Secondary data research refers to the process of searching and researching data related to research projects, which have been collected and sorted by others, and some have been published. Through the investigation of second-hand data, marketing researchers can focus on some specific factors that should be investigated in international trade. If there are multiple markets to choose from, second-hand data research can help researchers eliminate unsatisfactory markets, determine the most promising markets, and lay the foundation for further field investigation. In international marketing, the role of second-hand data research is mainly manifested in the following two aspects:

(1) is an important information source, which lays the foundation for making some marketing decisions.

(2) Desk research can provide necessary background information for field research, make the objectives of field research more clear, thus saving time and research costs and laying the foundation for field research abroad.

(2) Secondary information sources

International competition is the competition of information. Whoever has the information will win the market. To study information, enterprises must master the source of information. It is an important way to query second-hand information from many information sources. First of all, the sources of second-hand data can be divided into two categories: internal data sources and external data sources.

1, internal data source

Internal data source refers to the data from the enterprise or company we want to investigate. Internal sources can be divided into three parts:

(1) Accounting accounts and sales records. Every enterprise has accounting books about its financial status and sales information. Accounting records are useful information used by export enterprises or companies to plan the budget of marketing activities. In addition to accounting accounts, market researchers can also find useful information from sales records, customer lists, sales reports, letters from agents and distributors, consumer opinions and letters and visits.

(2) Other reports. Other records include previous marketing research reports, special audit reports made by enterprises themselves and research reports purchased for previous management problems. With the diversification of business scope of enterprises, each survey is more likely to be related to other research issues of enterprises. Therefore, previous research projects are very useful information sources for similar and similar target market research. Marketing information system and computer database of this enterprise. Many western enterprises have established computer-based marketing information systems, which store a lot of marketing data. One of the service objects of this information system is marketing researchers, so it is an important second-hand information source for researchers.

2. External data sources

External data refers to information from outside the investigated enterprise or company. This kind of information includes the domestic information of the exporting country and the market information of the importing country. Generally speaking, second-hand information mainly comes from the following external sources:

(1) government agencies

An official government office (such as a business office) in a foreign country. Through these institutions, market information of various countries can be systematically collected. China Council for the Promotion of International Trade and its local branches also have a lot of information about foreign sales and investment. Relevant departments of foreign governments. In order to help developing countries export to them, many governments have set up "import promotion offices" to provide the following information: a. statistical information; B. sales opportunities; C. import requirements and procedures; D. local marketing techniques and business practices; E list of importers, wholesalers, agents and other middlemen dealing in a series of products; List of buyers of a certain product and the number of buyers.

(2) International organizations

Many international organizations regularly or irregularly publish a large amount of market information. For example:

International trade center.

The United Nations and its FAO.

Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development &; Development (ECD)

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)

United Nations Economic Commission.

International Monetary Fund.

(3) Trade associations

There are trade associations in many countries, and many trade associations regularly collect, sort out and even publish some production and sales information of their own industries. Trade associations often publish and save detailed information about industry sales, operating characteristics, growth patterns and similar information. In addition, they also conducted special research on various related factors in their respective industries.

(4) Specialized research institutions

The research institutions here mainly refer to consulting companies and market research companies in various countries. These institutions specializing in research and consultation are experienced and the information collected is very valuable, but the fees are generally high.

(5) Joint service company

This is a charging information source. Many companies cooperate with each other, regularly send and receive information useful for marketing activities, and sell information to customers through ordering. They jointly provide four basic information materials on a regular basis: a, product information circulated by wholesalers; B. product information distributed by retailers; C. Consumers' feedback information on various factors of marketing mix; Information about consumers' attitudes and lifestyles.

(6) Other mass media

Television, radio, newspapers, advertisements, periodicals, books, papers and patent documents and other similar media not only contain technical information, but also contain rich economic information, which has important reference value for predicting the market, developing new products and making overseas investment.

(7) Chamber of Commerce

The information that a chamber of commerce can usually provide to market researchers includes: its member list, information on local business conditions and trade regulations, credit status and trade habits of relevant members. Large chambers of commerce generally have commercial libraries open to members and non-members can read them.

(8) Banks

Banks, especially the branches of a big international bank, can generally provide the following information and services: a, information about economic trends, policies and prospects, important industries and foreign trade development in most countries in the world; B. Reports of foreign companies on the commercial credit status, and the latest information on the credit period, payment methods and foreign exchange rates of various countries; Introduce foreign businessmen and help arrange tours.

The World Bank and its affiliated International Development Association (IDA) and International Finance Corporation (IFC) publish and forecast many important economic and financial information every year. Other regional banks, such as Asian banks and European banks, can also provide rich trade and economic information for market researchers. Rural consumer organizations Many countries have consumer organizations whose purpose is to protect the interests of consumers. One of the many tasks of these organizations is to supervise and evaluate the products of various enterprises and other marketing situations related to products, and report the evaluation results to the public. This information is of great reference value to researchers.

An important source of information about competitors is the company itself. Researchers can directly or indirectly obtain product catalogues, price lists and product specifications from these companies; List of dealers, annual financial report, etc.

(9) official and non-governmental information institutions.

Many governments often provide trade information services and answer some specific information queries with the assistance of business representatives. In addition, some large companies in various countries expand their business scope and provide information obtained from investment and trade activities to other enterprises in various ways, such as Mitsui Global Communication Network of Japan Mitsui & Co., Ltd. and Overseas Market Research Association of Japan External Trade Organization.

China's official and non-governmental information institutions mainly include: National Economic Information Center, International Economic Information Center, Bank of China Information Center, Information Department of Xinhua News Agency, National Statistical Potato, Economic Information Department of China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, related consulting companies and advertising companies.

