MAA
Marketing Authorization Application. The process by which a pharmaceutical company applies to market a new drug. The European equivalent of the US NDA.

Managed Care
Integrated healthcare management with the dual objectives of controlling costs and improving the quality of care. Usually applied to US institutions though principles widely applied elsewhere.

Mapping (see Brand Mapping)

Marginal Cost
The additional cost of increasing the scale of a service or program.

Market Dynamics
The interaction of critical market factors on the behavior of products within that market, e.g. price, promotion, entry order, perceived product profile.

Market Leader
Brand or product securing the greatest proportion of total sales within its field. May sometimes refer to the company marketing the brand or product concerned.

Market Map (see Brand Mapping)

Market Penetration
The impact of the introduction of a new firm or product to an existing market. Also obtaining increased market share for a product with no change in the target market.

Market Potential
Estimated size of total present or future market, i.e. people who are willing and capable to buy.

Market Research
Any activity generating information useful in a decision making process for a product or service to bring it to the market or maintain it through its lifecycle. Beyond marketing, market research can be applied to understanding issues in human resources or other social research.

The scope of market research is broad and can be further understood as:

• Keeping in touch with needs of purchasers and users
• Systematic gathering, recording, analyzing of problems relating to transfer of goods / services from producer to consumer.
• Systematic problem analysis, model-building, fact-finding for improved decision making and control in marketing goods/services.
• Systematic objective and exhaustive search for anything relevant to any problem.

Conventional market research includes investigations into the characteristics of given markets, e.g. location, size, growth potential and observed attitudes. More broadly the term also embraces research into effectiveness of advertisements, pricing, packaging, logistics and any other element of the marketing mix.

In this glossary many of the marketing research terms have been collected under the following headings so you can compare and contrast similar (and opposite) terms. (See Analysis, Coding, Pricing Research, Rating Scale, Research Interviews, Research Questions, Research Studies, Sampling, Sampling Methods, Statistical Terms, Tables)

Market Segmentation (see Segmentation)

Market Share
Percentage measurement of the share obtained by an individual company or product from the total market available.

Marketing
The management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably.

Marketing Mix
Planned combination of the elements of marketing in a marketing plan including Product, Price, Place and Promotion with the aim of achieving greatest effect at minimum cost.

Marketing Research (see Market Research)
Market Research for the purpose of understanding issues relating to marketing products or services, rather than to issues in human resources or other social research.

Markov Modeling
A statistical representation of uncertain recurrent events in the course of time. Used in decision analysis.

Masterclasses
Small, highly participative workgroup session led by expert facilitator, to improve skills and understanding of the topic under discussion.

MCO
Managed Care Organization
Describes various models of managed healthcare delivery in the US, including Health Management Organizations (HMO), Preferred Provider Organizations (PPO) and Point of Service Plan (PSP)

Government-financed Healthcare Programs provide cover for certain populations:

• Elderly & Disabled - Medicare
• Poor - Medicaid
• Federal employees
• Military / War veterans (VA, Veterans' Administration)

Medicaid
A system of healthcare delivery in the US for the poor. (see also Managed Care Organizations)

Medicare
A system of healthcare delivery in the US for the elderly and disabled. (see also Managed Care Organizations)

Message Matrix
Classification of product information into 'labeling', i.e. that which can be directly promoted, and 'independent', i.e. for which there is adequate supporting data, but which cannot be directly promoted.

Meta Analysis
A statistical summary of findings pooled from different investigations.

Metabolism (of Drug)
The process by which a drug is transformed in the body following absorption from body surfaces.

Mission Statement
A carefully drawn up statement by an organization outlining what it is and what it aims to do.

Model
A combination of data analysis, theoretical derivations and assumptive inputs that describes the behavior of a market.

Modeling
An explicit way of charting intricate events occurring over a time period for the purposes of prediction and analysis of interdependent variables where experimental techniques are not feasible.

Monadic Price Test (see Pricing Research)

Monadic Test
A market research technique in which each respondent tests just one product, as distinct from comparative tests, e.g. dyadic and triadic tests. (see also Dyadic Test and Triadic Test)

Monopolar Scale (see Rating Scale)

Mood Boards
Boards can be prepared prior to research which have different ways of expressing a particular concept - e.g. 'efficacy' could be visualized as an atomic bomb, a hammer, a reliable car, a gold medal etc. The images can form the basis of a discussion about what efficacy means in the market being discussed and the different ways in which different brands may be perceived to be effective.

Morbidity
A diseased condition or state, or the incidence of a disease or of all diseases in a population.

Motivations
There are many different types of motivations:

• Awareness - Extent to which something (often a product or a brand name) is recognized by potential customers, and correctly associated with the particular product in question. Awareness can be spontaneous or prompted.
• Behavior - Action tendency. This is concerned with what people actually do not what they think or say they do.
• Opinions - Judgment based on image or perception which is built up from attitude, belief, feelings and personality.
• Attitudes - A state of readiness to respond in a certain way to certain stimuli, based on multiple factors (experience, education, social grade, age). The content and intensity of attitude may change over time or may be changed.
• Beliefs - Cognitive component (emotionally neutral). Normative beliefs and statements are those which concern value judgments, expressing opinions about what ought to be (as opposed to positive beliefs and statements).
• Feelings - Emotional component

Multivariate
Multivariate data comprise observations for each of which three or more values are recorded. Multivariate statistical methods are those which simultaneously examine the relationships among a number of variables. (see also Univariate and Bivariate)