Executive Decision - March/April 2008 - (Page 69)

T he mere name of market research evokes pleasurable responses from most executives— particularly the finance guys— as they believe it is a definitive science that will answer the questions necessary to properly align strategic initiatives and It is one of the oldest stories in the book, actually: A quorum of executives is huddled into some offsite, half-day meeting where they are to be “wowed” with the true answer to how the company’s customers think, act and perceive their product or service. Slide after slide of line graphs are presented and everyone smiles and nods their head and only after the money has been spent and the reports drafted do the crucial questions and qualifying information that should have shaped the study surface. “Effective market research is a team sport,” says Brad Bortner, a marketing and market research analyst with Cambridge, Mass.-based quell the torrent of opinions that surround the way each company understands its customers. But while market research does deal in numbers, the results like any scientific study, can run the gamut of unreliable or irrelevant and more times than not, market research studies spend the better part of their lives collecting dust on corporate bookshelves. “The big secret of the U.S. market research industry is that there is no commonly accepted measure of quality.” Forrester Research, Inc. Bortner passionately emphasizes the need to gather and include the “compelling hooks at the design stage of the research.” In-house market research experts usually end up acting as a service bureau, explains Bortner, waiting for executives to place “orders” for market research projects. Bortner believes the correct way to employ market research in corporate strategy is to build the person responsible for guiding market research—usually the company’s marketing exec—into the business process. Bortner says this is rarely done, but is often the key reason so much market research is not actionable. “Market research has to be practical,” says Randy James, partner with Minds On, an award-winning marketing communications firm based in Columbus, Ohio. James admonishes his clients to carefully consider which of the many stones to turn over in the research process. “The research has to have a direct link to corporate strategy and should generally play directly into the company’s marketing programs,” he says. To that end, James recommends performing EXECUTIVE DECISION I March-April 2008 69

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Executive Decision - March/April 2008

Executive Decision - March/April 2008 Contents Index of Advertisers Contributing Editors From the Editor's Desk Publisher's Note You Be the Judge - Unionization Thought Leader - Pitney Bowes Management - Flying High for Long-Term Results Strategies - Sovereign Wealth Funds Cover Story - In Whom Do We Trust? The Movement for Greater Accountability & Disclosure Finance/Legal - The New Boycott Model Green At Work - Transforming for Sustainability Technology - Embracing Risk Leadership - Executive Reputation Management The Global Village - China Moves to Curb Prices Economic Profile - California Gold Rush Transformations - I Can See Clearly Now, The Brain Is Gone Marketing - Effectively Using Market Research The Bottom Line - Brands: A Shrinking Advantage or Shifting Advantage? Pulse - Pandemic: Not If But When SPECIAL SECTION - Living On the Green: Luxury Golf Destinations

Executive Decision - March/April 2008

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