Year: 2020

Motivation

Motivation is the word derived from the word ’motive’ which means needs, desires, wants or drives within the individuals. It is the process of stimulating people to actions to accomplish the goals. In the work goal context the psychological factors stimulating the people’s behaviour can be:

• Desire for money
• Success
• Recognition
• Job-satisfaction
• Team work, etc..

One of the most important functions of management is to create willingness amongst the employees to perform in the best of their abilities. Therefore the role of a leader is to arouse interest in performance of employees in their jobs. The process of motivation consists of three stages:-

• A felt need or drive
• A stimulus in which needs have to be aroused
• When needs are satisfied, the satisfaction or accomplishment of goals.

Therefore, we can say that motivation is a psychological phenomenon which means needs and wants of the individuals have to be tackled by framing an incentive plan.

Morale

Morale can be defined as the total satisfaction derived by an individual from his job, his work-group, his superior, the organization he works for and the environment. It generally relates to the feeling of individual’s comfort, happiness and satisfaction.

According to Davis, “Morale is a mental condition of groups and individuals which determines their attitude.”

In short, morale is a fusion of employees’ attitudes, behaviours, manifestation of views and opinions – all taken together in their work scenarios, exhibiting the employees’ feelings towards work, working terms and relation with their employers. Morale includes employees’ attitudes on and specific reaction to their job.

There are two states of morale:

(i) High morale: High morale implies determination at work an essential in achievement of management objectives. High morale results in:

• A keen teamwork on part of the employees
• Organizational Commitment and a sense of belongingness in the employees mind
• Immediate conflict identification and resolution
• Healthy and safe work environment
• Effective communication in the organization
• Increase in productivity
• Greater motivation

(ii) Low morale: Low morale has following features:

• Greater grievances and conflicts in organization
• High rate of employee absenteeism and turnover
• Dissatisfaction with the superiors and employers
• Poor working conditions
• Employees frustration
• Decrease in productivity
• Lack of motivation

Though motivation and morale are closely related concepts, they are different in following ways:

While motivation is an internal-psychological drive of an individual which urges him to behave in a specific manner, morale is more of a group scenario.

Higher motivation often leads to higher morale of employees, but high morale does not essentially result in greatly motivated employees as to have a positive attitude towards all factors of work situation may not essentially force the employees to work more efficiently.

While motivation is an individual concept, morale is a group concept. Thus, motivation takes into consideration the individual differences among the employees, and morale of the employees can be increased by taking those factors into consideration which influence group scenario or total work settings.

Motivation acquires primary concern in every organization, while morale is a secondary phenomenon because high motivation essentially leads to higher productivity while high morale may not necessarily lead to higher productivity.

Things tied to morale are usually things that are just part of the work environment, and things tied to motivation are tied to the performance of the individual.

Difference between Motivation and Morale

Edwin Flippo (1961) defined morale as ‘a mental condition or attitude of individuals and groups which determines their willingness to cooperate’. Yoder Dale (1972), on the other hand, explained morale as ‘the overall tone, climate, or atmosphere of work perhaps regularly sensed by the members.

If workers appear to feel enthusiastic and optimistic about group activities, if they have a sense of mission about their jobs, and if they are friendly with each other, they are described as having a good or high morale. If they seem to be dissatisfied, irritated, cranky, critical, restless, and pessimistic, they are described as having poor or low morale.’ Elton Mayo defined it as ‘the maintenance of cooperative living’, which means a sense of belongingness.

On the other hand many authors defined morale as a ‘pursuit of a common purpose’, attitude, individual and group job satisfaction, participative attitudes, team sprit etc. Whatever may be the way of defining, it is evident that morale is a cognitive concept, encompassing feelings, attitudes, and sentiments, which together contribute to a general feeling of satisfaction in the workplace.

Like morale, motivation is also a cognitive concept, but it is different from morale on certain important aspects. Motivation stimulates individuals into action to achieve desired goals. It is, therefore, a function of needs and drives. It mobilizes energy, which enhances the potential for morale. Morale on the other hand is the individual or group attitude towards a particular subject. It contributes to a general feeling of satisfaction at the work place.

