Master of Business Administration- MBA Semester 3 MK0013 Marketing Research - 4 Credits (Book ID: B 1223)

Q1. Explain the marketing audit in detail. Answer: A marketing audit is a structured review of our current marketing activities. Well, like in any job, it is easy to get stuck in what we are doing in our marketing function. We are doing the same activities and we assume that we are facing the same competition and external environment. But the world in which we are competing is constantly changing and that's where a marketing audit can help us. It gives us the opportunity to review objectively what we are currently doing and it enables us to analyze our current performance as well as our past performance. Based on this we can then identify the next steps forward. Only by carrying marketing audits out on a regular basis we can be sure that we are moving with the time and anything our marketing departments does is in line with the internal and external environment and therefore provides the best possible benefit to our business. The marketing audit consists of two key areas: - External Audit- Internal Audit The external audit can be broadly split into three environments to be reviewed:- Economic environment (consisting of political, economic, social / cultural, technological, environmental and legal changes)Competitive environment (i.e. what and who are you competing against and how could this threaten your current market share and position)- Your own market environment (e.g. if your market is evolving or changing, maybe requiring you to rethink your key markets)The internal audit looks at your own business: What is your current situation, how profitable is your company and how effective is your marketing mix. Once you reviewed all of above key sections, you should summaries the outcome of your marketing audit in your marketing plan, clearly showing the current market position and market overview. Only now you know what the current market requires and how to effectively decide on your marketing plan for the future. So, in summary, a marketing audit does not necessarily audit what you are doing now, but it reviews all areas that are important to the success of your business both internally and externally and tries to align these. Only by considering all these areas can you know that you are doing the right things with your marketing activities and actively help your business grow and become stronger. Q2. Describe consumer research process in detail.
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Master of Business Administration- MBA Semester 3 MK0013 Marketing Research - 4 Credits (Book ID: B 1223)

Answer: The consumer research process You are conducting consumer research to test a new market segment, product or service or whether youre conducting ongoing research to gather feedback from clients, consumer research follows a set process. There are five steps in the consumer research process: Set objectives Plan activities Collect data Analyze data Report and recommend There is a very important point to make about these steps. The steps may seem to contain little more than a common-sense approach, containing nothing thats new to you. What consideration of these steps does is help you focus on setting your objectives first and not to progress to subsequent steps until youve set those objectives Step 1 - Set your consumer research objectives Your first step in the consumer research process is setting your objectives. Your objectives set your foundations for the remainder of your consumer research. The success of your consumer research project largely depends on how well you set your consumer research objectives and how well you plan. Step 2 - Plan your consumer research activities Activities flow from your objectives Your objectives (covered on the previous page) help you to stay focused on: why youre conducting the research what your planning priorities are the activities you need to do to achieve your objective. Good planning enables you to use creative and logical approaches to getting valuable information without exhausting your resources. Step 3 - Collect the data Weve covered setting your objectives and planning your activities. The third step is collecting the data. Data collection can range from being quite simple to being very technical and complex. In most cases, you can achieve your objectives
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Master of Business Administration- MBA Semester 3 MK0013 Marketing Research - 4 Credits (Book ID: B 1223)

Step 4 - Analysis Once youve collected your data and information, its time to analyze it. Data analysis is similar to data collection in that it can range from being quite simple to being very technical and complex. Again in most cases, you can analyze information and data using basic, common sense approaches. Step 5 - Develop your recommendations and reports We recommended earlier in the subject that you not analyze your data until you've gathered it all. We recommend additionally that you not formulate any recommendations until you've completed all the previous steps For example, once youve made recommendations serving the objective above, you might decide you need to document those findings and recommendations: then youll have a written history of the situation in case the staff member fails to implement skills from the training you offer. You usually get the best benefit from your consumer research when you do each step separately and in the recommended sequence Q3. What do you mean by data collection? Also explain the various types of data Collection techniques. Answer: Data collection is a process of collecting data using different methods. Data collection may include information about a person or any object. We can define Data Collection as process or method to collect data. Let us now explain the different types of data collection in research. Data collection is used to predict about a person or any object for future purpose. Basically there are two types of data collection. Primary data collection Secondary data collectionPrimary data collection is the original data collection. This is first hand information without any kind of editing. Data is pure and original. Secondary data collection is a collection of data where information is second hand. This data is collected from a person. So this data collection is not in pure form. Secondary data is not as relevant as primary data collection. Now let us see data collection in research: Technique of collecting data that is used in research process is called as data collection in research. There are six types of data collections which are used in research: 1: Questionnaires data collection 2: Interviews
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Master of Business Administration- MBA Semester 3 MK0013 Marketing Research - 4 Credits (Book ID: B 1223)

