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Task Of The International Marketing Researcher

International marketing
Introduction
Companies competing in the 21st century are seeking to increase revenues, growth and broaden geographic scope by entering new markets.   Companies have to respond to the increasing pace of conducting business in these global markets.   This in turn leads to the first step in the marketing process which is to conduct market research in order to receive timely, accurate and correct information that is required to deal with these challenges in this increasingly rapid paced competitive environment.

“One member of the audience asked Duan how companies obtain market research about Chinese consumers. Not easily as it turns out” (7)

Market research is traditionally defined as “the systematic gathering, recording and analysing of data to provide information useful in marketing decision making ((5) Cateora and Graham, 2007, pg 214).   However, when conducting research in other markets the international market researcher faces many potential problems and challenges that they would not face in their own country,   and it becomes quite complex to “systematically gather, record and analyse data to provide useful information”.   Below I will outline the many problems/challenges that the international market researcher is likely to encounter.

Defining the problem and establishing research objectives. (5)
The research process starts with defining the research problem and creating detailed research objectives. (3)   This can only be achieved if the researcher is able to translate vague research objectives into specific, measureable and attainable objectives.   In known and familiar markets the researcher frequently begins with unclear and undefined clarity of the actual problem and this is further exacerbated when dealing in unknown and unfamiliar markets. (5)

With sociocultural and economic markets differing so much from country to country, international market researchers must be able to adapt research questions and research...