l        Rapidly increasing demand for chilled and frozen food will boost the sale of cold storage facilities in China over the next five years, according to a research report by property services provider, Jones Lang LaSalle. The number of refrigerated warehouses was expected to grow by about 24 per cent annually for the next five years amid pressing demand from consumers and the food export sector, the report said.

l        Demand for frozen meat products, dairy products and other food has increased by 70 per cent over the past six years as the population eat more animal protein, Jones Lang LaSalle said.

         To find out about the market research we conduct in the Food & Drink sector, please click here.

Sources: CBBC, Xinhua, Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, FCO Country Updates and other news sources.

Asia’s most influential business executives are maintaining their spend in the traditional areas of media, while also increasing significantly what they spend on forms of digital media.  This is according to Ipsos MediaCT’s BE:ASIA 2009 Survey, conducted among more than 9,500 members of Asia’s business elite across Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand.

The research found that these business decision-makers have not reduced their use of international print and broadcast media.  In acknowledgment of the recession, some cuts were found to have been made in business travel spend.

About 67% of respondents read one or more international print publications, with a huge 98% claiming to have read the latest issue of a printed magazine or newspaper.  The Wall Street Journal Asia is the most popular daily title with a 17% share, and Time is the favoured weekly magazine being read by 23% of respondents.  CNN, with 29%, is the most popular international TV channel.

There has been a significant increase in digital uptake this past year.  Since the same survey took place last year, there has been a particular increase in reference to blogs (49% reading one in the past month and 11% contributing a post during this time).  63% had visited an international media owner’s website within the past month (Yahoo News, with a weekly reach of 33%, is the most prevalent); 29% had used social networking sites; and 27% had accessed the internet via a mobile device – a massive eightfold increase since 2006.

Asia Research (http://www.asiaresearch.com.sg/), Asia’s Market Research & Market Intelligence Journal, has reported in its latest issue some of the findings of a survey it conducted earlier this year.  The online survey of more than 250 agency-side market researchers gives us insight into the changing face of the market research industry in light of the global economic difficulties. Some of the survey’s main findings are shared with you here.

2009 has been a challenging year for the market research industry in Asia – as in the rest of the world.  In the main, clients’ budgets are lower in 2009 than they were in 2008 – typically 30% lower (although, of course, there have been some clients who have increased their market research spend).

One of the main ways in which many market research companies have been affected has been in their personnel.  Particularly hard hit have been the regional hubs of Singapore and Hong Kong – as well as in India, which has been one of the fastest growing research markets in recent years.  Interestingly, though, only 17% of senior managers interviewed stated that they have a recruitment freeze and 58% say they will hire full-time staff – at all management levels – in the next six months.

More common than redundancies have been caps placed on remuneration – including pay freezes (39%) and removal of bonuses (32%).  Other cost-cutting measures implemented have included less capital expenditure (27%), less corporate travel for business development purposes (24%), a freeze on expansion (24%), and less advertising (19%).

Those working in Australia and Indonesian market research agencies have felt less affected than many others by the recession; unsurprising given that these markets have generally been less impacted by the global economic slowdown.

2009 can be classified as a hirers’ market, with a number of high quality market researchers currently unemployed as a result of companies’ retrenchment.  In fact, only 8% of those currently in employment feel their jobs are at risk in the coming six months (although 22% of senior managers expect to have to make further redundancies in the same period).

In spite the gloom, many of the market researchers surveyed are optimistic about next year.  Only 5% think that the prospects for the market research industry in 2010 will be worse (1% say ‘much worse’ and 4% say ‘somewhat worse’).  By contrast, 67% are feeling positive (42% saying ‘somewhat better’ and 25% saying ‘much better’).  The remaining 27% think things will be about the same or aren’t sure.

The sectors that will offer the best growth opportunities in 2010, in the views of 114 senior managers, are:

·          Healthcare/Pharmaceutical (46%)

        ·          FMCG/Consumer (39%) 

·          IT/Telecommunications (37%)

        ·          Banking & Finance (37%) 

·          Government (24%)

        ·          Media (17%) 

·          Travel & Tourism (16%)

·          Manufacturing/Industrial (14%).

