Fachhochschule Mainz University of Applied Sciences

24 | Auslandsbeziehungen |
presupposes that the population of a country
understands and is able to comprehend and
respond to the questions posed. Considering
to international research one has to know
that in many countries, only limited records
are available f. e. about dwellings, and others
- often even street maps are not available.
In some countries the correct address may
be easy but the postal system is just not
functioning. In some nations – f. e. India –
some population segments like women may
be totally inaccessible to interviews. In spite
of all these difficulties however, the survey
techniques remain useful because they allow
the researcher – if he considers all facts and
difficulties in a country – to rapidly collect a
large quantity of information about a country
and its markets.
8. Step: Designing the Questionnaire
Unusually international marketing surveys
are conducted with a questionnaire. Generally
spoken, these questionnaires should
contain questions that are clear and easy to
understand by the respondent. Much attention
has to be paid to the questions format,
content and the use of words.
Questions format means, that the questions
can be structured or open-ended unstructured;
open-ended questions usually permit
a more in-depth information. The questions
can be direct or indirect; societies have different
degree of sensitivity to certain questions
and one has to use indirect questions
in such cases. The researcher must be sure
that his questions are culturally acceptable
that means, in some cultures one can´t ask
directly „How old are you?“ it could be probably
better to ask „In what year were you
born?“.
Questions content means, that the researcher
has to pay major consideration to the ability
and willingness of respondents to answer
the questions. Different education levels in
foreign countries affect the ability of the
respondents to understand and answer the
questions.
Questions wording means the impact of lan-
guage and culture to the setting of questions.
Generally speaking, the researcher should
ensure that the potential for misunderstanding
and for misinterpretation of questions
is minimized. As a result of this statement,
attention must be paid to the translation
equivalent of questions because the content
and meaning may change in the process of
translation. An instrument, which helps the
researcher very much, is, that he translates
the questions into the language of the country
where the research is being done and has
a second translator return the now foreign
text into the researcher‘s language. Finally
a pretest with knowledgeable experts should
be conducted.
To obtain a representative result, the researcher
must reach the members of the population
focused in his study; this means , he has
to develop a sampling plan. In developed
industrial societies, many methods for such
research have been designed. In other countries
f. e. address directories may simply not
be available. The researcher has to find a
solution for these problems concerning the
different situations in different countries.
The collected data must be checked and the
quality of the data must be ensured. A
means and instrument of great help is just to
compare the data collected with secondary
information – if available – and/or compare
the collected date with date from similar
markets in order to obtain a optimum of
quality of the data.
When interpreting the data, the researcher
should use best tools available. But he should
always be aware, that the best and sometimes
oversophisticated statistical tools can not be
used for unsophisticated data. Even the best
tools will not improve poor data quality.
Presentation of the research results should
not only be a presentation for the managers
at the headquarters it should be a communication
with the managers in the local operations
and organisations as well. Otherwise,
little or no transference of the results will
occur and the effects and benefits of an
international operation is lost.
9. Step: Follow-Up Research
After the research has been done, appropriate
managerial decisions must be made based on
the research results. If it has been found, that
a product needs to have certain attributes
to sell well the manager has to determine,
whether these changes are to be made and
who will be responsible for these changes.
If more information is needed, the research
still should be a question for the top-management,
because otherwise, research will be
disregarded. Research should be improved by
new additional surveys and should always be
„up-to-date“.
10. Step: International Information
Systems
In business, daily decisions must be made
and there is often no time to do special
research. Therefore an information system
should be installed which serves and coordinates
the flow of information needed
for decision-making purpose. Such a system
requires several important attributes to fulfil
its purpose. They can be listed in the following
six points:
1. The information must be relevant – the
information must have meaning for the decision-making
process.
2. The information must be timely – a realtime
linkage between international subsidiaries
should be installed.
3. The information should be flexible – it
should be available in the form, needed by
the management.
4. The information should be accurate – a
system is of no value, if it provides incorrect
informations that lead to poor decisions.
5. The information should be exhaustive –
that means , that the informations should be
based on a broad variety of factors.
6. The information system should be convenient
so it is useful to managers and the
researcher. Δ
Jahrbuch Wirtschaftswissenschaften | FH Mainz | 2002