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Archive for the ‘Global Research’ Category« Previous EntriesGlobal Market Research Prices 2012Friday, October 12th, 2012  ESOMAR has recently published its latest Global Prices Study, which shows the USA holding on to the No. 1 position, again making it the most expensive country in which to do research. The ten countries which now in 2012 have been found to be the most expensive are the same ten that had the highest Global Index price scores in 2010, when the survey was last run. While the USA and Switzerland lead the charge with first and second place respectively, Canada has moved swiftly up the rankings from tenth to claim this year’s third spot. The UK has also risen from ninth to become the fifth most expensive country. The top ten’s biggest faller was France – previously in third place but now in ninth. The Top Ten most expensive countries for research  Conversely, the least expensive countries for research are shown in the table below. It should, of course, be noted that these markets are all quite small (in overall value terms) – albeit growing. The Top Ten least expensive countries for research  The study re-confirms the complexities of global research: Not only do prices vary between one country and another, but the available research options differ as well. For example, online research is not available in every market – and may not always be appropriate in every market where it is available. Other notable findings from the study include: • In the USA, UK, Germany, France and Japan, the five markets with the largest volume of spend, the price of online research actually fell. For more detail about the ESOMAR Global Prices study, please click here. Global Market Research Revenue Continues To RiseMonday, September 10th, 2012  ESOMAR’s new industry report shows that global market research revenue continues to rise with figures reaching US $33.5 billion, representing a year-to-year increase of 3.8%. While this creates an overall picture of apparent stability in the global market research business, it should be noted that there were massive gains in some markets while others suffered severely due to economic and political turmoil. The key highlights from the report shows that:
For the more detailed report please visit http://www.esomar.org Getting Buy-In To Your Research ProjectTuesday, July 3rd, 2012  More and more clients are coming to us at an early stage in the creation of a research brief to get our thoughts not only on how we can help research the problem but also to get our help and backing to get buy-in to the project from inside and help fight the internal bureaucracy. If you try and battle the red tape you will get nowhere. Instead, follow these 4 simple rules to get your research project off the ground and you will stand a greater chance of business success: • Go against the path of least resistance. Find out who is bought in to your way of thinking and then get them onside. • Use the resources that are close to hand. Don’t go to many lengths to get a large budget straight away. Instead, use people you know, desk research and other resources/budget that you have to help you get the wheels in motion and any evidence you may need to move to the next level. • Secure only the commitment you need for the short term. Don’t try to get the board’s buy-in from the get-go. Instead make sure that everyone is clear to what you are trying to achieve and then get the least amount of commitment you need to take your project to the next stage. • Move quickly. Most good ideas stall because they don’t have the necessary momentum. Put your all behind the project or it will die and atrophy. To find out how B2B International can help your organisation, contact one of our international offices http://www.b2binternational.com/contact-b2b/ or find out about what is important when putting a research brief together http://www.b2binternational.com/publications/articles/market-research-brief/ Market Research Buyers in Asia – Singapore OverviewWednesday, June 20th, 2012
In March/April 2012, Asia Research (the industry journal for the market research industry in Asia) conducted its fifth annual survey of corporations in Asia who undertake market research through external firms. 108 interviews were conducted with individual research buyers in various corporations across Singapore, with some of the key findings summarized below: On average, 7.1 projects (mean figure) are commissioned each year, a figure which has not changed much in the last year. Most companies (41%) commission between 2 and 4 projects. Referrals was the most popular way of finding out about new market research agencies, with ‘consulting colleagues within their company’ (79%) and ‘consulting personal contacts in the research industry’ (77%) by far the most widespread methods employed. Attending networking conferences and seminars (51%), formal reviews of agencies (49%), receiving sales calls (46%) and Internet searches (45%) were the next most commonly used approaches. Of the types of research suppliers used, almost 9 out of 10 research buyers (88%) turn to large multi-national agencies, the benefits of which are seen to include their networks, proprietary tools and specialism in certain sectors. Continuing staff churn, compounded by merger and acquisition activity, is, however, causing some dissatisfaction. Notably there has been an increase this past year in the use of online panel companies (44%), and it should also be noted that DIY research is used by more than a third of research buyers. In a similar vein, while just 19% of respondents were aware of the recent launch of Google Consumer Surveys, 60% showed some interest in using this facility. While there is a net increase in research budgets in 2012, this is much lower than research buyers had predicted they would have available to them. Furthermore, the net increase is mainly down to FMCG clients, with many other sectors reporting a net fall in budgets. For more information on this survey, please visit the Asia Research website, http://asia-research.net/ The End of Cheap China?Wednesday, March 28th, 2012  In this week’s Business Surgery, Stephanie Teow assesses whether the appeal of China is on the wane or as strong as ever I read with interest recently an article in The Economist which questioned the extent to which China can continue its position as a low-cost base of manufacturing in an era of rapid social and economic change:
According to the article, many experts suggested that the cost to manufacture in China could soar twofold or even threefold by 2020, when it may be just as cheap to manufacture things in North America as in China. Our experience carrying out research across different markets in China indicates that costs in China have been rising for some time now, and the era of ‘cheap China’ has actually been at an end for a while. Rising labour costs and the growing costs of key raw materials, means that China’s previous competitive advantages as a location for manufacturing are gradually being eroded. However, although it is likely that the future will see a growing proportion of China’s low cost manufacturing moving to other developing economies in the region (or even back to Western countries), it does not necessarily follow that most B2B manufacturing will suddenly up sticks and leave China in the immediate future. As this article notes, China has a number of key advantages as a manufacturing base which other countries in the region find very difficult to emulate, such as:
It is clear that China will remain the manufacturing location of choice for some time to come for manufacturers in most business-to-business markets. While rising costs in China will clearly make exporting from China more prohibitive in the future, it is increasingly the lure of the large Chinese domestic market that is attracting the attention of manufacturers. Equally, the manufacturing complexity and technical expertise required for many b2b manufacturers, along with the importance of reliable supply chain infrastructure, means that for many companies China still represents the most viable manufacturing location. A growing cohort of business-to-business companies are now demanding market intelligence to better understand China less as a manufacturing base for export, and more as a dynamic marketplace of the future. « Previous Entries |
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