An additional 69 clients – or market research buyers – were also asked a number of questions.  29% of these expect their budgets to increase next year, versus 11% who believe they will decrease. Of those expecting an increase, they think their budgets will rise by, on average, around 20%.

B2B International, like other market research agencies, has had to adapt its services and offerings to meet changing client demands.  What does remain, however, is our promise to work out the best way to meet your research objectives at a competitive price, adding value and insight wherever we can.

In the final installment of Alaric Fairbanks’ Asia Research interview, the General Manager of B2B International in China discusses the company’s short-term goals and offers some sound advice to anyone wanting to set up a business in China:  

What are your goals?

At a high level these include doubling our Beijing operation and opening a second office in Shanghai within the next two years.  Perhaps equally high on our list of priorities is that it is important that the whole team, including myself, finds work and life interesting, stimulating and enjoyable.

What advice would you give to someone wanting to set up a market research company in China today?

Be different, and be good at it.  Despite being a relatively emergent market, there is plenty of competition, much of it competing on price.  Anyone considering setting up must be aware of this and be able to offer something different.  Linked to this, do not be afraid of challenging orthodoxies or perceptions, particularly regarding methodologies, and be prepared to try new approaches.

In the second of our three-part blog series, Alaric Fairbanks tells Asia Research about the successes and challenges B2B International has encountered over the past couple of years in China:

How have you managed to create your business?

I think our success so far comes from close attention to our two major stake-holder groups: clients and staff. To some extent we had an advantage in that we had already been conducting projects in China for about 5 years, and some of our clients from our home markets were interested in further research in China. Like many emerging markets, a lot of the companies driving research early on were foreign, and although market research in China has a history of over 20 years, b2b research is relatively new.  We were able to leverage our position, client base and reputation outside China to assist in building the business here. This was a help, but a priority was still to generate business ourselves from both outside and within China; indeed we have seen a movement in less than two years from foreign companies commissioning work from outside China, to local offices of foreign companies, and increasingly to domestic enterprises.  The team that we have built in China has also been crucial in developing the business and we have been fortunate in attracting and retaining a highly motivated team.

What are your main challenges today?

Right now my immediate concern is finding new premises, as we have outgrown our current office in Beijing.  This practical issue aside, the challenges focus on maintaining our momentum in potentially challenging times.  Also, China continues to develop and change rapidly and differently, and this potentially has huge opportunities for the way we work – for example we are currently looking to develop our use of web 2.0 methodologies in b2b research.  Here, we have already tried IM and SN applications for both recruitment and interviewing, and we are keen to explore and develop these applications, particularly for in-depth qualitative data collection.

The final installment of the interview will be our next blog post, so check back in to read it soon. 

In the latest issue of Asia Research, Alaric Fairbanks, General Manager of B2B International in Beijing, talks about setting up and running a market research company in China.  Over the next three blog posts, we will serialize his interview:

Tell me about B2B International

As the name implies, we work in b2b markets and are international.  We are a specialist business-to-business market research company, with our group headquarters in the United Kingdom and subsidiaries in New York and, of course, Beijing.  Our focus is exclusively b2b, and although we cover all b2b markets, we have particular strengths in chemicals, pharmaceuticals, engineering, construction and financial services.  In terms of services, our main focus is on full service research, covering market assessment, segmentation, customer satisfaction, new product development, competitor analysis and pricing studies, and our major clients are multi-national firms engaged in b2b markets.  In Asia we also complement our full service work with data collection.

What were the main challenges when you first set up the business?

We set up permanently here in 2006 and in many ways the challenges we faced when setting up in China were similar to those that many foreign-invested businesses in China, including some of our clients, face.  These include recruiting staff, adapting and integrating systems and working styles into the local conditions, and on a practical level finding reliable partners or suppliers, particularly in areas such as IT and financial services.  I regard these as important challenges to deal with, but the primary issue from day one was, and remains, generating business and delivering quality work.

Look out for Part 2 of the interview in our next blog post.

