A pharmaceutical manufacturer

Marketing

Students Name

Institution

1. A pharmaceutical manufacturer followed sales representatives in the field to observe some 150 interactions between sales reps and physicians and support staff. They watched sales reps approach the doctors, how they got around their gatekeepers, how they delivered their brands’ messages, and so forth. These observations led to improvements in training new reps.
   In what category of research would this study fall? Provide advantages and disadvantages of this category of research. What would be the next step in the marketing research process?
   Category of Research in which the study falls

It is clear that the pharmaceutical company was involved in observation technique which falls under the qualitative research methodology. This is because the pharmaceutical company sales representatives were involved in observing the doctors being approached by sales representatives who had to go round gatekeepers to deliver their messages. Observation is a very innate as well as a demanding qualitative data collection paradigm.  Some of the advantages and disadvantages of Qualitative research are outlined below (Denzin and Lincoln, 2010).

Advantages of Qualitative Research Method

Qualitative research methodology derives its strength from its capacity to provide intricate textual descriptions of how researchers do experience a certain research issue. Secondly, it offers information on the human side of a phenomenon thus means: the overly contradictory individual’s relationships, behaviors, emotions, beliefs and opinions. Thirdly, qualitative research methodology is very effective in the identification of intangible factors such as gender roles, religion, social norms, ethnicity, and socio economic status (Denzin and Lincoln, 2010).

In addition, qualitative research method provides more in depth details about a phenomenon of research this is because it digs deeper than evaluating counts and ranks through recording behaviors, attitudes and feelings. Fifthly, it tends to simulate the individual experiences of participants; in the end through qualitative research it is possible to build a detailed perception on why people act the way they do and their attitudes towards their behaviors. Finally, it tends to steer clear of pre judgments by explaining why certain assessments are provided (Denzin and Lincoln, 2010).

Disadvantages of Qualitative Research

The gathering and analysis of qualitative data is time consuming and thus very expensive. Secondly, the fact that it uses very few participants as samples makes classical researchers not to embrace it. Thirdly, the researcher is usually a participant in qualitative research through observation and thus bias in the final analysis is unavoidable. Fourthly, it has a comprehensive and in depth approach to the collection of data which limits its scope. Fifthly, Qualitative methodology does not involve the formulation of statistical data. Apart from that, qualitative data findings cannot be generalized over a wider population. Lastly, given that it is more time consuming, it tends to use a small number of participants to avoid budgetary constraints (Denzin and Lincoln, 2010).

The Next Step in the Marketing Research Process

The next step in the marketing research would be to take the observed data into the research office and try to integrate the observed phenomena into its physical context in order to understand their behaviors before coming up with sound conclusions about them.

2. A large international rental car company decides to develop a customer retention program. The program’s goal is to motivate its heavy users to continue being loyal to the company by offering them appropriate incentives. Create a marketing research plan to help the company design the retention program. Specifically, you need to identify:

1). Why this program is important.
2). The type of information the company needs to design the retention program.
3). Where to get this information.
A Marketing Research Plan in Designing a Customer Retention Program

Target the Right Customers

Instead of attempting to acquire customers just for the sake of it the car rental company should describe the type of customers it desires. As soon as the marketing objectives are laid out efforts should be geared towards the right market segments (Reicheld, 2009).

Begin a Positive Relation by Acquisition

The process of acquisition is what sets the relationship’s tone. The car rental .............