During the recent years Czechoslovakia has taken up the path towards major transformations in management of the economy. Transformations in management of the economy affect also the new position of marketing research.
The following discussion points out that much research is unusable because it is conducted out of context with marketing problems. This in turn is linked to the historical development of the research function. Re-organization and integration of the research function is identified as a potential source for making research more actionable. In this context, the dual role of the researcher is described. Another problem discussed deals with the over-enthusiasm for, and thus misuse of research. Finally, the "feedback" provided by research is described as the means by which the consumer - and not the corporation - orders the marketplace. In the last five years, two apparently contradictory themes have emerged in the dialogue concerning marketing research and its contribution to marketing in the United States. On the one hand, there is a growing cry for more research, and on the other, a growing concern that much of it is unproductive. The purpose of this paper is to explore the problem of unproductive research and the conditions that promulgate it.
Research in marketing has a starting point in problems of business management. As in every organism the most important problems arise from interactions between that organism and its surroundings. A business is usually started to perform tasks that have been self-imposed, but it has to accept several social and economic limitations. These limitations concern both the targets one can hope to achieve as well as the ways along which they can be reached. Hence there is a problem of adaptation to outside conditions. It is also recognized that adaptation is necessary when a company sets objectives in terms of market shares and/or profits, the real problem being to choose between the efforts to introduce something new or to follow certain trends. This thought must come to the mind when according to the mystique of the economics of scarcity someone says that he wants to meet the demand. In a quantitative sense this may apply in a developed society but here the problem of a manufacturer is more to find acceptance for a certain supply, since in essence he is anticipating a demand that has been made possible by a technical development to which he has contributed.
The postwar development of the Japanese economy has been remarkable. Following the economic reconstruction which was largely effected within a decade, the national economic activities have moved far beyond the prewar level, and are maintaining a rapid upward trend as may be indicated by the annual rate of economic growth.