Abstract:

The title of this paper is a pun on two aspects of Market Research. The first aim is to examine the way in which research in the Pharmaceutical industry differs from conventional Market/Consumer/Media research. The second aim is to to review in some detail the new opportunities available to the Research Industry through advancing computer technology. It will use a real project as an example of how this technology is helping to provide new solutions and opportunities to technicians anxious to understand more about their market-place. Throughout the paper we link these developments to an interesting and successful application of the data-base concept in agro-chemical industry, namely FARMSTAT. This represents a panel of farmers who report on their crop, crop-treatment and agrochemical use. The data from this survey is then made available through an interactive service.