When Alain Consults with His Colleagues to Determine What Question

When Alain consults with his colleagues to determine what question his marketing research must answer: what global markets are most suitable for their product,or what competitors have the greatest impact on their business,he is executing which step of the marketing research process?

A) Defining the research purpose and objectives.
B) Deciding the research methodology.
C) Designing the research.
D) Analyzing the data.