The brief for this research project came from the Brussels based product manager responsible for commercial stationery products. A new commercial product had been launched with great success in the USA in 1980 and then gradually released to Europe, country by country, during the following two years. In the United States a retail consumer range of products of a related kind has now been introduced, and an overall objective of the research was to judge whether any country in Europe was ready to take the step into the retail market.
In 1976 the first generic range was launched by Carrefour in France, since when the concept has been adopted in many parts of the world. Their penetration has varied considerably between countries, depending in part upon existing own label strength and the buying power of major retailers. Some generics, such as the Carrefour range, are a form of repositioned own labels; others, as is common is the U.S.A., represent a second private label for the retailer. The U.K. is now experiencing rapid developments of both types of generics.
Just as consumers purchase goods from a retailer so do wholesalers and retailers buy products from a manufacturer. This paper takes the concept of penetration and repeated purchase, previously developed for use with consumer panels, and applies it to the relationship between the manufacturer and his direct consumer, that is the trade. Because of the size and complexity of the data each trans- action with the manufacturer is examined using computerised inspection of booked orders, and counts are obtained of initial purchase of a product and subsequent repurchase.
Marketing research has to develop as a dynamic process if it is to fulfil its major purpose of helping management reach better decisions more quickly. Innovation is disruptive and change demands that researchers provide continuous and up-to-date signals of its pace and its direction. Unstable conditions are those which require most of management decision-making but in these situations the commercial purchase and prescription audits are often divergent and always too late. We found that key components in building a simple, iterative model were a few salient questions related to reasons for product choice. When these were incorporated into the model, it then produced good forecasts even in volatile states and with minimal data. An essential feature of the model is a prescription share index and the mechanism by which this and other variables are put together to provide management with a practical tool of promotional significance is explained.
Today many companies prefer to enter into partnerships, cooperation arrangements or joint ventures even in industrially advanced countries, and these are often the only ways for a permanent market presence in the East European socialist and in some of the developing countries. Cooperation may also contribute to the solution of some domestic production or procurement problems. Several surveys show that the most important motives inducing a company to seek cooperation are in the marketing field. Cooperation has become a marketing strategy, although a company may derive a number of other - not strictly marketing - benefits from cooperation. Once the strategic decision has been taken the tasks of formulating the cooperation objective, selecting the most suitable country and finding the partner must be solved. A number of institutions already exist for this purpose, but do not make up for the services that market research organisations can provide. Industrial cooperation is a fast growing new form of international economic relations. It is worth the attention of marketing experts, as the best methods for promoting cooperation are still being worked out.