We are increasingly aware of the need for total quality management approaches in the more process-oriented aspects of market research such as data collection and tabulation. However, the way in which we communicate study findings to clients and the general public is perhaps the most critical part of what we do. Over the last few years there have been significant advances in computer graphics which have given the researcher enormous powers of data presentation and the audiences greater expectations in a world that is moving away from the written word and numbers to graphic and symbolic representations of information. This paper maintains that researchers may not yet be exploiting the new media to its fullest by observing some of the fundamentals of design that are most important to clearly conveying findings. Inspired by the great variance in presentation styles and quality, a market researcher and a graphics designer examine the environment for graphics communication in market research. The paper covers the basic theories and practice of visual graphics; the tools available for the production of quality communications; the uses and abuses of graphics as they apply to the researcher and the future role that graphics can play in the research industry. It concludes that while there are no rules for good or bad graphics both can be recognized, but only the good is ultimately remembered. Researchers must appreciate the growing need to develop their ultimate end product for marketers and not for other researchers. By integrating quality graphic communications into the TQM process the industry will improve its ability to communicate and therefore the perceived value of research.
Marketing researchers and marketing managers should get closer to the experts in forecasting and scenario planning. We present a review of the key issues in successfully implementing forecasts in an organization, with specific reference to forecasting for marketing. We emphasize the need for forecasters, marketing researchers and marketing managers to work closely together. We suggest how the forecasting process can be improved, in particular, by the use of total quality management approaches.
This paper illustrates the benefits of the CSM Customer Satisfaction Measurement Model and its contribution to total quality management programs. Identifying satisfaction drivers for distribution line members of a household electrical appliances manufacturer, and comparing this manufacturer against benchmark data, allowed us to draw a strategy to reinforce dealer loyalty as a way of maintaining and increasing the company's market share.
This paper illustrates the benefits of the CSM Customer Satisfaction Measurement Model and its contribution to total quality management programs. Identifying satisfaction drivers for distribution line members of a household electrical appliances manufacturer, and comparing this manufacturer against benchmark data, allowed us to draw a strategy to reinforce dealer loyalty as a way of maintaining and increasing the company's market share.
In North America and WestemEurope, the slowing of population expansion and inflation as well as ever increasing global competition have made it extremely difficult for marketers to achieve consistent revenue and profit growth. At the same time, much of the profit gains from efficiencies in manufacturing, distribution, and consohdation have been realized. The challenge set for the 1990 s and beyond is to manage profitable growth through continual improvement in marketing productivity. Recent studies of scanner panel data by Information Resources, Inc. (IRI) have shown the profit limitations of couponing and trade dealing, such that heavy investments in these price-related allocations appear to have a low likelihood of contributing significantly to profitable growth in the future (Fulgoni, 1990). On the other hand, while advertisings track record in these same studies is only slightly better, there is new and exciting evidence which suggests that advertising can be the main driver of consistent growth in revenues and profits, when the principles of Total Quality Management are applied to the advertising development and management process.
In this paper we seek to show that the market research industry in the UK has had two distinct phases in which it has thought very hard about quality. These phases can be linked with different aspects of product performance as described by Levitt's quality model, which in turn links with a changing definition of 'quality' as a result of an increasing importance being attributed to the service element. This means that the criteria of 'suitable for the purpose', against which research products are judged, is itself changing.
This paper draws from MORI's wide experience of conducting employee attitude studies to show how such research can help answer those questions. It will also illustrate the value of research in providing a benchmark to measure improvement over time and guide and direct quality initiatives into the most productive channels. As we will demonstrate, research can identify practices which work productively and areas where Total Quality programmes are failing to have any real impact on the organisation. It can, therefore, play a vital role in the quality process and, indeed, become an integral part of that process.
