Market Research for Business Markets: A Crash Course in Managing, Conducting, Buying, and Acting on B-to-B Market Research

September 25 - 26, 2008
Pittsburgh, PA

Dr. Abbie Griffin
Royal L. Garff Presidential Professor of Marketing
David Eccles School of Business
University of Utah

Gerry Katz
Executive Vice President
Applied Marketing Science, Inc.

Register Online

A Boot Camp in Market Research for Non-Market Researchers!

If you worked at a consumer package goods company, you would probably have the luxury of all the data you could ever want and an experienced, sophisticated market research department at your disposal. But business markets are different. In most B-to-B firms, data is hard to come by and expensive to obtain, and few have much of a formal capability in market research. Yet the need is just as great, and so most B-to-B managers grope their way along as amateurs in trying to conduct or purchase market research on their own. This seminar, to be co-taught by a noted academic and highly regarded practitioner, is intended to remedy this nagging, age-old problem.

Objectives

After completing this seminar, you will …

•    Recognize where and when you need market research

•    Be conversant with all of the basic tools and techniques available to you, and when each is most appropriate to use

•    Understand the unique problems of conducting market research in B-to-B markets, and why it is so different than for consumer markets

•    Know the difference between primary and secondary source research

•    Be able to conduct basic market research studies on your own

•    Know when it makes sense to outsource your market research, and how to work effectively with market research vendors

Who Should Attend

Marketing managers, product managers, business unit managers, and product developers—anyone charged with the development or management of products and/or services in a business-to-business setting who are in need of better market information in order to do their jobs effectively.  Those new to the practice of B-to-B marketing will find this to be an especially valuable course for conducting practical, impactful market research.

Seminar Content

• Introduction to Market Research
  Definition of Market Research
  Consumer vs. B-to-B Market Research
  Primary vs. Secondary Sources
  Qualitative vs. Quantitative
  Typical Flow of Market Research
  Typical Steps in a Market Research Initiative

• Market research using secondary sources
  Publications
  Syndicated / Industry Studies
  Internet Resources
  Internal Sources
  Other Proprietary Sources
  Centralizing and Organizing the Data You Already Have

• Information Finding Exercise

• Primary Market Research:  Overview of Market Research Tools
  Qualitative Methods:
        Focus Groups vs. One-on-Ones
        Ethnography / Contextual Inquiry
        Projective Techniques
        Central Location Interviews
        Customer Site Visits
        Technical Support Conversations

      Quantitative methods:
            Door-to-door Surveys (dead!)
            Mail Surveys
            Telephone Surveys
            Web-Based Surveys

• Practical Tasks in Market Research
  Developing a Sampling Plan:  (Exercise)
  Finding and Recruiting Respondents
  Developing Research Instruments:  (Exercise)
       Discussion Guides – Qualitative
       Questionnaires – Quantitative

• Data Analysis:  Qualitative
  Investigator's Observations
  Needs Extraction
  Reporting Techniques
       Verbatim Quotes
       Audio
       Video

• Data Analysis:  Quantitative
  Cross-tabulation
  Multivariate Techniques
  Conjoint Analysis / Discrete Choice Techniques
  Statistical Inference / Significance Testing
       How It’s Different for B-to-B

• Outsourcing Your Market Research
  When to Outsource
  What to Outsource
  How to Work With Outside Market Research Vendors
  What You Should Expect From a Vendor
  What a Vendor Should Expect From You
  How Vendors Price Market Research

Format

This seminar will begin at 8:30 a.m. and will end by 5:00 p.m. each day. A combination of presentations with concrete examples and hands-on exercises will be used. An optional ice breaker / introductory reception will occur on the evening prior to Day 1, and a hands-on exercise will be assigned for the evening between Days 1 and 2.

