To understand the role and the degree of marketing research sophistication in organizations

1. Organizational and Ethical Issues in Marketing research • To understand the role and the degree of marketing research sophistication in organizations • To explain pseudo-research and discuss the often conflicting relationship between marketing management and researchers • To understand the role that research supplies and research contractors play in the marketing research industry • To identify the criteria for determining when outside research suppliers are needed • To describe the three parties involved in most research situations and how interaction among them may identify ethical questions • To discuss selected issues such as deception, privacy, and advocacy research from the perspective of each of the three parties • To discuss the role of codes of ethics in marketing research

2. The Mission of the Research Department • Mission Statement • Identifies the marketing research department’s purpose within the organization and explains what the department hopes to accomplish • The most successful research departments are those whose mission is directly linked to the decision makers’ needs • Example: “At GM the goal of the marketing research dept. is to provide cost-effective market understanding that will allow GM to beat competitors, to find opportunities for existing and new products. The primary MISSION is to provide relevant, accurate, usable, and timely market information.”

3. Degree of Marketing Research Sophistication • Research Sophistication • A stage in which managers have considerable experience in the proper use of research techniques • The three levels of marketing research sophistication are: 1. Stage of Intuitive Decision Making 2. Stage of Sophistication 3. Stage of Development

4. Organizational Structure of Marketing Research (cont’d)

5. The Director of Marketing Research as a Manager • Director of Marketing Research • The person who plans, executes, and controls the marketing research function • Problems faced by marketing research directors • Skilled professionals prefer conducting research over managing people • The research management role often is not formally recognized • Many practitioners have trouble delegating responsibility • Some research managers view their staff as extensions of their own capabilities • Research is seen as a hodgepodge of techniques for answering individual, unrelated questions

6. Sources of Conflict Between Marketing Management and Marketing Research • Research that implies criticism • Money • Time: emergency research • Intuitive decision making • Future decisions based on past experience • Pseudo-research and organizational politics

7. Reducing the Conflict Between Management and Researchers • Ways to Reduce Conflict • Better communication • More effective communication of research findings and research designs • Understand the interests and needs of the users of the research • Research Generalist • A person who can serve as a communication link between management and the research specialist because he or she understands the needs of both parties

8. what management demands and what marketing research offers

9. Cross-Functional Teams • Cross-Functional Teams • Teams composed of individuals from various organizational departments such as engineering, production, finance, and marketing who share a common purpose • Benefits of cross-functional teams • Help organizations focus on a core business process or new-product development. • Reduce the tendency for employees to focus single-mindedly on an isolated functional activity. • Help employees improve product quality and increase customer value

10. Research Suppliers and Contractors • Research Supplier • A commercial marketing research service that conducts marketing research for clients. The marketing research supplier may be thought of as a marketing research consulting company • Syndicated Service • A marketing research supplier that provides standardized information for many clients

11. Research Suppliers and Contractors (cont’d) • Standardized Research Service • A research organization that has developed a unique methodology for investigating a specialty area, such as advertising effectiveness • Custom Research • A marketing research study designed for an individual client and tailored to the client’s unique needs

12. Considerations for Hiring Outside Suppliers • Expertise • Urgency of the decision • Economic factors • Need for objectivity • Confidentiality • Quality control

13. Ethical Issues in Marketing Research • The rights and obligations of individuals are dictated by the norms of society • Societal Norms • Codes of behaviour adopted by a group that suggest what a member of the group ought to do under given circumstances

14. Rights and Obligations of the Respondent • Informed consent • Notion that the individual understands the reason for the research and waives his or her right to privacy when he or she agrees to participate in the research study • The obligation to be truthful • Privacy • Deception • The right to be informed

15. Rights and Obligations of the Researcher • Code of ethics • A set of guidelines that states the standards and operating procedures for ethical practices by researchers • The purpose of research is research • Objectivity • Misrepresentation of research • Protecting the right to confidentiality of both subjects and clients • Dissemination of faulty conclusions • Competing research proposals

16. Rights and Obligations of the Client Sponsor (User) • Ethical behaviour between buyer and seller • An open relationship with research suppliers • An open relationship with interested parties • Maintain respondents’ privacy • Privacy policies • Commitment to research • Pseudo-pilot studies