Factors for the Cross Cultural Research and Surveying in International Marketing Research - Coursework Example

INTERNATIONAL MARKETING RESEARCH Factors to be considered for the Cross Cultural research and Surveying in international marketing research ………………………. College …………………………… Date of Submission ………… Words Count ………1671…. Introduction International marketing has undergone fundamental changes in the last few decades. Global trends of political and economic liberalization have created tremendous business opportunities as well as challenges for global marketers. Information has been considered to be a key component in developing successful marketing from the global opportunities and meeting the challenges by avoiding marketing blunders. Information can be either acquired through research or bought from trusted research vendors. Entering in to a new foreign market is one of the most daunting and ambiguous marketing strategic decision that needs careful and intensive market research so as to assess the opportunities to specific market information for decisions regarding product, promotion, distribution and pricing etc. This piece of research paper is prepared as a report to address the factors and relevant matters to be considered in choosing the research methods for the cross-cultural research. This paper analyses how far the marketing campaign with ‘animes’, which was successful in Taiwan, can be effective in India. This paper also examines the theoretical as well as practical appropriateness of using surveys for the cross-cultural market research. Cross-Cultural Research Ember and Ember (2009) stated that the term cross cultural refers to any kind of comparison between different cultures. The cross cultural research focuses on systematic comparisons that aim to answer the questions about the incidence, distribution and causes of cultural variances (p. 2). The cross cultural researchers usually apply standards principles of scientific methods and research design, with the help of random or other sampling methods that are assumed to be unbiased, reliable and dependable so that others can replicate the results (Ember and Ember, 2009, p. 3). Cross-cultural research has been a significant part of anthropological discipline in which researchers have worked with different people of different cultural and social settings mainly by using ethnography for the data collection (Liamputtong, 2008, p. 3). Entering in to a new country remains to be a marketing challenge because, different countries have different cultures and social backgrounds therefore it is imperative that researchers increasingly need to ensure that their work should be conducted ethically and considering the cultural norms as well. Factors to be considered for the Cross Cultural Research While conducting cross cultural marketing research, there are various issues that researchers are to consider them and take necessary arrangements so as to solve the issues. The major issues are detailed below: Relevance of theory Malhotra and McCort (2001) argued that various antecedents to culture, education, ecology, anthropology and language can result in differences in the models of thoughts and theories that make the universality of the theory questionable (p. 239). Douglas and Craig (2006) put forward the same thought. According to them, a theory in relation to the market research may be developed within specific socio-environmental contexts and therefore the researchers have to assess the relevance of that theory to the country or culture in which the research is to be conducted (p. 3). As far as the current scenario is concerned, the theory to be used is to be assessed whether it will be appropriate to Indian culture. Relevance and expression of Constructs Contexts can always be different from country to country and from culture to culture. A cross cultural researcher need to assess the relevance of constructs to the new research context. As discussed in the case of theory, the constructs are also identified and developed in a different socio-environmental situation and therefore a specific construct may not be appropriate to another specific research context (Douglas and Craig, 2006, p. 4). The cognitive processes are universal, while international marketing research is concerned, but the contextual factors may often influence the nature of a construct and the appropriateness of the construction (Malhotra and McCort, 2001, p. 239). For instance, market research in the Middle East will be a complicated task because there is a big gap between Arab and other women consumers. Arab women consumers are more likely to be private as they are inaccessible to outsiders being religious (Reddy and Makaram, 2003, p. 3) and hence the researcher must ensure the relevance of the research construct to the Middle East. As far as Indian market is considered, the research must be careful because it comprises of various cultures and religions. Constructs can be sometimes relevant and appropriate to another research context, but the researchers are to be careful that it should not be expressed in the same manner. It is because different attitudes or behaviors like trust and belief can be different and are attributed to different socio-environmental contexts (Douglas and Craig, 2006, p. 4). Relevance of the Unit According to Douglas and Craig (2006), the researchers have to consider the relevance of the research unit because, instead of using country as the unit, especially when the country comprises of different states, cultures, religions and social settings as in the case of India, a more appropriate unit will be a city or region or a specific linguistic group (p. 7). Independence