differences between capitalistic countries and socialistic countries. Though the analysis is in nature comparative, the emphasis of this paper is upon the questions concerning the CMEA countries, because the western marketing researchers and marketers are less familiar with these than the questions concerning western market economy countries.