Bayer bases its various strategies on marketing information. Some of its markets are difficult to operate in; for example, pharmaceuticals involves multiple customers, distribution channels, purchasing arrangements and pricing methodologies, marketing techniques, and cost-control tools or prescription drug reimbursement systems. Gaining useful customer or marketplace insights from these various sources is challenging. Additionally, Bayer conducts research to discover new drugs and tests and validates their effectiveness and safety before introducing them to the market. As such, the company accumulates, analyzes, and stores vast amounts of clinical data from patients as well as healthy volunteers. Marketing information is also collected from laboratories and electronic devices but is automatically anonymized at the point of collection, following the guidelines and regulations created by local drugs administrations. Recently, Bayer deployed a microservices-based architecture for its data platform to enable easier and faster analysis of drug development data for the company's researchers.

Bayer operates mainly as a business-to-business (B-to-B) company, but in the pharmaceuticals market, its focus is on researching, developing, and marketing specialty-focused medicines to businesses as well as individual consumers. Its products are distributed to hospitals and general practitioners, who also deliver useful marketplace insights. But Bayer carefully examines all information gathered even before it distributes to these intermediaries. For example, for distribution of the allergy drug Claritin, Bayer uses third-party analytics to analyze global warming data so that it can model the supply based on weather and allergy trends.

Bayer's customer insights and marketplace data are processed based mainly on how specialized products are received within the pharmaceutical market. Healthcare division insights are communicated between Bayer and the brands to which its products are distributed. Coupled with a large geographical footprint, this results in an enormous store of insights and techniques that can be used in marketing mix decision-making, formulation of marketing strategy, as well as daily business operations................

How are the steps of the marketing research process followed at Bayer?