Transcript Marketing Research in the Asia-Pacific

Marketing Research in the Asia-Pacific
Introduction
• Globalization, growing consumer affluence, and other factors
conducive to business have prompted an increasing number of
MNCs to expand into the markets of Asia-Pacific countries.
• Marketing managers of these companies need reliable data to make
their decisions and plans to achieve competitive advantage.
Consequently, over the last two decades, marketing research has
steadily expanded in this region.
• Some experts believe that the research expenditure potential in the
region is enormous.
– Japan has the highest research volume (in US$ terms) followed by
Australia.
– Next in line are countries such as India, Hong Kong, South Korea,
Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia and China.
– Then come Taiwan, The Philippines, Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh and
Vietnam.
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Some Truths about Research
• Marketing research provides decision makers with
an image of the actual and potential market,
consumer behavior, market trend, and
competition.
• Marketing decision makers do not use exactly the
same information for a similar decision process.
• Culture influences the scope and nature of
research information and the results in the process
of marketing decision making.
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Some Truths about Asia-Pacific I
• Collectivistic societies: Asia- Pacific nations are
predominantly collectivistic whereas Western nations are
more individualistic.
– Consumers in collectivistic societies tend to be more loyal on
average than they are in individualistic societies.
• More reliance on reference groups and on group consensus
• People mind arrogance and the showing of extreme self
confidence.
• Authoritarian pluralism: Many countries in this region
practice “Authoritarian Pluralism”
• Image of managers: Asian people see managers as
experts, Westerners see them as problem solvers.
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Some Truths about Asia-Pacific II
• Temporal orientation: Asians are typically past oriented.
• Different symbolism: In different Asian cultures, things,
numbers, color, etc. mean different things.
– Black is not the colour of mourning in many Asian Countries
– Four (4) is a bad number for the Chinese, not for other Asians.
– Red suggests good fortune in China, not in India
• Differences in verbal and non-verbal communication
styles:
– Many languages; very different from English [in terms of
structure, meaning, interpretation etc.] which is the most used
language in marketing research.
– Different meanings of gestures.
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Problems of Research in the Asia-Pacific I
• Various issues discussed earlier affect data obtained by
the marketing researchers. For example:
– The Japanese look for information from the actual buyers rather
than the potential buyers;
– In countries such as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, national income
estimates do not reflect under-reported or unreported income.
– Traditional values often prompt people in many countries to give
socially desirable responses rather than true responses.
• Because of the above, the style and procedure of market
research and the type of data sought may be different
from the traditional marketing research approach
described in text books.
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Problems of Research in the Asia-Pacific II
• Lack of understanding of importance of marketing,
absence of research culture and poor state of research
industries in many countries in the region.
– Lack of qualified researchers and interviewers
• Lack of adequate infrastructure, social and educational
development. For example, in many of the less developed
Asia-Pacific countries – Postal system and telephone system are unreliable and rate of
literacy is rather low. These make mail survey and telephone
survey, respectively, difficult.
– There is high crime rates. Respondents are often reluctant to
allow interviewers to conduct in-home interview.
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Problems of Research in the Asia-Pacific III
• In most economically less developed countries in the region,
there is a general lack of databases. Secondary data
– is nonexistent, unreliable or too expensive to obtain.
– Rate of change is high and fast; data quickly becomes outdated
• Primary data is also difficult and expensive to collect.
– Survey research suffers from sampling problems including nonavailability of reliable sampling frames; respondents’
unfamiliarity with research and lack of trust in the interviewers
resulting in refusals or less than truthful responses.
• Culture-specific connotations:
– In many Asian nations high price is equated with high quality.
– A ‘supermarket’ in Bangladesh or Pakistan is different from that
in Singapore.
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Problems of Cross-cultural Research I
• Cross-culture research involving comparison
between countries:
– different from pure domestic research
– more problematic and expensive
• Market research measurement instruments adapted
to each national culture (known as the emic
approach) offer more reliability and offer data with
greater internal validity than tests applicable to
many cultures (the etic- or culture-free approach)
which lack external validity and cross-national
comparability.
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Problems of Cross-cultural Research II
• Formulation of research objective in differing
cultures cannot be the same since cultural context is
very important in marketing research.
– An understanding of the cross-cultural environment is a
prerequisite for formulating research objectives.
– The researcher must establish the quality of research
instruments, the consistency of behavioral/attitudinal
constructs, and the equivalence of samples.
• Establishing cross-cultural equivalence is important
if the etic approach is adopted.
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Problems of Cross-cultural Research III
• There are several areas of equivalence:
1. Conceptual equivalence: Concepts (e.g., quality, sexappeal, loyalty, image etc.) may have different meanings
and connotations in different countries. There are
recognized procedures to assess conceptual equivalence
2. Functional equivalence:Similar products may perform
different functions in different societies. To establish
functional equivalence, one should examine the social
setting in which the product is consumed.
3. Sample equivalence: Involves choice of respondents,
representativeness and comparability of samples.
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Problems of Cross-cultural Research IV
4. Translation equivalence: Due to special characteristics of a
language, culture and communication, a translated instrument may fail
to generate comparable data. This problem may be overcome by using,
back-translation technique: one translator translates the instrument
from the source language to a target language. Another translator
translates it back to the source language and compares the two.
5. Measure equivalence: Refers to variation in the reliability of
research instruments. Statistical methods are available to assess
reliability of measures.
6. Data collection equivalence: Involves issues such as secrecy
or unwillingness to answer, response biases and response style.
All the above make cross-cultural research difficult and costly.
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Overcoming Research Problems I
Treat each country differently and refrain from
developing one marketing research for all of AsiaPacific region.
 Sampling should be done carefully. In countries with high
rate of change, samples should be based on future
demographic profiles to account for the rapid change.
 It is preferable to work with larger sample sizes.
 Sources of secondary data must be carefully scrutinized
before use.
 A sequence of piloting, adaptation and rollout would help.
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Overcoming Research Problems II
 If interviewers are used, they should be given rigorous
training. Stringent measures should be in place to ensure
data accuracy and reduction of interviewer cheating.
When conducting cross-cultural research:
 Care should be exercised in establishing various
equivalence.
 External validation among data sources is highly
desirable;
 Standardized question structure, back translation and
logic check questions should be used.
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