Jason Zhang was a little surprised when the five shirts his friend had bought for him arrived in the mail; he had been expecting to receive long-sleeved shirts and yet found his new garments had short sleeves. Although he thought he had been clear in his request, Jason discovered to his detriment that effective communication is not always as easy as you think…

Last summer, during my visit to Tianjin, I bought a couple of long-sleeved shirts in a department store. These shirts fit me very well and I really love this particular brand. Unfortunately, they’re not available in Beijing, where I live.

A week ago, I rang my friend who lives in Tianjin and asked her to buy five shirts on my behalf. During our conversation, I briefed her in detail on the particular brand name, the size, my favored style and color, and certainly what was an affordable price for me. I thought that was all the information she needed to make the purchase. However, I was wrong as I didn’t communicate to her one of the key pieces of information – long sleeves! In the meantime, she didn’t check this information with me either as she took for granted that short sleeves would fine with me. This is understandable, as Beijing is pretty hot in summer – with daytime temperatures as high as 38 degrees centigrade. Most people on the street have short-sleeved shirts, but my preference is long sleeves.

This is a real example to illustrate the importance of effective communication in our life and our workplace. Basically, in the workplace, at any given time, we all have to communicate in some way with our internal or external clients. As an effective communicator, you can bring real concrete benefits to your work and your organization. At the very least, you avoid having to do things twice, as you get it right in the first instance.  

In our capacity as professional consultants, perfect communication – both internal and external – is a crucial factor in building our sustainable competitive strengths, like efficiency, productivity, and a comfortable working environment.

As a business-to-business market research agency, our typical clients are marketing and business development professionals from national and international organizations. They come to us for help in making difficult and expensive decisions. At every point in the process, these clients’ expectations for effective communications from their suppliers are very high.

You would agree with me that the foundation to effective communications is precise information via an appropriate medium at the right time. At each contact point with clients in our work, effective communications are vitally important, from taking enquires, RFQ/RFP (request for quote/proposal), briefing, commissioning meeting, project design, through to the final reporting. It is our company’s normal practice to deliver an interim presentation, to ensure all the parties involved in the project have the same level of understanding of the exact project deliverables. 

Within the marketing research and consulting business sector, to ensure client liaison in an effective and efficient way, your essentials skills are listening, plus market insight, to understand a client’s particular business and needs.

In any communication, trying to use easy-to-understand expressions rather than special terminology or abbreviations, is a good idea. Let me give you an example. Last year, we conducted a market assessment study for a leading American industrial valve maker, to help them penetrate Asia’s pharmaceutical markets. For this market entry study, we used PEST (Political, Economic, Social and Technological) analysis to review the attractiveness of the opportunity and the barriers to entry to each individual market in Asia. When our project team leader and myself co-delivered the final presentation to the Client, we kept talking about PEST and IPR (Intelligence Property Right) issues in China. When we approached the end of presentation in the Q&A session, one of the audience asked the question, “What do you mean by PEST and IPR?” I then realized we should have clarified the abbreviations we had used.

It is quite normal in all walks of life and in all ways of communication to expect the audience to have the same level knowledge as we do. However, on many occasions, this is not the case. This is the reason why our project team always has detailed briefings, commissioning meetings and interim presentations with our Client. With these efforts, we can ensure both sides have the same level of knowledge and expectation from the marketing research and consulting project.

The other day, I got an email enquiry forwarded by our New York office. There were merely two sentences in the email: “We’re from Brazil looking to acquire a Chinese company. What is the cost and time frame for you to research this target company?”

How do you find the communication of this email enquiry? If you were sending out an enquiry for this sort of buying and acquisition study, what information do you think you need to provide to your agency?

B2B International, specialist business-to-business market research agency, is 10 years old.

Founder Nick Hague has found it an exciting decade. “Planned and sustainable growth has been key to our success. It’s interesting to look back at some highlights - becoming a global agency with the opening of an office in Beijing in 2007 and one in New York this month; managing over 1,000 market research projects per and recently welcoming our 1000th employee!”