Industries Profiled:
Professional Services; Health Care; Pharmaceutical; Diagnostic; Medical Device; Research; Biotech; Technology; Manufacturing; Consumer Products; Media; Consulting; Energy
Companies Profiled:
Adler Life Sciences; LLC; Abbott; Charles River; Auxilium; BioChain; Bayer; Boehringer Ingelheim; Inventiv Health; Alcon; Labopharm; Actelion; IRIS; Bausch & Lomb; Cubist Pharmaceuticals; Cephalon; Inc.; CSL Behring; EMD Serono; GlaxoSmithKline; IDS Canada; Ethicon Endo-Surgery Inc.; Galderma; IMS; Medrad; Orion Energy; MSD; Vertex Pharmaceuticals; Ortho-McNeil; Merck; Novo Nordisk; Pfizer; Vistakon; Johnson & Johnson
Table of Contents
Executive Summary....................................................................................................................2
Introduction....................................................................................................................3
Research Approach.........................................................................................................3
Definitions and Abbreviations........................................................................................3
Report Structure and Organization.................................................................................4
Participant Demographics...............................................................................................4
Key Findings...................................................................................................................7
The Evolving Role of Market Research: Achieving the Balance Between Strategic and Tactical................................................................................................................................10
Performance Management: Developing Staff and Optimizing Structure....................18
Align your market research staff deployment strategy to reflect your greater need: developing market research proficiency or building rapport with product teams..................................18
Attract, develop and cultivate top talent so market research becomes both an esteemed career track and training ground for future business leaders.............................................23
Provide market research training and development to build skills, develop people and make them more valuable to the organization..........................................................................27
Fit training programs to development needs of hard and soft skills.....................28
Develop a core curriculum to support career path competencies and grow market research capabilities..................................................................................................................29
Leadership must nurture a culture that enables the structure to work by championing open communication and collaboration across units in support of the business strategy.............29
Managing Vendors and Outsourcing....................................................................................31
Develop guidelines for selecting and managing vendors that qualify as “best fit” to maximize the benefits of outsourced activities...............................................................................33
Integrate preferred vendors a core part of the supply chain and of the intelligence network to increase quality and reduce cost of outsourcing..............................................................34
Take a hands-on approach to managing vendors to ensure you hear the market, keep projects on track and obtain optimal pricing and insight...................................................35
Demonstrating Market Research Value Through Key Metrics.....................................37
Ensuring a Successful Future for Market Research.........................................................40
List of Charts & Exhibits
Table 1.1: Benchmark Participants.....................................................................................4
Table 1.2: Job Titles of Participants...................................................................................5
Figure 1.1: Types of Companies Represented....................................................................6
Figure 1.2: Number of Brands Supported by Market Research..........................................7
Figure 1.3: The Essential Market Research Framework.....................................................8
Table 1.3: Market Research Requires Laser-like Customer Focus.....................................9
Figure 2.1: Market Research Functions Along a Continuum...........................................10
Figure 2.2: The Overall Balance is Shifting.....................................................................11
Image 2.1: Successful Market Research Programs Develop a Strategic Focus................12
Figure 2.3: Support for Other Functions/Activities is Expanding....................................14
Figure 2.4: Responsibility for Activities...........................................................................15
Figure 2.5: Current Market Research Support..................................................................16
Figure 2.6: Strategic Versus Tactical Market Research....................................................17
Chart 3.1: Centralized Staffing Example for Market Research........................................19
Chart 3.2: Decentralized Staffing Example for Market Research....................................20
Chart 3.3:Hybrid Staffing Example for Market Research...............................................20
Chart 3.4: Group Deployment Strategies..........................................................................21
Figure 3.1: Managing Talent Must Address Future Needs...............................................22
Figure 3.2: Centralized and Distributed Market Research FTEs......................................23
Figure 3.3: Market Research Staff Hiring Criteria...........................................................25
Figure 3.4: Changes in Hiring Criteria.............................................................................26
Figure 4.1: Vendor Relationships.....................................................................................31
Figure 4.2: Expectations for Using Outside Resources....................................................32
Figure 4.3: Expected Number of Market Research Contractors/Suppliers.......................33
Figure 5.1: Measurement and Value.................................................................................37
Figure 6.1: Future of Market Research Statements..........................................................42
Figure 6.2: Characteristics of Future Market Research....................................................43
Figure 6.3: Biggest Mistakes............................................................................................44
Figure 6.4: Obstacles to Future Success...........................................................................44