MARKETING RESEARCH

Manager cannot always wait for information to arrive in bits and pieces from the marketing intelligence system. They often require formal studies of specific situation. Marketing is becoming more of a battle based on information than one based on sales power. Business firms use of marketing research has grown continuously over the past fifty years, since managers painfully learned the cost of marketing ignorance. Its use has extended now into political and other non-business organizations. The modern manager must have knowledge of its method and now to use overview of the research process, and offers a glimpse of the profession. Mainly, there are three important points emerge which are relevant for any marketing executive. First, that consumer interest and market considerations are the kingpins of marketing decision. Second that the Indian market and its environment present both variety and complexity. And third, that the varieties of factors governing consumer behavior further confound this complexity. Under this situation market decision-making is both problem and a challenge. To meet this problem and challenge, it is essential for every marketing manager to develop a dependable marketing data and information base for decision-making. For generating such data and information, it is essential that every marketing organization collects, records, and analyses relevant data. This job of collection, recording and analyzing relevant data for marketing decision is known as marketing research.

Marketing Research is the systematic design, collection, analysis and reporting of data and finding relevant to specific marketing situation facing the company. - Philip Kotler The systematic gathering, recording and analyzing of data about problems relating to the marketing of goods and services. - American Marketing Association An analysis of these definitions clearly highlights some salient points about marketing research. First, that it is a search for data which are relevant to marketing problems problems in different functional areas of marketing stretching from market to physical distribution and covering problems relating to consumer behavior, product, sale distribution channels, advertising, pricing and physical distribution. Second that it is carried out in a systematic manner as opposed to a haphazard to hit and miss manner. It means that the whole search process is planned which clear objective and programmes of investigation action. Airtel is cellular services provider and after opening cellular market by liberalization, globalization and privatization the competition is highly increased in the market because of new private players enter into the field and also foreign companies come in market because India is a developing country and having a very high population they find a very big potential market in India and also foreign investor are interested in Indian market and invested over here. And therefore company required competitiveness and to evaluate satisfaction of customer, to know the problems of customer and their behaviour, to evaluate the product from the point of view of the customer and to know about the distributor and distribution channel and pricing of the product and by change in the prices and products effect in the market on the consumer. To know the Brand image and company image in

the market and also do a role of need analyzer of potential consumer, to know the promotion effect i.e. advertising awareness, awareness and effect of the sale promotion and to know the effectiveness of the personnel selling. The company Airtel wants to do marketing research to find the solution of all the problems, which helps in decision-making.

ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE
Director (marketing) Circle Marketing Manager Marketing Research Executive Advertising Executive Sales Executives

Statistician Team

Tabulator Team

Analyst Team

Coder Team

Behavioral Scientist Team

Editor

Library

Marketing Research officers Investigator Team

Supervisor

Advertising Agency

Research Agency

MARKETING RESEARCH PROCESS

Define the Problem and Research Objective
The first and the foremost step in the research procedure is problem formulation. It involves developing an understanding of the problem, which requires the attention of researchers, and composing it after considering all factors impinging on the problem. It means, each subject to be studied should be defined as carefully as possible so that its scope and dimensions may be clear before further steps are contemplated. The research problem may be either to identify the marketing problem area of to develop possible solutions of both. It is wrong to suppose that the job of marketing research is only to find solutions to problems; it may be required to identify problems also. For example, sales analysis may be undertaken to identify the sales trend and the performance weaknesses in respect of different market segments. Also, attempts may be made to develop possible solution tom arrest an unplanned or declining sales trend. Once the problem is defined the researcher has to frame research objective and develop the appropriate hypotheses. Research objectives are a frame of ends to be achieved by the research study. Researchers address themselves to the Why of the study. Why do we want to study the problem? What do we expect form the study? These are the relevant questions, whose answer provides a clear direction to formulate appropriate objectives of research.

Determine Sources of Information

In terms of sources the information may be secondary or primary. The secondary sources provide secondary data, which are collected not for a specific research objective of the company but for other purposes. These are readily available in company records and are also published by different government, quasigovernment and private organizations. Company has their internal records, which they can use in future. Salesmens periodical reports, call-reports, sales orders, dealer accounts, consumer complaints, etc. are some such examples of company records which provide such useful information. Although data gathered and published by other organizations are not collected for specific company objectives, they do meet specific data requirement of the research after necessary treatment, if any required. Primary sources provide by primary data, which are collected by the company for specific purposes. These are collected from consumers, salesman, and dealers through field surveys, observation, or experimentation. These methods have been discussed in the subsequent pages.

