Introduction

The marketing environment today is changing at rapid price. The

businesses are moving from local to national to international market. Socio cultural

changes bring with them changes in consumption pattern, buying habits. The

competition is moving from price to non-price. The marketer today requires quick and

correct information to adjust the marketing plans and programs. Companies with

superior information enjoy a competitive advantage. Information today has become

keen business resource. Information helps companies choose its market better develop

better understanding and execute better marketing planning. Every firm must organize

and distribute a continuous flow of information to its marketing manager. Companies

study their manager’s information needs and design marketing system to meet these

needs.

The importance of marketing information is particularly apparent as the

economy continues to emphasize services as a primary source of value. Services are

heavily information dependent. Information is rapidly becoming a service in its own

right. Even in industries that are primarily manufacturing in nature, the information

content of the final product is rapidly increasing. Mass customization, often described

as "one-to-one" marketing or the customizing of products and services for individual

customers, is heavily dependent on comprehensive and timely customer information.

To survive in highly competitive markets, companies need to be able to

develop the marketing function and scale it up on "Internet time" with best-of-class

decision support solutions for customer relationship management, sales force

automation, market research, marketing communications, logistics, and product

development.

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Marketing

In the course of developing the firm's marketing plan, data was collected and

information about the internal and external environments was analyzed. Objectives were set,

strategies determined, and evaluation metric defined. Now that all the planning has turned into

implementation how do you know which part of your effort is making a difference? Is it the

pricing? Channel selection? Or are the results you are seeing entirely due to the external

environment? The only way the answer this type of question accurately and in a timely manner is

with a marketing information system (MIS).

Information

Any person or group managing a marketing effort needs information to make

informed decisions. The first step to developing an effective marketing information system is

identifying the information that is important to your marketing efforts. Like all efforts,

information requests must be balanced against what is really needed to make decisions, what is

possible to acquire, and the cost to acquire requested data. Once these data elements have been

defined, their sources must be identified. There are two means to collecting marketing data:

Primary and Secondary. Primary data is collected by the firm directly for a specific use. This

data may come from client records, specific questionnaires or general surveys. Secondary data is

data already collected by third party sources. The data may not have been collected for your

specific purpose, but it can provide useful information. Sources for relevant secondary data

include local association directories, the local chamber of commerce, universities, state and

federal agencies.

System

The information needs for the firm have been uncovered. The data sources have

been identified. Now a system for collecting, recording, reporting and analyzing that information

must be developed. Its size and structure may vary.2

Definition of MIS

According to Philip Kotler "A marketing information system consists of people,

equipment, and procedures to gather, sort, analyze, evaluate, and distribute needed, timely, and

accurate information to marketing decision makers.”

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The Strategic Role of the Marketing Information Systems

Historically, the role of the marketing function has been to support "make and

sell" business strategies that emphasized increases in market share over the creation of long-term

customer value. This view started to change after World War II with the recognition that

satisfying the customer's needs and wants should be the focus of a firm's business activities. The

emphasis on the customer elevated the importance of marketing as a core business function on a

par with research and development and production. The marketing function has become the

firm's window to the world in the sense that it must monitor the marketing environment for

changes in buyer behavior, competition, technology, economic conditions, and government

policies. Marketing is a "strategic" function in that marketing activities enable organizations to

identify and adapt to changes in the market environment. The strategic function of marketing is

further emphasized as Internet-based technologies have enabled radically new approaches to

selling where information technology for the first time touches customers and provides new

means for collecting marketing information. In a knowledge-intensive economy, the ability to

collect, analyze and act upon marketing information more rapidly than the competition is the

core competency from which competitive advantage flows. Marketing information systems

provide the information technology backbone for the marketing organization's strategic

operations. In a broader sense, the MIS creates an organized and timely flow of information

required by marketing decision makers. It involves the equipment, software, databases, and also

the procedures, methodologies and people necessary for the system to meet its organizational

objectives. MIS encompasses a broad spectrum of activities from simple transaction processing

complex marketing strategy decision making.

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Characteristics of MIS

I. Management-oriented: The basic objective of MIS is to provide information support to

the management in the organization for decision making. So an effective MIS should start

its journey from appraisal of management needs, mission and goal of the business

organization. It may be individual or collective goals of an organization. The MIS is such

that it serves all the levels of management in an organization i.e. top, middle and lower

level.

