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Archive for the ‘Focus Groups’ CategoryNext Entries »Technology Advancements For Face-To-Face Focus GroupsWednesday, March 8th, 2006
There is an interesting article in the March 2006 edition of ‘Research Decisions’ that looks at how focus group viewing facilities have greeted the digital age in the past year. The article looks at how most facilities now offer digital recordings of groups which “finally dispenses with the need for rewind buttons on VHS. However, this technological advance has acted as something of a wedge in the industry; there is now a distinct separation between facilities who offer this service, and those who do not.” From the hundreds of market research projects that B2B International carry out each year, nearly a third incorporate carrying out focus groups. Through our experience we have created partnerships with a host of viewing facilities throughout the UK, Europe and the US that offer digital recording and web based streaming. The article goes on to point out the advantages of web streaming for market research, which allows clients all over the world to watch a focus group taking place as it happen, plus “there’s no need to wait for DVDs to be edited and postedâ€?. Many centres also offer a system along with the web streaming where clients can “type comments into what feels like a souped-up version of MSN messenger [where they can] get feedback, and contribute to the debate.” Have market research viewing centres finally caught up with the modern world? Innovation in Construction – Part 2 of 3Thursday, January 5th, 2006 The second reason for the lack of innovation is that we, the general public are conservative in our demands of the construction industry. As long as we want to live in houses that are built of brick, with oak beams and slate tiled roofs, that is what we will get. In theory we could all live very efficiently under the ground in modern apartments burrowed 20 feet under, but we are not rabbits and we haven’t started to think like them yet.
The third reason, for the lack of innovation is entirely the fault of the construction industry. The industry is poor at understanding the needs of the market. This is partly the result of the way the industry is organized. Brick manufacturers don’t sell to the public – they sell to merchants who sell to builders who in turn sell to the public after the intervention of an architect. In other words it is a convoluted line of communication from the manufacturer to the people who drive the market. Manufacturers of plastic pipe sell to merchants who sell to plumbers who in turn do the work for the general public who frankly have no idea if the products are appropriate for the job. This means that there is very little incentive to innovate. Most manufacturers of construction materials ask themselves the question “why do something different unless you have to?�. The myopic answer is certainly that you don’t have to do anything really. You can get by without innovations unless the government comes along and introduces a new regulation. In the last few years many of these regulations have been related to the need to make energy savings. Take the boiler industry for example. From April of this year the new regulations demand that all new boiler installations in houses must be high efficiency condensing boilers. The industry has not taken easily to this change. Plumbers in particular have dragged their heels. Condensing boilers are a more sophisticated product to install so why should an installer take on these extra worries when there is more money to be made fitting Mrs Jones’ new £15,000 bathroom make-over? If a company does take an initiative and do things differently and innovate, it can steal a march. Take Kingspan for example. Here is a company that has spent time looking at new opportunities rather than resorting to ‘taking the easy route’. It has risen to the challenge of offering new and innovative products instead of using traditional building practices and materials. And it has profited as a result, growing in size and dominating the sectors in which it plays.
How does a company become innovative? First of all it needs to have a mind set to be bold and to be different. Moreover, it needs to listen and learn. Customers are a fertile source of new ideas. They are the users of products. It is they that suffer their inadequacies, often to the point where they make their own modifications to improve them. Regular contact with customers, especially feedback from trained sales engineers, is an excellent source of new ideas. A product improvements which was developed in collaboration with the customer has the added advantage of locking the customer in as the two companies work together and a specification is drawn up which favours the entrenched supplier. The use of sales engineers in generating new product ideas will only work if it is given the constant encouragement of management. It will not work as a one off exercise for, as already stated a company needs to have a culture of being innovative and doing things differently. Innovation is not the sort of thing that can be flagged up as this month’s good idea – it must be there for the long term. Competitors too can stimulate new product ideas. Companies so often fall into a routine, producing designs and using production methods which are seldom challenged. The examination of competitors’ products and internal questioning by the technicians who strip the products down and analyze them may beget new ideas. It is important that the technicians have an open mind and are prepared to criticize their own practices, accepting that there is almost certainly a better way of making their product. Focus groups with architects or tradesmen also can flush out un-met needs and can be used to test concepts or prototype products before they get to market. Their cost is inconsequential in the total context of a new product development programme and it ensures that what ever is created is in line with market needs. Next Entries » |
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