Market research Functions

One way to help overcome this problem is to instill in the Personnel Department, in the Marketing Departments, and in operating divisions of your company an awareness of the requirements for the marketing research function. If these divisions understand your needs and realize the importance of creative, intelligent market researchers they will assist in finding suitable people for the Marketing Research Department. I believe that the best way to staff a Marketing Research Department is from within your own company where you will better know the potential manpower. 

The real value to be derived from the use of market research depends to a very large extent upon the insight and sensitivity with which management interprets and utilizes our market research information. The mere creation of a market research function within a company gives no assurance of its effective utilization. In the final sense, probably our most important job is to demonstrate and sell our principal product, market information, into all areas of our company where it can be shown to be an effective and profit-making tool. 

Market research in the U.S. chemical industry began to be formalized as early as 1940. In 1945, the Chemical Market Research Association (CMRA) was formed with 75 members. In mid-1965, it was renamed and became the Chemical Marketing Research Association to reflect the broadened function of its members. In 1990, the CMRA was again renamed and is now the Chemical Management and Resources Association and has about 1000 members. 

I submit that there is nothing new about the function of marketing research—it was carried out by Bedouin traders at the dawn of history where it was literally a matter of life or death. It has been carried out in one form or another, as long as one man has been trading with another. (These same social critics also ignore the fact... 

What then, is this function of marketing research There are many definitions, but the one I like best is—it is the collection, evaluation, and communication of whatever information is needed to assist management in making decisions in the marketing area. Another way of looking at it is to take a page from our friends in the journalism profession and say that it is the who, what, when, where, why, and how of marketing. Note the all important how. ... 

Selling is one aspect of marketing which in itself comprises a number of separate functions. Market research, market development, applications development, technical service, and advertising and sales promotion are five of these marketing functions. 

Market development is another marketing function known by many names in many companies. I view it as that department which contacts the prospective customers identified by market research or other source data. They attempt to sample material for part evaluation, in the case of established products, or to arrange to build prototypes in the case of new products. 

Each of the broad, functional areas described later has its own safety responsibilities and is organized to meet those responsibilities. For example, the research function is responsible for safety and loss prevention in research laboratories and pilot plants. However, research also has the duty of identifying potential hazards in the products and processes it develops. The research owner must then assure that those hazards are communicated effectively to the engineering, operating, and marketing people who must deal with them. 

When involved in the choice of Project Manager for a multi-functional team, an R D Manager needs to recognise that the driving force for completion of the project, as in the above example, is from manufacturing and marketing. These functions will be occupied with the detailed implementation of the outcome of R D and are the best people to provide the management of the project beyond the research phase. 

Market research contributes to all functions of enterprise, from laboratory to sales. Four specific cases are outlined to illustrate some of the many methods avoilable for obtaining market information. The contributions of domestic journals, government publications, foreign journals, and other sources are analyzed. The significance of one-time publications is discussed with particular reference to congressional hearings, court actions, and the activities of the Tariff Commission. 

Marketing costs comprise promotion (advertising and detailing), sponsorship of symposia and other promotional events, and support functions such as market research. Between 1987 and 1990, in the six companies surveyed by OTA, 33.6 percent of sales were devoted to marketing and administrative costs. If Eli Lilly s cost structure is typical of the research-... 

What Is Market Development We should begin by understanding the market development function and its role in our industrial economy. Perhaps it can be defined as the reactive interface between the creators of a new product—usually technical research—and the future customers for that product. Since to many the word interface connotes a barrier, let us emphasize here that the objective of market development is quite the opposite—to minimize obstacles and to stimulate, guide, and expedite the flow of information between markets and research. 

Another barrier lies in the fact that the product innovators in chemical research usually think in terms of chemistry rather than in functional performance. In most cases the need is functional rather than chemical —a purely mechanical solution is frequently equally possible. The translation of a functional need to a synthesis of a chemical having this function appears to be a discipline we shall all have to develop if this method of new product generation is to achieve the success we all expected for it. A large share of this will be with our market research and market development people. 

In closing, Figures 6-9 show how marketing research has functioned in the past and how it should function in the future. 

---