January 13, 2010, 4:19 PM
In his recent blog post, Tom Anderson commented about the trends that the market research industry would witness in the coming year. One of the trend that he talks about is the effectiveness of research. He points out that research can be called effective when it significantly drives bottom line results. In one of my earlier posts titled “Real time updates: Companies want to know now!”, I highlighted the value of real time updates that will help companies analyze data at a faster speed. With a constant flow of data, companies can take decisions quickly that would impact the bottom line of the business.
Continue reading ‘MR techniques: to socialize or not to socialize’ »
December 29, 2009, 10:00 AM
Global market research biggies like Nielsen, TNS, IPSOS and Synovate have always been the water hole where all the Market Research Outsourcing (MRO) companies have been going to. Although the water has not dried, the water-hole has indeed become congested and competitive.
Continue reading ‘Market research outsourcing: shift in buyer landscape?’ »
December 21, 2009, 3:28 PM
The global market research (MR) industry has seen a decline in the past couple of years with revenues at $32.5 billion for the year 2008, according to a report by ESOMAR
Continue reading ‘Market Research: Shift from Reactive to Proactive’ »
November 27, 2009, 11:00 AM
Turnovers in research agencies are improving slightly, as per a survey conducted by MarketResearchAgencies.eu. The survey included 114 Market Research Agencies’ (MRA) members spread across the globe. Comparing the data from Nov’09 with a report published in May’09, only 45% of the agencies have experienced a reduction in turnover, compared to 60% in May’09.
Continue reading ‘Turnover in market research: Snail paced recovery’ »
November 20, 2009, 12:04 PM
The global market research industry has been under strain with budget cuts and layoffs seen in the past 1-2 years. The impact of recession on the market research industry has also had a spillover effect on the Indian offshore market research vendors that has made vendors go beyond standard market research service offerings (Market Intelligence)
Continue reading ‘Of global recession and strategic acquisitions’ »
November 7, 2009, 10:06 AM
In my post titled ‘Recession in market research industry: Pandemic or Infodemic?’, I wrote about the effect of recession on the market research industry. It is clearly evident that the market research offshoring has taken a hit and corporates and market research agencies are evaluating avenues to cut costs without affecting productivity.
Continue reading ‘In-sourcing research: A strategic solution or cost-saving activity?’ »
October 30, 2009, 2:01 PM
In my post ‘Hear your customer’s tweet’ , I mentioned how companies and research agencies are looking to collaborate with small setups that have been tracking tweets or messages posted to social media websites in order to cull out information related to their company. Google recently launched ‘Google Social Search’ which will help users/companies not only track who is commenting what about a particular product/service but also help tracking comments from various social media websites based on the conditions set by the user. When I say conditions, it simply means that Google Social Search allows you to form groups of individuals whom you trust that will ensure guidelines are set for the kind of information is required from the search.
Continue reading ‘Google Social Search: Step in the right direction’ »
October 21, 2009, 12:28 PM
In one of my posts titled ‘Recession in market research industry: Pandemic or Infodemic?’, we looked at how the recession has affected the market research industry and what are the possible ways companies would like to re-invent themselves and keep the cash registers full: Ka-ching!!
Continue reading ‘Real time updates: Companies want to know now!’ »
October 10, 2009, 10:22 AM
The booming Islamic finance (Shari’ah banking) industry is spreading across geographies and has seen its presence increase from a handful of countries to more than 75 countries. Changing norms and innovations to offer something more to the customers presents opportunities for IT and BPO companies to tap into a niche market within the BFSI sector.
Continue reading ‘Islamic finance: Outsourcing or Insourcing??’ »
September 25, 2009, 10:58 AM
A “tweet tweet” here and a “tweet tweet” there, here a “tweet”, there a “tweet”, everywhere a “tweet tweet”! Since its inception in 2006, Twitter which is now being called the SMS of the internet has now become a worldwide phenomenon. A social networking and a micro-blogging technique (as quoted by media), twitters are being used by every Tom, Dick and Harry to celebrities ranging from actors to sports personalities to businessmen. So discussions (or as they are called tweets) range from what an individual person is doing/thinking/wanting to do to voicing their opinions about product/service/issue/likes/dislikes……In short, what can be done on Twitter is anyone’s guess. Boundaries are unlimited, except for the character limit of 140 
Continue reading ‘Hear your customer’s tweet!’ »