It is, therefore, the function of freedom or restraint towards some goal. It mobilizes sentiments, which form an important part of the organizational climate. Attitudes and sentiments, that is, morale, per se, affect productivity. High morale is an index of good human relations, which, inter alia, reduces labour turnover, absenteeism, indiscipline, grievances, etc.

Factors which affect morale are, primarily, attitude and job satisfaction levels of individual employees. From an organizational point of view, such factors can be delineated into organizational goals, leadership styles, co-workers’ attitude, nature of work, work environment, and the employee himself.

High morale is conventionally considered as a contributor to high productivity, but such correlation may not always be true. This is because high productivity may be the outcome of many other organizational initiatives, which may be independent of employee morale. Hence, even with low employee morale, high productivity is achievable. This can be illustrated using the model of Keith Davis, as in Figure 1.

Brand names and trademarks are valuable assets to a business. Often a brand or trademark becomes synonymous with the product. For example, Xerox (R) is often used to mean copy. Because of this, many companies want to protect their brands from others who may try to copy or misrepresent the name.

Brand Name

A brand name identifies a specific product or name of a company. When a brand name is doing its job, it evokes positive images or emotions in consumers, which is why brand can be so valuable. And in some cases, the brand name becomes part of the everyday vernacular such as Kleenex (R) to mean tissue. Because of a brand name’s importance, many companies want to protect it through trademark.

Trademark

A trademark is a registered brand or trade name. It can include any combination of a name, slogan, logo, sounds or colors that identify the company or its products or services. For example, the Nike Swoosh is a registered trademark.

The Goals of Brand Names and Trademarks

The goal of a brand name is to provide an easy way to recognize and remember the name that evokes a positive response in consumers. For example, many shoppers prefer to buy “brand name” products as opposed to the generic kind because of their perceived value.

A trademark provides legal protection of the brand name. Through registration, the company is able to seek legal action against others who copy or use the brand without permission.

Eligibility for Use

Brand names that are not registered could be used by others without permission. Any limitations would be at the state and city level where the business is registered.

Trademarked names however can not be used except in “fair use” in which the name can be used as long as long as ownership of the name isn’t confused. Providing examples of Xerox (R) and Kleenex (R) in this article is an instance of fair use.

Brand names can be registered as trade names at the local and state levels. Businesses structured as corporations, partnerships and limited liability companies register with their state. Submitting a doing-business-as statement with your county or city gives notice to your local area about your business name.

Trademarks are obtained from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Registering your brand name requires submitting a sample of the brand name, an application and fee. The process is long and because of the legal implications, the use of an intellectual property lawyer is recommended.

Length of Use

There are no time limitations to the use of a brand name, except any restrictions that may be regulated at the local level. For example, if your business and brand name are the same and you don’t keep your business registered with the state or renew your license, the name will be available to someone else.

Trademark protection is limited to 10 years. It can be renewed between the fifth and sixth year following registration and within the year before the end of every 10-year period by filing an Affidavit of Use. At the end of the sixth or 10th year, there is a six-month grace period in which the trademark registration can be maintained for an additional fee.

Importance of marketing can be studied as follows

(1) Marketing Helps in Transfer, Exchange and Movement of Goods

Marketing is very helpful in transfer, exchange and movement of goods. Goods and services are made available to customers through various intermediaries’ viz., wholesalers and retailers etc. Marketing is helpful to both producers and consumers.

To the former, it tells about the specific needs and preferences of consumers and to the latter about the products that manufacturers can offer. According to Prof. Haney Hansen “Marketing involves the design of the products acceptable to the consumers and the conduct of those activities which facilitate the transfer of ownership between seller and buyer.”

(2) Marketing is Helpful in Raising and Maintaining the Standard of Living of the Community

Marketing is above all the giving of a standard of living to the community. Paul Mazur states, “Marketing is the delivery of standard of living”. Professor Malcolm McNair has further added that “Marketing is the creation and delivery of standard of living to the society”.

By making available the uninterrupted supply of goods and services to consumers at a reasonable price, marketing has played an important role in raising and maintaining living standards of the community. Community comprises of three classes of people i.e., rich, middle and poor. Everything which is used by these different classes of people is supplied by marketing.

