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This practical guide, published by Business Expert Press, leads readers through the issues they will face in developing new marketing opportunities in foreign markets. In Chapter 3, Fundamentals of International Market Opportunity Research, the authors explain the fundamentals of international market research, the types of information needed in international research, and how these are gathered and converted into useful, managerially relevant information. They also address the merits and limitations of primary and secondary data, and offer suggestions regarding online resources. They then discuss the nature of buyer behavior. Finally, in a special section called "Food for Thought," they examine research on perceptions, attitudes, beliefs, and values, all of which strongly influence buyer intentions to purchase.

This practical guide, published by Business Expert Press, leads readers through the issues they will face in developing new marketing opportunities in foreign markets. In Chapter 4, Customized Research Using Primary Data, the authors examine research using primary data, particularly regarding survey research. We also address focus groups and the challenges of conducting these. As Food for Thought, we offer a three-phased approach to conducting international market research composed of macro-, micro-, and cultural analysis.

This practical guide, published by Business Expert Press, leads readers through the issues they will face in developing new marketing opportunities in foreign markets. In Chapter 5, Methodological Considerations in International Market Research, the authors address methodological considerations in international market research. They examine the challenges of research validity, reliability, and equivalency in developing measures and assessing constructs. They also highlight the institutional environment in which international market research takes place. As Food for Thought, they offer a deeper discussion of some of the measurement issues that researchers face in international studies, especially survey research in multiple countries, and they suggest coping mechanisms that help to overcome these issues.

This practical guide, published by Business Expert Press, leads readers through the issues they will face in developing new marketing opportunities in foreign markets. In Chapter 6, The Research Process and an Example (the final chapter of the book), the authors present an extended example of a market research situation involving Acme Motor Company, based in the United States. Acme seeks to market its line of fuel-efficient automobiles to France and other countries in Europe. The authors weave into this example important research issues, such as properly modeling the research question, developing hypotheses, constructing the relative measures, and sampling and data collection. They also address data analysis through research methods and reporting research findings in a managerially relevant manner.

Economic incentives become counterproductive when they undermine what Adam Smith called "the moral sentiments," such as the desire to be esteemed by others and to be viewed as ethical and dignified. Organizational and social policy makers, take note.

Below $10,000 per capita, a country's income can grow even in the absence of good institutions. But at higher income levels, as China will soon discover, institutional quality starts to matter quite a lot.

Unlike traditional market researchers, who use highly targeted questions to extract information from customers, corporate ethnographers observe and listen in a nondirected way. Their method may appear inefficient, but it can yield rich data about product use.

The best business books from the past 30 years offer simple yet profound advice for overcoming five recurring challenges. The lessons are strikingly similar to those learned by the heroes of mythology and popular culture.

Past economic crises curbed executive compensation - but only temporarily. Companies continue to shell out hefty sums, even when performance is poor.

When there's limited cash for financial rewards, praise becomes an acutely valuable management tool. Through careful positive feedback, you can induce employees to chain several good efforts together into a pattern of excellence.

Executives need to face seven truths about the waste in their IT budgets. Here they are, along with some strategies for managing each one.

If your innovation efforts need a shot in the arm, try emulating the medical researchers who seek cures for diseases by examining cells for unexpected commonalities. You might find answers to some of your most confounding business problems by looking for relationships among wildly different products or solutions.

The chairman and CEO of DineEquity, the restaurant company that owns the Applebee's and IHOP brands, says the key to managing for performance across more than 3,300 sites is to turn the workplace into a classroom. "When employees feel like they're learning," she says, "they become more enthusiastic about their work, and that shows through to the customer in a hundred different ways."

Ribe Maskinfabrik A/S (RM) had, during the last 15 years, developed from a simple machine works operating out of Southern Jutland (Denmark) to the modern and globalized RM Group consisting of three distinct business units. This change had developed gradually as its outsourcing activities became increasingly important during the last years. In the beginning, outsourcing activities developed in an ad-hoc and reactive manner. However, RM gained important knowledge on how to optimize the outsourcing processes, and it developed a very extensive network of suppliers, many of which it had relationships with for many years. This network was offered to RM's customers and represented a high value to them. RM had already established these contacts and was able to assure the quality of its partners, which saved its customers valuable time and effort. In that sense, RM exploited its own experience and network of suppliers and became an outsourcing consultant.

In November 2007, Amazon introduced the Kindle, the first electronic reader with wireless functionality. The case describes the launch of the Kindle and provides information on representative players in the industry (or broader ecosystem) who are likely to be affected, and react: including Penguin (the leading educational publisher), Barnes & Noble (the largest bricks-&-mortar retailer), Apple and Sony (as manufacturers of competing devices), Google (as a major provider of free e-content) and Adobe (as a competitor in creating an e-book standard).

In December 2008, nightlife impresario Noah Tepperberg is celebrating the fifth anniversary of his New York City nightclub Marquee. While most clubs are over within their first one-and-a-half years, Tepperberg has succeeded in keeping Marquee one of NYC's hottest clubs for what seems an eternity in the nightlife industry. However, concerns remain about Marquee's staying power, rising costs, and increased competition. When is the right time for Tepperberg to pull the plug on Marquee?

The case describes the effort of Merck, a global leader in pharmaceuticals, in making available its medicines to the poor. The challenge for the company (or for that matter, any pharmaceutical company) is how to integrate its business strategy with its corporate social responsibility, especially when operating in "lower income" countries.