International Marketing Research
Chapter 30 INTERNATIONAL MARKETING RESEARCH
V. Kumar, University of Connecticut
Introduction
A company advertised eyeglasses in Thailand by featuring a variety of cute animals wearing glasses. The advertisement was a poor choice since animals are considered to be a form of low life and no self respecting Thai would wear anything worn by animals (Payne, website). Could the company have known about this before the product launch in Thailand? Why did the company fail in spite of coming up with a trendy and fashionable product? The reason for the company’s failure in Thailand was that they did not identify themselves, advertising in this case, with the Thai culture and totally misjudged the social customs of Thailand. The company could have been more knowledgeable about this had their information from international marketing research been accurate. This is not an isolated case, but stems from one of the many idiosyncrasies that exist in the markets around the world. Some of the idiosyncrasies for select regions are listed in Table 30.1. Table 30.1 about here In this chapter, we first define international marketing research and find out about the major players in the industry. Then, we move on to see how international market research is done, the various methods of data collection, the biases and scales involved in data collection and know how data is interpreted from one country to another.
1
What Is International Marketing Research?
International Marketing Research (IMR) can be defined as market research conducted either simultaneously or sequentially to facilitate marketing decisions in more than one country (Kumar, 2000). The process calls for studying the various market characteristics for facilitating marketing decisions that can be taken across countries. The studies deal with tracing the various components that are responsible for the marketing the product.
So How Is It different from Domestic Marketing?
The process of international marketing
V. Kumar, University of Connecticut
Introduction
A company advertised eyeglasses in Thailand by featuring a variety of cute animals wearing glasses. The advertisement was a poor choice since animals are considered to be a form of low life and no self respecting Thai would wear anything worn by animals (Payne, website). Could the company have known about this before the product launch in Thailand? Why did the company fail in spite of coming up with a trendy and fashionable product? The reason for the company’s failure in Thailand was that they did not identify themselves, advertising in this case, with the Thai culture and totally misjudged the social customs of Thailand. The company could have been more knowledgeable about this had their information from international marketing research been accurate. This is not an isolated case, but stems from one of the many idiosyncrasies that exist in the markets around the world. Some of the idiosyncrasies for select regions are listed in Table 30.1. Table 30.1 about here In this chapter, we first define international marketing research and find out about the major players in the industry. Then, we move on to see how international market research is done, the various methods of data collection, the biases and scales involved in data collection and know how data is interpreted from one country to another.
1
What Is International Marketing Research?
International Marketing Research (IMR) can be defined as market research conducted either simultaneously or sequentially to facilitate marketing decisions in more than one country (Kumar, 2000). The process calls for studying the various market characteristics for facilitating marketing decisions that can be taken across countries. The studies deal with tracing the various components that are responsible for the marketing the product.
So How Is It different from Domestic Marketing?
The process of international marketing