In the modern times, with the emergence of latest marketing techniques even the poorer sections of society have attained a reasonable level of living standard. This is basically due to large scale production and lesser prices of commodities and services. Marketing has infact, revolutionised and modernized the living standard of people in modern times.

(3) Marketing Creates Employment

Marketing is complex mechanism involving many people in one form or the other. The major marketing functions are buying, selling, financing, transport, warehousing, risk bearing and standardization, etc. In each such function different activities are performed by a large number of individuals and bodies.

Thus, marketing gives employment to many people. It is estimated that about 40% of total population is directly or indirectly dependent upon marketing. In the modern era of large scale production and industrialisation, role of marketing has widened.

This enlarged role of marketing has created many employment opportunities for people. Converse, Huegy and Mitchell have rightly pointed out that “In order to have continuous production, there must be continuous marketing, only then employment can be sustained and high level of business activity can be continued”.

(4) Marketing as a Source of Income and Revenue

The performance of marketing function is all important, because it is the only way through which the concern could generate revenue or income and bring in profits. Buskirk has pointed out that, “Any activity connected with obtaining income is a marketing action. It is all too easy for the accountant, engineer, etc., to operate under the broad assumption that the Company will realise many dollars in total sales volume.

However, someone must actually go into the market place and obtain dollars from society in order to sustain the activities of the company, because without these funds the organization will perish.”

Marketing does provide many opportunities to earn profits in the process of buying and selling the goods, by creating time, place and possession utilities. This income and profit are reinvested in the concern, thereby earning more profits in future. Marketing should be given the greatest importance, since the very survival of the firm depends on the effectiveness of the marketing function.

(5) Marketing Acts as a Basis for Making Decisions

A businessman is confronted with many problems in the form of what, how, when, how much and for whom to produce? In the past problems was less on account of local markets. There was a direct link between producer and consumer.

In modern times marketing has become a very complex and tedious task. Marketing has emerged as new specialized activity along with production.

As a result, producers are depending largely on the mechanism of marketing, to decide what to produce and sell. With the help of marketing techniques a producer can regulate his production accordingly.

(6) Marketing Acts as a Source of New Ideas

The concept of marketing is a dynamic concept. It has changed altogether with the passage of time. Such changes have far reaching effects on production and distribution. With the rapid change in tastes and preference of people, marketing has to come up with the same.

Marketing as an instrument of measurement, gives scope for understanding this new demand pattern and thereby produce and make available the goods accordingly.

(7) Marketing Is Helpful In Development of an Economy

Adam Smith has remarked that “nothing happens in our country until somebody sells something”. Marketing is the kingpin that sets the economy revolving. The marketing organization, more scientifically organized, makes the economy strong and stable, the lesser the stress on the marketing function, the weaker will be the economy.

The research undertaken in marketing field may be quantitative or qualitative. The quantitative marketing research attempts to observe statistically the behaviour of various marketing components.

It is an attempt to figure out the consumer profile relevant to the marketing problem under study. It tries to find the answers as to what? How? How much? Where? And When? A consumer buys a product or a service.

It is probing the conscious mind of consumers. On the other hand, qualitative marketing research tries to find out answers as to why a consumer behaves this way or that way? It answers why? of a situation by probing the sub-conscious and unconscious mind. It finds out the causes and the motives for specific consumer behaviour. It is more popularly known as ‘motivation research’ a major form of consumer research.

Quantitative research relies more on direct questioning, quantitative data collection and, therefore, mathematical analysis. Contrary to this, qualitative research believes in psychological methods and techniques of measuring the consumer behaviour.

The most common methods and techniques used in marketing research are:

1. Survey.
2. Observation
3. Experimentation.
4. In-depth interviews and
5. Projective techniques.

The first three are methods while the last two are the techniques.

Methods:

1. Survey Method:

Survey methods refer to all methods of obtaining the needed information through asking the questions to the respondents. This method is, therefore, known as the ‘questionnaire’ method.

Professors Tull D.S. and Hawkins D.I. define survey method as “the systematic gathering of information from the respondents for the purpose of understanding and/or predicting some aspects of behaviour of the population of interest”.

