Structuring and Measuring the Size of Business Markets

Phyllis Macfarlane

A review of business or `industrial' markets research and how it differs from consumer research. Covers: a brief historical background to business research; how to define business markets; business market structures; business universes, sampling and statistics; collecting usage information; response rates and dealing with non-response; standard error calculations.
  

Structuring and Measuring the Size of Business Markets

Phyllis Macfarlane, NOP Research Group

BACKGROUND AND INTRODUCTION

It is perhaps appropriate to start with a little history. In the days when manufacturing was king and service industries were hardly thought of, there was a significant market for what was called industrial market research. This comprised researching small populations of extremely non-homogeneous businesses to establish the market for certain types of industrial machinery, equipment or products. The studies generally comprised equal parts of desk research and depth interviews, and a great deal of experience was required to interpret...

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