Assessing and Analyzing Markets

McGraw-Hill/IrwinInternational Business, 11/e Copyright © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

chapter fifteen

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Learning Objectives

Discuss environmental analysis and two types of market screening

Explain market indicators and market factors

Describe some statistical techniques for estimating market demand and grouping similar markets

Discuss the value to businesspeople of trade missions and trade fairs

15-4

Learning Objectives

Discuss some of the problems market researchers encounter in foreign markets

Explain the difference between country screening and segment screening

Identify sources of information for the screening process

Discuss the utility of the Internet as a source of market research data

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Assessing and Analyzing Markets

• Market Screening– A version of environmental scanning in

which the firm identifies desirable markets by using the environmental forces to eliminate the less desirable markets

• Environmental Scanning– A procedure in which a firm scans the world

for changes in the environmental forces that might affect it

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Market Screening

• Permits management to identify a small number of desirable by eliminating those judged to be less attractive

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Market Screening

• Two Types of Screening

•Country Screening

•Using countries as the basis for market selection

•Segment Screening

•Using market segments as the basis for market selection

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Initial Screening

• Basic Need Potential– If the need is lacking, then no reasonable

expenditure of effort and money will enable the firm to market its goods and services

– Easier for producers of specialized industrial materials or equipment than for widely consumed products

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Initial Screening

• Imports Don’t fully measure market potential• Resources to establish need potential

– International Trade Administration site on the Internet (www.ita.doc.gov)

– U.S. Exports of Merchandise on the National Trade Data Bank

– U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services (FT900) by the Department of Commerce

– Annual Worldwide Industry Reviews and International Market Research Reports prepared by various U.S. embassies

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Second Screening: Financial and Economic Forces

• Measures of market demand based on economic and financial data– Market indicators

– Market factors

– Trend analysis

– Cluster analysis

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Market Indicators

• Market Indicators– Economic data used to measure relative market

strengths of countries or geographic areas– Possibilities:

• Market size

• Market growth rate

• E-commerce readiness

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Market Factors

• Market Factors

– Economic data that correlate highly with market demand for a product

– Estimation by analogy

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Trend Analysis

• Trend Analysis

– Statistical technique by which successive observations of a variable at regular time intervals are analyzed to establish regular patterns that are used for establishing future values

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Cluster Analysis

• Cluster analysis

– Statistical technique that divides objects into groups so that the objects within each group are similar

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Third Screening: Political and Legal Forces

• Entry Barriers– Import restrictions, local participation

requirements, local content restrictions, government-owned competition

• Profit Remittance Barriers– Undue restrictions on repatriation of earnings,

limits to FDI, inability to provide foreign exchange

• Policy Stability– Political climate, government stability, public

unrest

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Fourth Screening:Sociocultural Forces

Screening on the basis of sociocultural factors is challenging

Sociocultural factors are fairly subjective

Data are difficult to assemble, particularly from a distance

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Fifth Screening: Competitive Forces

• The number, size, and financial strength of the competitors

• Their market shares

• Their marketing strategies

• The apparent effectiveness of their promotional programs

• The quality levels of their product lines

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Fifth Screening: Competitive Forces, cont’d.

• The source of their products--imported or

locally produced

• Their pricing policies

• The levels of their after-sales service

• Their distribution channels

• Their coverage of the market

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Final Selection of New Markets

• Personal visit to potential markets is essential– Field Trip, unhurried

– Government-Sponsored Trade Missions

– Trade Fairs

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Final Selection of New Markets, cont’d

• Research in Local Market– Face-to-face interviews reveal information that

would never be written

– Hire local research group• Person in charge of the project must have

experience in that country or culturally similar one in same geographic area

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Local Research Problems

• Cultural– Language– Literacy– Social desirability bias

• Technical– No up-to-date maps– Streets have different names– Houses not numbered– Only wealthy have telephones– Mail delivery issues

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Research in Developing Nations

• Less research performed

• Often a seller’s market

• Competition is frequently less intense in developing nations because• fewer competitors• management struggling with problems

other than marketing

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Return to Segment Screening

• Segment Screening

– Definable: identify and measure– Large: to be worth the effort needed – Accessible: for promotion and distribution– Actionable: have control of marketing programs – Capturable: potential exists