Surveys are commonly conducted both in quantitative and qualitative researches. After having decided about the sampling, questionnaire is designed and the respondents are contacted to answer these questions asked in the questionnaire. This process of getting answers is called as interviewing.

In questionnaire research, such interviewing is more direct in that the respondent knows the purpose of the study and answers to the questions. On the other hand, in qualitative research, interviewing is more indirect as the respondent does not know the purpose of study yet answers the questions.

Two significant factors affect the effectiveness of a survey method:

1. Wording of questionnaire must be such that desired information can be obtained accurately and unbiasedly.
2. Ability and willingness of the respondent to give accurate and unbiased information. There are three major methods of conducting a survey the ways to reach the respondents for getting the desired research information.

These are:

1. Personal Interview
2. Mail Interview and
3. Telephone Interview.

Personal Interview:

Personal interview is the process of communication where face to face contact between the investigator and the respondent is established. It is the conversation arranged for the purpose of obtaining views of the respondent on the topic of interest to the interviewer.

Under this method, the investigator presents the questionnaire in person either at the residence or at the office of the respondent. Being active participant, he establishes a close rapport with the respondent and motivates him or her to answer all the questions satisfactorily.

Merits:

1. It is a superior method:

Personal interview method is superior to mail and telephone interview methods because, it has two special features of its own.

These are:

(i) Answer is not only on asking,

(ii) Personal observation.

That is why, this method is widely used.

2. Maximum information is sought:

Maximum and accurate information can be elicited by the investigator because, he can explain each question in person and this enables the respondent to answer the questions only after understanding. So no question is left unanswered.

3. Regulation of interview:

In personal interview, the investigator being an active participant can control the interview to his advantage and to the convenience of the respondent by directing, guiding and supervising the respondent. It is he who matches to the needs and moods of the respondents.

Demerits:

1. It is expensive:

This method works out costly because of varieties of expenses incurred on sampling, questionnaire, interviewing, recruiting training and controlling investigators, paying for their services. Above all the time lost is too much. That is 35 per cent to 45 per cent extra time is to be provided for arriving at the total time spent.

2. More administrative problems:

Personal interview method involves more administrative problems because of wider organizational paraphernalia, selection, training and control of personnel both research and non-research. The greatest problem is that of chasing of widely scattered investigating staff.

3. Biased information:

The investigators may not get accurate and unbiased information though it is possible to get maximum information.

It is likely to be biased as the investigator plays more active role in explaining the questions; he may get answers only to the key questions and the rest he may manage as per his sweet will caprice.

1. Mail Interview Method:

As the title suggests, the respondents are contacted through post. There is no face to face contact between the investigator and the respondent. The questionnaire is sent to the mailing address of the respondent with a request to fill in and return back.

Much care is to be taken while designing the questionnaire as there is no face to face contact. The questions asked must be answerable quick in terms ‘Yes’ or ‘No’. The covering letter must be carefully couched to induce, convince and motivate the respondent to answer all the questions and return the questionnaire duly filled back to the investigator.

The cost of return postage is to be borne by the investigator. Some business houses enclose a gift or a cash payment for having taken the trouble of providing the relevant information. It is more a goodwill gesture.

Merits:

1. Detailed and accurate information:

The researcher can contact maximum number of persons by sitting at his office. It is powerful in terms of distance and time covered and saved. The information given is likely to be unbiased, detailed and accurate as answers are given at the convenience of the respondent.

2. It is economical:

Though there are unavoidable costs, the -heavy expenses on travelling and personnel are totally eliminated unlike personal interview. This brings about what is known as ‘user surplus’. Due to wide coverage, the costs are the least.

3. More objectivity:

This is more objective method of data collection in the sense that the questionnaires are sent to be standardized and self- administered that makes possible uniformity of interviews making the data collected more comparable. It is free from bias because, the interviewer is absent.

Demerits:

1. Possibility of poor response:

The greatest draw-back of this method is poor response to the questions asked and the persons responding. There is no guarantee that all the respondents will answer all the questions. Further, it is not compulsory to answer the questionnaire.

