Q&A Hero

Q: Bessie has decided to pursue a marketing research effort to acquire information before her company makes a strategic relocation move to the West Coast. What would be the first step that Bessie (and the marketing researchers) should take as she embarks on the research effort? A) Define the research problem and establish research objectives. B) Analyze, interpret, and summarize the results. C) Determine the sources of information to fulfill the research objectives. D) Consider the costs and benefits of the research effort. E) Gather relevant data from secondary or primary sources, or both.

Q: What should an organization do once it has determined the sources of information to fulfill the marketing research objectives? A) Gather the relevant data from secondary or primary sources, or both. B) Analyze, interpret, and summarize the information gathered. C) Consider the costs and benefits of the research effort. D) Effectively communicate the results to decision makers. E) Conduct surveys and in-depth interviews with the respondents.

Q: Which type of information is Unisys Corporation most likely to be interested in if it conducts a general noneconomic review of conditions affecting the division's business, such as ecology and leisure time? A) monetary and demographic data B) cultural, sociological, and political climate C) overview of market conditions D) summary of the technological environment E) competitive situation

Q: Which type of information is Unisys Corporation most likely to be interested in if it gathers information related to ecology, safety, and leisure time and their potential impacts on the division's business? A) economic and demographic data B) cultural, sociological, and political climate C) overview of market conditions D) summary of the technological environment E) competitive situation

Q: Unisys Corporation's international marketing research calls for collecting and assessing various types of information. Which of the following types of information is Unisys Corporation most likely to be interested in if it gathers information related to profitability for the division's products, inflation, business cycle trends, and the like? A) economic and demographic data B) cultural, sociological, and political climate C) overview of market conditions D) summary of the technological environment E) competitive situation

Q: ________ is traditionally defined as the systematic gathering, recording, and analyzing of data to provide information useful to marketing decision making. A) Marketing reach B) Market skimming C) Marketing research D) Marketing exposure E) Target marketing

Q: In Japan, the public, face-saving truth is referred to as honne.

Q: The ideal approach to multicountry marketing research is to have local researchers in each country, with close coordination and networking between the client company and the local research companies.

Q: Centralization of the marketing research function in the parent country ensures that the field personnel and resident managers in the foreign country have more intimate knowledge of the subtleties of the market.

Q: It is helpful for a foreign market researcher to have a skeptical attitude in handling both primary and secondary data.

Q: As a marketing researcher for his company, Rashid was tasked with determining the market size and growth rate of the company's new target market in a foreign country. He polled the sales manager for a similar company in the country, gathered information from government sources, and talked to his domestic manager. Rashid was using triangulation to help forecast demand.

Q: Two methods of forecasting demand are particularly suitable for international marketers: probabilistic forecasting and reference-class forecasting.

Q: Easy accessibility of volumes of secondary data is the biggest advantage the Internet now provides to international marketing researchers.

Q: Observational research on the Internet typically excludes monitoring of chat rooms, blogs, and personal websites to assess consumers' opinions about products and services for privacy reasons.

Q: Businesspeople in Japan tend to respond to mail surveys at a higher rate than businesspeople in the U.S.

Q: When Sophia created her questionnaire on Paris fashions, she created it in English, then it went through a successive process of translation into French and retranslation into English, each time by a different translator. This process continues to be repeated until an English version can be translated into French by a different translator, into the same English. This process is known as decentering.

Q: A review of the different approaches to multicountry research suggests that the ideal approach is to have local researchers in each country, with close coordination and networking between the client company and the local research companies.

Q: The parallel method of translation is typically inaccurate because of commonly used idioms in both languages involved in the translation.

Q: The most universal survey research problem in foreign countries is fear of government reprisal.

Q: In international marketing, the greatest problem in sampling stems from the lack of adequate demographic data and available lists from which to draw meaningful samples.

Q: Sampling cannot be used if there is a lack of social and economic information.

Q: Completion rates on questionnaires can be hampered by a culture that places a higher value on privacy.

Q: Most problems in collecting primary data in international marketing research stem from the excessive cost of primary research in these markets.

Q: When respondents are able to recognize the usefulness and value of a product or concept, they will be better able to express their attitudes and opinions.

Q: If secondary data sources don't answer a researcher's questions adequately, primary data should be collected.

Q: Quantitative research is helpful in revealing the impact of sociocultural factors on behavior patterns and in developing research hypotheses that can be tested in subsequent studies.

Q: The most often used form of qualitative questioning is the survey questionnaire that contains questions with a set of choices from which respondents select their responses.

Q: In quantitative research, if questions are asked, they are almost always open-ended or in-depth.

Q: Data collected specifically for a particular research project at hand is known as secondary data.

Q: Checking the consistency of one set of secondary data with other valid data is not an effective way of judging validity.

Q: Less developed countries are particularly prone to being both overly optimistic and unreliable in reporting relevant economic data about their countries.

Q: One of the reliability problems faced by a marketing researcher who seeks to do secondary research in a foreign market is that official statistics are sometimes too optimistic.

Q: Commercial sources, trade associations, management groups, and state and local governments are good sources of primary data for a researcher.

