Marketing Take-home Exam Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Marketing Take-home Exam - Essay Example Information To conduct accurate and relevant marketing research, marketing intelligence plays a very crucial role by providing the necessary information. However, McDonald must determine what information it needs. There are two major questions relating to the sources of information i.e. (1) What are the internal information sources? and (2) what are the external information sources? External sources of information must include necessary data relating to the key competitors and target consumers. McDonald’s must access the relevant published sources to analysis the key strengths, weaknesses and market share of the competitors. This external information must indicate the recent developments taken place in the market and among the competitors. Consumers’ changing behavior also needs to be identified using the external information. On the other hand, internal sources of information are also very crucial. However, obtaining such information is an easy task for McDonaldâ€℠¢s as it needs coordination with cross-functional departments. Hence, McDonald’s must carry out data-base analysis to understand the up-sale and cross-sale opportunities and to identify the potential consumers. Communication Primary difference between market intelligence and marketing research is the basic communicational process. In market intelligence, there is better communication between the decision makers and market intelligence analysts. On the other hand, communication is necessary for gathering and disseminating external and internal information. However, in market intelligence, the two most important questions relating to communication are ‘how to develop better communication for gathering information?’ and ‘how to develop communication for decision making?’ For gathering external and internal information, better communication is necessary. McDonald’s must implement IT systems like RFID and SAP for developing interference-free data g athering. It helps to build a flawless and continuous communication system (Koster and Munoz, 2009, p.358). For better decision making process, using the market intelligence process ‘two-way communication’ is an effective method. To develop two-way communication, McDonald’s must focus on better cross-functional communication and superior interaction level with the employees and management. Integrated marketing communication (IMC) is the most suitable approach as IMC helps to build an effective internal and external communications. People and Processes Managing the people and processes are challenging tasks for producing accurate and relevant outcome from market intelligence process. The first criterion in marketing research is to identify and develop research question. Once this task is over, McDonald must synchronize and manage the entire process. Two primary questions in this area are â€Å"how to involve relevant people in marketing intelligence process? and ‘how to develop effective and accurate process?’ McDonald’s must identify key employees to involve them in market intelligence process. Motivation and transparency are the two vital factors in this process. McDonald