II. Management directed: When MIS is management-oriented, it should be directed by the

management because it is the management who tells their needs and requirements more

effectively than anybody else.

Manager should guide the MIS professionals not only at the stage of planning but also on

development, review and implementation stages so that effective system should be the

end product of the whole exercise in making an effective MIS.

III. Integrated: It means a comprehensive or complete view of all the sub systems in the

organization of a company. Development of information must be integrated so that all the

operational and functional information sub systems should be worked together as a single

entity. This integration is necessary because it leads to retrieval of more meaningful and

useful information.

IV. Common data flows: The integration of different sub systems will lead to a common

data flow which will further help in avoiding duplicity and redundancy in data collection,

storage and processing. For example, the customer orders are the basis for many activities

in an organization viz. billing, sales for cashing, etc. Data is collected by a system analyst

from its original source only one time. Then he utilizes the data with minimum number of

processing procedures and uses the information for production output documents and

reports in small numbers and eliminates the undesirable data. This will lead to

elimination of duplication that simplify the operations and produce an efficient

information system.

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V. Common database: This is the basic feature of MIS to achieve the objective of using

MIS in business organizations. It avoids duplication of files and storage which leads to

reduction in costs. Common database means a “Super file or Master file” which

consolidates and integrates data records formerly stored in many separate data files. The

organization of the database allows it to be accessed by each subsystem and thus,

eliminates the necessity of duplication in data storage, updating, deletion and protection.

VI. Computerized: MIS can be used without a computer. But the use of computers increases

the effectiveness and the efficiency of the system. The queries can be handled more

quickly and efficiently with the computerized MIS. The other benefits are accuracy,

storage capacity and timely information.

VII. User friendly/Flexibility: An MIS should be flexible i.e. there should be room for

further modification because the MIS takes much time in preparation and our

environment is dynamic in nature.MIS should be such that it should be used

independently by the end user so that they do not depend on the experts.

VIII. Information as a resource: Information is the major ingredient of any MIS. So, an MIS

should be treated as a resource and managed properly

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Benefits of the Marketing Information System

The MIS increases the number of options available to decision-makers and

supports every element of marketing strategy. MIS affects marketing's interfaces with customers,

suppliers and other partners. The primary benefits of the MIS impact in the areas of functional

integration, market monitoring, strategy development, and strategy implementation.

1. Market Monitoring.

Through the use of market research and marketing intelligence activities the MIS

can enable the identification of emerging market segments, and the monitoring of the market

environment for changes in consumer behavior, competitor activities, new technologies,

economic conditions and governmental policies. Market research is situational in nature and

focuses on specific strategic or tactical marketing initiatives. Marketing intelligence is

continuous in nature and involves monitoring and analyzing a broad range of market-based

activities and information sources. There are three major sources of market information. The first

is syndicated data published by market research companies and industry associations. Company-

sponsored primary research is another option. It is much more focused since you ask specific

questions of respondents within your markets. But, it is considerably more expensive and time

consuming. Perhaps the best data available are your own customer's behavior captured from web

site viewing, point of sale (POS) transactions, and systematic feedback from the sales force.

2. Strategy development

The MIS provides information necessary to develop marketing strategy. It supports

strategy development for new products, product positioning, marketing communications

(advertising, public relations, and sales promotion), pricing, personal selling, distribution,

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customer service and partnerships and alliances. The MIS provides the foundation for the

development information system-dependent e-commerce strategies.

3. Strategy Implementation.

The MIS provides support for product launches, enables the coordination of

marketing strategies, and is an integral part of sales force automation (SFA), customer

relationship management (CRM), and customer service systems implementations. The MIS

enables decision- makers to more effectively manage the sales force as well as customer

relationships. Some customer management software companies are extending their CRM

applications to include partner relationship management (PRM) capabilities. This has become

increasingly important as many marketers are choosing to outsource important marketing

functions and form strategic alliances to address new markets.

4. Functional integration.

The MIS enables the coordination of activities within the marketing department

and between marketing and other organizational functions such as engineering, production,

product management, finance, manufacturing, logistics, and customer service.

