ECONOMIC ENVIRONMENTAL SCANNING AND MARKETING RESEARCH

• Economic institutions

• Levels of trade integration

• Marketing Research

Economic Institutions

• World Trade Organization (WTO)• World Bank• International Monetary Fund (IMF)

Levels of International Economic Integration

PreferentialPreferentialTrading AgreementTrading Agreement(Tariff concessions on(Tariff concessions on

select items)select items)

Political UnionPolitical Union

Economic UnionEconomic Union

Common MarketCommon Market

Free Trade AreaFree Trade Area

(Free trade among members)(Free trade among members)

(Common External Trading Policy)(Common External Trading Policy)

(Harmonization of economic policies)(Harmonization of economic policies)

(Complete political and economic integration)(Complete political and economic integration)

Text, p. 158Text, p. 158

IncreasingIncreasing

IntegrationIntegration

Levels

• Preferential Trading Agreement• Free Trade Area• Customs Union• Common Market• Economic Union• Political Union

MARKETING RESEARCH: COUNTRY AND CONSUMER

• Country research• Primary vs. secondary marketing research• Issues in secondary marketing research

– Sources

– “Hard” vs. “soft” data

– Reliability

• currency

• credibility

• comparability

– Cost

• Primary research methods

Country Research Issues

• Political– Stability

– Terrorism

• Physical Environment– Climate

– Infrastructure

• Sociocultural environment

• Economic environment

• Regulatory environment

Some Sources of Information --Books and Indices

• World almanacs

• Statistical Abstracts of the United States

• Government publications

• Country-specific books

Useful Periodicals

• Heavily internationally focused

– Economist– Journal of Commerce– Forbes– Business America (U.S.

Dept. of Commerce)– World Press Review

• Some international coverage

– Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post

– Business Week, Fortune– Time, Newsweek

Other

• Academic country specialists (e.g., anthropologists, economists)

• Consultants

• Expatriates

• Own experience

“Hard” vs. “Soft” Data

• “Hard” data--usually quantitative--examples:

– Gross national product– Per capita expenditure on

food– Average number of years of

school completed by population

– Product penetration levels (e.g., percentage of households having microwave ovens)

• “Soft” data– Country history– Laws and enforcement--

theoretical vs. reality– Culture and tradition

• “How things are done”

• Meaning of behaviors--why are people late?

– Attitudes toward products/motivations for usage

Data Availability and Reliability

• Availability/ ability to collect data

• Motivations for releasing data– Wishful thinking vs. reality– The Web--accessible to any fool or

group

• Comparability of data/Arbitrary differences in measurements

• Recency--is the data up-to-date?

Cost of Data

• Much “raw” data is free from– U.S. Gvt.

– United Nations

– Research institutions

• Commercial directories

• Consulting services

Some Cultural Variables Among Countries

• Religion• Value system• Norms• Aesthetics• Language

International Marketing Research Process

ProblemProblemIdentificationIdentification

Selection ofSelection ofResearch Method(s)Research Method(s)

Info Source IdentificationInfo Source Identification(Primary and Secondary)(Primary and Secondary)

Determination ofDetermination ofInformation RequirementsInformation Requirements

Preparation ofPreparation ofResearch DesignResearch Design

Primary DataPrimary DataCollectionCollection

Evaluation andEvaluation andInterpretationInterpretation

AnalysisAnalysis

Text, p. 200Text, p. 200

Equivalences in International Market Research

• Construct– Functional—how product

is used

– Conceptual—interpretation of objects

– Classification/ categorization

• Measurement– Calibration (e.g., number

of scale points)

– Translation (e.g., specificity of family relationship terms)

– Sampling

• Comparability

• Representativeness of population

– Data analysis

Issues in Primary Research

• Social desirability/ willingness to “stand out” ---> need to adjust data

• Willingness to criticize products

• Familiarity with being surveyed

• Language/translation

• New technologies (e.g., scanner data) --usually less well developed than in the U.S.

• Reachability of respondents

• Selection of appropriate respondent