This paper describes the impact of the internet on international industrial research. The author discusses the different aspects of the www such as new research objectives and methods and the suitability of these future tools for international industrial marketing research. Furthermore the paper explains the development of communication from traditional research work to the current information exchange and will give an outlook to future networking using the web. This networking will offer opportunities as well as threads that are discussed in detail. In the conclusion the author recommends researchers not to miss the opportunity to adapt and adopt the new technology, but in a selective way.
ALFRED POLITZ is the founder of Alfred Politz Research Inc. He has been the recipient of several leadership awards for his creative consumer and industrial research techniques and was named to the Marketing Hall of Fame in 1953. A frequent contributor to research publications, he has lectured at Columbia, Yale, and New York University. Born in Germany, he studied mathematics, physics, and applied psychology at the University of Berlin.
The aim of this paper is to examine some of the methodological problems associated with multidisciplinary research in international construction firms and to make recommendations about how such problems can be alleviated. This paper gives an insight into the Middle East and describes the universal definition of it, which has been widely accepted. It outlines the nature of the construction industries and illustrates the distinction between features of the construction and manufacturing industries. This paper investigates common research techniques, namely Interviews, Questionnaires and Case Studies, which can be employed In multidisciplinary research, and delineates the strengths and limitations of each approach. It deals with the development of data collection instruments and data analysis. Some of the practical and cultural problems which have faced the researchers during the field study are highlighted and discussed. Then, the paper outlines the scope of my research concerning the multinational construction industries operating in the Middle East, and explains how the sample has been selected. It gives also an explicit description of how I dealt with the methodological problems associated with multidisciplinary research.
Despite the fact that well over 1000 articles appeared on industrial purchasing in the past two decades, relatively little progress has been made toward understanding and predicting buyer behaviour patterns. The key reason for this phenomenon, in our view, is the lack of replication. Most surveys seek to break new ground; as a result, they prove to be one-of-a-kind efforts, not amenable for comparison. A survey of the literature disclosed only one set of related studies (U.S.A., 1950 and 1969; U.K., 1967), but even these were not contrasted with each other.
Industrial market research is usually regarded as a specialist area within the wide spectrum of market research. While a lot of industrial market research comprises small qualitative and desk research studies using the techniques of economic analysis, recent years have seen an increasing use of consumer research techniques by industrial market researchers. This has boosted the market for industrial market research, but so far the growth has been limited to specific sectors. What is the potential for growth in the 1980's and in which sectors? The paper concentrates on the UK. It surveys the recent developments in industrial market research, describes the structure of the market and assesses likely future trends.
Talk to the majority of industrial and consumer researchers and the only things they are likely to agree they have in common are a shared belief in the application of market research to aid the more profitable operation of the company, and a similar function; namely the provision, analysis, and interpretation of relevant information for market, product, and planning purposes. The two disciplines would appear to have little in common apart from these two aspects. The industrial researcher's task appears much more simple. He deals with businesses or institutions where decision and buying procedures are more rational, and hence easier to understand. There are far fewer potential buyers for any particular product or service, so the sampling procedures required to evaluate their requirements are less complex. Often potential users are highly concentrated geographically, and the segmentation criteria are much simpler; business activity, size of firm, turnover level. It is not my task here today to argue the case for the consumer researcher. By the end of this session I hope I will have convinced you that the industrial researcher not only has a major contribution to make, and that in many cases he is far better equipped to do so than his consumer counter-part, in certain decision areas in which consumer-orientated companies will become involved.
Market segmentation is one of these concepts that can also be applied to industrial buying behaviour. In this connection one basically has a choice between either using a priori defined segments or finding the biases of consumer segmentation in a set of response related variables through clustering of respondents. This paper shows the use of conjoint measurement for segmenting an industrial market. The potential is illustrated with a description of research carried out for office furniture.
Is French Industry valued and acknowledged by the French? What is its place in regards to other economic sectors (primary, tertiary)? Are the french favourable to large industrial firms holders of the developing life-styles?. These are the questions we asked ourselves in order to be able to draw information useful to the communication strategy of french industrial companies. Two complementary studies were used to elaborate the main conclusions. The first one is a recent survey realised by COFREMCA for L'USINE NOUVELLE by questioning a cross-section of the french population. We were thus able to estimate the place and the image of industry and of industrial branches in comparison to other economic sectors. The second one is a specific analysis of 3SC COFREMCA on french life-styles; in this study, we analysed more closely the french group more favourable to large industrial companies.
The author proposes that segmentation should play a greater role in industrial marketing planning and strategy formulation. After analysing the basic characteristics of industrial markets and the different approaches/styles of marketing, he then goes to the core of industrial market segmentation techniques, such as macro segmentation, micro- segmentation, vertical and horizontal segmentation. He analyses a great number of possible segmentation bases/variables which can be used by the industrial marketer, in order to establish a solid foundation for appropriate market selection strategies. For, no doubt, the choice of a market or markets (segments) is the basic and most important decision in planning marketing strategy.
George Bush is charged by the executives of MASHINDUSTRY with the task of informing them about the "rules of the game", permitting him to reveal the business possibilities of the enterprise on the markets of the COMECON-countries. George relies on various information sources for the survey, on the basis of which he outlines some of the characteristic features of the economic life and the planned economic system of the East-European countries. Then he makes a tour in these countries and examines, on the basis of his experiences, the factors and relationships in turn, influencing the possible success of the marketing actions of MASHINDUSTRY. In this framework he takes into account also the organisations, suited to reveal the value of the various factors and their effects on the economy of the COMECON countries.