Module 2.

1
Ethical Issues in Business
Research
•Ethics in business research is the
accepted codes of conduct in
carrying out the research activity.
•Ethical issues involved in business
research can be studied from three
different angles.
i) Ethics in the treatment of
the respondent
ii) Ethics in the treatment of
buyers and clients
iii) Ethics in the treatment of
researchers
• i) Ethics in the treatment of respondents
• Respondents right to privacy must be
respected.
E.g.:’ respondents identity not to be
disclosed esp. w.r.t. sensitive questions.
• Respondent’s right to choose
E.g.: respondents choice to participate
in the survey and answer questions
must be respected.
• Respondent’s right to safety
E.g.: psychologically harmful personal
questions to be avoided.
• Respondent’s right to be informed
E.g.: Purpose of survey must be
informed to the respondent.
• ii) Ethics in the treatment of buyers and
clients of the research
• Methodology adopted for the study
must be accurate.
• Identity of the client to be kept
confidential in view of competitive
intelligence network
• Misuse of information collected
E.g.: Leaking of information to
competition.
• Unethical practices to please self
interest of individuals and
compromising the larger interest of
client organization must be avoided.
• iii) Ethical Treatment of Researchers
• Bias in selection of bidders/agency for
research project.
• Non provision of data or timely funds for
research.
• Gathering of information to study fro one
agency and awarding the contract to another
agency.
• Foreign researcher to provide biased data
and conclusions.
III. EMERGING ISSUES – Recent
trends in Business Research
A) Marketing research in the internet era
• Internet is a source of collecting abundant
secondary data and relevant primary data.
• One of the biggest advantage of internet
research is its low cost, huge saving in time
and speed of responses.
• The other advantage of doing research on
the net would be the possibility of showing
both text and good graphics and also the
process of making the process interactive.
• Consumers can create their product design,
packaging options and give their ratings and
preferences.
A) Marketing research in the internet era
• Internet is a source of collectively abundant
secondary data and relevant primary data.
• One of the biggest advantage of internet research is
its low cost, huge saving in time and speed of
responses.
• The other advantage of doing research on the net
would be the possibility of showing both text and
good graphics and also the process of making the
process interactive.
• Consumers can create their product design,
packaging options and give their ratings and
preferences.
 C) On-Line focus groups
• It is a technique of creating a chat
room on website, where the
moderator brings the scattered
audience all over the world for a
discussion.
• Qualitative research through chat
session is made possible.
Advantages
• No geographical restrictions
• No physical movement of respondents
• Allows respondents to view texts,
graphics, sounds video or multimedia
for evaluation and testing.
• In-depth discussion is possible
• It saves time of top level executives.
• Saves time and money
Disadvantages
• Management of complex technology
• Moderator must have technical skills to
facilitate the group skills to facilitate the
group through the net.
• Sustaining audience interest is difficult
vis-avis conventional focus groups.
• E) Pop-up surveys
• Respondents are remitted from client
websites.
• Random selection of visitors for
conduction of survey.
• Ideal for evaluating business issues such
as customer satisfaction especially with
new products.
 F) Data warehousing and data
mining
• Another emerging technology related to marketing
intelligence and marketing research is that of data
warehousing and data mining.
• It involves the capture of data an a regular basis
from several sources.
• This huge amount of data is stored in computers in
a VIRTUAL WAREHOUSE and used to find
trends, patterns and frame hypothesis.
E.g.: A credit card company with card usage data
over many years. By analyzing this data buying
patterns of things purchased or profile of
consumer and life style can be determined.
• Used extensively in CRM
• Global information on MR, PR activities of MNC
can be stored to provide valuable secondary data
reference.
 The Need for MR or Factors
contributing to the growth of MR
• It is a decision making tool to make
sound decisions in a competitive world
w.r.t to the 4ps.
• Large scale production to attain
economies of scale requires firms to take
critical decisions on what to produce,
when to produce and how much to
produce and reduce risk in decision
making.
• Shift from seller’s to buyers market requires
products and services to be in line with
consumer preference.
• To determine patterns of consumption, brand
loyalty, CB and market trends.
• Increasing competition has made market place
more complex with wider choice of products and
services. MR helps producer know market share
status and develop strategies to stay ahead of
competition.
• MR helps companies to grow
from local, state, regional,
national, international to global
markets with right products and
services.
• MR brings out changes in demographic
patterns to widen the scope for products and
services
• E.g.:
– Joint families to nuclear families.
– Rural to urban shift in population.
– Increase working women population
– Increase of educated youth with greater
disposable income.
– Development of IT based industries.
• Increased use of computers, sophisticated
software, ability to process large volume of MR
data.
• Specialists in statistics psychology and
other behavioral sciences have all
contributed strengthening MR techniques.
• Wide choice of media has improved
awareness level of consumers and MR helps
identify optimum contribution of media for best
results.
 Limitations of MR
• MR is fragmentary in its approach. Only a
part of the problem is studies. Thus it
becomes difficult to have an overall
perspective.
