Archive for the ‘B2B News’ Category
Tuesday, March 9th, 2010
B2B International’s consistent growth continued in 2009 despite the difficult economic environment. The company’s turnover increased by 10% and is now approaching the £3.5 million mark (over US$5 million). B2B International has experienced year-on-year growth in every year since its formation in 1998.
“2009 was a challenging time throughout the market research sector” reports Financial Director Matthew Harrison. “Budgets in some industries were cut, and some of our clients were forced to delay projects due to the economic uncertainty. However, the main trend in 2009 was a change in the type of business we conducted. Many clients moved away from international market assessment studies towards more ‘defensive’ research such as customer satisfaction surveys. Towards the end of the year, however, this trend was reversed, and early 2010 has seen huge interest in our Chinese and wider Asian offering.”
Looking forward to 2010, Managing Director Nick Hague is optimistic about the prospects for B2B International. “It is clear that our clients across Europe, North America and Asia are feeling more positive about the future and there has been a significant upturn in enquiries and commissions since around September 2009. Our proximity to clients and research respondents across three continents means that we are ideally placed to take advantage as optimism returns.”
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Asia, B2B News, Credit Crunch, Customer Satisfaction, Economic Crisis, Economic Recovery, Growth, Market Assesment |
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Wednesday, February 17th, 2010
Following on from the announcement last week that we had been shortlisted for an award at the Greater China Achievement in International Trade Awards 2010, we are thrilled to announce that, from a total of 14 entrants, B2B International was declared runner-up in the China Rising Star category.
Businesses, organisations and education institutions from all across the North West of England were honoured at the ceremony, organised by the Northwest Regional Development Agency and UKTI North West, and held on Friday 12th February 2010 at the Lowry Theatre, Salford Quays.
On receiving the accolade, Alaric Fairbanks, General Manager of B2B International in China, said: “We are delighted to receive recognition from our home region of North West England. The company sees this award as a reflection of the hard work and achievement in providing world class business-to-business market research, not just in China and Asia-Pacific but also around the world.”
Nick Hague, Managing Director at B2B International in the UK, added: “Establishing permanent operations in China three years ago was partly in response to demand from existing clients for high quality market research services covering mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, but at a strategic level was guided by recognition of the globalisation of the market research industry and its customers. Having a permanent presence in China and the wider Asia-Pacific market is seen as essential positioning internationally and is vital in gaining access to these growing markets – in particular to China as the world’s fastest growing large economy.”
Learn more about our China offering at: www.b2binternational.com/China
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Asia, B2B News, China, Nick Hague |
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Wednesday, February 10th, 2010
B2B International is delighted to announce that it has been shortlisted in the China Rising Star category at the Greater China Achievement in International Trade awards ceremony, to be held this Friday at The Lowry Theatre, Salford Quays.
Supported by the Northwest Regional Development Agency and UKTI, the awards are being held this weekend to coincide with celebrations for the Chinese New Year.
With entry available to all businesses located in the Northwest of England with strong links of 3 years or less to Mainland China, Hong Kong or Taiwan, the China Rising Star Award 2010 will be judged on:
- Business objectives and strategy in Greater China.
- A company’s approach to penetrating the Greater China market and how successful it has been.
- Evidence of direct link between Greater China and what impact this has had on the overall success of the business.
With a long-established presence in Manchester, and the opening of our office in Beijing 3 years ago enabling us to offer existing and new clients alike easier access to b2b market research across the Asia-Pacific region, we await the results of the ceremony with bated breath…
To find out more about our China offering, please visit: www.b2binternational.com/China
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B2B News, China |
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Wednesday, January 6th, 2010
Following Monday’s blog entry we can report that recent market research by B2B International shows that London’s entrepreneurs are more optimistic for 2010
London’s small businesses report that the recession is now having less of an impact on their business and levels of optimism and resilience remain high after the final quarter of the year, according to Business Link in London’s latest Business Confidence Index carried out by B2B International.