(C) Second-hand data research should pay attention to the problem

Although second-hand data research has the advantages of saving time and cost. However, many second-hand materials also have serious defects. Researchers need to pay special attention to the following aspects.

(1) Availability. Because the main advantage of second-hand information is to save time and money. Therefore, people should consider these questions when choosing second-hand materials: Can the required materials be used quickly, conveniently and cheaply by researchers? Usually, expensive data sources are only used when information is urgently needed. However, if the research funds are small, then the information sources with less money should be given priority, and speed and convenience are secondary. In some countries, the comprehensive management system is very complete, and enterprises can easily get the information they need, but in other countries (especially developing countries), the statistical means are backward, and it is difficult for researchers to get the information they need.

(2) timeliness. The data obtained from some information sources in some countries are often out of date for several years. Can not be used as the main basis for enterprise decision-making. Therefore, pursuing simplicity and inferring the current market situation with time-consuming data will make the research of enterprises lack timeliness and accuracy, so it cannot be adopted by decision makers.

(3) Comparability. Sometimes the data obtained from different countries can't be compared with each other, which is because the situation in different countries is different and the data collection procedures and statistical methods are different. Sometimes. The same kind of data may use different base periods in different countries, and the same index may have different meanings. For example, the consumption of TV sets is classified as entertainment expenditure in the Federal Republic of Germany, while it is classified as furniture expenditure in the United States. The comparability of national data in different countries will inevitably affect the usefulness of data, thus affecting enterprise decision-making.

(4) correlation. Marketing researchers must study whether the information they find can best hit the relevant aspects of the problem, and any far-fetched approach can only make the research results come to wrong conclusions. For example, published bank reports emphasize the economic situation of a country, while market researchers are interested in a designated industrial sector. Although a country's economic situation is related to this designated industrial development direction, the latter should have its own special development model and speed. If we simply use economic development figures to replace the development of designated industries, then the marketing decisions made by enterprises are useless to the development of designated industries. Therefore, in this case, some business magazines proficient in designated industries will be able to provide relevant information more suitable for this research goal.

(5) accuracy. Only in a few cases, some second-hand information released by others will fully and accurately discuss the topics that market researchers want to investigate, but in most cases, this is not the case. Especially when the directly related second-hand materials are not available, marketers may have to use alternative materials, so these alternative materials should be modified or supplemented appropriately. In order to improve the accuracy of data, marketing researchers should also study the methods of making such second-hand data to see if they can stand the test of science. For example, the data provided by some countries are only estimates, and the accuracy is not high. Field research refers to the process that researchers collect first-hand information by themselves. When market researchers can't get enough second-hand information, they must collect original information. The difficulty of collecting raw materials abroad is only different from that in China. The key factor affecting the success or failure of the survey is whether the respondents are willing and able to provide the required information. Compared with second-hand data research, the cost of field research is very high.

(A) the main methods and problems of field research

The main methods of field research include individual interviews, telephone surveys, mail surveys and shop observation. When adopting these methods, we often need to use sampling surveys and questionnaires. In the application of these methods and technologies, due to the differences in economy, culture, social politics and other aspects among countries, some problems often occur.

1, representative problem. Take the sample survey as an example. If the sampling survey is to be successful, the sample must be representative. However, in developing countries, the samples of sampling surveys are often biased, and the biggest problem is the lack of a correct understanding of the overall characteristics and a reliable representative sample list. In this case, many researchers can only rely on taking suitable samples in the market and other public places to replace the probabilistic sampling technology. Because of the differences between respondents in public places. The survey results are unreliable.

2. Language problems. The most important issue in the questionnaire survey is language translation. There are many examples of investigation failure due to misunderstanding caused by improper translation. For example, in Zaire, the official language is French, but only a few people in the population can speak French fluently. In this case, the questionnaire survey is extremely difficult, because idioms, proverbs and some special expressions in one language are difficult to translate into another language. Literacy rate is another problem. In some underdeveloped countries and regions, the literacy rate is very low. A questionnaire written in words is useless.

3. Communication problems. Another problem in the questionnaire survey is that it is difficult to mail questionnaires in many developing countries. The postal and telecommunications systems in some countries are extremely inefficient. For example, 30% of domestic letters in Brazil are not received at all. In such a country, the mail questionnaire method simply doesn't work. In many developing countries, the number of telephones is very small, and unless only the rich are surveyed, the telephone survey method is worthless. Even if the respondent has a phone. Not everyone can apply telephone survey. It is estimated that in Cairo, 50% of telephone lines may break down at the same time. In these countries, even industrial research and telephone research are not enough.

4. Cultural differences. Personal access is one of the important methods to obtain reliable data. However, in many developing countries, due to cultural differences, it is difficult to adopt this method. Respondents either refused to visit and answer questions or deliberately provided untrue information.

(B) methods to solve the problem of field research

1. In the study of international marketing, we should pay attention to learning from the experiences and lessons of other countries.

2. Pay attention to cross-cultural research and overcome the difficulties caused by cultural differences.

3. With the help of local people who are proficient in the languages and cultures of the two countries and have received systematic training in marketing and market research, help enterprises do a good job in local market research and reduce mistakes or troubles caused by cultural differences.

4. Use "back flip method" to solve the meaning problem of the questionnaire. That is to say, translate the materials from one language to another, and then let the local people translate them back to the original text to check whether there are any mistranslations or misinterpretations.

5. Strengthen the training of researchers. By training researchers, they can master various research skills skillfully. In this way, when one or more research methods can't be used in a certain country, other research methods can be used.