2. It is time consuming:

The researcher will not be able to keep the time schedule for completing his research programme. Though he puts the dead­line for answering the questions, his bitter experience is that questionnaires reach him only after the due date. It undermines the value of time-dimension of research work.

3. Incomplete and inaccurate data:

As there is no investigator present, there is no personal enforcement to answer such and very question. It may so happen that friends and relatives may answer the questionnaire on behalf of the respondent.

He will not get accurate information on matters like age, income, education, marital status and the like. This wrong information leads to wrong conclusions.

1. Telephone Interview:

Under telephone interview method, the researcher establishes a contact through telephone. The investigator will have to be selective and careful while designing the questionnaire for it cannot be a lengthy type as in case of earlier two methods.

It must be brief, simple, to the point and non­-confidential. The special problem of telephone interview is that of building close rapport with the respondents so that he can be induced and persuaded to reply satisfactorily.

Merits:

1. It is economical:

It is the speediest method of data collection where up-to-date information is got at telephone call without waste of time just sitting in the office. Other expenses on questionnaire, sampling, investigation and office are nil. The only expenditure is on calls made. The cost per call decreases with the unlimited calls made.

2. Unbiased Data:

Normally respondents are more frank on telephone than in person. They are not influenced by family members and friends as telephone conversation is considered to be private affair. The facts heard by the investigation can be recorded and verified, if need there be.

3. Best method to elicit information from specific group:

When the respondents are belonging to higher socio- economic classes, it is really very difficult to get personal appointments. It is normally the case with professionals like doctors, lawyers, consultants, businessmen, architects, executives, professors and the like.

In such cases, telephone call can command more respect than a door-bell. These busy persons give interviews provided the time taken is of short duration. Moreover, these people are more cooperative for they know what research is.

Demerits:

1. It is of limited use:

Telephone interview is limited to the extent of its contacts with the respondents. Though, telephone interview is gaining ground in western countries because of wide coverage, it is quite discouraging in country like ours where coverage is as low as 15 per cent of total population as against 85 per cent in advanced nations. Further, all phones are not working efficiently all the time.

2. Possibility of no reply:

Thinking that the respondent has the telephone facility, still there is no guarantee that the interviewer gets the reply. It is easier and convenient to say ‘no’ on phone than in person. Many a times the respondent may simply hang up and deny any useful information.

Further, it is difficult to include and persuade the respondent who has not been seen by the investigator.

3. Lack of personal observation:

Unlike, personal interview telephone interview does not lend itself to have close observation of the respondent. No behavioural gestures such as grins, winks, frowns, raised eye-brows and the like are possible. Again, visual aids are of no avail. Unless vision phone facility is made available, this continues to the limitation.

2. Observation Method:

Observation implies viewing or noting the act or occurrence. Observation is the method that places an observer human or machine to watch and record as to what is taking place.

Here, the observer does not ask the questions to the respondent but observes his or her actions or behaviour with or without telling the respondent that he or she is being observed. Many a times the investigator will not get answers for his questions under other methods; but he gets here without asking the questions.

Thus, observation method works well in lieu of communication. Such an observation is to be scientific and casual. For instance, if you are to get answer for question say “What brand of shampoo does a lady use?” Instead of asking the question, the observer can note her behaviour at the sales counter and determine her choice. Further, it may be a question of determining the efficiency and the devotion of a salesman in a store. An observer can measure the same in disguise of a customer.

Observation is mostly done by human-beings as it is more comprehensive though less accurate, less convenient and uneconomical. Of late, mechanical or electronic devices are used on the grounds of accuracy, economy and convenience, though of limited applicability.

These mechanical devices are traffic counting machines, hidden cameras, audio-meters, eye-cameras, pupitometers, tachistoscopes, psycho-galvanometers and so on. Observation method is commonly and more fruitfully used both in quantitative and qualitative research.

This method is more objective and accurate than survey method as it eliminates human element uncontrolled.

The limitations of observation method are:

1. The information that is sought by the observer may not be sufficient as he can observe only the overt behaviour.
2. It is much costlier than the survey method itself. Further, the experts have not been able to develop alternative method of observation nor they have been fully utilized. The techniques developed so far need further refinement for their perfect and fuller use.

