The Impact Of Marketing Research On Product Development

1.0 INTRODUCTION

The success of a company depends to a large extent on how research studies are carried out on the product and market in which the company operates. And for a producer to produce and supply product(s) that is actually required by the target market, he has to carryout a well planned and effectively executed marketing research.

Marketing researches helps in identifying the needs of the target market, and develop a product that will satisfy these identified needs. In view of this, the impact of marketing research in developing new product cannot be over emphasized.

1.1 BACKGROUNG OF THE STUDY

The idea of marketing research and product development is not a new concept; marketing research came into being as a result of diverse needs to harness resources available for social and economical development. The basic goal of any industrial activity is the development and manufacturing of products that can be marketed at a profit.

But obviously today, many marketing managers have underrated marketing research so much that they now find it very difficult to develop and produce products that can meet and satisfy the needs of their customers. This is so because most of the managers have failed to plan and execute effective marketing research.

It is in this view that this research work is carried out in order to encourage the marketing managers of today to effectively plan and execute marketing research in order to be able to apply truly analytical approach and procedures to decision making.

By this, they will be able to develop and produce products that will continue to meet and satisfy the needs of both current and potential consumers.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM.

There are some producers who failed to carryout marketing research and those who carryout theirs failed to highlight the problem associated with marketing research on product development.

The problem are how to carryout marketing research, the strategies and the techniques to be used in carrying out marketing must be identified.

1.3 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

At the end of this research study, the researcher intends and wishes to achieve the following objectives:

i. To reveal how marketing research can help in the development of new products.

ii. To show how the modern business executives can apply a truly analytical approach and scientific procedures to decision making.

iii. Another factor that leads to this research work is the need for product development through a well planned and tailor marketing research.

iv. To help modern business executive in the analysis and evaluation of the marketing decision that have been taken.

v. Finally, this study aim at showing the impact of marketing research on new product development.

1.4 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The significance of this study is to show how new product can be developed through a well planned and executed marketing research in order to enhance and maintain efficiency, high standard production and effective

marketing operations. This study is design to show the benefits that lies to any production and marketing firm which have taken the pain to effectively and efficiently carryout marketing research before developing new products.

1.5 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

In order to effectively achieve the aims and objectives of this study, the researcher formulates certain questions this is to ascertain the corrective ness and significance or otherwise of the research topic under consideration (i.e.) the impact of marketing research on product development.

The following research questions are hereby written as follows;

1. Which help marketing research rendered in development of new product?

2. What are the approaches and scientific procedures that modern business executives can apply in decision making?

3. What are the needs for product development through a well-planned marketing research?

4. What is the impact of marketing research on new product development?

1.6 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

It is designed to cover some data and information needed to create and stimulate demand and supply of products that can efficiently meet and satisfy the needs of both the current and potential customers.

Other areas to be covered in this study include the concept of marketing research, its scope and procedures, meaning of product and product classification, product life cycle, strategies in product development, stages in product development, market and product modification techniques as well as data collection, classification and analysis in marketing research.

1.7 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

In the course of carrying out this research work, the researcher encountered some limitations. The limitations include:

Capital and poor finance: the research work requires much money to be spent on transportation, administration and preparation of questionnaire among other expenses. And the researcher is faced with problem of low capital and thus could not go beyond the scope actually covered by this study.

Another limitation encountered by the researcher, is the respondents did not give their full attention when interviewed secretly, and this factor limit the scope of this study.

Lastly, low response rate of the respondents is another factor that limits the scope of this research work.

1.8 DEFINITION OF KEY CONCEPTS.

In the course of this study, many terms and concepts will be encountered especially by users of this project work. Therefore, for easy comprehension and understanding, the researcher has taken the pain to define some of the key concepts and terms.

MARKETING: Can be define as “ the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion and distribution of ideas, goods and services to create exchange that satisfy individual and organizational objectives” American Marketing Association (AMA) 1990.

PRODUCT: Product is everything that one receives in an exchange.

It could be an idea, goods, services, or any combination of the three.

PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT: It refers to the process of technical development in the laboratory depending on the product, safety test, quality service etc.

MARKETING RESEARCH: Marketing research is the process by which

business find out about customer’s needs, wants and desires.

STRATEGY: It is a unified, comprehensive an integrated plans and cause of action designed towards the achievement of set objectives.

POLICY: It simply means a pre-determined method, process and way through which a set objective can be achieved.

DATA AND INFORMATION: Data simply means group of non-random symbol which represent quality, action or things. Information refers to a processed data with a meaning.

INTERVIEW: refers to the use of representative sample in gathering information. Interview represents a personal contact between the researcher who is the interviewer and the respondent, the interviewee.

OBSERVATION: refers to the examination of a situation or thing with a view to ascertaining facts about it.

EXPERIMENTATION: This involves the establishment of a scale model or a controlled experiment that stimulates the real market situation as much as possible.

1.9 ORGANISATION OF THE STUDY

This research work is divided into five chapters as follows;

Chapter one covers the background of the study, statement of the problem, purpose of the study, significance of the study, research questions, scope and limitation of the study, definition of key concepts and finally organization of the study.

Chapter two review relevant literatures about the topic, while chapter three contains the research methodology (i.e. how data are collected, used and the problems involved)

Chapter four gives a comprehensive analysis of the data, while the last chapter contains the summary, conclusion and recommendations.

The history of Unilever Nigeria plc, can be dated back to 11th April, 1923. it was incorporated as lever brothers (west Africa) limited by Lord Leverhulme. The company’s antecedents have to be traced back to his existing trading interests in Nigeria and West Africa generally, and to the fact that he had since 19th century been greatly involved with the soap business in Britain. Unilever Nigeria plc started as a soap manufacturing company, and today is one of the oldest surviving manufacturing organizations in Nigeria.

After series of mergers/ acquisitions, the company diversified into manufacturing and marketing of foods, non-soapy detergents and personal care products. These mergers / acquisitions brought in Lipton Nigeria ltd in 1985, cheesebrough ponds industries ltd in 1988. The company changed its name to Unilever Nigeria plc in 2001.