Market Research for Foreign Market Development : A case study of a Swedish manufacturing firm

Abstract: Market research is a crucial element in a firm’s internationalization process. Expanding into new markets comes with a variety of challenges and high risk of failure which ultimately would impact a firm’s finances negatively. In order to reduce the uncertainty of entering foreign markets, market research is conducted. It aims to collect information and thereby is supposed to help a firm’s decision- making on market entry. However, firms commonly face the issue of having either too much or too little information of a market. This study pursues to identify the information, also known as decision criteria, for Swedish manufacturing firms that seek international market development. This may give firms a superior understanding of important decision criteria when there is an information overload. In addition to that, this study investigates the sources of information which may be useful if too little information is available. Through the research approach – case study – this paper provides in-depth explanations of the how firms conduct market research. It shows that the internet is a useful tool to unveil multiple decision criteria. Moreover, networks are introduced as a source of information which previous scholars have not discussed sufficiently. Using networks complements the internet in a good manner since it information through networks is more detailed and prescriptive, as opposed to the internet which entails objective information.