Archive for the ‘Industry News’ Category
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:
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Monday, February 18th, 2008
Anybody that has studied any aspect of marketing in even the slightest depth will know that there are numerous definitions of what the discipline precisely is, all of them subtly different.
Did you know that the American Marketing Association, one of the best-known marketing bodies in the world, revisits the definition of marketing every five years in a disciplined effort to reflect on the state of the marketing field?
The American Marketing Association’s definition is used in books, by marketing professionals, and taught in university lecture halls across the US and indeed around the world.
As of January 2008, the new definition reads:
Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.
The previous definition stated:
Marketing is an organizational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating, and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders.
Do you agree with this updated definition? If it was up to you, what would your definition of marketing be? Are you interested in finding out more about marketing theory and practice by attending one of our marketing training courses? To find out more click here.
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Friday, November 9th, 2007
Anticipating future trends and industry developments is knowledge that is key to the growth of any business, and market research companies are no exception. Therefore it’s always interesting to hear the thoughts of those at the forefront of research for some of the world’s biggest brands.
When asked how they saw market research developing in the near future, Arleen Macaraeg-Denque and Esteban Socorro, research directors at Motorola and Coca-Cola respectively, had the following to say:
Arleen Macaraeg-Denque: "Demands are increasing. For the last ten years I’ve been hearing that we should be more consultancy-oriented. We’re expected to have a strong influence on critical business decisions. We have realigned our role within Motorola, but we are always faced with headcount constraints and the skill-sets are not always there. This industry was very much built on a scientific base - focus on sampling, statistics, questionnaire design - that’s all good but market researchers are expected to do more; consultancy is not for everyone. How to build the next generation of consulting market researchers is therefore one of the biggest challenges."
Esteban Socorro: "The industry will split in two: traditional research, and what I call the visionaries. Traditional research will keep on working as it does now; improving tools and methodologies, very process- and data-oriented. The need for this type of service will remain, but the cost and the margins will continue to decline due to the limited added value they bring to the table, and technological improvements that will reduce the cost of data collection. In that sense the concentration of the industry is inevitable and we will see less but bigger suppliers in this sector. The visionaries will be the ones that help their clients to build vision and strategy, based on a holistic and deep comprehension of the world and the people, as well as the company history and internal politics. The business model for this sector will and should be different to market research, perhaps closer to consultancy. It will probably have higher margins, lower costs, and be more diverse."
The above originally appeared in the October 2007 edition of Research World
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Tuesday, November 6th, 2007
As Asia’s third-largest economy and with consistent annual growth of around 9-10% expected for the near future, India is undeniably an emerging force on the world business stage.
As both local and international companies look to reap the rewards of this burgeoning market, effective research will become an ever-more crucial tool for organisations looking to expand in India.
In the first of a two-part post, we look in more detail at the challenges of conducting market research in India, as well as the operational and technological developments that can be expected in the industry there in the years to come:
With all the movement and action, Indian research has well and truly arrived on the global scene..
The potential is tremendous and there is a major growth and standardisation wave. India now figures more and more in the global research radar. Well, one billion makes a difference, doesn’t it!
There is a growing client-side demand for research and the trust-level of Indian researchers is increasing. The current business model is of low-cost, high-volume but this is changing with the advent of MRO (Market Research Outsourcing) and KPO (Knowledge Process Outsourcing). The research environment is growing as research needs grow - those new to commissioning research realise that “Some information is better than nothing�. As per the ESOMAR report, India is among the lowest in the world in terms of low prices charged to clients. This of course, is due to change in the next five years.
Internationalisation of Market Research: Rise of the foreign-Indian researcher
The Indian economy is booming, growth is prevalent and this has brought in an “Internationalisation” of research. Is there a truly Indian research company now? With ongoing Mergers and Acquisitions (Nielsen –> Org-Marg; Kantar –> IMRB; TNS –> NFO –> MBL) and the establishment of offshore partner/captive centres, there is a lot of consolidation, which brings in certain advantages.
Virtual captive centres and offshore partnerships drive the low- and high-end of research in India: from coding and data entry, through to Data Analytics and Business Intelligence. This has contributed to the standardisation wave when companies can now work on a common platform with set processes.
There is a definite organisation structure evolving - professionalizing Indian market research. Gone are the days when a researcher was an all-rounder doing everything from thinking, execution, client management and commercials. The focus is on specific divisions for specific research, leading to in-depth knowledge (walk the talk).
This article originally appeared in the Oct/Nov issue of BIG times
If you would like to know more about conducting research in emerging markets such as India or China, please contact our dedicated Asian office – Further details of which can be found at www.b2binternational.com.cn
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Market Research India, Market Research China, International Market Research, Industry News |
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Tuesday, October 23rd, 2007
Team playing, social networking, interactive virtual worlds and now…the avatar.
There is a sub-culture which is becoming main stream. A segment of the population who are currently spending as much time living in the virtual world as they previously did watching TV.
It starts with video games. They are becoming so realistic that they challenge Hollywood in entertainment quality and worldwide turnover. No longer are they restricted to being packaged goods. They can be downloaded from the net. Game playing on the net is enhanced by team playing. Like in the play ground, players have the opportunity to select their team and the opposition.
This has given birth to social networking. Participants who have a shared interest in the game can play with each other and against each other. It needs organisation and communication. They don’t have to live in the same country.
The power of the net has given rise to specific social networking sites. Bebo, Space Book and Facebook are examples. Facebook (www.facebook.com), because of interest from Microsoft, is now valued at $10 billion. 25 million now use Facebook to communicate with each other and share their experiences. It is a platform for good and evil.
Out of video games, their realism and social networking, we have the development of virtual worlds that are interactive. The key example is Second Life (Your World. Your Imagination at www.secondlife.com). A world in which you can determine your persona and demonstrate your desires without the constraints of the real world. You can be thin, sexy and an entrepreneur. Participants can buy and sell land, buildings and consumables using a currency called “Lindens” exchangeable with the US dollar. There are currently 10 million residents in Second Life and in the USA some have become “Linden” millionaires.
This development has not escaped the attention of branded goods manufactures. Nike, Adidas and advertising agencies such as Bartle Bogle and Hegarty in London are actively marketing in the virtual world.
This is not an activity restricted to teenagers or “nerds”. Anyone can participate and the mainstream population is engaging. Here in the UK there is a web based “soap opera” produced by Channel 4 (www.channel4/second_lives.com) using Second Life as a vehicle for entertainment.
A product of this world is the Avatar, an internet user’s representation of himself or herself whether in the form of a 3 dimensional model or a 2 dimensional icon. E-Box Software in the UK is developing an Avatar to represent a research interviewer and moderator. They not only ask questions but have a conversation with the respondent through the interview or discussion, it makes the on-line dialogue more human and inviting. In Second Life the Avatar can recruit as well as research.
We are now on the brink of research opportunities that we could not have imagined three years ago. Who knows where it will take us?
You can view the full article at www.aimri.net.
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