Why Organisations Should Spend Time Gathering Secondary Data Prior to Undertaking Primary Research - Coursework Example

Task Introduction Managing a business well in today’s dynamic world requires having up d information about the present, to be able to predict the future more precisely. This requires undertaking a marketing research. Marketing research is a systematic process of designing processes of collecting, analyzing and reporting data so that the information about the prevailing situation may be interpreted to the business managers. An organization may carry out primary research in which researchers gather facts about the prevailing situation through observation, surveys, and behavioral data and through experimentation. Most organizations initially gather secondary data before undertaking the primary research. Secondary data are data about the subject at hand that may be already into existence somewhere within the reach of the organization, having being collected by the organization or another body and therefore the information may be useful partly or wholly in handling the problem at hand. Reasons Why Organizations Spend Time Gathering Secondary Data The information that already exists somewhere may help the researching organization in expanding its knowledge regarding the problem to be solved. The company may use such report to find out what others have done in a particular field of study. The secondary data may also help an organization it its preparation for primary research, by helping in identifying the tools and materials that need to be used in order to make the future research successful. The secondary materials may also help an organization to understanding the progress that other researchers have made. This help in avoiding certain research problems in order to use the available resources effectively. The company may also use the secondary data to identify the needed resources for the research work to be successful. It helps in setting realistic period for the research work that the organization intends to undertake, and to assemble a team of researchers for different roles in the research process. Advantages of Using Secondary Data Data collected externally may be more objective since no one within the organization may have influenced the outcome of the data. This is usually useful when the data needed to solve the current problem does not exist anywhere in the organization, it may be appropriate to obtain the data that may have been collected by other pioneer organizations in the same industry. This helps the researchers to identify areas of focus to solve the problem effortlessly. Using data that was collected by other organizations in solving related problem is part of the learning process that is useful when handling many research problems for the first time. This helps in avoiding some obvious mistakes that may lead to wastage of resources and time in the earlier researches (Kotler et al, 2009) The organization may find relevant data that touches similar problems that the company is seeking to solve. In marketing, it is common knowledge that all products goes through the product life cycle and all organizations goes through the same learning curves. It is therefore a reality that the problem that any organization may be dealing with at present may have been faced by another organization in the past. When data is acquired from other organization, it may influence the learning process much faster for smaller organization, whose resources are constrained. It is cheaper to obtain in different forms of research findings as needed by the organization for solving a specific problem at hand. The process of obtaining materials that already exist to be used in solving a related marketing problem is shorter. The processes of obtaining such existing data may at time cost the organization almost nothing or only a small cost may be involved. This is useful when there is need to save on the cost and time availability. Secondary data is readily available in variety. Today the world is today experiencing information explosion, and therefore every type of information that may be needed by nay organization is readily available somewhere. It is therefore convenient for any organization seeking to solve a problem to find out what information is available and what related problems have solved by other organizations in the past. This is useful in avoiding certain mistakes and helping the organization to get many approaches to solving a problem. This saves time and other organizational resources. Internally obtained secondary data may also help in reflecting the existing corporate condition so that the research to be conducted is specifically targeted. This leads to the solution of the real problem. Disadvantages of Secondary Data When an organization decides to use data that were collected by other institutions for solving their own problems, it comes with a number of challenges. Such information may outdated by the time the organization is obtaining it for its use. The business environment changes too fast and the information also lose its relevance too fast. The information that is being obtained may carry a big risk of being found as outdated due to changes in the business environment (Jobber & Fahy, 2009) The secondary data may be incomplete with regard to the scope of the problem that the company seeks to solve. Those collecting any information for their use usually focus on certain areas of the problem, which appear to be of priority to meeting their marketing objectives. Therefore, when a company obtains information that was collected by another company, it may follow the same perspective of another organization. As a result, the company will fail to solve the actual problem at hand (Kotler, et al. 2009). Unreliability of the data may be difficult to ascertain when it is being used. The readily available data cannot tell of the stages that were used by the researches during the data collection process. The data that the organization may rely on may have not followed all the procedures of a scientific research or the researchers may have been biased in any way. All these