Spotlight on Market Research
Clarke Ricks
School of Business, Liberty University
BUSI 690: Policy and Strategy in Global Competition
Dr. Hicks
April 6, 2021
The benefits of market research
When performed correctly, market research can be instrumental to your company’s
global success and can provide you with a wealth of business intelligence on prospective
target markets. In general, the process identifies exportation opportunities, detects new or
emerging markets, and uncovers the preferences of potential customers. This process can
be beneficial regardless of your company’s size.
Market research involves the collection and analysis of data at successive levels of
detail, with the overarching intent of identifying compatible target markets. When
performed on an international scale the process becomes especially important due to the
increased level of investment required to reach foreign markets.
What is market research?
Market research is the process of gathering, analyzing and interpreting information
about a market and the individuals it consists of. Internationally, market research is crucial
to determine potential market compatibility and draw comparisons between markets.
Types of market research:
Some forms of market research are more economical and less time consuming than
others; however, it is always recommended to collect as much relevant information as you
can during the process. This ensures that you have the resources you need to make the
most educated decisions possible. Typically, this is why a combination of different forms of
market research is usually the most sensible strategy.
Secondary market research - the data collection has been completed previously by
an external source, offering you the opportunity to repurpose this information. Secondary
research typically consists of reports, studies, books and surveys, the vast majority of which
can be found online. This means that the process is often very affordable in nature,
presenting little risk in assembling a substantial amount of information relatively quickly.
One drawback of secondary market research is that it is often specialized for the purposes
of the original user, meaning you should refrain from drawing firm conclusions from this
research due to its subjectivity. As a result, the interpretation of secondary data is often
used in conjunction with other methods, and acts as a solid foundation in the early stages of
market research.
Did you know?
The TCS offers a free database of market reports on a wide range of locations, including
intelligence on prominent industries in each market. You can access this free service by
region or by sector.
Market Highlight: Agri-Food industry
In certain industries, a wealth of secondary market research may already be available to
domestic companies. For example, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada provides free market
intelligence on the agriculture industry to Canadian businesses that are looking to gain
insights and export their goods internationally. This service provides information on current
opportunities, trends, forecasts and existing distribution channels in foreign markets, as well
as reports on regions around the globe. To access this service, visit the International Agri-
Food Market Intelligence webpage.
Primary market research - involves a first-hand approach, and is a more exhaustive
form of collection and analysis than its counterpart. Consequently, this type of research is
more time consuming and has a larger financial burden, but in turn offers you personalized
data that can be analyzed extensively to draw conclusions and make decisions. This research
will require some type of on-site behaviour to be completed accurately, which is an
important factor to consider when evaluating prospective locations to export your goods or
services. It is essential that you contact potential customers and respondents directly,
commonly taking place in the form of personal interviews, questionnaires, or consultations.
Various forms of statistical analysis can also be performed on primary research figures,
allowing for simplified interpretation of market compatibility and a quantitative comparison
based decision-making process.
It is also important to ensure that your research objectives are well defined to your
potential audience, meaning any respondents should be aware of your company’s
intentions prior to their involvement. Clarity in this process should lead to responses that
are both relevant and genuine, which can be used to guide you towards a resolution on
which markets to enter.
Strategy Highlight: Varying primary research methods
There are a number of methodologies commonly used to collect primary research data.
Examples of these approaches include questionnaires, focus groups, and personal
interviews. Each of these processes requires a different degree of respondent involvement
which may influence the research method you choose to implement. For example;
information that is highly personal in nature may require a more individualistic approach of
data collection than what is offered by a questionnaire or focus group. A personal interview
would likely be a good selection in this instance, seeing as the client will not be influenced
by the presence of other respondents and is free to communicate honestly and without
judgement. A full breakdown of these methods and when to use them can be found
under Market research methods from Innovation, Science and Economic Development
Canada (ISED).
Strategy Highlight: Crowdsourcing
Some companies conduct market research projects entirely online, finding success
through the inexpensive collection format known as crowdsourcing. This process involves a
mass virtual outreach to undefined groups to gather information. This approach typically
works best for large enterprises with vast backgrounds in social media, and in locations with
high social media and internet penetration rates.
Screen potential markets
This step of the market research process involves identifying and collecting statistics
concerning markets that currently import items in your product or service category. Once
you have gained an understanding of this data, you can select multiple markets which
appear to be in stable economic growth with minimal fluctuations. It is also proactive to
consider markets that are small and emerging, as they tend to offer a high degree of
potential market share due to a limited presence of competition. You can then attempt to
narrow your focus down to several of the most promising candidates from your initial
screening.
Assess target markets
Assessing markets is a process that involves a more extensive approach than the initial
screening; however, it encompasses much fewer candidates. The aim of this step is to
collect as much applicable information as possible in order to provide a strong basis for
comparison between the remaining markets.
Part of this assessment process involves identifying noteworthy appraisal factors for
consideration in each viable location, such as cultural norms and growth rates. Competition
in each market is also a key consideration in this stage, as the relative success of rivals in a
market of mutual interest could forecast similar success for your business. Elements like
these are extremely useful when determining if your business can translate to a potential
market efficiently, and are explained in greater detail later on in this Spotlight.
Draw conclusions and make decisions
This stage can only begin once the assessment of the potential target markets is complete
and the entirety of the data has been analyzed. Evaluating this information involves
extracting qualitative meaning from your data, which when done correctly should lead you
to a final decision regarding which market(s) to actually expand into. After this decision has
been made, the market research portion of your international exportation process is
complete.
