Problems with internal data: It may be incomplete wrong form for making marketing decisions or in the Keeping the major effort, because data quickly databas current requires a the data must be well integrated and readily accessible. Competitive Marketing Intelligence collection and analysis of publicly Competitive intelligence is the systematic marketplace. available information about consumers, competitors, and developments in the Marketing intelligence gathering has grown dramatically Firms use competitive in to gain early warnings of competitor moves and strategies. Much competitor intelligence can be collected from people inside the company. reveal intelligence information through their annual reports, business publications, trade show exhibits, press releases, advertisements, and Web pages Most companies are now taking steps to protect their own information. The growing use of marketing intelligence raises a number of ethical issues. MARKETING RESEARCH Marketing research is the systematic design, collection, analysis, and reporting of data relevant to a specific marketing situation facing an organization. The marketing research process has four steps Defining the Problem and Research Objectives Defining the problem and research objectives is often the hardest step in the research process. A marketing research project might have one of three types of objectives. l. Exploratory research: to gather preliminary information that will help define the problem and suggest hypotheses. 2. Descriptive research: to describe things, such as the market potential for a product 3. Causal research: to test hypotheses about cause-and-effect relationships. Start with exploratory research and later follow with descriptive or causal research.