affect the final information that those end-users may get. It is therefore with caution that secondary data should be used to avoid promoting the same biased, since not every individual may be aware of specific biases in his life. The secondary may be too complex or too shallow for the problem at hand. The secondary data being obtained at any given time will rarely fit into the unique situation facing a marketing organization. It is therefore difficult to rely entirely on a secondary research to solve the unique marketing problem. The secondary data may make the marketing problem facing the company to appear too complex or too simple. This under and overestimation of the problem, will make the organization to solve the actual problem facing it. Relying on secondary data, may therefore compromise the solution being sought for a particular problem (Jobber & Fahy, 2009) How to Overcome the Disadvantages of Secondary Data Since even the best secondary data may still have some risks in solving the marketing problem facing the any organization, a number of precautions should be taken to minimize the disadvantages that have been identified above. This requires the organization intending to use the secondary data to consider the time factor before obtaining any secondary data. The time duration between when the data was collected to when it is being obtained for use by the organization should be factored. This may indicate whether some variables that determine the market changes may have occurred after the research was conducted. This will help in gauging the suitability of the data being obtained for marketing use. Time is a critical factor in any market, and as time elapses, a number of changes occur, such as customer taste and preference, fashion and purchasing power. The organization should therefore consider the time duration from when the research was conducted to when the information is being obtained for use. A team of qualified staff should verify the information before is adopted by an organization as suitable to its problem at hand. Any information that is obtained from another organization may appear useful, until it has been analyzed by a team of qualified staff. The organization intending to use the information should therefore avail a team of specialists, who can verify the stages and assumptions that were made in collecting, analysis and interpretations of the final information. This will help the organization to discern between all the available secondary information in order to select the most appropriate one to the problem at hand (Kotler, et al, 2009). The scope of the problem should be clearly defined. The extent of the problem to be solved by the organization should be considered. The selection and suitability of the secondary data should be determined by the areas to be covered in solving the problem at hand. The nature of the problem facing the company in its current market, and the problem to be solved, should dictate the type of secondary data to be used. A company will have a variety of secondary data found in the form of books, report, and different research findings. All these may be considered suitable depending on the problem at hand. Every organization faces a unique problem, which must just be solved for it to achieve its marketing objectives. The specific type of the problem should therefore determine the type of secondary data to adopt to solve the problem at hand. The reputation other research firm should be considered before accepting their research material. Any organization seeking secondary data for solving any problem should verify the history, and reputation of each organization whose secondary research is available. This is may help an organization to only use data prepared by the most professional bodies. This will help in overcoming fears that their data may be compromised in any way. The reputation may include years of experience and specialization of the organization in question. The source of the information should be verified. The organization whose secondary data is being obtained for use should be one that is known to the organization. There is need to avoid relying on the data provided by unknown or less reputable. This will compromise the outcome of the information being obtained by the researching organization (Kotler, et al, 2009) Comparison of different research findings should be done to select the best. This requires an organization to verify the secondary data from a number of reputable bodies. All such data, which covers the same area of interest, should all be scrutinized and evaluated for suitability. A criteria may be set by the researching organization to find judge the most appropriate organization whose report in can use to expand on the needed knowledge. When a variety of secondary data is availed, an organization can compare the different data and select the most appropriate one. This would mean suitability to the solution of the problem at hand (McGivern, 2009). The Information Available on the ONS The trend in Overseas Tourism to the UK is a secondary data that can be used by marketing department of the government to plan for the tourism activities to the UK. The information available on the ONS shows that International visits fell. This may be attributed to a number of factors such as the global economic hardships that makes any people to become conscious in their expenses. The visits to the UK and the visits out of UK by its citizens also fell in the last by 5%. There seems to be common factors that have affected both the normal tourists to the UK and the UK tourists to other countries also. This explains that the world tourist market has become similar in many ways. The major factor for such a similar pattern is the economic slowdown of the entire globe. Many people have become too careful with how they spend their income, and may prefer domestic destinations instead of the foreign ones. Earning from Visits to the UK fell to 2%, while the expenditure on visits abroad also fell by 4%. This is a true reflection of the real picture. When UK receives a few visitors, the revenue earned from the collection at the various