Archive for the ‘Business Decisions’ Category
Friday, July 30th, 2010
Research by market research specialists B2B International on the value of HR certification around the world reveals an average ROI of gaining the credentials of over 250%
The message seems to be ‘get certified’! An online survey for the HR Certification Institute, of more than 1,500 HR professionals in 37 countries worldwide, has shown that human resources employees and employers value HR certification at more than two-and-a-half times the initial certification outlay.
From an employer’s perspective, having employees gain professional HR certification brings numerous advantages to the organisation, including an increase in employee engagement, satisfaction and productivity, as well as a reduction in staff turnover, all leading to an increase in customer satisfaction. Employers also comment that certification increases employees’ HR knowledge and ensures that they keep up-to-date; it demonstrates employees’ commitment to HR and to learning, as well as increasing confidence in their ability to do their job; and having employees with certification is good for the organisation’s reputation and demonstrates that it takes HR seriously.
For individuals, the biggest incentives toward pursuing HR certification stem from the belief that the credentials will increase their HR knowledge and thus strengthen their CV. 94% of HR employee respondents and 97% of HR employers believe that certification is important for those working in human resources, more than 60% of whom stated it is ‘very important’. An even greater number of employers expect certification to be of importance in five years’ time.
Ninety-six percent feel that an HR certified candidate applying for a job would have an advantage over a non-HR certified candidate, with more than 50% believing this to be a ‘very significant’ advantage. This is borne out by employers: more than two-thirds state that an HR certified person being considered as an independent consultant for an HR department would have a ‘very significant’ advantage over a non-certified individual. HR certification was highlighted as particularly advantageous for HR professionals going for a promotion or facing redundancy.
HR Certification Institute’s global business development director Alexandre Bouché, who commissioned B2B International to conduct the study, remarked on how highly valued the survey showed certification to be. “Of the four types of credential that an HR professional might hold, that is to say an undergraduate degree, a graduate degree, a certificate or a certification, the certification was felt to be by far the most beneficial. Its advantages include it offering the most value for money and return on investment; being highly flexible and customisable; being the most practically and professionally oriented of the choices; being the most experience based; and that choosing to work toward a certification provides the best networking opportunities.”
B2B International’s Matthew Harrison, in charge of the study, noted differences between continents. He said: “Finding the time to study for certification was not a key issue for Europeans or Asians and yet was a key unmet need for Americans. Indeed, the survey conveyed a general sense that US employers were less actively involved in professional certification than their foreign counterparts, with only 8% deciding which certification their staff obtained, against 22% in other countries.”
About HR Certification Institute – www.hrci.org
HR Certification Institute is an internationally recognized leader in HR certification, having been certifying HR professionals for more than 33 years. The HR Certification Institute has awarded more than 108,000 credentials in over 70 countries to HR professionals who have passed rigorous exams to demonstrate their mastery and real-world application of forward-thinking HR practices, policies and procedures. HR Certification Institute is an affiliate of the Society for Human Resource Management.
Posted in
B2B News, Business, Business Decisions, Employment, Human Resources, ROI |
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Monday, June 21st, 2010
BtoB magazine has conducted a survey into the effectiveness of social media phenomenon Twitter for b-to-b marketers. Yet, with mixed findings, Twitter didn’t emerge from the survey of almost 400 US marketers as a ‘must-do’ marketing action.
Nearly half of all respondents in last month’s ‘Twitter in B2B Marketing’ study were dissatisfied with their return on tweets, and four out of five could not directly attribute revenue to micro-blogging. Yet, the survey revealed a striking contrast between occasional and heavy Twitter users, with successful Twitter marketers not surprisingly being more optimistic about Twitter’s future and long-term potential. Another unsurprising revelation was the suggestion that those marketers who do manage to generate revenue via Twitter tend to be more active and commit more time to using the social media site.
Interestingly, although the survey was based on 387 responses, in fact 592 questionnaires were completed. More than 200 results (35%) were discounted because the respondents say they do not use Twitter for business purposes, presumably using it on a personal level only…
More about this study can be found by clicking here.
Posted in
Business Decisions, Business To Business, Promotion, Social Networking |
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Wednesday, March 24th, 2010
A recent study for Tufts University by market research specialist B2B International examines how universities can develop engineers and scientists into business leaders of the future.
One of the biggest challenges facing any higher education institution is attracting students through its doors. The Tufts Gordon Institute, part of Tufts University’s School of Engineering in Boston, Massachusetts, recently commissioned global market research specialist B2B International to research the views of potential masters degree students across North America. The project’s objective was to assist Tufts Engineering School in updating its innovative masters program in management specifically aimed at engineering and science graduates—the Master of Science in Engineering Management (MSEM).
The MSEM degree is a relatively new phenomenon, only recently appearing at various top universities across North America. Tufts University has been one successful school with this offering, and its directors were interested to learn more about potential students’ preferences so it could optimize the program further.
Eve Lenkowsky, Research Executive at B2B International explains, “Typically, science and engineering college graduates have been faced with the choice of either learning about business completely outside of their scientific fields, or simply continuing with an advanced engineering or science program like a masters or Ph.D. Few institutions give ambitious science graduates the chance to make their skills more applicable to the modern workplace and, in particular, management positions. Our project confirmed that there is a rising need for this kind of offering.”