Although 69% of entrepreneurs tell us they are still affected by the recession, the impact is less significant – only 13% reporting they are extremely affected. This is a significant drop from 21% in July 2009.
The quarterly business confidence Index measures business sentiment of over 3,300 small-to-medium sized enterprises (SMEs).
This unique survey takes into account variations such as industry sector, sub-regional location, business types and business ownership (gender, Black, Asian & Minority Ethnic (BAME), Deaf and disabled).
Commenting on the Index, Patrick Elliott, Chief Executive of Business Link in London said: “Small businesses have always been resilient during times of economic upheaval due to their ability to adapt quickly. This flexibility, combined with their survival strategies and optimism, are likely to have shielded some businesses from the full force of the recession.”
Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, added: “For the second week running another survey shows London’s small businesses can see light at the end of the tunnel. We have been working hard on their behalf and it is rewarding to see this sustained growth in confidence and to hear that, as we start turning the corner, our businesses are optimistic for the future.”
Mr Elliott continued: “However, entrepreneurs are not yet immune to the continuing tough economic climate. A note of caution is necessary to manage the months ahead.”
Reduced customer spending and sales generation are still key problems faced by established businesses. However, their impact on businesses has dropped significantly with only 20% concerned with customer spend in October, compared to 36% in July.
The food and drink sector is fairing better than it was in July due to increased customer spend. However, we are seeing a gloomier picture for the retail sector as customers cut back on purchases.
Declining profits and sales and cashflow constraints top the list of business activities hardest hit by the recession.
More home businesses are optimistic than ever before. They are telling us that they are marginally less affected by the recession than other business types (42% vs. 44%) and that they’re inclined to be slightly more optimistic about their overall future (17% vs. 14%).
Growth and optimism remain high on the agenda for the majority of those surveyed. The number of businesses looking to grow has increased from over half (59%) in February, to 63% in October. Levels of optimism remain unchanged since July (73% vs. 75%) with almost three quarters of those surveyed continuing to be optimistic about their overall business success.
“This cautious optimism is exactly what we advocate. The Index shows that entrepreneurs are refusing to get bogged down in the doom and gloom. Their strategies to tackle the worst impact of the recession are paying dividends,” continued Mr Elliott.
Online sales and trading have emerged as popular choices for growth over the next twelve months, making their way into the top 5 strategies considered. Despite this, increased marketing remains the top tactic favoured by businesses.
The manufacturing and property sectors are least likely to grow which suggests that they are simply concentrating on survival.
Two in five respondents are not planning on making further changes to their business to deal with the recession, an increase of 16% since July (40% vs. 24%). This is further evidence that businesses feel closer to recovery.
If you are a London based business and interested in taking part in the next quarterly Business Confidence Index then please e-mail: dbci@b2binternational.com
Posted in
B2B News, Budgets, Business, Business Confidence Index, Credit Crunch, Growth, Recession, UK |
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Thursday, December 10th, 2009
Earlier this week, we posted a blog article about marketer of the year. Well, in today’s Thursday Night Insight, Matthew Harrison outlines his nomination of B2B International’s very own Helen Bailey as his marketer of the year.
As I sat perusing this blog’s discussion of potential ‘marketers of the year’ earlier this week, I took it upon myself to think back to some of the great and not-so-great marketing experiences that I have been exposed to (or perhaps had inflicted upon me) over the past 12 months. I must confess I found the exercise relatively cathartic. Although not as cathartic as my nomination for anti-marketer of the year – the pizza restaurant in Beijing that preceded my 4-day stay in a hotel bathroom with nothing but German faucets and the dulcet tones of CNN for company.
That got my thinking about the other foreign trips I have made, and in particular my visit to our UK office back in February. An extremely pleasant opportunity to meet colleagues old and new, and to renew my acquaintance with life at B2B’s bustling Head Office.