Q: Data that has already been collected by some other agency are known as secondary data.

Q: The marketing research process should begin with the determination of the sources of information to fulfill the research objectives.

Q: In the context of problem definition in international marketing research, the environments within which the research tools are applied are often different in foreign markets.

Q: What are the various advantages and disadvantages of the decentralization of the international marketing research function?

Q: Define the analogy method of demand forecasting, and give an example of how it could be used.

Q: Define the expert opinion method of demand forecasting, including the challenges of using it.

Q: Explain at least four uses of the Internet in international marketing research.

Q: Compare and contrast back translation and parallel translation.

Q: Discuss four potential problems associated with gathering primary data in the international arena.

Q: Discuss the key features of quantitative research, and contrast it with qualitative research..

Q: With references to international marketing research, discuss four problems related to the availability and use of secondary data.

Q: List the six steps in the research process.

Q: International marketers often need to collect certain types of information not normally collected by domestic marketing researchers. Unisys Corporation gives some guidance about the kind of information that organizations need to collect in the international environment during planning. List and briefly discuss each of the five types of information suggested by the Unisys Corporation model.

Q: The text describes four kinds of companyagencycustomer relationships that might be used to bridge the cultural barrier that is present in most international marketing research. In which model do cultural and organizational barriers cross simultaneously, thus maximizing chances for miscommunication? A) companyagencycustomers B) companyagencylocal agencycustomers C) companyforeign agencylocal agencycustomers D) companyforeign agencyInternetcustomers E) companyInternetcustomers

Q: The text describes four kinds of companyagencycustomer relationships that might be used to bridge the cultural barrier that is present in most international marketing research. Which is deemed to be best suited for managing the cultural barrier across the chain of communication? A) companyagencycustomers B) companyagencylocal agencycustomers C) companyforeign agencycustomers D) companyforeign agencyInternetcustomers E) companyInternetcustomers

Q: In Japan, ________ refers to the factual truth, irrespective of the damage it might do to the social relationships within and between Japanese companies. A) kanban B) honne C) keiretsu D) zaibatsu E) tatemae

Q: The public, face-saving truth is referred to as ________ in Japan. A) kanban B) tatemae C) keiretsu D) zaibatsu E) honne

Q: What country has a hierarchical, relationship-based corporate culture? A) Germany B) France C) South Korea D) Switzerland E) Australia

Q: What is true about the Japanese corporate culture? A) Employees like to work on their own rather than in a group. B) Negotiations are avoided at any cost. C) Decisions are generally taken by lower level employees who directly deal with the problem. D) The process of decision making is extremely complex and time consuming. E) The focus on consensus and group makes it hard to challenge what has been decided.

Q: In Japanese corporate culture, which action is most likely to constitute a typical significant impediment to averting and responding to a crisis? A) Employees like to work on their own rather than in a group. B) Negotiations are avoided at any cost. C) Decisions are generally taken by lower level employees who directly deal with the problem. D) Employees who are lower in the hierarchy find it hard to question their superiors. E) The process of decision making is extremely complex and time consuming.

Q: One disadvantage of decentralized research management is possible ineffective communication with A) field personnel. B) home-office executives. C) customers. D) local agencies. E) resident managers.

Q: What is a disadvantage of decentralized research management? A) The control hardly rests closer to the market. B) Various international laws restrict decentralized research. C) Field personnel and resident managers lack intimate knowledge of the subtleties of the market. D) There is unwarranted dominance of large-market studies in decisions about global standardization. E) Decentralized research has higher probability of translational errors.

Q: To deal with the problems in analyzing and interpreting research information in an international market, a marketing researcher must possess three talents. What is one of these talents? A) the ability to work within assigned budget B) creative talent for adapting research methods C) proven talent to use and apply advanced statistics D) superior logical ability and thorough knowledge of the language of the home country E) the ability to extrapolate home-country data

Q: A toy manufacturer has excellent sales figures for its toys in country A, but inadequate figures in the neighboring country B. In country A, per capita consumption is known to increase at a predictable ratio as per capita gross domestic product (GDP) increases. If per capita GDP is known for country B, per capita demand for the toys can be estimated using the relationships established in country A. Which of the following methods of forecasting does this example illustrate? A) probabilistic forecasting B) reference class forecasting C) expert opinion D) analogy E) linear regression

Q: The ________ method for estimating demand assumes that demand for a product develops in much the same way in all countries, as comparable economic development occurs in each country. A) reference class forecasting B) analogy C) morphing D) scenario building E) triangulation

Q: The key in using expert opinion to help forecast demand is ________; that is, comparing estimates produced by different sources. A) indemnification B) simulation C) morphing D) modeling E) triangulation

Q: What is a method of demand forecasting that begins by establishing a relationship between the item to be estimated and a measurable variable? A) probabilistic forecasting B) analogy C) simulation D) extrapolation E) scenario building

Q: G&P's marketing research department needed to get figures on market size and growth rates in a company they were targeting for growth. They opted to use government officials and outside consultants for the information. This is a method known as A) probabilistic forecasting. B) expert opinion. C) simulation. D) extrapolation. E) scenario building.