The study was conducted among American and Canadian professionals who had all previously completed an undergraduate course in engineering or science. Nearly all are currently employed in an engineering, scientific or technical role and stated a possible interest in pursuing a graduate masters degree or Ph.D. in engineering or science. Carried out via e-survey, some of the key findings from the study include the following:
- A modern masters program will ideally provide a blend of distance learning and in-person contact. While students require the flexibility to learn as and when their schedules allow them to, they also demand the opportunity to meet and discuss subjects with professors and peers.
- Students have become more price-sensitive due to the economic recession, and are more insistent on combining studying with their employment. Successful universities need to provide flexible learning at a reasonable cost.
- The students most interested in MSEMs have strong business aspirations, and seek to use their technological knowledge to create practical, marketable products.
- The motivation to enroll in an MSEM derives more from a desire to gain applicable knowledge that enables them to advance professionally, as opposed to the desire to learn about theoretical technical topics that might be more suitable for academia.
Mary Viola, Engineering Management Program Director, concluded, “We were very pleased with the success of the research. The feedback from the participants reveals clear trends and preferences which we will build into our program to meet the needs of our potential students even more effectively. We look forward to better serving students who are looking to develop into leaders of technology companies.”
NOTES
About B2B International
B2B International is a specialist business-to-business market research consultancy that provides customized business-to-business market research and intelligence studies on a global scale. In the last decade alone, it has carried out over a thousand surveys in almost every industry for corporations, government departments, educational institutions, and medical specialists alike.
With 30 years’ experience in business-to-business market research, B2B International has built up an impressive client portfolio and has published books, white papers and articles on marketing and market research. It has offices in three continents (North America, Europe and Asia) where its research specialists have researched all the major geographical areas of the world.
B2B International’s offering includes market assessment and market entry studies, segmentation studies, product development studies, branding studies, customer satisfaction and employee satisfaction research, pricing strategy and advertising studies. B2B’s leading practitioners have also run a large number of training courses on marketing and market research.
About The Tufts Gordon Institute
Tufts Gordon Institute, a nationally recognized center within Tufts University’s School of Engineering, in Boston, MA, focuses on engineering leadership, innovation and entrepreneurship to help graduate and undergraduate students develop the tools they need to advance their careers, inspire teams, and bring innovative products to market.
Their focus on engineering leadership, innovation and entrepreneurship – in classes, hands-on projects and real-world experiences – gives students the practical leadership tools they need not only to advance their careers, but to inspire teams, and to encourage and develop innovative ideas that will make a difference in the world.
Posted in
Business Decisions, Business Development, Education Research, Eve Lenkowsky, Market Research USA, USA, Universities |
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Wednesday, November 25th, 2009
The Association of National Advertisers (ANA), at its recent annual conference, has urged marketers to lead the United States out of the recession. Chief Marketing Officers of various multinationals – among them Walmart, McDonald’s, IBM, MillerCoors and Google – all spoke at the conference to explain how the actions of marketing departments have led to major turnarounds in fortune or fueled record growth. Included were examples of how, by focusing on the customer and having a deep understanding what their brands were about, stronger reputations have been built and impressive growth achieved.
In further news from the ANA, a new study shows that marketers increasingly see themselves as ‘visionaries’. When asked to choose whether they identified themselves as tactician, facilitator, leader or visionary, one-third of the 150 marketers who participated in the online study chose ‘visionary’.
The study found that ‘visionaries’ had a much higher level of influence within their respective organizations than those in other categories. For example, 89% were more likely to be leading strategic dialogue (compared to 11% of non-visionaries), two-thirds were more likely to be leading discussions around reinventing the business (compared to 21%), and 60% were more likely to collaborate with financial functions (as opposed to 22% of the non-visionaries).
Posted in
Business Decisions, Growth, Marketing, Recession |
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Tuesday, June 30th, 2009
The Association of National Advertisers (ANA) has found that two-thirds of marketers have, in response to the current economic environment, shifted their emphasis to more short-term strategies. These were some of the findings of a Brand-Building study of 129 marketers, which took the form of an online survey.
Yet in spite of the short-term tactics, marketers are already planning increased activities for when the recession ends. 68% will be increasing their media budgets, 41% increasing social networking/word-of-mouth, and 40% allocating more money to innovation and testing/learning. Almost three-quarters of respondents admitted that they would ideally like to implement these additional marketing activities three to six months before the recession ends.
The survey found that few marketing initiatives had been postponed or cancelled outright, but many had suffered from reduced budgets. Those activities that are being maintained during the recession include:
- Research and development (47%)
- Public relations (42%)
- Innovation/test/learn budgets (33%)
- Promotion activities (33%).
A number of activities have been increased over recent months, including:
- Pricing deals (47%)
- Social networking/word-of-mouth (26%)
- Public relations efforts (23%)
When compared to the results of previous surveys, many traditional media channels have suffered:
- Television (down from 80% in February 2007 to 64% in April 2009)
- Magazines (down from 67% to 51%)
- Radio (down from 36% to 30%)
- Outdoor (down from 35% to 26%)
- Newspapers (down from 36% to 19%)
These results are fairly representative of current sentiment in the wider marketing community. Many organizations are shying away from traditional media and focusing on online opportunities. Indeed, a recent survey by B2B International showed around half of marketers planning to increase their e-marketing spend in 2009, with many stating that online marketing had already proven itself to be a successful strategy in the face of recessionary pressures. More than a quarter were planning increases in their PR activity. On the flip side, around half planned to cut expenditure in the more traditional areas of tradeshows/events and magazine advertising.
Click here to read our white paper on Marketing Strategies in a Recession.
Posted in
Advertising Research, Budgets, Business Decisions, Commercials, Marketing, Recession |
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