Business Intelligence & Market Research Lecture Notes

Flashcards about Business Intelligence and Market Research

Information System (IS)

Networks of hardware and software that people and organizations use to collect, filter, process, create, and distribute data to support decision-making.

Hardware

Physical devices in an information system.

Software

Instructions for hardware, including operating systems and application software.

Retail Link

Walmart’s system that lets suppliers access real-time data on inventory and sales.

How IS Improves Business Processes

To increase efficiency of existing processes or to enable new processes that transform the business.

Marketing (Sales and Marketing IS)

Identifying needs, planning products, and promoting them.

Sales (Sales and Marketing IS)

Contacting customers, processing orders, and following up.

Manufacturing and Production IS

Planning, developing, and maintaining production.

Finance IS

Managing financial assets and maximizing returns on investments.

Human Resources (HR) IS

Attracting, developing, and retaining talent; managing employee records.

Low-Cost Leadership

Using IS to reduce operational costs, like Walmart’s supply chain.

Product Differentiation

Creating new/customized services or improving usability using IS.

Focus on Market Niche

Using IS to analyze detailed customer behavior for niche targeting.

Customer and Supplier Intimacy

Using IS to improve connections, increasing loyalty and switching costs.

Market Research

Supports business decision-making by providing data.

Market Studies

Analyze behavior of market participants and identify new opportunities.

Positioning Studies

Evaluate how a company is positioned vs. competitors using Positioning Maps.

Segmentation Studies

Identify homogeneous groups (segments) based on shared characteristics and behaviors.

Geographic Segmentation

Segmentation based on location (countries, regions, climate).

Demographic Segmentation

Segmentation based on age, gender, income, education, occupation, family life cycle.

Psychographic Segmentation

Segmentation based on lifestyle, personality, motivation (using VALS).

Behavioral Segmentation

Segmentation based on relationship with the product (usage rate, loyalty).

Price & Demand Studies / Price Elasticity of Demand (PED)

Analyze how price changes affect demand. Formula: % change in Quantity Demanded ÷ % change in Price

Service Quality Studies

Evaluate multiple quality dimensions (e.g., timeliness, cleanliness, comfort).

Product Studies

Concept Testing, Packaging Testing, Product Design.

Marketing Communication Analysis

Measures impact of ads (brand awareness, intent to buy) and includes pretesting and posttesting.

Distribution Channel Research

Analyzes the best channel for product delivery and trade marketing.

Brand Value Research

Explores willingness to pay, brand equity, and perceived value.

Potential Market Analysis

Identifies new segments with potential to become customers.

Primary Data

New, collected via surveys, interviews, focus groups.

Secondary Data

Already existing (internal reports, government stats).

Quantitative Research

Structured, uses numbers and statistics, large samples, objective interpretation.

Qualitative Research

Unstructured, open-ended, explores feelings, motivations, small samples, subjective interpretation.

Focus Group

Guided discussion with 6–10 people to get insight on a product.

Delphi Technique

Anonymous expert questionnaires, repeated rounds to gather information about a topic.

Nominal Group Technique

Private idea generation then a group discussion after to formulate ideas.

Role Playing

Participants take roles to show perspectives on a topic.

Round Table / Symposium

Experts debate and present information on a topic.

Brainstorming

Free idea generation in a group of people.

Phillips 66

Groups of 6 discuss for 6 minutes, then share ideas with the rest of the group.

In-Depth Interviews

One-on-one conversation (~1 hour to get quality information).

Projective Techniques

Used to uncover hidden feelings, beliefs, or perceptions when researching.

Construction (Projective Techniques)

Creating stories or dialogues from images to see how people feel about a topic.

Complementation (Projective Techniques)

Complete unfinished sentences or situations to better research a topic.

Association (Projective Techniques)

Say first word/idea that comes to mind (e.g., Coca-Cola = refreshing).

Expression (Projective Techniques)

Role-play to show emotions/opinions of a topic.

Surveys

A quantitative research technique used to gather information from a sample of a population to draw conclusions about their perceptions, behaviors, or preferences.

Clear Objectives

assess users’ knowledge of website applications and understand their perception of website quality and identify potential improvements are examples of…

Population Size (N)

Total customers of Virtual Cloud = 23,489 ex.

Margin of Error (d)

Allowed error = 3% (d = 0.03) ex.

Confidence Level (Z)

95% confidence level → Z = 1.96

Data Coding

Assign numerical values (e.g., "Yes" = 1, "No" = 0).