Everyone who has a part to play in the project, including outside organizations, participates, страница 12

actually be done quicker through primary contact. This is especially true where the number of contacts that must be made are few, known, and easy to reach, and the information can be obtained through use of a short, nonstructured verbal interview.

Secondary Sources of Information for the Marketing Plan

Secondary sources of information for the marketing plan have a variety of origins. One study investigated sources of marketing information used for marketing planning by three different company subsidiary nationalities: American, European, and Japanese. The sources of information for marketing planning included distributors, the sales force, the management of other subsidiaries, the marketing research department, historical data, trade sources, commercial suppliers, official sources, and the home office. This study showed that the sales force was an important source of information for all three nationalities of subsidiary firms and that historical data were important for American and European firms but not nearly as much for Japanese firms. Note the relative importances of different sources for these subsidiaries expressed in proportion of firms using, as shown in Figure 3-4.¹²

	Proportion of Firms Using Souce
Sources of intormation	American	European	Japanese	Total
Distributors	43%	38%	33%	40%
Sales Force	75%	71%	83%	74%
Management of other Subsidiaries	39%	54%	50%	47%
Marketing Research Department	57%	71%	0%	57%
Historical Data	75%	79%	33%	72%
Trade Sources	29%	29%	50%	31%
Commercial Supplliers	36%	8%	33%	24%
Official Sources	39%	58%	50%	48%
Home Office	14%	38%	17%	24%
Number of Firms	28	24	6	58

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Figure 3-4 Relative Importance of Various Sources of Secondary Source Marketing Research for Marketing Planning (Expressed by Proportion of Firms Using the Source)

Source: Adapted from James M. Hulbert, William K. Brandt, and Raimar Richers, "Marketing Planning in the Multinational Subsidiary: Practices and Problems," Journal of Marketing, vol. 44, (Summer 1980). p. 10.

Customer Oriented Sources-Complaints or Suggestions Irom Users

Formal Research of Users and Their Needs

Noncustomer Oriented Sources-Research and Development

Internal Sources Other Than Research and Development

Analysis of Competitors Products Analysis of Relevant Published Information	29.9% 8.4%
Suggestions of Suppliers	11.2%
	Note: 21.5% of the firms used multiple sources for the identical new product

Figure 3-5  Information Sources for New Product Ideas (107 Firms).

Source: Adapted from Leigh Lawton and A. Parasuraman, "The Impact of the Marketing Concept on New Product Planning." Journal of Marketing, vol. 44, (Winter 1980), p. 23.

Another study of 107 firms and the sources of new ideas for their products indicated a heavy emphasis of idea sources from internal sources other than research and development and analysis of compel itor's products. This is shown in Figure 3 5.¹³