3: Tests 4: Focus group 5: Observations 6: Secondary data we collect data or information in such way that in future any researcher or a team of researcher will not have any trouble to get information about specific object. Data collection is very important aspect in research processes. Above techniques help in data accumulation which helps to obtain accurate results for experiments. This is all about data collection. Q4. What do you mean by Marketing Decision Support System (MDSS)? Also explain the various components of MDSS. Answer: A marketing decision support system is a system or method that can be employed to aid in evaluating possible marketing strategies and ultimately arriving at the decision considered in the best interests of the company. Sometimes referred to as a MKDSS, this strategy will pull on a number of resources in order to identify and project the outcome of several different business scenarios. Resources such as the information technology available to the company, marketing data that is gathered over a period of time, and even the modeling techniques used to come up with the projects are all part of this type of system. The type of data collected for use in a marketing decision support system will vary slightly, based on the type of goods and services sold by the client, and the configuration of the markets in which those products are sold. In terms of the market data that is collected, just about every approach will include gathering data regarding the cost of advertising using different forms of media, the impact of different unit prices on the sale of the products themselves, and even ideas on how to structure the advertising copy that serves as the basis for the campaign. Various types of software are used to allow easy input of the collected data, and then arrange that data into useful packets of information that can be applied to a variety of different scenarios. Using this method, it is possible to predict with a great deal of reliability what would happen if a particular scenario were chosen and pursued. One of the major benefits of a marketing decision support system is the ability to
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Master of Business Administration- MBA Semester 3 MK0013 Marketing Research - 4 Credits (Book ID: B 1223)

project the outcome of various scenarios before a great deal of money is investing in the marketing effort. There is no doubt that a marketing decision support system can save a great deal of time and money. By allowing a company to qualify the advertising strategy in advance, it is easier to make sound business decisions. In fact, the decisionmaking process itself is somewhat simplified, since it is not necessary to manually weed through a huge amount of data in order to create possible scenarios and follow a simulation through to the most likely outcome. From this perspective, the marketing decision support system makes it easier to identify the advantageous ways to move forward with a campaign, in terms of time, market focus, and cost. Q5. Write a short note on: A. Projective techniques of qualitative research B. Latest techniques of qualitative research Answer: A. Projective techniques of qualitative research Qualitative research sets out to understand the deeper meaning behind human behavior, and understanding projective techniques of qualitative research will help with any research project. Qualitative research is popular in business, and in many cases it will be used to help a business succeed. This article will discuss several different projective techniques of qualitative research. Word or Picture Association : With this type of qualitative research participants are asked to "match images, experiences, emotions, products and services, even people and places, to whatever is being studied" (Cooper& Schindler, 2006). This method of research helps determine what underlying thoughts occur when someone reflects on an image, figure, or idea. Sentence Completion: this is a simple and commonly used project technique of qualitative research. This method requires the participant to finish a sentence. This is a valuable tool that allows insight into the thoughts of the participant.

Master of Business Administration- MBA Semester 3 MK0013 Marketing Research - 4 Credits (Book ID: B 1223)

Thematic Apperception Tests: This interesting technique requires the participant to view a photograph or drawn picture. The participant must then explain what the person in the photo is feeling or thinking (Cooper & Schindler, 2006). This type of qualitative research can explain a lot about a person's thoughts and behavior. Component Sorts: Another projective technique is known as component sorts. This technique is used by showing participants several flash cards. These cards all have different features that represent the subject of research on them. This participant is asked to combine the flash cards into new arrangements. Imagination Exercises: When conducting qualitative research, imagination exercises are a beneficial technique. This means of research requires a participant to relate specific things to other specific things (Cooper& Schindler, 2006). For instance, the participant might be asked to relate a brand name to a location. This will help the researcher to judge what a person thinks or feels about something through association. Personification: An interesting projective technique that can be quite informative is personification. This technique requires a participant to think about a brand, product, person, or idea as being a person. The participant is them asked to describe the item as if they had human traits and characteristics. This is a projective technique that helps develop ideas about the emotions people have about said items. Projective techniques of qualitative research are necessary tools for business research. These methods are commonly used and widely known, and it is important to understand a variety of projective techniques to receive accurate and beneficial information when conducting qualitative research. Q6. Explain the methodology of primary data collection. Answer: Primary Data Collection Methods The methods of collecting primary and secondary data are very different since primary data arereally originally collected of the data, while if we take the

Master of Business Administration- MBA Semester 3 MK0013 Marketing Research - 4 Credits (Book ID: B 1223)

secondary data the nature of data collection work here is nothing but mere compilation . Primary Data Methods The primary data is the one type of important data. It is collection of data from first hand information. This information published by one organization for some purposes. This type of primary data is mostly pure and original data The primary data collection is having three different data collection methods. Those are explained given below: Data Collection through Investigation: In this method, trained investigators are working as employees for collecting the data. There searchers will use the tools like interview and collect the information from ask required questions from the individual persons. Personal Investigation Methods: The researchers or the data collectors has conducted the survey and collecting data. This method we have to collect more accurate data and original data. This method is useful for small data collection only not big collection of data projects. Data Collection through Telephones: The data researcher used the tools like telephones and mobile phones collect the information or data. This is accurate and very quick process for data collection. But information is not accurate and true