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Components of MIS

A MIS is developed from internal records, marketing intelligence activities,

marketing decision support system and marketing research

1. Internal records system

2. Marketing intelligence system

3. Marketing decision support system

4. Marketing research

Internal Records system

All enterprises which have been in operation for any period of time nave a wealth

of information. However, this information often remains under-utilized because it is

compartmentalized, either in the form of an individual entrepreneur or in the functional

departments of larger businesses. That is, information is usually categorized according to its

nature so that there are, for example, financial, production, manpower, marketing, stockholding

and logistical data. Often the entrepreneur, or various personnel working in the functional

departments holding these pieces of data, does not see how it could help decision makers in other

functional areas. Similarly, decision makers can fail to appreciate how information from other

functional areas might help them and therefore do not request it.

The internal records that are of immediate value to marketing decisions are: orders received,

stockholdings and sales invoices. These are but a few of the internal records that can be used by

marketing managers, but even this small set of records is capable of generating a great deal of

information. Below, is a list of some of the information that can be derived from sales invoices.

Product type, size and pack type by territory

Product type, size and pack type by type of account

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Product type, size and pack type by industry

Product type, size and pack type by customer

Average value and/or volume of sale by territory

Average value and/or volume of sale by type of account

Average value and/or volume of sale by industry

Average value and/or volume of sale by sales person

By comparing orders received with invoices an enterprise can establish the extent to which it is

providing an acceptable level of customer service. In the same way, comparing stockholding

records with orders received helps an enterprise ascertain whether its stocks are in line with

current demand patterns.

i. The order to payment cycle:

Order to payment cycle refers to the elapsed time between placing of an order and

receipt of payment. This gives information about the company’s supply and logistic

system. This information help company to cut down time required for serving customer

and manage inventory

ii. Sales information System:

The data about current sales provide information about customer tastes and

preferences and products. Sales data can be used by company in replenishment of stores.

iii. Databases, data warehouses and data mining:

Companies that have been in business for awhile realize they have accumulated

huge amounts of data in various operational databases. Those databases work just fine for

their intended purposes, but the companies want to "mine" that data for other purposes,

particularly for sales, marketing and strategic planning.

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So, Data Mining is the process of extracting information from the company's various

databases and re-organizing it for purposes other than what the databases were originally

intended for. What data is to be mined and for what use varies radically from one

company to another, as does the nature and organization of the data, so there can be no

such thing as a generic "data mining tool".

A Data Warehouse is a place where data can be stored for more convenient mining. This

generally will be a fast computer system with very large data storage capacity. Data from

all the company's systems is copied to the Data Warehouse, where it will be scrubbed and

reconciled to remove redundancy and conflicts. Complex queries can then be make

against the Warehouse information storage. Of course the data must be continuously

refreshed, so the scrubbing and reconciliation process must be a permanent feature of the

Warehouse, and will have to be modified every time the databases are modified or new

databases become available.

Creating and maintaining a Data Warehouse is a huge job even for the largest companies.

It can take a long time and cost a lot of money. In fact, it is such a major project

companies are turning to Data Mart solutions instead.

A Data Mart is an index and extraction system. Rather than bring all the company's data

into a single warehouse, the data mart knows what data each database contains and how

to extract information from multiple databases when asked.

Creating a Data Mart can be considered the "quick and dirty" solution, because the data

from different databases is not scrubbed and reconciled, but it may be the difference

between having information available and not having it available.

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Marketing Intelligence System

Marketing research is focused, market intelligence is not. A marketing intelligence

system is a set of procedures and data sources used by marketing managers to sift information

from the environment that they can use in their decision making. This scanning of the economic

and business environment can be undertaken in a variety of ways, including

Unfocused

scanning

The manager, by virtue of what he/she reads, hears and watches exposes

him/herself to information that may prove useful. Whilst the behavior is unfocused

and the manager has no specific purpose in mind, it is not unintentional

Semi-focused

scanning

Again, the manager is not in search of particular pieces of information that he/she is

actively searching but does narrow the range of media that is scanned. For instance,

the manager may focus more on economic and business publications, broadcasts

etc. and pay less attention to political, scientific or technological media.

Informal

search

This describes the situation where a fairly limited and unstructured attempt is made

to obtain information for a specific purpose. For example, the marketing manager

of a firm considering entering the business of importing frozen fish from a

neighboring country may make informal inquiries as to prices and demand levels of

frozen and fresh fish. There would be little structure to this search with the manager

making inquiries with traders he/she happens to encounter as well as with other ad

hoc contacts in ministries, international aid agencies, with trade associations,

importers/exporters etc.