Q: Two methods of forecasting demand are particularly suitable for international marketers. What is one of these methods? A) probabilistic forecasting B) expert opinion C) simulation D) extrapolation E) scenario building

Q: According to the text, today the real power of the Internet for international marketing research is the A) reduction in the time required for completing primary research. B) reduction in the cost of conducting primary research. C) increase in the reliability of the surveys conducted using the Internet. D) ability to overcome legal barriers to conducting primary research. E) ability to easily access volumes of secondary data.

Q: What is a severe limitation of using the Internet for primary research? A) The data on the Internet are usually outdated. B) The educational qualifications of the respondents of surveys on the Internet cannot be identified accurately. C) Secondary data cannot be accessed on the Internet for conducting research. D) A sample universe composed solely of Internet respondents represents a potential bias. E) Using the Internet for primary research is the most expensive way of conducting primary research.

Q: By systematically monitoring chat rooms, blogs, and personal websites to assess consumers' opinions about the new line of health drinks that his company has launched, Carlos is engaging in the practice of A) tomography. B) serigraphy. C) vitreography. D) netnography. E) lithography.

Q: Systematic monitoring of chat rooms, blogs, and personal websites to assess consumers' opinions about products and services is known as A) tomography. B) serigraphy. C) vitreography. D) netnography. E) lithography.

Q: Alexandria's research focuses on consumers in Brazil, Russia, Canada, and Nigeria. In this case, Alexandria is most likely engaged in ________ research. A) geographical B) anthropological C) psychological D) sociological E) multicultural

Q: In the ________ method, successive translation and retranslation of a questionnaire takes place, each time by a different translator, and the version that is finally used and its translation have equally comprehensive and equivalent terminologies in both languages. A) serial translation B) triangulation C) linear translation D) netnography E) decentering

Q: Cho is having difficulty with her company's advertising in Japan. As a representative of Cherry Motors, she intends to use American campaigns in the Japanese market. She is surprised to learn that the slogan "Body by Bass" (the company that makes external structures for Cherry Motors) loosely translated in Japanese means "Corpse by Bass." Which of the following problems did Cho experience with her company's advertising in this scenario? A) improper syntax B) improper colloquialisms or slang C) improper grammar D) improper local language E) improper foreign language

Q: In ________ translation, a questionnaire is translated from one language to another, and then a second party translates it again into the original, and the two original language versions are compared. A) serial B) parallel C) back D) simultaneous E) complimentary

Q: An American marketing research company wanted to use a survey to determine if it was feasible to build shopping centers in several countries. Since all of the countries spoke a different language, the company used two translators for each countryone to translate it into the native language, and one to translate it back into English. The original document was revised repeatedly until the translated version matched it in meaning. This describes the process of A) decentering. B) bi-translation. C) parallel translation. D) centering. E) reciprocal translation.

Q: Lola, along with many of her friends, grew up in a very poor country and didn't attend school. A consumer products company wants to do marketing research in her country and plans to send out a survey. What problem is most likely to hamper the research using this tool? A) taboos B) product fit C) lack of interest D) translation E) illiteracy

Q: Decentering is a hybrid of ________ translation. A) parallel B) simultaneous C) linear D) random E) back

Q: In ________ translation, more than two translators are used for the back translation; the results are compared, differences discussed, and the most appropriate translation selected. A) parallel B) recentering C) linear D) random E) front

Q: Marketers use three different techniques to ferret out translation errors in marketing research questionnaires ahead of time. What is one of these techniques? A) simultaneous translation B) serial translation C) back translation D) linear translation E) recentering

Q: Back translations may not always ensure an accurate translation because of commonly used idioms in both languages. Which type of translation is used to overcome this problem? A) serial translation B) centering C) linear translation D) complimentary translation E) parallel translation

Q: A toy manufacturer conducted a survey to estimate the market demand for its specialized wood-based toys in a foreign country. For the survey, it interviewed all the families in four rural towns of that country but it did not have sufficient information to make the distinction between those with children and those without children. The market demand forecast based on this survey failed to match the actual demand for the toys. Which of the following is the most likely reason for this failure? A) difficulty in defining the research objective B) unwillingness of the respondents to reply to survey questions C) difficulty in translating the responses D) inappropriate sample selection due to lack of adequate demographic data E) lack of appropriate methods for analyzing the data

Q: The most universal survey research problem in foreign countries is the ________ barrier. A) technological B) legal C) cultural D) literacy E) language

Q: In many rural areas, there are no street maps, some streets are not identified, and some houses are not numbered. Which of the following aspects of market research is this situation most likely to directly affect? A) product enhancement analysis B) inventory analysis C) the optimization process D) the sampling process E) the decentralization process

Q: In the international arena, the greatest problem in sampling stems from the A) lack of adequate demographic data from which meaningful samples can be drawn. B) lack of expertise in designing sampling layouts for a nondomestic market. C) higher probability of foreign government intervention in the sampling process. D) inability of international market researchers to speak foreign languages. E) difficulty in determining sample size suitable for the relevant foreign market.