• MR becomes too superficial, detailed
investigation and sophisticated techniques
are avoided due to time and resource
constraints and competition intelligence.
• MR is not an exact science.
Analytical tools in MR are still
deficient in predicting consumer
behavior.
• Possibility of misuse of MR data for
personal gains.
• Differences in methodology such
as sampling method, quality of field
staff, research design could lead to
major difference in results.
• Failure of MR studies.
E.g.: Coca cola decided to change the
taste of its original drink owing to faulty
MR study and failed. Later it reverted to
its original product taste to restore is
market share.
• MR becomes irrelevant when technology
becomes sophisticated and public are
unable to give any input owing to lack of
knowledge.
E.g.:
• 1. Sony walkman demand was created after
product launch as public could not give any
worthwhile input towards product
development.
• 2. Similarly development of wider platform
by micro soft.
 Practical Application of MR
• Malayala Manorama’s MR revealed a
huge vaccum in the Hindi magazine
segment for women. A new magazine
Vanita was launched and positioned as
a friend of modern women. The
magazine was a great success.
• P & G used MR to identify new
opportunities in the market place. The
data analysis on Vicks Vaporub
indicated the need for a common
medicine for cold, headache and
fever, thus Vicks Action 500 was
developed to meet this need.
• Pepsi foods employed IMRB to
determine market opportunities and
Indian tastes and preferences. Pepsi
adapted its international snack food
brands to suit the Indian Plalette.
Lays & Kurkure are successful
brands in India today.
• Maruti employed MR to extend its
segment to upper income groups in
the two-wheeler segment.
• Deccan Air used MR to determine
its low cost air fare structure to
attract first class AC rail passengers.
• Whirlpool washing machine used
MR to study manual washing of
clothes in India and developed the
ad concept to promote its products.
• Horlicks/ Complan used MR change
its image from a health drink of the
old to growth of younger generation.
• MR helped J & J to extend its
baby products to young mothers
• MR helped Emami extend its
fairness creams to male
segments
• MR helped extend the readership
of women’s magazines such as
Femina to include men and vise
versa.
CRITERIA FOR HIRING OUTSIDE
RESEARCH AGENCIES
• OBJECTIVITY
• TECHNICAL EXPERTISE
• CONFIDENTIALITY
• ECONOMIC FACTORS
• TIMELY SUBMISSION
• EXPERIENCE
• REPUTATION
 Criteria for Hiring Outside
Research Agencies
• 1.Technical Expertise
• Proficiency of the MR agency to undertake
the study
• Staffing & manpower organizing
capabilities
• Imparting technical skills to research staff
• Infrastructure for data processing
• 2. Objectivity
• Reputation for objective approach to res.
projects
• 3. Cofidentiality
• Strict monitoring of confidentiality re. the
project and identity of client
• 4. Economic Factors
• A client firm may invite research proposals from more
than one agency
• Usually the project is awarded to the lowest quotation
• Client firm should ensure that quality is not sacrificed for
economy
• 5. Timely Submission of Reports
• Sometimes, outside agencies are quick in taking up
assignments but not so prompt in carrying out the task
and submitting the report.
• Hence, maintaining the time schedule is important.
• 6. Experience of the research Supplier
• Relevant and specific research experience must
be considered
• Eg. Suitability of a research firm with vast FMCG
experience being awarded with B to B research
assignment.
• 7. Reputation of the Agency
• The reputation of the research agency should
lend credibility to the research findings to create
necessary impact.
• General Question (10 marks)
• Discuss the importance of marketing research in management
decision making
• >Three factors contribute to the importance of MR in management
decision making
• the manager’s increased need for more and better quality
information
• availability of improved techniques and tools to meet this need
• the resulting information contributing to decision making
• >Then discuss the role of MR in marketing strategy and marketing
plan
• >Then discuss the role of MR in problem identification and problem
solving with examples
• >Then briefly discuss the factors that have contributed to the growth
of MR
 Research Proposal / Research
Brief
• It is a draft plan containing the
proposed research study in brief,
generated for the purpose of getting
management approval.
• A research proposal is a written document
that briefly describes the purpose and
scope, specific objectives, sample plan,
data collection procedures, data analysis
plan, time table and estimated cost for the
proposed research project. It is the
essence of the project & serves to bridge
the gap between research & mgmt.
• The research proposal can stimulate
useful dialogue between researcher /
research agency, concerned managers
and decision makers to ensure that there
is no misunderstanding between them and
the information generated will be relevant
and adequate.
• A research proposal should answer the
following questions
• Why is this study being conducted?
• What information is it expected to yield and how
will it close the information gaps?
• What method will be used?
• Who will be interviewed – Sample & Size?
• When, how & where will data be collected?
• What statistical analysis will be performed?
• Time frame for putting together research report
• The initial version of the proposal may
have to be modified based on mgmt.
feedback and the final version emerges
acceptable to all parties
• The research project is launched based
on final version of the proposal