Consumers in Virtual Worlds
Literature Review / Theoretical Framework: The article in the journal Marketing Intelligence & Planning points to how marketing research is becoming more pivotal to companies due to increased global competition (globalization). The authors point out that because some firms struggle to re-invent the way they conduct marketing research in the new millennium, they are considered "learning organizations" (Malhotra, et al., 2001, p. 216).
The article presents important practical information about how firms should conduct research. For example, qualitative research should be conducted with a "postmodern" approach, which uses "artistic interpretation" methods and rejects the old way of doing things like sending out surveys to determine what consumers prefer. Updated qualitative research uses computer-assisted data and embraces creative methods. On the quantitative research side, the authors advocate automated "data mining"; new databases should contain unlimited information about foreign product markets (Malhotra, 221).
They present a long list of "emerging issues" (217) that is thorough and cogent.
Literature Review / Theoretical Framework: In essence, the authors are urging firms to use marketing strategies that move away from tradition (seeing the consumer as a an "information processor") and instead embrace the…
