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Canadian MR Associations Merge
Canada's three industry associations for market intelligence and survey research have announced a merger, creating a new national association to be called the Marketing Research & Intelligence Association (MRIA) and due to operate from 1st Jan 2005.
The founding board meeting was held yesterday with the three old organisations' presidents all present. The move aims to 'strengthen the industry's voice as a world leader in professional standards and self-regulation'.
The three current associations will be dissolved - these are the Canadian Association of Market Research Organizations (CAMRO), the Canadian Survey Research Council (CSRC) and the Professional Marketing Research Society (PMRS). Over the course of November, members from each association voted overwhelmingly in favour of consolidation and the creation of the MRIA.
Don Mills, who will be the Founding President of the new association, says the MRIA will help to promote and enforce rigorous professional standards. 'The public benefits by receiving greater assurances that the person they are sharing their attitudes and opinions with is a legitimate researcher, working for a certified, accredited and auditable organization, compliant with some of the highest professional standards in the world'.
Among its many functions, the new association will take responsibility for developing and enforcing professional standards, conducting quality audits, ensuring the advancement of the practice via the School of Marketing Research and the Certified Marketing Research Professional designation, serving as an industry advocate and 'empowering respondents' through a toll free number (1-800-554-9996) to verify the legitimacy of research projects and to register complaints.
The Canadian industry has shown healthy growth in recent years, with more than 200 companies accounting for almost three quarters of a billion dollars of annual market research activity. The new organisation has a web site at www.mria-arim.ca
A full list of World MR Associations can be found at www.mrweb.com/assocs
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