To what extent does undertaking market research guarantee that a firm makes the right marketing decision?

Essay by no_angel37 April 2004

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Undertaking market research does definitely not guarantee that a firm makes the right marketing decision. The aim of market research is to gather information that may be useful to the firm when marketing its' products. If a firm does undertake a reasonable quantity of market research it will definitely have an advantage because it should be able to make better decisions about what to do next.

Market research includes information about sales, competitors, market size, new developments in the market and a wide range of other things. This can be important because, for example, when considering the launch of a new product, a firm will want to know the size of the market.

Market research can also prove helpful by providing information on customer's reactions to different product prices. The firm will then be able to see if they are making the right decision about the price of their product.

By knowing what the consumers' reactions are likely to be, this dramatically reduces the amount of risk the firm is taking. If a firm was to release a product onto the market without doing any prior research, there would be a high possibility the product would fail.

One of the most crucial questions market research can answer is whether it is worthwhile competing in a particular market. The firm would have to find out how large the market is and what profit could be made. Research can also be used to determine possible changes in marketing policies.

Although market research is necessary for a firm, it is not always completely accurate or reliable. The value of market research can be judged in terms of the quality of the information it provides relative to the cost and time taken to gather it. If the information is good quality, is gathered relatively...