Marketing research required all over

This post is basically in response to Rehan's last one. Gone are the days when companies and brands just used to launch products. Now each and every step requires extensive marketing research and careful planning. One has to look at customers' needs and wants. Remember the classic case of Coca Cola in 1985 when it introduced its new formula? Thats what I'm talking about. If you don't provide the customers with what they want, you are going under. Likewise when Windows Vista was launched back in 2007, it created a lot of hipe. But gradually as people used it they found out a lot of technical problems. And now Windows 7 has replaced Windows Vista and claims that those problems have been removed as well. All thanks to marketing research!