Archive for the ‘Industrial Research’ Category
Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008
Back in February 2008, B2B International Director Nick Hague contributed an article – Differentiation Through Being Green – to our Thursday Night Insight series.
In it, he discussed how business-to-business companies may be able to set themselves apart from the competition by enhancing their green credentials and by being seen to care more for the environment. However, Nick warned that this approach should not be adopted for purely financially-motivated reasons; being environmentally-friendly and promoting sustainability have become hugely important issues in this day and age, and they should not be taken lightly.
In a similar vein, the following article – taken from the August 2008 MediaBrains newsletter – looks at how the b-to-b sector can benefit from greater social responsibility as a whole – as long as it’s done in the right way, for the right reasons:
Corporate philanthropy: Does it make sense for B-to-B?
With leadership comes responsibility. Countless companies use that phrase in their corporate messaging in explaining why they donate to charitable causes.
Corporate giving, also known as social responsibility, corporate philanthropy or corporate citizenship is commonly described as aligning a company’s activities with the social, economic and environmental expectations of its stakeholders. Real-life examples include Dell Computer’s Plant a Tree for Me campaign. As part of the online ordering process, consumers can check a box and Dell will make a donation to plant a tree in their name. In the BtoB sector, Applied Materials, a manufacturer of semiconductor chips, has donated millions in disaster relief efforts for Hurricane Katrina, the earthquake in South Asia and the tsunami in India.
Corporations make contributions for a variety of reasons: in an attempt to impact society; to seek public acceptance and applause; to increase their name recognition among consumers; to develop a better public image; to achieve greater consumer loyalty; and to improve community relations. Not to mention the tax benefits.
A study shows that corporate philanthropy even results in better profitability. Companies that give more to charity are more profitable, according to a study published in the Wall Street Journal by Dover Management, who operates a mutual fund that invests in corporations committed to charitable giving. The survey says that companies with a solid link between giving and operating earnings outperformed the Standard & Poor’s 500 index by 3.5 percentage points over five years.
OK. So philanthropy can be a bit self-serving. After all, it does offer some tangible and tempting benefits i.e. more profits and better branding. Philanthropy has a huge impact on branding," says Kendall Webb, CEO and founder of JustGive.org, a non-profit charity portal for businesses and individuals. "I don’t think companies give for that specific reason only, but the payoff is there. Consumers are looking for more meaning in the products they’re buying and they really buy into an idea like corporate giving."
Hold on. There’s a key word in that statement: consumers. Does the same hold true for BtoB buyers? Are a BtoB’s clients influenced by a record of corporate giving? No research that we know of has been done to support or negate that question, but it has been proven that in general, people (including BtoB buyers) do business with people and companies they like. And contributing to a worthy cause certainly ups a business’s likeability quotient.
Complementing advertising and public relations efforts, philanthropy is undoubtedly a great way to create a positive corporate image. Doing good is apparently good for you.
But beware: Savvy BtoB Buyers will see through poorly veiled attempts at charity just for the PR value. Your efforts will be viewed as nothing more than superficial window-dressing. Rather, if you’re going to do philanthropy, do it for the right reasons: because, similar to the rush that individuals get from volunteering, corporate philanthropy feels good and it’s the right thing to do. Focus on a good cause that makes sense for your organization. And operate with a perspective broader and longer than your own immediate, short-term profits. After all, with leadership really does come responsibility. You’ll have the greatest impact on society that way – and your customers will take notice.
Also, make sure corporate giving is a proactive, rather than a reactive, activity. Corporations who proactively seek social issues to support are viewed as acting in a philanthropic manner. Those who react to negative publicity are seen as trying to cover up, or correct an error.
Another key to success: make philanthropy a planned part of the company’s budget. That way, you’ve allowed for the expense far in advance and have a continuous charitable fund available.
In summary: Give charitably the right way, and everyone wins.
MediaBrains philanthropy
During the month of August, MediaBrains is donating 5% of all proceeds to help needy children buy school supplies.
