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Elephants Can't Jump
Ensuring brand initiatives work in practice as well as in theory. To have marketplace impact, we believe every research assignment should consist of three elements consumer exploration or validation, within a competitive context, generating commercial outputs.
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Firefish Ltd
29 full time staff, operating in all corners of the globe, on all manner of projects. No methodology is squashed to fit. We approach each brief with fresh eyes and minds, to make sure you get the most out of your research, helping your brand move forward.
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Grass Roots
Grass Roots is one of Europe's largest performance improvement companies. Established in 1980, Grass Roots UK is the founding company of a group with offices and partners operating in 15 countries around the world.
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DIGITAL-MR
In addition to Social Media Research (Web Listening) DigitalMRs solutions also include community panels, access panels, Web usability and a distinct focus on qualitativeresearch online.
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An Introduction to India
Civilized since ancient times, India was for more than 3,000 years made up of a constantly shifting multitude of kingdoms. By the 16th century the Mogul Emperors had brought stability to the North with other empires in the South, West and North East. See full country profile.Latest Research News from India
GOVERNMENT: Federal Republic
AREA: 3,287,590 sq km
POPULATION: 1,116,079,217 (July 2009 est.)
MAJOR LANGUAGE: Hindi, English
Some business and general info
The Market Research Industry
Trade and Industry in India
A little More Knowledge?
Go to next country
Civilized since ancient times, India was for more than 3,000 years made up of a constantly shifting multitude of kingdoms. By the 16th century the Mogul Emperors had brought stability to the North with other empires in the South, West and North East.
The activities of The East India Company along with local support brought most of present day India under British rule by the 1850s. A mass movement for independence inspired and guided by the Indian National Congress and by Mahatma Gandhi drove its transformation into a republic by 1950. A melting pot of faiths, the world's second most populous nation nevertheless retains a tolerant and in many ways secular'outlook. Its diverse economy is one of the world's fastest growing despite a small majority of the work force remaining in agriculture. India's democratic governments face problems of extensive poverty, widespread corruption, environmental problems and significant overpopulation.
GDP: $3.267 trillion (2008 est.)
Religions Hindu 80.5%, Muslim 13.4%, Christian 2.3%, Sikh 1.9%, other 1.8%, unspecified 0.1% (2001 census)
Currency: Indian Rupee (INR) (1 INR = 0.015 EUR)
Telephone Code: +91
MR Association(s):
Market Research Society of India
Statistics: The MR industry in India is growing steadily, according to an ESOMAR report - in 2008, the MR turnover in India was $198 million - up from $63 million in 2003 (or a whopping 214%).
Services are the major source of economic growth, accounting for more than half of India's output with less than one third of its labor force and the continued growth of the Indian MR industry is fuelled in no small part by MR being one of the sectors in which the giant outsourcing companies operate.In 2008 700,000 people were working in the outsourcing sector which accounted for a turnover of $11B. Even though 2.5M people graduate in India every year there is still a skills shortage among the outsourcers.
Source: ESOMAR
According to the CIA World Factbook:
The USA, China, UAE and the UK are the main export partners with India, with exports totalling $175.7 billion in 2008. The main export commodities are petroleum products, textile goods, gems and jewellery, engineering goods, chemicals and leather. The main import partners are China, the USA, Germany and Singapore, with imports of crude oil, machinery, gems, fertilizer and chemicals totalling $287.5 billion in 2008.
The CIA World Factbook also notes that the government has reduced controls on foreign trade and investment. Higher limits on foreign direct investment were permitted in a few key sectors, such as telecommunications.
The economy has posted an average growth rate of more than 7% in the decade since 1997, reducing poverty by about 10 percentage points. India achieved 8.5% GDP growth in 2006, 9.0% in 2007, and 7.3% in 2008, significantly expanding manufactures through late 2008. India also is capitalizing on its large numbers of well-educated people skilled in the English language to become a major exporter of software services and software workers. Strong growth combined with easy consumer credit, a real estate boom, and fast-rising commodity prices fueled inflation concerns from mid-2006 to August 2008.
In the long run, the huge and growing population is the fundamental social, economic, and environmental problem.
Email me:
laurence@mrweb.com
With close to 45% of India less than 25 years of age, this is where the future lies. Though net penetration is still low at 7%, India already is the global number four in terms of internet usage. The only way to go is up! Compare that with the mobile telephone-density rate of 50%. India has a population of 1.2 billion and half of them have mobile phones! This has tremendous potential for marketing research and frankly, India is going to be a big destination as far as internet and mobile research is concerned.
The research market here is clearly split into two. The first part is the traditional research market handling research projects for Indian and International clients. The second is what constitutes the KPO/MRO market (Knowledge Process Outsourcing/Market Research Outsourcing), catering to back-office support to high-end analytical work for clients. Revenue from the KPO sector has outstripped the traditional MR revenue in 2009-10 (Source: ValueNotes research).
Work wise as well, there are considerable differences. Client servicing modes differ as well as the adoption of technology though client behaviour continues to be the same across the globe (I want it, I want it now and by the way, can you add these extra questions as well.) T he working hours and style are quite different; The KPO sector, by default, operates in a 24x7 model servicing clients across the globe. The traditional MR sector is hierarchical whilst the KPO sector is oriented similar to US or EU.
With the opening up of India and thanks to the technology boom, we have a lot more researchers coming to India either moving in or visiting for a specific duration (project management/discussions, Knowledge transfers, etc).
Longer hours, weekend infringements, taking work home: This is more of a global phenomenon, isnt it? And India is no exception! Though per se, a 9 to 6 office, flexi-time and work-from-home are catching on, stretch time has become a constant in most offices.
Early to bed, Early to rise - and your wife goes out with other guys!!! Well, if it is only work and no play, this could happen. In India, there is so much to do for the Culture Vultures sinking into the Indian cultural smorgasbord of Culture, Curries, Dance, Temples and Beaches.
Weekend breaks have a true meaning here, with ever-improving roads, multitude of location options, lowering air fares and friendly company on call! Each state has lots to offer and crossing over to another culture doesnt take long. I find the visiting researchers continuously on the move, for research and more so, to check out India.
For longer breaks, we have the mountains (read Himalayas) up north, the beauty of deserts due west, Rabindranath Tagores house in the east, the backwaters down south and imperial temples in the center. Each place brings in a unique perspective of India.
I could go on and on but you need to come over to see the research boom first-hand... and experience India.
Traffic, Economic, Cultural divides and scores of other issues notwithstanding, folks are welcomed with open arms. That is my India!