3. Experimental Method:

Experimental method of research is the procedure of carrying out the best possible solution to a given problem on a small scale. The aim is to determine whether the tentative conclusions reached can be proved in actual conditions.

The actual conditions are ever changing and cannot be controlled by the researcher.

However, continuous experimentation in differing conditions, it may be possible to isolate the effect of these differing conditions. Professor Tull D.S. and Hawkin D.I. have defined this method as “the deliberate manipulation of one or more variables by the experimenter in such a way that its effect upon one or other variables can be measured.”

In marketing area, an experimenter may be interested in measuring the effect of change in the brand name, price, product design, color, package, copy of the advertisement and the like on the sale of a product. Such an exercise is known as test-marketing.

Test-marketing establishes the cause and effect relations and its findings may be the basis for bringing about change in the product-mix. Let us take the case of colour. If the experimenter wants to know the best colour of the two proposed toilet soaps, he has to say, pink and yellow with same coloured packages.

He would select five very popular stores located in the different parts of the state, giving equal display of the two packages. He would record the actual sales in all the five stores for each colour and will take that colour for granted that has shown the highest sales in all the stores. Let us take that pink colour has the upper hand then, it is clue for him to go in for larger quantities of pink than yellow.

The strength of experimentation lies in the fact that it helps not only in building a theory but also solving marketing problems as it resembles practical setting. In fact, decision makers rely on it to a very great extent as it helps them in detecting the real causes of impediments or troubles for taking marketing actions to plug the gaps.

However, its limitations are:

(a) It is costlier method both for researchers and non- researchers.

(b) The findings may not remain for a very long time because, the researcher will not be able to control the dynamics of changing consumer needs.

In our case, observed people may not like pink colour. By the time the firm goes in for larger production of pink cakes, they may prefer yellow or white or even light green.

Techniques:

1. Depth interviews:

Depth interview is a technique of getting the replies from the respondents in an atmosphere of freedom and relaxation. It is a form of unstructured research or interview. It is non-directive interview where the respondent is being urged to talk than mere saying ‘yes’ or ‘no’ for a specific question.

The respondents are kept in dark that they are being interviewed and, therefore, they express or expose themselves without any kind of fear or disapproval, dispute or admonition.

It is beneath line or beneath the consumer surface interviewing to ask leading questions to stimulate free and frank discussion of the subject on hand without asking a standardized list of questions. It is called as depth interview because, the researcher proves through probing the unconscious mind, feelings, needs, conflicts, fears, motives, attitudes, habits and taboos.

The standard size of the group varies between 5 to 45 persons. The interview may be or may not be tape-recorded. It normally lasts for one to three hours. Since depth interview is unstructured and undirected, the degree of success totally depends on the competence of or the caliber of the interviewer. It is his ability to make the respondent to expose to his queries that count the most.

The brighter side of depth interview is that it helps in uncovering the human pre-dispositions having far reaching impact on his research problem.

The variety and the volume of the information sought are really substantial. This information reduces the level of uncertainty in decision making.

However, the limitations are:

(a) Neither it is possible to get really competent interviewers at least did not cost nor the information collected by them is unbiased.

(b) It is a time consuming affair so much so that it is really difficult to hold on respondent hours together.

(c) Many a times, the respondent may not expose to the extent the researcher desires. You may uncover every-thing of his ‘inner-self except the taboos.

2. Projective techniques:

Projective tests are the tests conducted wherein the respondents are encouraged to project their feelings, attitudes, impressions, motives, reactions and the like to a third person or an object. It is that technique which involves stimulating the interviewee to project himself or herself in an artificial or ambiguous situation. Here, the inner feelings are made to reveal.

If you ask a respondent as to why he has not yet bought a colour television set, he may say that he is waiting for a particular latest model. However, the real reason may be his financial difficulty. This hidden feeling or cause is unearthed by the projective techniques.

The most commonly administered tests of this kind are:

1. Word Association Test
2. Sentence Completion Test
3. Thematic Appreciation Test and
4. Paired Picture Test.

Sometimes, Third Person Test is also conducted. Then the other varieties are ‘role playing’ ‘psycho-drama’ ‘graphology’ and the like.

