Basic Marketing: A Global Managerial Approach

Perreault−McCarthy: Basic

Marketing: A

Global−Managerial

Approach, 14/e

8. Improving Decisions
   with Marketing
   Information

Text © The McGraw−Hill

Companies, 2002

228 Chapter 8

Federal and state governments publish data on many subjects. Government data

is often useful in estimating the size of markets. In Chapter 5 we gave a number of

examples of the different types of data that are available and suggested websites.

Distribution of government data is not limited to the Internet, however. Almost all

government data is available in inexpensive publications. Much of it is also avail-

able in computer form ready for further analysis.

Sometimes it’s more practical to use summary publications for leads to more

detailed reports. For the U.S. market, one of the most useful summary references is

the Statistical Abstract of the United States.Like an almanac, it is issued in print form

each year and gives 1,500 summary tables from more than 200 published sources.

Detailed footnotes guide readers to more specific information on a topic. The

abstract and much of the source material on which it is based are available online

at http://www.census.gov. Similarly, the United Nations Statistical Yearbookis one of the

finest summaries of worldwide data; like many other international statistical refer-

ences, it is available on CD-ROM and online (www.un.org/depts/unsd).

Secondary data is very limited on some international markets. However, most

countries with advanced economies have government agencies that help

researchers get the data they need. For example, Statistics Canada (www.statcan.ca)

compiles a great deal of information on the Canadian market. Eurostat

(europa.eu.int/comm/eurostat), the statistical office for the European Union coun-

tries, and the Organization for Economic Cooperation (in Paris) offer many

publications packed with data on Europe. In the United States, the Department of

Commerce (www.doc.gov) distributes statistics compiled by all other federal depart-

ments. Some city and state governments have similar agencies for local data. The

Yahoo website (www.yahoo.com) provides an index to a large amount of informa-

tion about different governments.

Many private research organizations—as well as advertising agencies, newspapers,

and magazines—regularly compile and publish data. A good business library is valu-

able for sources such as Sales & Marketing Management, Advertising Age, Journal of

Global Marketing,and the publications of the National Industrial Conference Board.

The Encyclopedia of Associationslists 75,000 U.S. and international trade and pro-

fessional associations that can be a good source of information. For example, the

American Marketing Association (www.ama.org) has an information center with

many marketing publications.

Government data
is inexpensive

The Internet is dramatically
changing how marketing
managers get both primary and
secondary data.

Private sources are
useful too