MARKETING RESEARCH

Vantage Point
BY DAVID HOOPER

In this climate of tight budgets and

outsourcing, can market research
save itself from drastic cost-saving measures?
Seeing market research as an expense is not new.
Parts of the research process incur costsfrom purchasing data to conducting primary research. Increasing pressures have been put on suppliers to maximize
value. To this end, preferred suppliers, agencies of
record and other partnerships have been developed.
For the client-side market researcher, doing more
with less is a mantra, if not a corporate way of life.
Plus, many companies increasingly staff market
research departments on a rotational basis, to save
costs and produce more broadly trained employees.
The combination of many of these pressures and
perceived solutions has
For the client-side led to a devaluing of
market researcher, market researchand of
the market researcher.
doing more with
While there is inherently
less is a mantra,
a project management
if not a corporate
component, the value of
way of life
the market researcher
should be understood as complex and of benefit to
the organization. The insights provided by the market
researcher are intended to identify opportunities,
improve business outcomes and challenge the organizations strategy. Market researchers need to help clients drive business while helping to mitigate risk and
plan for the future. This is best achieved when market
researchers are strategic consulting partners to our
various stakeholdersmarketing, business development and clinical development to name a few.
Perhaps to avoid falling victim to cost-saving measures, the market research industry needs to focus on
changing the perception of research as a checkbox
process to that of a valuable component of an organizations overall strategy for achieving success.
In April, David Hooper left Warner Chilcott to become
Evolution Marketing Researchs senior director, research.

20 MM&M x JUNE 2013 x mmm-online.com

Study finds link between

innovation and revenue
A study by Temples Fox
School of Business, with funding and benchmarking data
from TGaS Advisors, offers
for the first time, according to
researchers, empirical evidence
of the link between a companys
culture from a commercial-operations standpoint and revenue
performance.
If you acquire one of these
companies, this study would
saythe culture is what makes
[it] productive, says George
Chressanthis, PhD, who led the
study team.
Chressanthis, a Fox professor
of healthcare management and
marketing, and colleagues found
that the average company that
lifts its cultural innovation by
a .5 standard deviation yields
an increase in sales-per-rep of
$314,000, or a 17% improvement.
Researchers identify two
dimensions of cultureinnovation (coming up with cool ways
to beat the competition) and
responsiveness (being able to
execute with a sense of urgency and alignment). However,
These two things have to work
in tandemto drive performance, said Chressanthis.
The findings, presented at the

Chressanthis: A companys
culture makes it productive

Pharmaceutical Management
Science Association (PMSA)
2013 annual meeting in early
May, have implications for biopharma companies on the hunt
for acquisitions to make up for
productivity challenges and revenue lost to expiring patents.
Execs evaluating potential
targets should check for their
underlying culture of innovation in commercial operations,
in order to allow a quantitative
investment to realize its full
return. And if they do witness a
unique culture, says Chressanthis, What you dont want to do
is disturb that. Marc Iskowitz

Consultants see big growth in India

Double-digit growth and a
fragmented healthcare system in
India have spurred consultancies
and data firms, although experts
say pricing for services varies
widely.
Boston Consulting Group
told the Business Standard its
services have been growing at
a 50% clip the last two years
vs. the 15% annual growth for
healthcare overalland that
it wants to seize more business

organically. Strategic Decision

Group says the consulting/strategy sector is growing strongest.
IMS Health is foraying into
that area as it sees an opportunity to connect the dots among
insurers and hospitals with credible claims data. It has its eye
on acquisition opportunities.
Headcount at its South Asia
unit has grown nine-fold since
20 09, reports the Economic
Times. MI

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