Formal

search

This is a purposeful search after information in some systematic way. The

information will be required to address a specific issue. Whilst this sort of activity

may seem to share the characteristics of marketing research it is carried out by the

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manager him/herself rather than a professional researcher. Moreover, the scope of

the search is likely to be narrow in scope and far less intensive than marketing

research

Marketing intelligence is the province of entrepreneurs and senior managers within an

agribusiness. It involves them in scanning newspaper trade magazines, business journals and

reports, economic forecasts and other media. In addition it involves management in talking to

producers, suppliers and customers, as well as to competitors. Nonetheless, it is a largely

informal process of observing and conversing.

Some enterprises will approach marketing intelligence gathering in a more deliberate fashion and

will train its sales force, after-sales personnel and district/area managers to take cognizance of

competitors' actions, customer complaints and requests and distributor problems. Enterprises

with vision will also encourage intermediaries, such as collectors, retailers, traders and other

middlemen to be proactive in conveying market intelligence back to them.

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Marketing decision support system

Marketing decision support systems (MDSS) constitute a set of core applications of the

MIS.

The MDSS provides computer-based tools, models, and techniques to support the marketing

manager's decision process. In the general case, MDSS is optimized for queries of historical data.

MDSS data typically are derived from both internal and external market sources. The MDSS

features inquiry and report generation functions where the manager can access marketing data,

analyze it statistically, and use the results to determine an optimal course of action.

The MDSS can provide analytical models for forecasting, simulation, and optimization. MDSS

tools include simple spreadsheets such as Excel, statistical analysis packages such as SPSS and

SAS, on-line analytical processing (OLAP) tools, data mining applications, and neural networks.

The MDSS provides the user with the ability to explore multiple options. Typical MDSS

functions include models and tools for:

1. Sensitivity analysis.

Decision-makers can explore changes in a strategic variable such as price and

model its impact on demand or competitive behavior.

2. What-if analysis.

Can be easily accomplished with a spreadsheet. Revenues and costs can be

manipulated to show the impact of each variable on profits and cash flows.

3. Goal setting.

Analysis focuses on the desired result and builds the resource base necessary to

accomplish the goal.

4. Exception reporting.

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Analysis looks for results that exceed or fall short of stated goals or benchmarks.

Which products or segments exceeded sales forecasts? Sometimes called gap analysis.

5. Forecasting models.

Econometric models are used to analyze time series data for the purpose of

predicting future sales and market share levels.

6. Simulation models.

Monte Carlo simulations address marketing decision making under conditions of

uncertainty. Variables such as the market price, unit variable cost, and quantity sold are not

known ahead of the product investment decision. Simulation models allow the marketer to

analyze risk and assess the probabilities of likely outcomes of their decisions.

7. Scorecards and dashboards.

Scorecard systems can present a consistent framework for tracking the

effectiveness of marketing activities. They often have different modules product managers, and

customer service managers. Scorecard systems allow the user to "drill down" on an analytic and

workflow basis to determine the status of any strategic initiative. Dashboards allow frontline

managers to monitor their critical performance indicators. These systems are often used in

conjunction with "best practice" standards for call-center-based customer support.

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Marketing Research

Definition:

According to Philip Kotler, “Marketing research as the systematic design,

collection, and analysis and reporting of data and findings relevant to a specific marketing

situation facing the company.”

The American Marketing Association (AMA, 1961) defines it as `the

systematic gathering, recording and analyzing of data relating to the marketing of goods and

services'.

Green and Tull have defined marketing research as “the systematic and objective

search for and analysis of information relevant to the identification and solution of any problem

in the field of marketing.”

Marketing research is a systematic and objective study of problems pertaining to the marketing

of goods and services. It is applicable to any area of marketing. Research is the only tool an

organization has to keep in contact with its external operating environment. In order to be

proactive and change with the environment simple questions need to be asked:

What are the customer needs and how are they changing? How to meet these

changing needs? What do the customers think about existing products or services?

What more are they looking at?

What are the competitors doing to retain customers in this environment? Are their

strategies exceeding or influencing yours? What should you do to be more

competitive?

How are macro and micro environmental factors influencing your organization?

How will you react t this environment?

