Discussions with Decision Makers - Importance for Effective Research

1. Understand the importance of and the process used for defining the marketing research problem.

2. Describe the tasks involved in problem definition, including discussions with decision makers, interviews with industry experts, secondary data analysis, and qualitative research.

3. Discuss the environmental factors affecting the definition of the research problem: past information and forecasts, resources and constraints, objectives of the decision maker, buyer behavior, legal environment, economic environment, and marketing and technological skills of the firm.

4. Clarify the distinction between the management decision problem and the marketing research problem.

5. Explain the structure of a well-defined marketing research problem, including the broad statement and the specific components.

6. Discuss in detail the various components of the approach: objective/ theoretical framework, analytical models, research questions, hypotheses, and specification of information needed.

7. Acquire an appreciation of the complexity involved and gain an understanding of the procedures for defining the problem and developing an approach in international marketing research.

8. Understand the ethical issues and conflicts that arise in defining the problem and developing the approach.

Discussions with decision makers (DM) are extremely important. The DM needs to understand the capabilities and limitations of research. Research provides information relevant to manage-ment decisions, but it cannot provide solutions because solutions require managerial judgment. Conversely, the researcher needs to understand the nature of the decision managers face and what they hope to learn from the research.

To identify the management problem, the researcher must possess considerable skill in interacting with the DM. Several factors may complicate this interaction. Access to the DM may be difficult, and some organizations have complicated protocols for access to top executives. The organizational status of the researcher or the research department may make it difficult to reach the key DM in the early stages of the project. Finally, there may be more than one key DM and meeting with them collectively or individually may be difficult. Despite these problems, it is necessary that the researcher interact directly with the key decision makers.

The problem audit provides a useful framework for interacting with the DM and identify-ing the underlying causes of the problem. The problem audit, like any other type of audit, is a comprehensive examination of a marketing problem with the purpose of understanding its origin and nature.⁶ The problem audit involves discussions with the DM on the following issues that are illustrated with a problem facing McDonald’s:

• The events that led to the decision that action is needed, or the history of the problem. McDonald’s, a long-time leader in the fast-food industry, was losing market share in 2003 and 2004 to competitors such as Burger King, Wendy’s, and Subway in some of the key markets. This problem came into sharper focus as these competitors launched new prod-ucts and aggressive promotional campaigns, whereas the recent campaigns of McDonald’s were not as successful. 

• The alternative courses of action available to the DM. The set of alternatives may be incomplete at this stage, and qualitative research may be needed to identify the more innovative courses of action. The alternatives available to the management of McDonald’s include introducing new sandwiches and menu items, reducing prices, opening more restaurants, launching special promotions, and increasing advertising. 

• The criteria that will be used to evaluate the alternative courses of action. For example, new product offerings might be evaluated on the basis of sales, market share, profitability, return on investment, and so forth. McDonald’s will evaluate the alternatives based on contributions to market share and profits. 

• The potential actions that are likely to be suggested based on the research findings. The research findings will likely call for a strategic marketing response by McDonald’s. 

• The information that is needed to answer the DM’s questions. The information needed includes a comparison of McDonald’s and its major competitors on all the elements of the marketing mix (product, pricing, promotion, and distribution) in order to determine relative strengths and weaknesses. 

• The manner in which the DM will use each item of information in making the decision. The key decision makers will devise a strategy for McDonald’s based on the research find-ings and their intuition and judgment. 

• The corporate culture as it relates to decision making.In some firms, the decision-making process is dominant; in others, the personality of the DM is more important. Awareness of corporate culture may be one of the most important factors that distinguishes researchers who affect strategic marketing decisions from those who do not. The corporate culture at McDonald’s calls for a committee approach in which critical decisions are made by key decision makers.

Please note:

1) Brand Name - McDonald's.

2) Reasons for failure- Mc Donald had failed in the Indian market.

3) "Marketing issues facing the company" Describe these in detail. These could be opportunities or problems.