Posted in
Branding, Environment, Industrial Research, Social Responsibility |
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Friday, July 18th, 2008
In his latest Thursday Night Insight blog feature, Alaric Fairbanks talks about the ways in which business-to-business market research agencies can prove their credentials for even the most highly specific and niche market research requests.
In our Asian operations, perhaps unsurprisingly given the rapidly industrialising nature of the major markets here and the strength of manufacturing, the bulk of work and enquiries are in the field of industrial research. Put more crudely, this involves “investigating an aspect of a market for something used to producing something else”.
Broadly speaking, this can be divided into three areas:
- Raw materials
- Components
- Equipment and machinery
Obviously this can cover a huge range of industries and products, which can cause problems for buyers of market research in these industries. Understandably, the research buyer would like to be reassured that the external agency chosen has experience in the market in question, as well as in the relevant geographical areas and with appropriate methodologies. This is relatively straightforward with broad industry categories, for example pharmaceuticals. Things get more complex, however, when the buyer would like to be reassured of experience within their particular niche. To take the pharmaceuticals example further, the next question, may be: “how about biopharm?”
Again, outlining experience in this area may be no problem for most specialist b2b agencies, but what if this is followed by; “have you covered chromatography products for the purification of monoclonal antibodies in China?” Even the most experienced agency will find it difficult to claim direct experience in such a highly specialised field; indeed, it is unlikely that the buyer will find any agency that has conducted exactly this research before.
So, what should a buyer be looking for in selecting an external agency for this project and what can the agency do to facilitate this decision? The general characteristics of industrial and manufacturing markets, together with their implications, should give us some indication of the type of experience a buyer should be looking for.
The customer numbers, and thus the number of potential respondents, will be much smaller than in consumer markets. This is especially true of highly specialised markets. For the research buyer, the key issue here will be the ability of the agency to recruit respondents from a very limited sample pool.
There are likely to be multiple and contradictory members of the decision making unit, all of whom will have an impact on the decision and whose views will be of importance to the research buyer. The first issue here is identifying the key decision makers – often from roles as diverse as production, maintenance, purchasing, etc – and their roles in the process. These people are by no means easy to reach, and an agency should be able to demonstrate a track record of identifying and reaching these types of respondents.
Many aspects of the information required to reach meaningful conclusions will be of an extremely technical nature and, as we have seen, it will be very difficult for an agency to build up a high level of technical knowledge across a wide range of highly specialised industries. From the agency side, a general understanding, coupled with the ability to listen to and apply the knowledge of the buyer should be a prerequisite. This can be demonstrated by examples of working in other highly specialised areas in related industries. We would suggest that although specific technical expertise is highly unlikely, an industrial background and a certain amount of maturity are essential.
Most industries have their own technical language and vocabulary that will need to be used in any specific research project. This means that at the design stage, especially for discussion guides and questionnaires, this has to be right, as a difference in phraseology could lead to different results. Care must be taken to ensure that this is correct.
Checking and verifying the information obtained at an early stage is particularly important in this type of research. This goes beyond standard research practice of checking that the questionnaire is “working” to “is this information technically possible?” This means that there will have to be especially close liaison between client-side technical staff and the agency in the early stages. Similarly, the agency should be able to demonstrate experience of this way of working. In the analysis stages it will be important that the implications of the answers to detailed specific questions are understood by the agency in interpreting the data obtained.
In summary, whilst industrial research is an incredibly wide field, it is almost impossible to have expert knowledge of the most technical and specific markets, the high level commonalities of industrial markets require a common skill set, and choosing an agency that demonstrates a history of working on this broad type of subject, together with some relevant industry knowledge, should be the first point of contact for the potential industrial market research buyer.
More information about what makes industrial market research unique can be found our White Paper, B2B Marketing.
Posted in
Alaric Fairbanks, Industrial Research, Market Research, Market Research China, Thursday Night Insight |
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Monday, June 16th, 2008
Following the success over the past 5 years of its UK shower brand preference monitor, B2B International has announced it will be providing a similar offering in the USA.