The aim of marketing management is to satisfy the needs of the consumer. Marketing research

helps in achieving this. Marketing research is a systematic and logical way of assessing ways of

satisfying customer needs. According to all the above definitions, Marketing Research starts by

stating the problem or the issue to be investigated; indicate what kind of information is required

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to resolve the problem; identify where and how to get it; specify the methodology for analyzing

the research findings; sum up the research findings and then suggest the best solution for

marketing decision making.

Scope of marketing research:

Marketing research can be used in:

Product Management:

One of the major scopes of marketing research is to manage the current products

and new products. In product management Marketing Research is helpful in

o Competitive Intelligence - To understand the competitive product strategy.

o Prelaunch strategy for new products

o Test Marketing - To monitor the performance of the brand by launching in a

select area and then taking it across the country. In other words it is a small-scale

product launch used to determine the likely acceptance of the product when it is

introduced into a wider market.

o Concept testing - to test the acceptance of a concept by target consumers.

Sales analysis:

Marketing research is used to study the sales trend and make suitable strategies

when required. It is used to

Assess market potential

Estimation of demand for a product

Market share estimation

Study seasonal variation for a product

Market segmentation studies

Estimate size of the market

Need analysis to find out where the product fits in

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Corporate Research:

Marketing Research is used to analyze the corporate effectiveness. Some

examples are:

Assessing the image of the company

Knowledge of the company activities

Advertising Research:

Advertising is an arena in which Marketing Research is extensively used. Some

scope is:

o Readership feedbacks - Mainly carried out for newspapers and magazines

o Advertising Recall - To assess the recall of television or other advertising and

thereby assess its effectiveness.

Syndicated Research:

This is compiled by agencies on a regular basis and sold to organizations on

subscription basis.

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Marketing Research Methods

Methodologically, marketing research uses four types of research designs, namely:

Qualitative marketing research :

This is generally used for exploratory purposes. The data collected is qualitative

and focuses on people's opinions and attitudes towards a product or service. The respondents are

generally few in number and the findings cannot be generalized tot eh whole population. No

statistical methods are generally applied.

Ex: Focus groups, In-depth interviews, and Projective techniques

Quantitative marketing research :

This is generally used to draw conclusions for a specific problem. It tests a

specific hypothesis and uses random sampling techniques so as to infer from the sample to the

population. It involves a large number of respondents and analysis is carried out using statistical

techniques.

Ex: Surveys and Questionnaires

Observational techniques:

The researcher observes social phenomena in their natural setting and draws

conclusion from the same. The observations can occur cross-section ally (observations made at

one time) or longitudinally (observations occur over several time-periods)

Ex: Product-use analysis and computer cookie tracing

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Experimental techniques :

Here, the researcher creates a quasi-artificial environment to try to control

spurious factors, then manipulates at least one of the variables to get an answer to a research

Ex: Test marketing and Purchase laboratories

More than one research designs could be used at a time. They may start with secondary research

to get background information, and then conduct a focus group to explore the issues. Finally they

might do a full nation-wide survey in order to devise specific recommendations for the client

organization.

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THE MARKETING RESEARCH PROCESS

Marketing Research reduces the uncertainty in the decision-making process and

increase the probability and magnitude of success if conducted in a systematic, analytical, and

objective manner. Marketing research by itself does not arrive at marketing decisions, nor does it

guarantee that the organization will be successful in marketing its products. It is only a tool

which helps in the decision making process.The Marketing Research Process involves a number

of inter-related activities which have bearing on each other. Once the need for Marketing

Research has been established, broadly it involves the steps as depicted in Figure below:

Define the research Problem

Determine the research design

Identify data types and sources

Design data collection forms

Determining sampling design and size

Collect the data

Analyze and interpret the data

Prepare the research report

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1. Define the research problem

The first step in Marketing is to define the research problem. A problem well

defined is half-solved. If a problem is poorly defined, a good research design cannot be

developed. The decision problem faced by the organization must be translated into a market

research problem in the form of questions. These questions must define the information that is

required to make the decision and how this information can be obtained. This way, the decision

problem gets translated into a research problem.

For example, a decision problem may be whether to launch a new product. The corresponding

research problem might be to assess whether the market would accept the new product.

In order to define the problem more precisely, an exploratory research can be carried out. Survey

of secondary data, pilot studies or experience surveys are some of the popular methods.

