Week 9 Reading Reflection

1) What was the biggest surprise for you in the reading? In other words, what did you read that stood out the most as different from your expectations?  

The biggest surprise from the reading was the fact that most market research is based on information already out there as opposed to actually going out there and finding primary info. This really differs with my idea of market research that all my previous encounters in business have taught me, where you go out and survey people to get a business idea.

2) Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.

One part of the reading that was confusing to me was the idea of irrelevant information since all information can have use as shown with the Facebook example. Maybe the information isn’t useful now, but it might come in handy to develop the service later or help launch another venture.

3) If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why?

The two questions I would ask the author would be: How common is it for a new venture to not look at market research? This question should be asked to see how many ill-informed ventures there are out there and to give perspective.

My next question is if a firm does not do market research what is their probability of success? It seems to be a very good question to ask since that might be the reason a lot of small businesses fail during their first two years.

4) Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How?

I think the author was wrong about how important secondary information is compared to a primary info as primary info is what ultimately justifies a firm’s direct existence as opposed to circumstantial evidence found in secondary sources. Also more information relating to a specific topic or service makes market research more effective than just shoehorning whatever pieces of information are available in the idea.