COVER STORY
But while Singapore has done well to attract multinationals to
establish their centres of excellence (including research) to
Singapore, the supply side of research has grown a lot faster than
the demand side.
Some feel that the industry will not be able to support so many
players, but just like other industries, the market research business
will always find a way of “sorting itself out”.
Nehal Medh, the Managing Director of the custom research division
of GfK, comments, “some agencies will exit, close down, or merge
with others, but we will continue to see the fresh entry of more
boutiques. The real challenge is for existing businesses to understand these ‘shifting sands’ and re-position themselves sharply for
sustained business viability.”
Competition is certainly keeping the supply side on its toes.
Jon Foged, Managing Director of TNS Singapore, comments, “the
ecosystem (of market research) now consists of the big agencies,
management consultancies, online panel providers, and the client’s
internal teams. In such an environment, agencies need to sharpen
their focus more than ever to support the client’s business decision-making.”
While boutique research firms have been increasing their market
share, some feel that they will not be able to meet the challenge of
scalability that regional clients in Singapore will need. Nehal Medh
from GfK comments, “without an international network and the
vagaries of fieldwork quality in offline markets, they (the boutiques)
may run the risk of being marginalised.”
Paula Kant, CEO of Insight Asia, expects more agencies to come to
Singapore, but argues that boutique agencies can flourish by either
tapping into the resources of third-party suppliers or by developing
their own network. Indeed, even the larger agencies are increasingly
using third parties for data collection. Paula argues, “the success
factor will be real insights – what keeps a client happy and keeps
them coming back are insights and original thinking.” The level of
competition and the choice s the clients now have has put pressure
on margins, but the extent to which the Singapore market is “price
driven” has been hotly debated over the years. While some sectors
(e.g. Government and fieldwork services) are often very price-driven, there are many areas for research companies to find points of
differentiation.
Some of this has been in the form of product innovation and the
development of proprietary research solutions, but many of the
industry players agree that customisation is very important in adding
value. Jon Foged from TNS Singapore comments, “our business
solutions have been developed and refined by some of the gurus in
the industry and proven by thousands of studies all over the world.
They are the foundation of our expertise and the basis from which
we develop customised approaches tailored to client needs.”
Nehal Medh from GfK also feels that customisation is key: “black
box solutions are not the answer, but instead the solution is in (analytical) frameworks. No single technique is capable of solving the
increasingly complex reality of today’s markets”. Paula Kant from
Insight Asia adds, “the tools can never replace the thinking. The
tools facilitate and support the thinking, (combined with) the passionate and creative approach to research.”
Opportunities in Jakarta,
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speaker (local), track record of key account development research experience
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To apply for the exciting opportunities in Jakarta, please contact in strict confidence: Piers Lee, Managing Director, BDRC Asia
Email: [email protected]
2 ASIA RESEARCH | JUNE 2014
www.asia-research.net