The Role of Marketing Research - Essay Example

Marketing research can serve as the primary tool to obtain the information needed to perform qualitative analysis about different areas within the marketing field. The descriptive role may be fulfilled through primary or secondary research techniques. An example of an application of marketing research fulfilling a descriptive role could be Toy R’ Us's company designing a package for a new toy that is attractive to young customers and persuades them to purchase it based on the packaging design. Marketing research also serves a diagnostic role for managerial purposes.

The diagnostic role involves predicting the products that can be introduced in a particular marketplace. Burger King may desire to expand its operation into a new international location. Marketing research can help this company predict the success or failure of its product offering in a particular location. Marketing research is a diagnostic tool that can prevent serious mishaps for this company. For example, somebody in the company mentions India as a great location due to the size of its population.

Marketing research is a tool that can predict the negative consequences of pursuing this strategic option since cattle in India is a sacred animal. Introducing a hamburger joint in a nation with such religious beliefs would not be a smart move by Burger King. A typical diagnostic application of marketing research is determining the reason a particular product is not achieving the desired sales the manager forecasted it would achieve. Marketing research also serves the function of being a prediction tool for executives of a firm.

One of the primary objectives of marketing research is to predict the potential demand for a product in a particular marketplace. Based on quantitative analysis and other predictive tools such as the Delphi method marketing research can be used to determine the demand of a product in a region such as the State of Florida. A product a company wants to introduce could be tailored-made for cooking Spanish food. Based on the size of the Hispanic population in Florida, the purchasing power of the Hispanic community, and the number of meals this ethnic group prepares at home in Florida a marketing executive could build a model with this marketing research data to predict the potential marketplace for this product in the state of Florida.

Marketing research could also be utilized to predict if a particular product would be successful in a marketplace saturated with many similar products based on the particular characteristics and price point of the company’s product. Marketing research is an extremely powerful tool that serves as a descriptive, diagnostic, and predictive tool that help a company improve its profitability.