2. Determine research design

The research design specifies the method and procedure for conducting a

particular study.

As studied already, marketing research and hence the research designs can be Classified into one

of three categories

Exploratory research

Descriptive research

Causal research

This classification is based on the objective of the research. In some cases the research will fall

into one of these categories, but in other cases different phases of the same research project will

fall into different categories. Problems are formulated clearly in exploratory research. It aims at

clarifying concepts, gathering explanations, gaining insight, eliminating impractical ideas, and

forming hypotheses. Exploratory research can be performed using a literature search, surveying

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certain people about their experiences, focus groups, and case studies. During the survey,

exploratory research studies would not try to acquire a representative sample, but rather, seek to

interview those who are knowledgeable and who might be able to provide insight concerning the

relationship among variables. Case studies can include contrasting situations or benchmarking

against an organization known for its excellence. Exploratory research may develop hypotheses,

but it does not seek to test them. Exploratory research is characterized by its flexibility. A

descriptive study is undertaken when the researcher wants to know the characteristics of certain

groups such as age, sex, educational level, income, occupation, etc. Descriptive research is more

rigid than exploratory research and seeks to describe users of a product, determine the proportion

of the population that uses a product, or predict future demand for a product. Descriptive

research should define questions, people surveyed, and the method of analysis prior to beginning

data collection. In other words, the who, what, where, when, why, and how aspects of the

research should be defined. Such preparation allows one the opportunity to make any required

changes before the costly process of data collection has begun.

3. Identify data types and sources

The next step is to determine the sources of data to be used. The researcher has to

decide whether to go for primary data or secondary data. Sometimes a combination of both is

used. Before going through the time and expense of collecting primary data, one should check

for secondary data that previously may have been collected for other purposes but that can be

used in the immediate study. Secondary data may be internal to the firm, such as sales invoices

and warranty cards, or may be external to the firm such as published data or commercially

available data. The government census is a valuable source of secondary data. Secondary data

has the advantage of saving time and reducing data gathering costs. The disadvantages are that

the data may not fit the problem perfectly and that the accuracy may be more difficult to verify

for secondary data than for primary data. Many a time the secondary data might have to be

supplemented by primary data originated specifically for the study at hand. Some common types

of primary data are:

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Demographic and socioeconomic characteristics

Psychological and lifestyle characteristics

Attitudes and opinions

Awareness and knowledge - for example, brand awareness

Intentions - for example, purchase intentions. While useful, intentions are not a reliable

indication of actual future behavior.

Motivation - a person's motives are more stable than his/her behavior, so motive is a

better predictor of future behavior than is past behavior.

4. Design data collection forms

Once it has been decided to obtain primary data, the mode of collection needs to

be decided. Two methods are available for data collection:

1. Observational methods

2. Survey methods

Observational methods: As the name itself suggests, the data are collected through observation.

An observer observes and records the data faithfully and accurately. This may be suitable in case

of some studies but is not useful to observe attitudes, opinions, motivations and other intangible

states of mind. Also in this method, the data collected is non-reactive, as it does not involve the

respondent.

Surveys: It is one of the most common methods of collecting data for primary marketing

research.

Surveys can be:

Personal: The information is sought through personal interviews. A questionnaire is

prepared and administered to the respondent during the interview. This is a detailed

method of collecting information.

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Telephonic: This is suitable if limited information is sought in a fixed time frame.

Mail: Here, the questionnaire is sent out in mail and the response is sought. Timely

response cannot be sought in this method as there is no control over the survey. All the

people to whom the mail was sent may not respond.

5. Determine sampling design and size

A sampling plan is a very important part of the research process. The marketing

researcher has to decide whether it will be a sample survey or a census. Definitely a sample

survey has its distinct merits. The population from which the sample has to be drawn has to be

well defined. A broad choice is to be made between probability sampling and non-probability

sampling. The sample design is then chosen depending on the suitability and the availability of

the sample frame. The size of the sample chosen is based on statistical methods. This is well

defined and also reproduces the characteristics of the population. In practice, however, this

objective is never completely attained on account of the occurrence of two types of errors - errors

due to bias in the selection and sapling errors.

