Marketing Research

COURSE DESCRIPTION

Should our company start selling in a foreign market? Should our company choose a different endorser for one of its brands? Should our company invest in CSR? Although organizational decisions can be very diverse, there is at least one thing they have in common: to make those decisions in an informed way, market research is needed.

In this course, the student will learn how to think like a market researcher. This will involve familiarizing oneself with the so-called market research process: a systematic approach in which decisions to be made (e.g., should we invest in CSR?) are transformed into more specific, and measurable questions (e.g., how does our target audience perceive companies in our sector that engage in CSR?). Then, those more specific and measurable questions are answered by collecting data, which requires deciding on a suitable methodology (How should we learn more about our target audience's CSR perceptions: should we do in-depth interviews? Online surveys? Something else entirely?). Thus, the market research process is both about 1) identifying the right information to make decisions, and 2) identifying how to best obtain that information. This course will focus on both aspects of the market research process and how to use them to optimize organizational decisions. Furthermore, and since Market Research tends to focus on the consumer, this course will also cover some consumer

COURSE CONTENTS

Unit 1: An Introduction to Market Research
Unit 2: The Market Research Process: Problem Definition and Approach Development
Unit 3: The Market Research Process: Formulation of the Research Design
Unit 4: The Research Design in detail: Qualitative Research Techniques
Unit 5: The Research Design in detail: Quantitative Research Techniques
Unit 6: Market Research 2.0: Market Research in the context of Digital Marketing
Unit 7: Consumer Behavior: Motivation and Emotion
Unit 8: Consumer Behavior: Decision Making