I decided to turn up fashionably late, at around 10am, for maximum impact. No-one seemed to notice. Especially the guy (I’ve no idea who he was) who told me to hurry up fixing the U-bend. Undeterred, I chatted to a couple of colleagues and was just about to start working the room when – at about 10.30 – a mysterious ripple of excitement began to emanate from the far side of the office. I assumed either that a minor celebrity had shown up at reception or that one of the supervisors had had a fit. The ripple quickly became a wave, and was approaching me at a rapid pace. I was transfixed, like one of those poor souls that sees a tsunami head towards the beach they are standing on and only realises it’s time to run when their mother-in-law surfs past on a piece of plywood accompanied by the family dog.
The epicentre of this morning’s excitement soon became clear, as the lovely Helen emerged from our kitchen pushing a stainless steel tea-trolley crammed to buckling point with a quintessentially English cargo: millions of shiny white cups huddled around three huge tea-pots, as if to keep themselves warm or prevent themselves from being pushed overboard. Matching saucers stacked obediently at the stern of the vessel. And a plate of chocolate digestives spread regally across the bow, like Leonardo Di Caprio in Titanic. Pens were placed on desks, phone calls ended and curious, expectant heads peered from behind doors and above the blue partitions. I cannot imagine a more contentedly English scene, not without sending the staff down to Wimbledon to queue all night in the drizzle for their tea before being interviewed by Sue Barker.
Helen began by serving the supervisors at the far end of the floor, before making her way gradually through a group of temporary workers, tentatively through the researchers, crawling through the managers, idling through the administrative assistants and slowly – very slowly in fact – towards myself and my colleague. What a fine egalitarian tradition, I thought – the serving of tea and biscuits to every member of staff from the temporary workers up to the CEO. A brief hiatus during a busy day, in which friend and foe, boss and bossed-about could exchange jokes, stories and gossip before returning to their questionnaires and reports.
It was, however, beyond my comprehension how splashing a bit of tea and milk into 50-odd cups could take so long. I am ashamed to say that I was becoming impatient and wondering whether the productive Helen I remembered so well had turned into someone who would rather push a tea-trolley round an office than do any work. As I observed events more closely, however, I realised two things. First, that I was someone who would rather watch someone push a tea-trolley round an office than do any work, and second that Helen was charged with achieving the impossible – serving tea and biscuits in a satisfactory and orderly fashion to a room full of English office workers. For every person that smiled and thanked poor, harassed Helen as she carefully placed a cup of tea onto their desk before briskly returning to their work, another three would engage her in animated discussion about the tea/milk ratio of their upcoming beverage, the number of sugars, whether those sugars should be heaped or flat, whether the milk should be poured direct from the jug or injected via a syringe, and whether the digestives should be served on plates or fed in chunks to each staff member as they took turns to recline naked on a chaise longue like Roman emperors.
A dieting temporary worker had pre-ordered – I repeat pre-ordered – tea laced with sweetener rather than sugar, as if she’d come to a theatre performance and this was her interval refreshment. Another insisted on lemon being squeezed into his brew, as if it was a gin and tonic. And some nincompoop, having decided that PG Tips was not good enough for her, had insisted Helen make her a tailored beverage with the assistance of some silly peppermint tea-bags that made the whole office smell like toothpaste. Personally I’d have taken 10 minutes to serve lukewarm PG Tips and milk to everyone and then thrown 10 sugar lumps into the office before shouting ‘scramble’. But this was a marketing company, and no-one aspired more diligently to meet every individual customer’s needs than Helen. No-one understood better that as each year passes, the expectation for customized, tailored solutions to needs and wants increases.
I therefore end this Thursday Night Insight with two messages to Helen:
Firstly, it gives me great pleasure to nominate you, Helen Bailey of B2B International, as my Marketer of the Year.
Secondly, I will be visiting Head Office in two weeks’ time to congratulate you in person. I will be loitering at the back of the office at 10.30 and am likely to be in the mood for a slow-boiled bucket of jasmine-scented ooling with whipped cream and a Cadbury’s Flake. Hot but not too hot, with a couple of oatmeal digestives and a slice of lemon on the side.
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B2B News, Marketing, Matt Harrison, Thursday Night Insight |
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