54 CHAPTER 3 MARKETINGRESEARCH:ANAID TODECISIONMAKING
Marketing
research
FIGURE3.1 Themarketingplanningprocess
withthe"GattaHaveSweet" theme.Rougi1ly 70 percentofrespondentsvoluntarilyrecalled
the JuicyFruitnameafterwatchingthecommercial(theaveragerecaJIfora brandofsugar
gumis 57percent).Salesof100-stickboxesof~uicyFruitrose5 percentafterthestartof
theadcampaign, reversin g a 2 percentdeclinepriortoit.JuicyFruit'smarketsharealso
increasedfrom4.9percentto5.3percent,thebiggestgainofanyestablishedchewinggum
brandduringtheyearfollowingthecampaign.
Marketingresearchaddresses theneedforquicker,yetmoreaccurate,decisionmak-
ingbythemarketer.Theimpetusforthissituationis thecomplexrelationshipbetweenthe
businessfirmandtheever-changingexternalenvironment.Inparticular, mostmarketersare
farremovedfromtheircustomers; yetmustknowwhotheircustomersare,whattheywant,
andwhatcompetitorsaredoing.Oftenthemarketerreliesonsalespeopleanddealersfor
information,butmoreandmorethebestsourceofinformationismarketingresearch.
Itshould benotedthatmostmarketingdecisionsarestillmadewithouttheuseof
formalmarketing research.Inmanycases,thetimerequiredtodomarketingresearchis
notavailable.Inother cases,thecostofobtainingthedatais prohibitiveorthedesireddata
cannotbeobtainedin reliableform.Ultimately,successfulmarketingexecutivesmakedeci-
sionsonthebasisofablendoffactsandintuition.
Inthischapter,we provideanoverviewofthemarketmgresearchprocess.Westart
thediscussionwitha lookat businessinformation.AsnotedinFigure3.1,marketingresearch
isapplicablethroughoutthemarketingplanningprocess.
TheNatureandImportanceofMarketingResearch
Informal and,bytoday's standards,crude attemptstoanalyzethemarketdatebacktothe
earliest daysofthemarketingrevolution.Onlyinrecentyears,however,hastheroleof
researchasit relatestomanagementbeenclearlyrecognized.
Reflectingthischangeinorientation, thefoJIowingdefinitionofmarketingresearch
is offered:marketingresearchisthescientificandcontrolledgatheringofnonroutinemar-