6. Collect the data

The next step is to collect the data for which the research process has been spelled

out. The interviewing and the supervision of field work should be looked into. One of the most

difficult tasks is interviewing for marketing research. Many a time the respondents may not part

with crucial information unless approached with tact and intelligence. Supervision of field work

is important to ensure timely and proper completion of the field survey. If this is not carried out

properly, then there results an interview error which may be detrimental to marketing research.

7. Analyze and interpret the data

The next step is to analyze the data that has been collected from the field survey.

The raw data is transformed into the right format. First, it is edited so that errors can be corrected

or omitted. The data is then coded; this procedure converts the edited raw data into numbers or

symbols. A codebook is created to document how the data is coded. Finally, the data is tabulated

to count the number of samples falling into various categories. Simple tabulations count the

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occurrences of each variable independently of the other variables. Cross tabulations, also known

as contingency tables or cross tabs, treats two or more variables simultaneously. Cross tabulation

is the most commonly utilized data analysis method in marketing research. Many studies take the

analysis no further than cross tabulation.

8. Prepare the research report

All the research findings have to be compiled in a report to be then presented to

the organization. The format of the marketing research report varies with the needs of the

organization. The report often contains the following sections:

Authorization letter for the research

Table of Contents

List of illustrations

Executive summary

Research objectives

Methodology

Results

Limitations

Conclusions and recommendations

Appendices containing copies of the questionnaires, etc.

The report has to be written with objectivity, coherence, clarity in the presentation of the ideas

and use of charts and diagrams. Sometimes, the study might also throw up one or more areas

where further investigation is required.

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LIMITATION OF MIS:-

A Management information system is a valuable tool company management uses to judge the

effectiveness of their business operations. The MIS provide detailed insight to certain operations

of a company and also assist management with making critical decision.

Once information is provided through the MIS. Decision can be made regarding the effectiveness

of business operations. Limitation do exist with an MIS, such as the expenses to create and

implement on MIS, training time for employee, lack of flexibility and capturing wrong or

incomplete information.

The main limitation of MIS is as follows………

1) MIS expenses:- MIS implementation can be very expensive for companies looking to

manage their operations more effectively. The cost of this followed by the installation

costs can be extremely expensive for large companies.

2) Employees Training: Properly trained employees are a critical part of an MIS.

Employees are at front lines of business operations and create or manage the daily

activities of the company. If an MIS finds a system flow or management decides to

change a process based on the MIS information, re-training employees will usually be

required.

3) MIS Flexibility:- Once an MIS is created and installed in a company, it may prove to be

an inflexibility system. Making changes quickly to reflect fluctuating business operations

may not be possible depending on the MIS style and functionality. Major business

changes will require major changes to the MIS leading to increased costs and downtime

of information reporting.

4) Information Flow:-The biggest flow an MIS can have is pulling incorrect information

for management. This problems results in wasted time and money for the company,

leading to another review of MIS to correct the information flows.

5) The MIS is conceived as a data processing and not as an information processing system.

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6) The MIS does not provide the information which is indeed by the managers but it trends

to provide the information generally the function calls for. In that case, it becomes an

impersonal system.

7) Inadequate attention to the quality control aspects of the inputs, process and the output

leads to insufficient checks and controls in the MIS.

8) The MIS is developed without streamlining the transaction processing system in the

organization.

9) As the users of information and the generators of data are different, lack of training

would make MIS ineffective.

10) The MIS does not give perfect information to all the users in the organization because

every user has a human ingenuity, bias and certain assumptions which are not known to

the designer. MIS takes into account only quantitative factors.

11) MIS cannot provide tailor-made information packages which are suitable for every type

of decision made by executives.

12) Effectiveness of MIS decreases due to frequent changes in the top management,

organizational structure and the operational team.

13) Incomplete update of the data base affects the reliability for all users.

14) Obtaining the acceptance and support of those who will interface with the system is at

times a problem.

15) Due to redefined periodicity of MIS reports, it might be possible that information reaches

the managers quite late and at times too late.

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Conclusion

MIS is very helpful in effective operations of an organization. But

there is some limitation is also in MIS, the trained employee, cost of

implementation of MIS, incomplete data base, inflexibility, imperfect information

etc. But if the MIS is used in a planned manner it is very helpful.

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Bibliography

Internet

www.google.com

www.wikipedia.com

www.marketingteacher.com

Books

Marketing management

Marketing Research by John Wiley & Sons

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