The twice-yearly monitor will investigate US shower installers’ requirements from shower brands, the decision making process when deciding which shower to install, and views towards the various shower brands. B2B Director Matthew Harrison, who is based in New York, explains:
We know that when it comes to installing a replacement shower, it is the installer that takes responsibility for a large part of the decision. With this in mind, the requirements of installers, and their views towards the various brands in the market, are critical to any shower manufacturer. In addition to the American manufacturers, a number of European market players have a presence in the States, making for a very competitive market.
The results of the first wave of the monitor will be available in late August/early September. Enquiries should be directed towards Matthew Harrison in New York on +1 (914) 761 1909, or Matthew Powell in our UK office on +44 (0)161 440 6000.
Posted in
Industrial Research, International Market Research, Market Research USA |
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Wednesday, June 4th, 2008
B2B International’s latest office is about to open in New York, USA. At a time when all talk in the media is of a stuttering US – and indeed worldwide – economy, why are we heading Stateside now?
As detailed in yesterday’s blog post, UK-based business-to-business market research expert B2B International opened its Asia-Pacific headquarters in China in 2006. This came about on the back of massive demand from clients to find out more about the opportunities offered by Asia-Pacific markets.
Yet, interest in European and American markets has never been stronger for us. In particular, both the market research we conduct into North America and that carried out on behalf of our US clients, continue to be hugely important.
In 2006, the overall global market for market research was worth £12 billion. Over a third of this was generated in North America (source: ESOMAR Industry Report 2007). ESOMAR describes the North American market research industry as “a model of resilience and reinvention”, for turnover has increased year on year.
The USA is, of course, the hub for many global corporations. In spite of current technologies enabling people in all continents of the world to communicate in real time, ‘local’ research agencies have a distinct advantage through their understanding of local markets, their ability to speak the right language and their presence within the same or similar time zones. Through opening an office on the continent, B2B International’s multi-lingual team will be on hand to better serve North, Central and South American clients.
We have previously worked for a number of the top 50 companies in the USA (as ranked by sales), and many of the biggest companies in the US operate in sectors in which we have great experience – in particular the oil & gas, chemicals, IT, and pharmaceuticals & healthcare industries. With the global sector expertise we will be bringing with us, our New York office will meet the needs of not only our existing clients but also other organizations – whether multinational, national or local – across many industrial sectors.
Posted in
Industrial Research, International Market Research, Market Research USA |
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Friday, April 25th, 2008
In his first Thursday Night Insight post, research executive Russell Clarke assesses the challenges brought about by the new REACH legislation.
In business-to-business market research, we need to have a thorough understanding of the challenges that are faced by our clients and their respective industries. Being profitable, building customer relationships and raising awareness of the brand are regular challenges for all companies. Every so often, however, an industry faces a new challenge that has a major impact on every aspect of its business. The new REACH EU legislation is a perfect example of this.
REACH (or Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and restriction of Chemicals) is a new system for controlling chemicals within Europe. The legislation aims to provide detailed information on potentially harmful chemicals throughout the supply chain. It potentially affects any company which is importing a substance into the EU on its own, in a mixture, or in a finished manufactured product on or above 1 tonne per year. This simple fact means that a huge proportion of the industrial market is affected.
Under this legislation, companies must provide a revised Safety Data Sheet for each "substance" and register this with the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA). An outline of these costs that was released in December 2007 indicates that registration will cost up to €31,000 for each individual substance. Registration will be phased in over a period of 11 years. Whilst there are discounts available for companies wishing to submit joint applications and for SMEs, it is clear that this will be an expensive exercise for all concerned. When you take into consideration the range of products manufactured or supplied by the large organisations within the chemicals industry, you start to see the kind of resources that will be required to comply with REACH.
Aside from the technical and administrative implications, a great many businesses will also be considering the ramifications this legislation will have on their supply-chain and on their customers.
For further information on the REACH legislation the following websites may be useful:
Posted in
Industrial Research, Industry News, Russell Clarke, Thursday Night Insight |
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