International research organizations or large MNCs collect consumption data, but
typically in relation to a specific product or service category, with little attention to
acquiring data about the context in which the individuals make consumption choices.
Data on some micro-level factors such as the physical infrastructure are readily
available in UN or World Bank sources or geographic atlases. Equally, information
relating to the market and media infrastructure can be found in sources such as
Euromonitor or the EIU data. However, more detailed information relating to specific
regions or cities within a country is typically more difficult to obtain, as are data
relating to social and family interaction. Similarly, while some data relating to
situational factors may be available in the anthropological literature, this is rarely
collected on a cross-national basis, raising issues of comparability and equivalence