The country which is used as the research unit is an independent unit for the purpose of the behavior the research has considered. It is observed that obtaining cross cultural sampling which is independent (Douglas and Craig, 2006, p. 7). The marketing researchers have to consider the independence because culturally different traits are often spread among then neighboring countries. Comparability of Countries When international market research is concerned, most countries are not comparable due to the differences in internal market size, nature of the market infrastructure or cultural heritage (Douglas and Craig, 2006, p. 8). The success story of ‘anime’ campaign in Taiwan cannot simple be compared with the same campaign and possibility of success in Indian market, because, there are greater differences between both countries. United States and an Asian country like Singapore cannot be compared because USA is regarded as individualistic where as Singapore is considered as Collectivist society. Contrary, China and Hong Kong are comparable because they are culturally similar even though economically different (Douglas and Craig, 2006, p. 8). Heterogeneity within the country There can be significant variation in attitudes and behaviors within a particular country like China and India. For instance, there are seven regional markets with significant differences in terms of preferences for foreign goods (Douglas and Craig, 2006, p. 8). Same Operationalization Cross cultural research is conducted at various countries and at various contexts and hence the tools and research instruments may not be the same for various research units. The research instrument used in Taiwan may not be appropriate for a marketing research in India because the behavior and attitudes of people in both the countries will be different. Malhotra and McCort 92001) argued that operationalization remains to be an issue because for an instrument to be universal, it must demonstrate construct and operationalization equivalence (p. 237). Stimulus Commonality When research is conducted in a different socio-cultural environment, the common research instrument may assume equal familiarity with both visual and verbal stimulus (Douglas and Craig, 2006, p. 11). ‘Animes’ as part of marketing campaign The market campaign by using ‘animes’ in Taiwan was highly successful, but from the issues and factors to be considered by an international marketing researcher as discussed earlier, it can be understood that the research units, contexts, constructs, behaviors, consumer preferences, religious and cultural variances and so on can be different in both the countries. in order to take effective decision regarding the appropriateness of ‘animes’ campaign in India, a further intensive research has to be conducted by considering the above mentioned factors. Survey for the Cross-Cultural Research Malhotra, Agarwal and Peterson (1996) identified telephone interviewing, personal interviewing and mail interviewing as some of the appropriate surveys in the international marketing research (p. 15- 16). Conducting surveys for international marketing research, no matter whether sampling or random methods, are highly complicated due to the variances of consumers’ attitudes, behaviors and preferences. Malhotra, Agarwal and Peterson (1996) found that telephone interviewing can be an effective methodology for surveying because in most countries, especially in the developed countries, telephone has achieved better penetration and thence telephone interviewing is a dominant mode of questionnaire administration (p. 16). Telephone interviewing can bring better results here customers have easy access to telephones and mobiles phones. Telephone interviewing has recently become a cost effective methods because internet and Voip technology makes telephone interviewing a cheaper one as compared to other methods of surveying. Malhotra, Agarwal and Peterson (1996) stated that personal interviewing is also dominant mode of surveying in many parts of the world even though it is very expensive and difficult to conduct (p. 16). Personal interviewing is assumed to bring more useful and accurate responses than in the case of telephone and other methods of surveying. In some countries, there are more easy ways of personal interviews that consumers are directly met at various points of Malls or Supermarkets. Malhotra, Agarwal and Peterson (1996) found that mail interviewing is much cheaper and hence it is used by a large number of international researchers. They found that mail interviewing is more common in countries like Canada, Norway, Sweden and Denmark because the educational level of the population is high where as in Asian and African countries, mail interviewing is relatively low (p. 16). Very recently, online surveys have become a dominant mode of survey in international marketing research. The online surveys can also be bought from online survey companies. The online surveys are relatively less risky and cost effective but same time the results may not be as accurate as in the case of other methods like personal interviewing (Cateora and Graham, 2007p. 230). Conclusion Cross cultural marketing research has recently gained great importance in the business world. As companies largely go global and seek better opportunities from around the world and as a result meet a number of challenges, conducting an effective marketing research has become a key component of the marketing management. This research provides a report on cross cultural research, the factors to be considered and the use of survey in the cross cultural research. 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