|
Which industries are being researched?
In consumer research, the FMCG sector is the area of the Chinese economy that is most commonly researched, followed by the automotive sector. When the business-to-business sector is looked at, however, the picture is rather different, and constantly changing.
It is noticeable that the business research conducted in China is relatively evenly spread across sectors. The leading sector (over a fifth of all research is conducted in this area) is the diverse area of engineering and machinery, with valves, pumps and automation devices amongst the many product areas researched. Clients in this sector come from the US, Germany and Italy in particular, most of them wanting to know how to differentiate themselves enough to charge higher prices than the local competition.
The pharmaceutical and medical sector is the second biggest sector, accounting for just less than a fifth of the market. Significantly, this is an area that is growing rapidly, due to China’s increase in focus on international pharmaceutical standards, as well as the Government’s decision to develop China as a hub for bioscience research and production. Much of the research conducted has a strong ‘bio’ flavour, and companies at the core and the periphery of the industry are commissioning more and more research. Distribution networks, production machinery and standards and documentation are all common topics being researched, above all by foreign companies seeking to enter what they feel is starting to become a lucrative Chinese market.
As in most business-to-business research markets worldwide, the petrochemical industry continues to commission large volumes of research. As in Western markets, the requirements vary widely, although lubrication and fuels for the transport market are areas of particular interest. As many Western companies in this industry already have some kind of presence in China, projects tend to revolve around building an existing presence (for example through segmentation research) rather than pure market entry work.
Research is commissioned in more or less equal measure in three more sectors – IT and telecoms, manufacturing and automotive. Of these, automotive research is the most ‘mature’ and its share of the business research market is expected to decline over time. Similarly in the IT and telecoms market, much research is consumer- rather than business-oriented and growth in the foreseeable future is likely to be limited in comparison with other sectors. (This situation will however change drastically if significant deregulation of the telecoms sector occurs.) In contrast, manufacturing research will grow steadily. Financial deregulation and widespread dissatisfaction with China’s financial sector mean that research into the business banking sector is likely to increase rapidly over the coming years.
Figure 3 – Business-to-Business Research In China – Activity Breakdown
This entry was posted
on Wednesday, July 25th, 2007 at 9:41 am and is filed under Industrial Research, Market Research China, International Market Research, Market Research, Industry News.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Leave a Reply
|
