FUTURE TALENT MEETS THE INDUSTRY

Asia Pacific 2008

Name: Megha Agarwal
Year of birth: 1985
University: Amrita School of Business, Ettimadai
Title of course/programme: Master of Business Administration – Marketing

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1. How do you see the market research industry evolving and how can you contribute to it?

Market Research is as old as business itself!!! Even the smallest businessman tries to understand the behavior and preferences of his consumer to find out how he can differentiate from his competitor and create higher value. Through personal talks and relationship building a small kirana owner in India is well aware of his strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats though he may not be able to articulate his findings the way an MBA could!!!
But today globalization, increasing competition and the rise of MNC’s has pushed the manufacturer very far from away his consumers. He now needs an outside agency to find out what his customers expects, and what would delight them. Sometimes some are even trying to find answers to basic questions like who their customer is.
But this has resulted in the creation of a new sophisticated and rapidly growing industry called the Market Research Industry.

GROWTH OF THE INDUSTRY
The global market research industry stands at $23 billion and is growing at approximately 5% p.a. but what is interesting is the growth in countries in the Asia-Pacific region where MR is still a new industry. India for e.g. is growing at 16 per cent and crossed the crossed the $100-million mark in 2006. There are certain trends I observe in the industry.

  • Focus shifting to regions like Asia where the growth is larger than the global industry growth.
  • Moving up the value chain from a support centre to a strategic unit of any organization – Starting from data collection to generating relevant information from the data MR agencies entered the third phase by generating insights for their clients and giving conclusions and recommendations. Further up they became part of the decision making process and started monitoring the results. Today they help in real time decision making process.
  • Focus moving from manufacturing to service sectors – Service sectors is the critical sectors in most countries today and it is not surprising that MR is shifting its focus from the traditional manufacturing sector to the service sector where new industries like BPO are growing at a very fast rate.
  • Cross country MR – MR today is not restricted to one state or one country today. Thanks to the increasing number of M & A’s around the world companies are desperately in need of an agency who can help them with cross cultural issues etc. opening up a whole new area for MR.

    HOW CAN I CONTRIBUTE TO THE GROWTH OF MR

    • Learn – I aim to learn as much as possible about MR and its applications during my student life and first few years of work life at Cavinkare, a leading FMCG company in India where I am currently placed. The organization brings to life many of its products based on MR aimed at understanding the unmet needs of the consumer particularly the bottom of the pyramid.
    • Disseminate - Unlike developed countries where information is readily available, developing countries face real problems in obtaining real life examples of good MR practices. So I would share the knowledge I gain by attending seminars like those conducted by ESOMAR and also conducting workshops at colleges.
    • Innovate – An industry can grow through continuous innovation. I as an individual user of MR would try to develop new ways to solve problems and encourage others to do so too thereby giving back something to the industry.

    2. What are in your opinion the necessary skills for market researchers in the present environment?

    I believe the following are the most necessary skills for market researchers today.

    • Strong observing skills & ability to ask the right questions (Most Important)
    • Strong knowledge base
    • strong analytical skills
    • Ability to learn continuously
    • Well versed with the environment trends etc.
    • Flexibility and adaptation
    • Eagerness to try something new and innovative
    • Good communication and presentation skills

    3. How do you see your career unfolding and what are your aspirations?

    Presently I have been recruited as a Management Trainee at Cavinkare, one of the leading FMCG companies in India who has brought to life several innovative products particularly sachet packs of Chik shampoo catering for the bottom of the pyramid. I plan to look at the first 3-4 years of my life at Cavinkare as learning, where I want to learn and evolve myself as an individual.
    My next level dream would be to be a Product Manager wherein I would be bringing to the world new products.
    Finally some day I want to have my own business, I want to be an entrepreneur. I have not decided on the business but it’s a dream that I will make sure comes true...

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