These tests are discussed in coming pages under the title of Motivation Research. All these are drawn from clinical psychology and psychiatry. The strength of these tests lies in the fact they are of great assistance to the researcher in discovering the latent and factual consumer behaviour.

However, the crucial and delicate tasks involved in testing are conducting the tests to collect the data on one hand, and analysis and interpretation of the data on the other.

These warrant high degree of caliber, proven skill and candid diligence on the part of researcher. Really it is very difficult to get the services of such personnel at the minimum costs.

According to American Marketing Association “marketing research is the systematic gathering, recording and analysing of data about problems relating to the marketing of goods and services.”

According to Green and Tull, “marketing research is the systematic and objective search for and analysis of information relevant to the identification and solution of any problem in the field of marketing”.

Professor Philip Kotler defines marketing research as “Systematic problem analysis, model-building and fact-finding for the purpose of improved decision making and control in the marketing of goods and services.”

Importance of Marketing Research

The following points explain the importance of marketing research:

1. Identifying problem and opportunities in the market

It helps in identifying new market opportunities for existing and new products. It provides information on market share, nature of competition, customer satisfaction levels, sales performances and channel of distribution. This helps the firms is solving problems.

2. Formulating market strategies

Today, markets are no more local. They have become global. Manufactures find it difficult to contact customers and control distribution channels. Competition is equally severe. The consumer needs are difficult to predict. Market segmentation is a compli­cated task in such wide markets. The marketing intelligence provided through marketing research not only helps in framing but also in implementing the market strategies.

3. Determining consumer needs and wants

Marketing has become customer-centric. However, large-scale production needs intermediaries for mass distribution. Due to prevalence of multi channels of distribution, there is an information gap. Marketing research helps in collecting information on consumers from structured distribution research and helps in making marketing customer oriented.

4. For effective communication mix

In an era of micro- rather than mass-marketing, communica­tion plays a vital role. Marketing research uses promotional research to study media mix, adver­tising effectiveness and integrated communication tools. Research on such aspects will help in promoting effectively a company’s product in the market.

5. Improving selling activities

Marketing research is used to analyse and evaluate performances of a company within a market. It also studies effectiveness of a sales force. It helps in identify­ing sales territories. Such information helps the companies in identifying areas of shortcoming in sales. It also examines alternative methods for distribution of goods.

6. For sales forecasting

The most challenging task for any production manager is to keep optimum levels of inventory. However, production is undertaken in anticipation of demand. Therefore, scientific forecast of sales is required. Marketing research helps in sales forecasting by using market share method, sales force estimate method and jury method. This can also help in fixing sales quotas and marketing plans.

7. To revitalize brands

Marketing research is used to study and find out the existing brand position. It finds out the recall value of brands. It explores the possibilities of brand extension or prospects of changing existing brand names. The main purpose of marketing is to create brand loyalty. Marketing research helps in developing techniques to popularize and retain brand loyalty.

8. To facilitate smooth introduction of new products

Marketing research helps in testing the new products in one or two markets on a small scale. This helps in finding out consumer response to new product and develop a suitable marketing mix. It reveals the problems of the customers regarding new products. Thus, it controls the risk involved in introducing a new product.

9. Determine export potentials

The development in transport and communication has helped in globalization and digitalization of world trade. This has helped in boosting the growth of international markets. Marketing research helps in conducting market survey for export. It. collects information on marketing environ­ment prevailing in a country. By collecting data on consumers from different countries, it indicates export potentials.

10. Managerial decision-making

Marketing research plays a vital role in the decision-making processes by supplying relevant, up-to-date and accurate data to the decision-makers. Managers need up-to-date information to access customer needs and wants, market situation, technological change and extent of competition.

Marketing Research Process

To begin with the marketing research, following steps has to be followed:

1. Define the Problem

The foremost decision that every firm has to undertake is to find out the problem for which the research is to be conducted. The problem must be defined adequately because if it is too vague, then it may result in the wastage of scarce resources and if it is too narrow, then the exact conclusion cannot be drawn. In order to define the problem appropriately, each firm must have a clear answer to the questions viz. What is to be researched (content and the scope)? And Why the research is to be done (decisions that are to be made)?