Preparation of Data Collection Forms

In case of primary data collection the data is collected first time so the questions to be asked will have to be presented to the respondents in a comprehensible and acceptable form. For this purpose, usually a structured questionnaire is prepared which lists all relevant questions in a serial. However, there cannot be uniform questionnaire for all studies it will vary according to the need of the study. The form of questionnaire depends on the nature of information sought, the kind of respondents (consumer/dealers) and the data collection method (field survey/observation) used by the company.

Sample Designing
After preparing data collection forms, researchers have to identify the respondents to be contacted. For this purpose, two alternatives are available. First, the whole population or universe of respondents may be contacted and answers sought. However, it may not be always possible and event necessary to seek answers from all the respondents. Besides, it may be very costly and time consuming. Therefore, researchers usually choose thee second alternative of selecting a sample of respondent from the universe. A sample is small number of items, parts, or respondents chosen at random from a large number of iteams and tending to have similar characteristics nearly in the same proportion as in the universe. To be useful sample should be representative and proportionate. Representative sample means that the sample should be large enough to represent the universe.

Sampling plan
After deciding on the research approach and instruments, the marketing researchers must design a sampling plan. This plan calls for three decisions:
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Sampling Unit: - Who is to be surveyed ? the marketing researcher must define the target population that will be sampled. Sample size: - How many people should be surveyed? Large sample is more reliable than small sample yet some times we have to go for small sample and that should be decided that how many samples are to be surveyed. Sampling Procedure:- How should the respondence chosen? The sample should be chosen on random basis or after proper analysis of the survey objective and appropriate people for that survey.

There are some sampling methods which are as follows:

Random Sample
If a sample is drawn in such a manner that each time an item is selected, each item in the population or universe has an equal chance of being drawn, the sample is said to be a random one. Under these conditions, each combination of a specified number of items will have the same probability of being selected. This is sometimes referred to as unrestricted or simple random sampling.

Systematic Sample
When a sample is obtained by drawing every, say, tenth iteams on a list or in a file, the sample is systematic one. However, the first item is selected at random. For example, the sample of respondents may be drawn from the census, voters list or telephone directory in this fashion.

Cluster Sample
It is sometimes referred to as area sample also. Where it is not possible or necessary to prepare of get a full list of the population, the researcher might, instead, get the list of blocks of residents, select a sample of these blocks, at random, and then interview all or some residents of the blocks falling in the sample.

Stratified Sample
When a universe of population is known to be heterogeneous and when that heterogeneity has a bearing on the characteristics being studied, the population may be divided into strata and random samples of units drawn from each stratum. However, in order to use a stratified sample, some information

regarding the population and its strata should be available to the researcher.

Non-probability Sample
A probability sample is one in which it is possible to ascertain the chance, probability, of and individual item being included in the sample. In this kind of sample it is also possible to measure with some degree of mathematical exactness the reliability of the research results. However, probability sampling may be very expensive and time consuming, particularly when the respondents are dispersed over a wide geographic area.

Data Collection
After selecting the sample for investigation, the next immediate job of the researcher is to deploy investigators in the field so as to carry out investigation. Their job is to contact respondents and gather data according to the method suggested and directions given. It is therefore necessary that planned, investigators are properly selected and trained, and methods are evolved to control their operations. Data collection has to be wellmanaged operation so as to ensure the success of all the preceding steps.

Data Processing: Tabulation, Analysis and Interpretation

When the data collection job is completed, the next job is to process these data in order to arrive at conclusions. The data processing job involves editing, tabulation, analysis and interpretation of data. In editing the data collection forms, the researcher makes sure that the instructions given to investigators were followed, all the questions were asked and answered, and that answers are consistent and logical. Editing facilitates the task

of tabulation they are assigned codes so that they may be punched in to cards, which may be sorted and counted by electronic/mechanical data processing machines.

Report Writing
The end result of all the above described exercise is the report to be submitted to the marketing executive. Broadly, the report contains analysis and conclusions based on the research data. However, there are variations in the nature of reporting. Some reports narrate the whole research procedure whereas other simply concentrated on the analysis and conclusions and give recommendations relevant to the research objectives and hypotheses. All this, nevertheless, depends on the quality of the report audience.

TYPES OF MARKETING RESEARCH

Marketing research may be broadly divided in to two types, namely quantitative research and qualitative research.

