The marketing research curriculum: Closing the practitioner–academic gaps

Marco Vriens, Stephen Brokaw, Douwe Rademaker and Rogier Verhulst

As an industry, marketing research has enjoyed decades of systemic growth. Unfortunately, dissatisfaction with the return on marketing research investments has also been consistently voiced.

Introduction

Strategic marketing is all about understanding customers and competitors and that comes partially from marketing research. The successful use of marketing research leads to superior financial results and market positions (e.g., Clancy & Krieg, 2000; Vriens, 2012). Schlee & Harich (2010) found that marketing research was the second most important area that students should have conceptual knowledge in, second only to consumer behavior, but more essential than promotion and advertising, sales, and pricing. This held true for entry-level jobs, mid-level jobs, and upper management-level jobs. Hence, an introduction in business research methods is often a mandatory module in a...

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