Mode I Stores, Inc.: Computer Supported Cases on the Marketing Research and Problem Solving Process

Abstract

"The typical marketing student generally does not look forward to a marketing research course. Part of the students’ resistance can be written off to fear of a rigorous and demanding course in what is generally a less quantitative and abstract field of concentration than accounting, finance, or logistics. Whatever the cause, the resistance factor both be- f ore and during the research course remains one of the unsolved challenges of marketing education. Marketing research materials are a key element in the student’s development. Those who have consulted with or studied corporations are keenly aware of the importance of systematic investigation of marketing problems through formal analytic schemes. This is as true of the small manufacturer of industrial goods who doesn’t know who his customers are as it is of the researchers and consultants who seek patterns of marketing success. The key objective of the marketing research course is to persuade the student to truly internalize the analytic! research viewpoint and to instill a framework so that, when faced with a complex multifaceted business problem, he will know what information to ask for and how to evaluate the information he receives. Similarly, if he joins the staff of a research department or agency, he should be able to relate management’s needs to workable research and to numerical results. As Kotler phrases it, “what is needed [to gain greater acceptance of marketing research] is a gradual education about each other’s needs and capabilities.” [3] The Mode I Stores, Inc. package hopefully will help close that gap. "