Asia Pacific 2008

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ASIA FAST FORWARD

A global method, a local approach

Drago Djourov

Abstract

The focus group as a methodology of marketing research has been the single most-often used tool in qualitative marketing research in Japan. It is still nowadays, however, many a foreign company has felt frustration with the inability of Japanese respondents to “open up” and engage in a discussion that would provide deep insight into the subject of enquiry.

We will argue that the failure to conduct groups successfully is a result of the displaced focus of the group interview: Japanese research has been desperately trying to avoid the bias inherent in qualitative research. We think this displaced focus is influenced by two factors: the quantitative orientation of marketing research in Japan in general and the direct import of the focus group from the US without considering significant cultural differences.

The bias that Japanese qualitative research has obsessively focused on avoiding can be viewed from a number of aspects such as the situation bias, the respondent bias, the facility bias and the moderator bias. We will demonstrate that by using the various biases to your advantage, we, at Flamingo, have conducted insightful research with active and excited respondents and inspired and content clients.

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Having left post-communist Bulgaria for post-bubble Japan at the end of last century, Drago arrived at a post-modern understanding of brand-consumer relationships.
In his academic career he studied the fear of death, boredom, creativity, cognitive psychology and languages.
In real life, after having visited tens of countries, spoken to hundreds of people and heard thousands of stories, he is applying the same syncretic approach to market research, consumer understandings and brand meanings.
Drago has studied and practiced social and consumer psychology in Japan for nearly eleven years. He received an MA from Hitotsubashi University and following several years in qualitative and quantitative marketing research in Japan, he joined Flamingo Tokyo soon after its foundation in 2007.

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