Marketing Research Report: Internationalization Process Analysis

This report examines the crucial role of market research in the internationalization process of businesses. It explores the significance of market information, research methods including primary surveys and PESTEL analysis, and addresses key research questions such as the impact of market research on internationalization and the challenges associated with foreign market research. The report identifies challenges like variations in research costs, cultural and technological differences, and provides implications and recommendations for management, emphasizing the importance of stakeholder involvement and on-the-ground personnel. The findings highlight that successful international expansion relies on effective market research, which helps in understanding market dynamics, identifying trends, and positioning brands. Future research should focus on specific business entities with a large number of employees, comparability and equivalence of theories, and improvement of cross-cultural data analytical methods.

INTRODUCTION :
Organizations are always under pressure to produce high-
quality products and services that would satisfactory meet
the needs of their target customers. To accomplish this,
companies always have adequate know-how on the target
customer since they have conducted adequate market
research to collect the relevant information (Ogasavara,
Masiero, & Correio, 2015). The market research is always
easy as the organization and the customer are always into
contact and share numerous factors, however, due to the
recent globalization, the market research has become
complicated.
Background Information:
Market Research- Market research refers to the systematic
knowledge collection on the customer, products, and services
available in a targeted environment to help an organization make
marketing decisions that will ensure the success of the presented
products and services (Ribeir & Flor, 2016).
MARKETING RESEARCH FOR BUSINESS INTERNATIONALIZATION
RESEARCH METHODS
In this study, primary survey questionnaires were
used both with closed and open-ended questions
focused on gathering information on the importance
of market research. These include;
Who are the target customers and how can they be
reached?
Which services or products do the target population
desire?
Who are the primary competitors for the product and
services the business desire to give to the market?
What are the factors influencing the buying decisions
of the customers?
DATA ANALYSIS:
In every business, understanding the nature of customers is essential. Who are the
target customers and how can they be reached? Such a question focused on giving
answers to customer profiles, marketing strategies, and perspectives on the right
location for a business as pointed out by Dodd (2011). At the same time,
understanding the factors that influence the buying decision in a business helps in
the determination of product branding, convenience, prices, and services required
for the target customers. PESTEL analysis will also be used to monitor the external
factors that directly or indirectly affects the performance of different organizations
in the international business arena.
IMPLICATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS:
Based on the research findings, the following are some of the managerial implications
that can be utilized with the aim of reducing the adversities of uncertainty for
internationalization through the acquisition of information and knowledge about
specific markets in the global market arena.
When carrying out the research, the management team of a particular firm should
ensure that, they motivate and encourage cooperation in addition to integration
between the network of relations and other players in the business arena. The
management should consider the deployment of the stakeholders to aid with the
acquisition of relevant knowledge about the potential culture and legal restrictions in
the market research. In addition to this, firms should not substitute trust. When
carrying out foreign market research, it is recommended that the firm should have on-
the ground contact personnel who will give context of a wide range of nation-specified
factors which can affect the firm when it runs globally.
With the aim of having continuous flow of clients in the business after its gone global,
firms should ensure that they pay more attention to the small issues that surround the
interaction in the international market place. For instance, the involvement of local
leaders in the selected context.in this case, organizations are recommended to consider
choosing one research expert or vendor who is well familiarized with the global market
arena. Hiring a single vendor who is consistent and well versed with the arena is quite
helpful since it is nearly a tall order to manage multi-national business project.
GAPS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH
Gaps for Future Research
In the future, the researcher need to focus on the role of business research in the
internationalization of specific business entities that have a large number of employees; hence it
will help in making a general conclusion. The major specific areas of future interest include:
• The revisiting of comparability and equivalence on the theories , and unstructured approaches
• Development of new research designs that will ensure the extension of contexts,
establishment of geospatial boundaries, isolation of confounding influences and extension of
the dimension time.
• Improvement of the cross-cultural data analytical methods that will ensure the development of
more rigorous and better calibrated measurement methods, triangulation and fitment of the
analytical research methods
Results and Discussion
From the above analysis, conducting market research is essential in
entering new markets and especially in international markets. The success
of an organization expansion strategy into new global markets is dependent
on the ability to conduct successful market research. Failure to do market
research contributes to the loose of sight of the customers as well as
increased risk of failure. From the analysis, it is clear that conducting
international market research can reveal critical factors that are influential
in determining the profitability of the business venture or the brands in the
new markets. The analysis also provides the organization with an
opportunity to establish whether the market has a real chance and how to
position their brands (Eriksson, Johanson, Majkgård & Sharma, 2015). The
analysis also provides that entering into new international markets is very
challenging given the various market dynamics such as the different
cultural, political, economic as well as regulatory business frameworks.
Understanding these dynamics require effective market analysis through
research. The primary data and secondary information collected provides
the organization with an opportunity to analyze the key market trends in
the market and how it has been performing and the projected or
speculated trends in the future. This helps the organization to have a
picture of the business environment in the country.
Major challenges in conducting international market research
These include:
1. Variations in research cost.
2. Cultural Differences
3. Technology and communication differences
4. International market research structure
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
RQ.1 .What role does the market information play on the
internationalization process of business?
RQ.2. what are the major challenges and risk associated
with foreign market research for international business?