Qualitative Research
In quantitative research, an attempt is made to observe or determine statistically the behaviour of different marketing components. It attempts to find out the consumer profile relevant to the marketing problem under study. It probes them at the conscious level in order to find out, for example, as to what how. Much, and from where do they buy and their opinions and reactions towards different components of the marketing mix. The emphasis is on gathering statistics and analyzing them by the application of various statistical techniques. However, it does not find out as to why a respondent has behaved in the manner he has. In fact, it cannot find it out because for seeking and answer to the why of respondent behaviour the researcher is required to probe him/her at the subconscious and unconscious levels and in quantitative research no such attempt is made. The qualitative research makes up this deficiency and attempts to complete the information package required for marketing decision making by providing answers to the why of behaviour.

Qualitative Research
Qualitative research attempts to determine as to why a person has behaved in the manner he/she has. It seeks to probe the respondents at their sub-conscious levels and uncover reasons, some say motives, for their behaviour, which even they do not know at times. This type of research is often referred to as motivation research. There is a lot of difference of opinion about the use of the term motivation research because, it is said, and it refers to motives only and excludes other psychological aspects of consumer behaviour, which influence buying behaviour. According to Britt, the next time you hear motivation research, therefore, may be defined as research carried out to understand the causative factors of consumer behaviour as embedded in the behavioral aspects of his/her personality. These aspects may include attitudes, assumptions, images, motives, etc.

TECHNIQUES OF MARKETING RESEARCH

There are mainly two techniques of marketing research, which are as follows:

Survey
The survey method of marketing research is systematic gathering of information from respondents for the purpose of understanding and/or preceding some aspects of the behaviour of the population of interest. Surveys may be carried out both in the quantitative and qualitative researches. In this method, after having selected the right kind of sample and designed the appropriated questionnaire with closed or open-ended questions contained in the questionnaire. The administration of questionnaire to a respondent in this manner is called interview. Such interviews may be classified according to the degree of structure and directness of questions. Structure refers to the amount of freedom the interviewer has in altering the questionnaire to meet the exigencies of interview. Generally, respondents are interviewed personally by telephone or by mail. In personal interviewing, the investigator contacts the respondent personally and asks questions and records his/her answers in a face-to-face situation. Although this method is very expensive and its success largely depends on the quality and efficiency of the interviewer.

Observation
Observation means viewing or taking note of some act or occurrence. In marketing research, this method of investigation is used both in the quantitative and qualitative researches. In this method, unlike the survey method, the observer does not ask any question to the person but rather observes his/her actions generally without letting the person know that he/she is being observed. For example, no question is asked to a respondent as to what brand of a product he/she buys. But his/her purchase behaviour itself if observed at the point of purchase to determine the brand preference. Likewise, to assess the quality of the salesmanship of a salesman in a store, no direct questions are asked to him but an observer may disguise as buyer and assess it during an interaction with salesman.

THE SIX CHARACTERISTICS OF MARKETING RESEARCH

i. Scientific Methods: Effective research uses the principle of the scientific method: careful observation, formulation of hypotheses, prediction and testing. Researchers Creativity: At its best, marketing research develops innovative ways to sale a problem. Multiple Methods: Good marketing researchers shy away from over reliance on any method. They also recognize the value of using two or three methods to increase confidence in the result. Interdependence of models and data: Goodmarketing researchers recognizes that data are interpreted from underlying models that guide the type of information sought. Value and cost of information: good marketing researchers show concern for estimating the value of information against its cost. Ethical Marketing: Good marketing research benefits both the sponsoring company and its customers. The misuse of marketing research can harm or annoy consumers.

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MARKET RESEARCH IN AIRTEL

Market research answers questions in respect of different markets. The purpose of this research is to gather facts about markets and the forces operating there in, like competitors and government, so as to enhance the competitive strength of the company in the market place. The areas of market research broadly include: Determining the size of both current and potential market. Assessing the market trends; Ascertaining the strengths and weaknesses of competitors marketing strategies; Determining the impact of current and contemplated legislative actions of the state on the marketing effort of the company and Demand and sales forecasting. Every week sales estimation is done. And that is done on the basis of the last weekly sales and the trends going in the market and the schemes in the effect and also considering the consumers need and wants with their test and preference. And also very much aware about the competitors strategies and their position in the market and on that basis they decide their strategies to overcome the competitors strategies and to compete in the market.