Introduction to marketing research

The practice has demonstrated that, at present, increasingly complex economic environment requires economists to have extensive knowledge to address these phenomena on a scientific basis. This approach is not possible without the use of appropriate ancillary tools.  The decisionmakers are not able to take any decision based only on a pure empirical experience.

Marketing approach requires a business philosophy that sees in meeting customer requirements the key to business success and recommends the use of managerial practices that help identify and address customer requirements (Hill & Terry, 2004). Future economists must acquire such a philosophy and must apply it in good faith and knowingly.

This book addresses to students from the Faculty of Agro-Food and Environment Economics of ASE Bucharest and those from the Faculty of Economic Sciences, UPG PloieÅŸti, Specialization Management and Economy of Tourism and Services Management, but not only. It aims at familiarizing students with the primary methods and tools specific to marketing research and marketing forecasts. The book seeks to endow students with knowledge in the field of marketing theory and especially in the area of observation, description, analysis, prognosis methods corresponding to the more recent approaches in the literature, being an introductory text, which addresses the vast subject of marketing research. There are also market research elements that connect the enterprise to socio-economic dynamics, representing the support of marketing strategies and tactics.

The paperback’ structure consists of twelve chapters. The first three chapters deal with general theoretical issues of marketing research, including conceptual approaches, presentation of the marketing research process and typology of marketing research. The following four chapters present aspects of data collection in marketing research, namely, methods of obtaining, tools and techniques used – the questionnaire, the interview, and the survey. The following three chapters deal with data processing: secondary data analysis, measurement and scaling, and sales analysis and forecasting. The research report and ethics in marketing research are the subjects for the last two chapters.