This chapter focuses on market research, specifically on the function of providing management with information for more accurate decision making. It differs from domestic marketing research in that customer attitudes about providing information to a researcher are culturally conditioned. Foreign market surveys must be carefully designed to elicit the desired data and at the same time not offend the respondent's sense of privacy. International market research must also contend with inadequate or unreliable bases of secondary information. There are three keys to successful international marketing research:
(1) the inclusion of natives of the foreign culture on research teams;
(2) the use of multiple methods and triangulation;
(3) the inclusion of decision makers, even top executives, who must on occasion talk directly to or directly observe customers in foreign markets.