BS 5750 in the UK is a quality assurance system creating a set of procedures designed to document and improve practices to maximise the quality of a company's output. In the UK it was initially conceived for manufacturing industry, but in the last two or more years its relevance to service industries such as market research has been perceived, and a number of market research agencies have achieved BS 5750 accreditation. FDS was one of the first of these, and our purpose in presenting this paper is to share that experience from the initial concept through the process of gaining accreditation to our experience of it in practice. BS 5750 and its international equivalent, ISO 9000 is here to stay; increasingly its possession is going to be a necessary qualification for supplier consideration. BS 5750 when positively implemented is an indication of a commitment to a management philosophy of Total Quality Management and a necessary step to that goal. BS 5750 is not a system conceived externally and imposed on a company's operation. It is created by the company itself in the light of the company's current operating practices, and helps the company to achieve and maintain best practice. Achieving BS 5750 is an arduous and lengthy process. It is not to be undertaken lightly and successful implementation requires the commitment of everyone in the company, both in the process of acquiring it and of maintaining it once accredited. This is how FDS did it.
Royal Mail, the letters' collection, distribution and delivery business in the UK, with 175 employees, one of the country's largest employers, embarked on Total Quality Management in 1988. This paper examines, in outline, the surveys in place to measure the quality of service offered to external customers, together with measures of customer perception and satisfaction. The paper then details the research which is carried out among employees, who can be considered the "internal" customers of an organisation. The design, execution, reporting and use of the Employee Opinion surveys are covered. The key measures of Employee Opinion are overall satisfaction with Royal Mail as an employer; satisfaction with communications; morale; believing that Royal Mail feels that its employees are important; and the fact that Royal Mail recognises good work by its employees. Other measures such as the Effective Leadership feedback are also covered. This is part of the Leadership Charter, adopted by Royal Mail in 1992 and provides feedback to all team leaders on how their style of management is perceived by the people who report to them. Employee research is one of the most challenging areas for a researcher since not only technical considerations must be borne in mind, but also other factors, such as internal politics, play an important part. Finally, the importance and difficulty of finding new ways of communicating the results of research to non-researchers (even the innumerate) are stressed.
This paper essentially covers two specific areas: The first half, by virtue of two Case Studies, looks at employee surveys conducted within a Total Quality context. The second looks at findings of staff research making comparisons across different types of company. The initial section of the paper examines why staff research is important and the growth in staff research with the first case study illustrating, in particular, what was done by the commissioning company to implement the recommendations from the staff survey undertaken. The last half of the paper concentrates on a relatively new area, the role of staff research and staff satisfaction as a business health monitoring tool and the variation (or lack of it) in response across different industry types and sectors. Total Quality Management is the focus of this year's ESOMAR Congress. Total Quality Management and Continuous Improvement are providing the philosophy and the framework for many companies globally, and now particularly in Europe, to move forward. Many are looking to it to help them "manage their way out of recession". This paper looks at staff research within the wider context of Total Quality Management research.
This paper is divided into 5 parts, starting with the reasons why ISO 9000 was implemented in BTs business market research department through to the lessons we have learnt from implementation. The first section discusses why BT, as a company, has decided to adopt ISO 9000 practices and reveals that the drive behind this was BT's corporate mission to put customers first. BT believes that quality practices are important in order to give the best possible service to our customers and suppliers. The second section looks at how the BT Business Market Research team went about implementing ISO 9000. The third section examines the ISO 9000 market research procedures in action with a case study of how a major customer satisfaction measurement programme was set up and run according to the procedures. The fourth section discusses the implications of BT's quality policy for our research suppliers. IFinally, this paper summarises the problems and more particularly the great benefits gained from implementing ISO 9000 in BT. Here we have tried to outline useful hints to other client companies who may be considering adopting quality procedures. The four most important lessons to be learnt in implementing ISO 9000 are: involve everyone and ensure that they understand why quality procedures are necessary; do not get hung up on paperwork - but be flexible and only develop procedures that can be workable in your business area; do not rest on your laurels - quality is about continuous improvement and your processes should be continuously reviewed to match your evolving needs; and finally, do not rush ISO 9000 without applying common sense - if done thoroughly it can be a lengthy but ultimately rewarding and time saving exercise.