The Guardian of Every Business: Market Research
The corporate fate of the world is thriving and struggling at the same time. That makes me mesmerized and reminds me that the corporate world is no less than rocket science. There are so many things to learn and understand and to apply. The corporate field is the place where the economic fate of the world is dictated. So many entrepreneurs start so many businesses but very little can survive in the cruel marketplace. Why? what happens? what forces them to shut down their operation and to leave the marketplace? Surely buying or selling is not the only thing that matters. Then what else seems to be the factor, what else seems to be the game-changer, is it the quality of the product or services? Is it the lifetime of the product or service? Is it the supply or demand of that product or services? What is it?
The answer is market research. If the marketplace is a battlefield, then market research is a nuclear weapon. Apple, Mercedes, Coca-cola and so many successful companies are best in their respective fields not only for their extraordinary products but also for their brilliant market research. Market research can be compared to the guardian angel of a business plan. Market research serves greater purposes in need. It can answer any questions if done correctly. Market research can be done in many ways but the basic purpose is to achieve business objectives, answer business questions and solve business problems. Every business student must have a clear concept of market research as a doctor needs to have the basic knowledge of the human body. That’s why the purpose of this paper is to deliver some basic insights about market research and how it is done in a brief manner.
Market Research:
Market research is the process of determining the viability of a new service or product through research conducted directly with potential customers. Market research allows a company to discover the target market and get opinions and other feedback from consumers about their interest in the product or service.
There are three levels of Market Researcher:
Level One: Level one market researchers refer to those who are hired by the company just to make a survey.
Level Two: Level two researchers refer to those who make a survey, interprets the data and provides some important insights.
Level Three: Level three market researchers refer to those who make necessary surveys, interpret data, make recommendations and give directions.
Budgeting for a research plan:
Internal and secondary research can be completely free or of low cost.
Market researchers can buy data from various sources like e-marketer.com, or random phone calls.
It can be expensive ranging from 5000 dollars -50,000 dollars or more than that.
Internal research and Secondary research:
Internal research indicates the research that is done by the internal research wing of the organization. Sometimes the corporations need outside help and sometimes they conduct research with their own research facilities.
Defining Secondary Research
1. The use or collection of existing or past research.
2. The data has already been collected in the past for another research.
3. The name is secondary research because it is secondary to the actual purpose
While researching using secondary data the market researcher must be careful about a few things.
After Collecting Secondary Data
The first thing to do is to check the credibility of the data
The researcher must check if the source is original
If the secondary data is not original and if the source is not original, it will bring disaster to the firm and to the reputation of the researcher as well.
Now it is time to understand Primary Research:
Primary Research:
Research that addresses the primary objective in the first place.
Customizable or can be changed or adapted according to the business problem.
Never existed before therefore the originality of the research is unquestioned.
Adaptable.
Potentially identifies areas to research.
Three more research classifications:
Quantitative Research means research through surveys such as by questioning and by getting forms filled up by other customers or by doing some phone calls. In this classification, the researcher asks the clients questions that can be answered by a brief statement or by simply Yes or No or by numerical data.
Quantitative Research can be turned into statistics, graphs, charts or something that can give a numerical idea of the research.
Qualitative research means doing research by the help of the focused groups such as passion communities and other dedicated groups. Qualitative research brings some insight into how customers think about the company or their product. For example, Facebook and Instagram group or community.
3.Observational Research:
Observing the behaviour of customer’s or to answer business questions to solve a business problem. This is a very good way to research but usually takes a little bit of time. This research can provide some serious insights about how the customers behave in a particular situation. It is a nice way to research.
Sudipta Barua
Session: 2018-19
Department of Banking & Insurance
