International Marketing Research Essay

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With  the fast pace of globalization, the necessity to understand customers  in all corners  of the globe is becoming imperative. Hence, overcoming the challenges of international marketing  research is rapidly gaining in importance in multinational organizations. Information  needs are changing and becoming more complex and diverse in a hypercompetitive  environment in both developed and developing countries.

Traditional  markets  in developed economies  are now increasingly becoming geographically integrated as direct vertical links and information  flows are established between customers, retailers, and suppliers. Consequently,  it is imperative to conduct research  spanning  country  boundaries  in order  to examine the differences between the regional and global market segments.

According to ESOMAR in 2008, the international marketing research turnover was $24.6 billion in 2007, representing a growth of 6.8 percent over the previous year, and a net growth  of 4 percent,  when adjusted for inflation. The fastest expansions were among the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) countries, all experiencing  double-digit  net  growths,  along  with 19 other  markets  in the  world. Latin America  was the fastest growing region with a sharp  increase  in growth at 17.1 percent  (11.3 percent  after inflation), accounting for well above $1 billion in revenues. The growth rate remained  stable in Europe at 5 percent (2.8 percent after inflation), and in North America at 6.6 percent (3.4 percent after inflation).

Online research has grown dramatically in the last decade, and is now the fastest growing methodology with a total  spending  of around  $3 billion in 2007, an increase of 14 percent over the previous year. The largest absolute increase took place in the United Kingdom (UK), the second largest national  research market, where online spending almost doubled. The major reasons for the rapid growth of this methodology are speed of delivery and low costs. The most successful companies  using this method  are mostly focused on providing analytical services to meet client  needs,  differentiate  offerings, and  benefit  from the ensuing competitive edge.

Most of the world’s market  research  is conducted in Europe with a turnover  of $10.6 billion (43 percent market share), followed by North America $8.9 billion (36 percent),  Asia Pacific $3.53 billion (14 percent), Latin America $1.22 billion (5 percent), and the Middle East and Africa $.39 billion (2 percent). The largest country markets (growth) are in the United States with a turnover  of $8.23 billion (+6.6 percent  growth), followed by the UK at $2.4 billion (+2 percent), France at $2.2 billion (+2.5 percent), Germany at $2.2 billion (+5 percent), and Japan at $1.4 billion (+4.3 percent).

The global marketplace is in transition—rapid developments   in  mass  communications  technology and global and regional media such as CNN, MTV, CNBC, etc., have apparently created a homogenization of expectations and preferences. It is imperative to collect relevant information  to validate such assumptions as whether or not teenagers in a particular market do indeed share similar interests in fashion, music, films, and sports as new trends and related products are rapidly diffusing through the global media. The expansion of modern  retailing  worldwide  incorporating point-of-sale (POS) scanner technologies, and modern merchandising practices have also facilitated the collection of syndicated scanner data in many more countries in the globe. The rapid growth of malls has made it possible to conduct  mall intercept  interviews. Nevertheless, international marketing  researchers  also have to address the problems of availability and the use of secondary data in many underdeveloped markets, and the reliability, validity, and the comparability of data across various markets.

International marketing  research  continues  to be driven by a shift in focus to emerging markets, which are increasingly becoming the industry’s growth engines, in synchronization with the  growing force of globalization. The major research firms within the industry continue to broaden their client base, which seek to outsmart  their competitors by identifying the most  lucrative opportunities and targets  for investments.  The  most  intense  competition   for  market share of research services continues to be in the most mature  markets,  which enjoy stable overall market growth. The international research firms continue  to expand their analytical and consultancy services and growing their innovative products.

Bibliography:   

  1. Carrigan, S. Marinova, and I. Szmigin, “Ethics and International Marketing Research Background and Challenges,” International Marketing  Review (v.22/5,2005);
  2. Tamer  Cavusgil, S. Deligonul,  and  A. Yaprak, “International  Marketing  as a Field of Study: A Critical Assessment  of the Earlier Development  and a Look Forward,” Journal  of International  Marketing  (v.13/4, 2005);
  3. Samuel Craig and S. Douglas International Marketing Research, 3rd ed. (John Wiley and Sons, 2005);
  4. Alex R. Criado and  R. Criado,  “International  Marketing  Research: Opportunities and Challenges in the 21st Century,” Advances in International  Marketing  (v.17, 2007);
  5. G. de Jong, Jan Benedict Steenkamp, Jean Paul Fox, and Hans Baumgartner,  “Using Item  Response Theory to Measure Extreme Response Style in Marketing Research: A Global Investigation,” Journal of Marketing Research (v.45/1, 2008);
  6. P. Douglas and C. Samuel Craig, “On Improving the Conceptual Foundations  of International Marketing Research,” Journal of International  Marketing (v.14/1, 2006);
  7. ESOMAR, “Global Market  Research  2008,”  esomar.org (cited  March  2009);
  8. Kumar, International  Marketing Research (Prentice  Hall, 2000);
  9. Nakata and Y. Huang, “Progress and Promise: The Last Decade of International Marketing Research,” Journal of Business Research (v.58/5, 2005);
  10. V. Young and R. Javalgi, “International  Marketing Research: A Global Project Management  Perspective,” Business Horizons (v.50/2, 2007).

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