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Supplier CapabilitiesBy: Helena Mierzwa

Our “By the Book” Research Process

Our textbook gives a very simplistic process:

Problem definition

Data Collection Existing Data Primary Data

Data Analysis

Information Reporting

Our In-class Research Process

In class, we went over the process in more detail. The basic outline is:

Formulate Problem

Determine Research Design

Determine Data Collection Method

Design Data Collection Forms

Design Sample & Collect Data

Analyze and Interpret Data

Prepare Written/Oral Report

Our “competitor”: Euromonitor

http://www.euromonitor.com

Does global, regional, national, state, and city level reporting

Uses multiple sources and different research techniques for each client

Evaluates trends, spot patterns and provide new insights with supporting evidence

Close partnership with clients every step of the way: planning, process and conclusion

Euromonitor

Euromonitor International

Similarities: Us vs. Euromonitor

Both:

Follow a basic process of plan, collect and analyze data, then evaluate.

Use qualitative and quantitative data

Use multiples sources and different research techniques for each client

Evaluate trends, spot patterns and provide new insights

Use: literature search (desk research), in-depth interviews, focus groups, surveys and observation (insights)

Both:

Define project scope, objectives and deliverables

Communicate with clients throughout the entire process

Follow a timetable

Deliver findings to the client

Use ethical methods; Euromonitor uses words such as “good reputation”, “trusted” and “transparent” in their description

Similarities: Us vs. Euromonitor cont….

Differences: Us vs. Euromonitor

They are different because:

Euromonitor has more experience

Even though the book talks about global aspect, Euromonitor obviously is more wide-spread and has more resources than we do (time, money, etc.)

Euromonitor has more research methods available to them such as store checks, workshops, industry expert interviews, etc.

Differences: Us vs. Euromonitor cont….

They are different because:

Euromonitor puts a lot more emphasis on post-delivery support and the conclusion and can offer more at that stage

Euromonitor is able to cross-check its data and findings more easily- it has more background to compare it to

Yet, our class can give a more personal approach than Euromonitor because we have multiple teams working on only two clients

Overview

Overall, our research method is quite similar to Euromonitor’s! I was kind of surprised by this considering how big their company is and how we are just a small class. While they may be a large, global company with many more resources than we have, we both follow basically the same process when doing research. There are a few slight differences and they may word some things in different language but it is the same general basis. This definitely helped show me that what we are doing in class is helpful for our futures, because we could be basically doing the same thing if we go into marketing research.

What we do for Nature Yoga and Children's Home and Aide is a smaller scale version of what we may be doing someday for future clients at an actual

company!