» Develop your Social Capital: Conducting Market Research in China GMI Blog

Develop your Social Capital: Conducting Market Research in China

3 December 2007

In its November 2007 issue, Quirk’s Marketing Research Review published a GMI-bylined how-to guide about conducting market research in China.
Here are some of the key tips highlighted in the article:

Focus – The best quality research will focus on a few areas of China. Differences between regions, as well as the sheer size of target audiences, are so vast that – without a large budget – country-wide studies can risk spreading the research effort too thin.
Go national – Choose an agency that is national or international. These are the agencies that have the most resources, are most used to dealing with Western clients, and most accustomed to providing insightful analysis rather than just raw data.
You get what you pay for – The good-quality Chinese agencies are slightly cheaper than Western agencies, but don’t expect to pay a quarter or a third of what you pay your European or American agency. Incentives to respondents, rigorous quality checking and high-level involvement by very senior staff are all reasons why the better agencies are not ‘cheap and cheerful’.
Conduct a thorough background check – It is important to check not only the client list of a potential market research agency, but also the type of work that the company does. In particular, it is essential to differentiate between experience in collecting data, and experience in analyzing data and drawing conclusions.
Keep frequent contact – You should keep frequent contact with the agency you appoint, not only to keep track of the progress of your projects, but more importantly to establish a relationship and be seen by the agency as a partner. Chinese business is extremely relationship-oriented, and the closer you work alongside your agency, the more proactively they will work for you. There is no such thing as pestering!

Click here to read the full article.