2. Develop the Research Plan

This step involves gathering the information relevant to the research objective. It includes:

(a) Data Sources: The researcher can collect the data pertaining to the research problem from either the primary source or the secondary source or both the sources of information. The primary source is the first-hand data that does not exist in any books or research reports whereas the secondary data is the second-hand data which is available in the books, journals, reports, etc.

(b) Research Approaches: The Secondary data are readily available in books, journals, magazines, reports, online, etc. But the primary data have to be collected and to do so, the following research can be conducted:

• Observational Research: The researcher can collect the information by just observing the happenings in the market and sometimes having a friendly conversation with the customers to know about their purchase experiences.
• Ethnographic Research: It is one of the forms of an observation research where the researcher studies an individual in the real-life situation and not under any market setup or a lab. The purpose of this research is to know the way people live (their lifestyles), What they do to earn their livelihood, how they consume goods and services, what they need in their personal and professional lives etc.
• Focus Group Research: It is a form of group discussion wherein six to ten people gather and discuss the common topic given by the moderator. A moderator is a person who conducts the group discussion and is skilled in group dynamics. He also keeps the discussion focused on the topic so that relevant information can be obtained from the group members.
• Survey Research: These are the descriptive research generally conducted to know the about the customer’s knowledge about the product, their preferences, and satisfaction level. The best way to conduct surveys is through the Questionnaires.
• Behavioural Data: The customer’s actual purchases at the store reflects its behavior and the choice of products. Thus observing what customers are buying gives more accurate information about the customer rather than the planned answers given by them in the surveys.
• Experimental research: This is done to find out the cause and effect relationships. This research is undertaken to study the effects of change in the customer’s behavior due to the change in the product’s attributes.

(c) Sampling plan: Once the research approach is decided, the researcher has to design a sampling plan and have to decide on the following:

• The sampling Unit i.e. whom, shall we survey?
• The sample size, i.e., How many units in the population shall be surveyed?
• The sampling procedure, i.e. How the respondents shall be chosen?

(d) Contact Methods: The researcher has to choose the medium through which the respondents can be contacted. The respondents can be reached via emails, telephone, in person or online.

3. Collect the Information

This is one of the most expensive methods of marketing research. At this stage, the researcher has to adopt the methods to collect the information, he may find it difficult to gather the correct information because of the respondent’s biasedness, unwillingness to give answers or not at home.

4. Analyze the Information

Once the information is collected the next step is to organize it in such a way that some analysis can be obtained. The researchers apply several statistical techniques to perform the analysis, such as they compute averages and measures of dispersion. Also, some advanced decision models are used to analyze the data.

5. Present the Findings

Finally, all the findings and the research are shown to the top management level viz. Managing director, CEO, or board of directors to make the marketing decisions in line with the research.

6. Make the Decision

This is the last step of the marketing research, once the findings are presented to the top level management it is up to them either to rely on the findings and take decisions or discard the findings as unsuitable.

Thus, marketing research is done to gather all the relevant information about the market and design the marketing strategies accordingly.

Scope of Marketing Research

The scope of marketing research stretches from the identification of consumer wants and needs to the evaluation of consumer satisfaction. It comprises of research relating to consumers, products, sales, distribution, advertising, pricing and sales forecasting. A clear view of the scope marketing research may be obtained by the following classification of marketing research activity.

The whole approach of marketing pivots around the tenet of meeting the consumer wants. It is essential to understand what the consumer wants, how he/she perceives the product (service), what exactly (ideally) does he/she wants to derive out of the product (service), how does he/she make the brand choice decision, what are the sources of information and influence processes, etc.

In order to take decisions any marketer would constantly monitor such information and obtain a continuous feedback of the trends in the market. As such, marketing research is an effective tool for measuring the consumers’ aspirations, trade channel behaviour, competitive actions etc.

It provides a linkage between the corporate environment and the marketing organization. Marketing research, thus, may be viewed as an important tool used as an aid for tackling problems in marketing.