attraction sites is missed. When fewer UK residents travel to other countries, the expenditure in other countries expected to be low as well. Fewer visitors outside UK mean fewer resources of the UK residents being spent in other countries. Long-term overseas visits to the UK have risen by 3% in the past 12 months. There are certain sections of the population that will be expected to continue flowing into the UK for long-term. They include students from foreign countries who and others on specific occupation that are moving in to stay for a longer time. This segment explains the importance of the unique services found in the country that enables it to attract long-term visitors. Visits abroad by UK residents have remained unchanged in the past 12 months. Some of the residents of UK have regular visits to other parts of the world annually and this does change even when some factors appear prohibitive. The most dominant group is the immigrants and those with dual citizens who travel to visit friends and relatives every year as part of their travel arrangements. The main purpose of visits remains holidays, followed by business and Miscellaneous. These have been the dominant reasons for many years. It is a testimony about the importance of the UK as centre of tourism and as a business hub for many businesses around the globe. The most visited cities are London, Edinburg, Manchester, Birmingham and Glasgow, Liverpool, Oxford and Bristol among others. The main attraction places or sites in UK are galleries, museums and stately homes are the major attractions, wild life attractions and zoos. The tourism visitors to the UK are annually recorded at various attraction sites. Recession and the world economic slowdown has made is impossible for many people to travel or go for holiday in other countries. The bad weather that at times dominates the better part of the year is an inconvenience to many tourists. The prolonged winter and the snow that has become at times beyond the predictable weather patterns has been one of the reasons why many tourists do not visit the UK. Security concerns and tight documentation for visitors has scared some visitors away. Since the terrorism became a worldwide concern, it has caused fear in many tourists who find it difficult to travel for holiday reasons. Many tourists like to travel in their domestic homes to avoid the long travelling distances and to be near their homes near jobs. The travel costs have really increased over the years, especially the cost of air ticket. This cost has continued to go up due to the high cost of fuel for many travel operators. Many tourists therefore prefer to travel by water and by train to avoid incurring heavy travel costs. This should be made possible by government arrangement so that both air and water transport systems are safer for all visitors to UK. The aviation industry have adjusted the baggage allowances to the passengers to cushion the customers against the ever increasing air travelling costs, since the aviation industry has faces many challenges lately. There is an increase in group tourism, in which a number of visitors travel as a group and live in groups in order to save on the accommodation costs. This is cost effective especially for younger visitors who are able to do everything in groups as opposed to individuals. This creative approach has been accommodated by many UK service providers. Many companies that serve the tourism sectors have designed packages that suit tourist groups. The charges to parks, galleries and other tourist attraction sites have reflected this new development. The average duration of stay of inbound visitor in UK during their visit is on the decline. This means that the occupancy rate is expected to be low most of the time. The economic factors are the chief determinants of the time-span of stay by visitors. The main external influences on international travel to Britain include socio-economic, demographic, and political factors. Conclusion An organization can use secondary data to gain knowledge about the problem that it intends to solve. There also exist varieties of secondary data in the form or reports and records that may have been collected by other institutions for solving related or similar problems to the one facing an organization. However to benefit from such secondary sources of data, the researching organization should be able to set up an internal research team to verify and compare the different sources of secondary data. Tourism as a sector also relies on secondary data to plan for the marketing opportunities that arise. The existing secondary data helps in monitoring the past trends and the present and helps in predicting the future trends in the industry. The data being used should be valid, reliable and relevant to the marketing problem being solved by an organization. The secondary data may be found elsewhere within the organization in the form of different types of reports or it may be obtained from external sources like government agencies and commercial vendor. References Allan, Fyall & Brian Garrod, (2005), Tourism Marketing; A Collaborative approach. Channel View Publications, London. Daniel, R. Fasenmaier, Joseph T. O’Leary, Muzaffer Uysal, (1996), Recent advances in tourism marketing research, The Haworth Press. USA. Gilbert A. Churchill, Jr. & Dawn Iacobucci, (2005), Marketing Research: Methodological. Foundations, Cengage Learning, New York. Jan Wild & Colin Diggins (2009), Marketing Research, Juta and Company Ltd, South Africa Jobber, D. & Fahy, J., (2009), Foundation of Marketing, McGraw-Hill, New York. McGivern, Y, (2009), The practice of market research, Pearson Education Ltd. Edinburg. Peter Webber, (1998), The UK: Places and Cases, Stanley Thomas Ltd. London. Philip Kotler, Garry Armstrong, Veronica Wong, John A. Saunders, (2009), Principles of Marketing. Prentice Hall, London. Smith, John, (2005), Tourism and Travel, Heinemann, Oxford. Susan Briggs (1997) Successful Tourism Marketing: A practical Handbook, Kogan Page Ltd. London. Terry Liu V., (2006), Tourism Management: new research, Nova Science Publishers. New York. www.ons.gov.uk Read More