This paper collates the results of recent market research which has been fed into the formulation of physical plans for several proposed holiday resorts and other leisure facilities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This research entailed both quantitative and qualitative studies, aiming at providing useful data for determining the desired product mix, potential clientele and future marketing strategies.
The paper discusses a new market research data collection technique designed to become part of a combined product/market forecasting system. The market research described is particularly applicable to product planning in mature markets where repeat purchase accounts for an important percentage of the total market demand e.g. motor cars, office furniture. Having described the technique the paper illustrates its application using the hypothetical example of motor cars as the subject of a study. Strengths and weaknesses of the technique are summarised with the conclusion that SIMALTO and its analyses are a valuable addition to the product planning and marketing managers data base to aid decision making.
Identification and examination of characteristic behaviour patterns of target markets is thus a key element in the planning process. The present paper describes the first phase of a project to examine and compare alternative ways of profiling customers based on their product purchasing behaviour. The purpose of the study is 1) to determine what measures of product purchase behaviour and what analytical procedures can most effectively be used to characterise customers and; 2) to compare the efficacy of such classifications with those based on other types of variables, such as socio-economic characteristics or media exposure habits.
Like, any living organism, a company must constantly adapts to its environment or wither. Assets have, therefore to be: continuously exploited and adapted in. the- context, of a changing market. In developing pew activities the first step therefore.is to identify those' differentiated assets - special equipment, skill.s: and market outlets - which in combination make the- company unique. The purpose of this paper is, to suggest: a philosophy of industrial' ecology and to show-how a company's own peculiar resources and experience may be related to emerging market needs through continuity of product policy, cyclic regeneration and the dynamic product area.
If a manufacturer of domestic appliances wants his product planning and product-development to be profitable in the long run, he will have to obtain some knowledge about the circumstances in which housewives do their work, besides analysing the products the competition offers, establishing the own capacity, for development and production, studying market-development, and the testing of the product in the different stages of development. He will only gain a thorough insight in the sales possibilities for new and existing products if he acquaints himself with for instance the way of living of a family, the way in which the housewife spends her time, and her evaluation of the different domestic duties. He should know where in the process of housekeeping bottlenecks occur, which are a housewifeâs desires and complaints about the room in which she works, the work she does, and the appliances she uses while doing this work. This more fundamental reconnaissance shows the manufacturer the climate in which his products are used or are going to be used and in this way he can adapt his product-planning and product-development to the future users of his products. In the autumn of 1964, Philips has sponsored such a piece of basic research. The assignment was given to the Nederlands Instituut voor de Publieke Opinie en het Marktonderzoek (NIPO).