Instructors

Abbie Griffin holds the Royal L. Garff Presidential Chair in Marketing at the David Eccles School of Business at the University of Utah, where she teaches business-to-business marketing and first-year core marketing classes to MBA students. She is a member of the board of directors of Navistar International, a $ 13 billion manufacturer of diesel engines and trucks, and was the editor of the Journal of Product Innovation Management, the leading academic journal in the areas of product and technology development, from 1998 - 2003.

She began her career with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Purdue University. After working as a plant engineer for Polaroid Corporation for two years, she earned an M.B.A. from Harvard University. She worked in product and technology commercialization for Corning Glass Works in their biotechnology division and technology consulting for Booz, Allen and Hamilton prior to receiving a Ph.D. in Management of Technology and Marketing from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Professor Griffin’s research investigates means for measuring and improving the process of new product development. Her papers include “Research on Innovation: A Review and Agenda for Marketing Science” (with John R. Hauser and Gerard Tellis), Marketing Science; “Voices from the Field: How Exceptional Electronic Industrial Innovators Innovate,” (with Raymond Price, Bruce Vojak, Matthew Maloney and Edward Sim), Journal of Product Innovation Management; “Product Development Cycle Time for Business-to-Business Products,” Industrial Marketing Management; “Best Practices in Product Development” (Journal of Product Innovation Management); “Recommended Measures for Product Development Success,” (with Albert Page), Journal of Product Innovation Management; “The Effect of Project and Process Characteristics on Product Development Cycle Time,” (Journal of Marketing Research), and “Voice of the Customer,” (with John Hauser, Marketing Science; winner of the John D.C. Little Best Paper Award and the Frank M. Bass Dissertation Paper Award).

 Gerry Katz is a recognized authority in the areas of new product development, design of new services, product marketing, and market research, with nearly 35 years of consulting experience. At AMS, he has led more than 100 major client engagements employing The Voice of the Customer (VOC), Quality Function Deployment (QFD), and a large number of other marketing science applications. His client assignments have covered a wide variety of industries, with particular emphasis on healthcare and medical technology. He is a former member of the board of directors of the Product Development & Management Association (PDMA), the world's leading professional society devoted to the study and practice of developing and commercializing new products and services. He is also certified as a New Product Development Professional (NPDP) and is a contributing editor to Visions Magazine.

Prior to joining AMS, Gerry's experience included 12 years as a management consultant in marketing and market research with Management Decision Systems, Inc., 5 years in the computer software industry as senior vice president of information resources, Inc., and 2 years as vice president and general manager of Image Presentations, Inc., a specialized marketing communications firm.

He is the author of several award-winning papers, and received the William O'Dell Prize from the American Marketing Association in 1988. His articles have appeared in The Journal of Product Innovation Management, The European Management Journal, The Journal of Marketing Research, and Interfaces.  He has lectured frequently at the business schools of MIT (Sloan), the University of Pennsylvania (Wharton), Dartmouth College (Tuck), Carnegie-Mellon University, and Harvard University. Gerry has appeared twice on the NBC Today Show and in The Wall Street Journal. His outside interests are in music and education, and he has served on a number of Committees and Boards of Directors at the University of Rochester, the Eastman School of Music, the Longy School of Music, and the Boston Higashi School.

Gerry received his B.S. in Management Science from the University of Rochester in 1970 and his S.M. in Management from the MIT Sloan School of Management in 1972.

Location

This seminar will be held in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area. Information will be provided at registration.

Fee

ISBM Members: $1,500 USD
Non-Members:   $2,500 USD

To Register

Register Online
By email: isbm@psu.edu
By phone: 814-863-2782

Cancellation Policy

Up to 30 days prior to seminar—no fee
Between 15 and 30 days—$100 fee
14 days or less—full conference fee due
All substitutions within 14 days prior to the seminar will be subject to a $50.00 administrative fee.

For More Information

Paula Dorminy or Gary Holler
Institute for the Study of Business Markets - ISBM
The Pennsylvania State University
484 Business Building
University Park, PA 16802

Phone: 814-863-2782
Fax: 814-863-0413
Email: isbm@psu.edu