Is marketing research only about markets and marketing? (page 1 of 2)

And the same images always involve data relating exclusively to responses to marketing initiatives - advertising, pricing, new product launches etc etc. Perhaps there might be some awareness of data on Customer Satisfaction and Retention.

However, nowadays, though still largely unsung and unnoticed, an increasing amount of Marketing Research is conducted on business issues totally unrelated to Marketing per se. One such business issue is Stakeholder Relationship Management (SHM) - which looks at the strength of an organisation's relationships with a diverse set of stakeholders. By "stakeholders" we mean the likes of Channel Partners i.e. Distributors, Stockists, Retailers, Business Partners i.e. Suppliers, Investors or Shareholders, Lenders and, of course, Employees.

Stakeholder Relationship Management

This relatively new 'practice' in Marketing Research is driven by three trends:
• A realisation that the term 'customers' is not necessarily limited to those who buy or use your products or services
• The increasingly short 'shelf-life' of product and service innovation as well as business process improvements - it is extremely difficult now to maintain a competitive edge for any reasonable period of time through technical product-led efforts
• New organisational management approaches such as the Balanced Score Card, CRM, ERP, ISO certifications etc.

This has led to a realization for a company to build strong emotional bonds and relationships with various stakeholder groups - and hence for a need for relevant metrics to measure and track the strength of these relationships and highlight areas for improvement. Such metrics need to be comparable across the various stakeholder groups to make resource deployment and planning effective.

Addressing these needs, TNS has a globally successful SHM model called TNS TRI*M which offers a common philosophical framework for measuring and tracking metrics for all stakeholder groups. Apart from the relatively well known Customer Satisfaction and Retention, and Employee Commitment modules, TRI*M offers specialised modules dealing with
• Channel Partnership;
• Investor/ Shareholder Confidence;
• Corporate/ Leadership Reputation;
• Change Management/ M&A Management; and
• Internal Service Quality.

In effect, TRI*M delivers metrics which can be used as an integral part of the Balanced Score Card.

Business Intelligence

There is also an increasing need for companies to be able to predict behavior. But, in the face of increasing competition and the failure of product or service innovation to assure competitive advantage for any reasonable length of time, past behaviour can no longer be considered a reliable indicator of future behaviour. Such a situation opens up scope for Business Intelligence to link attitudinal measures, such as disposition to a brand, preference etc, with actual transactions or behaviour. Again, TNS has already invested in this area.

Re-Defining Marketing Research

Given all of this, there is I believe a case to redefine Marketing Research in a more comprehensive way - as Marketing & Business Research.

While the basics of marketing research as a science - statistical methods, sampling, analytical models, data collection infrastructure and rules etc are still important they are becoming 'givens' - basic qualifications for membership in the market research ( MR ) fraternity.