Market Research

The task of market research (MR) is to provide management with relevant, accurate, reliable, valid and current information. Competitive marketing environment and the ever-increasing costs attributed to poor decision making requires that market research provides sound information. Sound decisions are not just based on gut feeling, intuition or even pure judgment.

Marketing managers make numerous strategic and tactical decisions in the process of identifying and satisfying customer needs. They make decisions about potential opportunities, target market selection, market segmentation, planning and implementing marketing programs, marketing performance and control. These decisions are complicated by interactions between the controllable marketing variables of product, pricing, promotion and distribution. Further complications are added by uncontrollable environmental factors such as general economic conditions, technology, public policies and laws, political environment, competition and social and cultural changes. Another factor in this mix is the complexity of consumers.

Market research helps the marketing manager link the marketing variables with the environment and the consumers. It helps remove some of the uncertainty by providing relevant information about the marketing variables, environment and consumers. In the absence of relevant information, consumers' response to marketing programs cannot be predicted reliably or accurately.

The Northpoint Post Graduate Program in Market Research with our associate and industry leader Nielsen, develops you as an accountable manager and an insights expert.