INTERNATIONAL MARKET RESEARCH

 INTERNATIONAL MARKET RESEARCH

                International market research refers to how business organizations engaged in international trades and make decisions that will leads to allocation of resources in the markets with greatest potential for sales . This process of market screening helps to maximize sales and profits by identifying and selecting the most desirable markets. 

       WHY DO WE NEED TO CONDUCT INTERNATIONAL MARKET RESEARCH ?

         International market research is needed because export/ investment decisions are often made without a careful assessment  of foreign market and its environment . This is often the perception of other markets/ organizations as the extension of domestic market with assumptions that the methods (practices )which work at home will also work abroad. The cost of conducting international market research is seen as high and managers make export decisions based on short terms and changing market needs ( reactive approach ). Environmental screening / scanning is a prerequisite for the successful competitive export strategies . 

     The following are the  main reasons for international marketing research :

(1) Identify , evaluate and compare the size and potential of various markets and select the most desirable (best) market for a given product or service .

(2) Assess market changes that may require to change in the company's strategy . A firm may research a market using either primary or secondary data sources . 

         PRIMARY MARKET  RESEARCH : primary market research ( using primary data ) to conduct market research by collecting data directly from the foreign market place through interview , focus group discussion , observation, surveys and experimention with representative and potential buyers . The attempt to answer certain questions about specific markets on sales potentials and pricing. Primary market research has the advantage of being tailored to the company's market and therefore provides specific information concerning the target market and sample population . However , collecting such data is often expensive and time consuming as experts have to travel abroad , pay hotel bills for logging and feeding . 

        SECONDARY MARKET RESEARCH :  Its based on data previously collected and assembled for certain projects other than the one at hand . such information can be gotten from the library or inside some companies or it can be purchased from publications or private organizations that is specialized in providing information such as oversea market studies , country market surveys, export statistics on profits , foreign trade exports or competitive assessment of specific industries .  Although such data are readily available and inexpensive , there certain limitations that apply to using secondary data sources :

(a) The information often does not meet one's specific needs . This is because these information are collected by others for their own purpose . They may be too broad or too narrow in terms of their scope of coverage to be much valued for the research at hand. Also some of the information or materials collected may be out of date or not relevant for the purpose intended . 

(b) There could be differences in definition of  terms or units of measurement that make it difficult to categorize and compare the research data .

(c) It is difficult to assess the accuracy of the information because little information is known about the research design or techniques used to gather the data specifically about the product or service. 

            It is worth noting that people a company / organization moves internationally , ample market research is needed and its often nice to send an expert term abroad to carry these research . Though costly and time consuming , it gives the right result to the management to decide base on the research  results.