Market research in Japan: it's one of the world's biggest consumer markets, but when it comes to market research, Japan is way behind. Now two companies are changing all that for good - Special Advertising Section

Japan, Inc., August, 2003 by Benjamin Freedland

The company is also strongly pushing as a core competency its Contract Research Organization (CRO). This side of the business has been particularly attractive to Japanese pharmaceutical companies that are working to become internationally competitive and meet the stringent requirements of good clinical practice standards for clinical trials. Intage also provides a comprehensive support system for drug development--a growth area with massive potential. "We design and monitor medical experiments, create systems to support clinical trials, offer consulting, prepare documents and materials for drug approval applications, manage case study data, and conduct statistical analysis of case studies," says Taori.

Underpinning all of this is the sprawling market research business that Intage has built over the past 40 years. It dominates the world of Japanese syndicated consumer panel services (continuous monitoring of consumer goods purchasing trends). A total of 12,008 monitor households provide details of products purchased on a daily basis using a handheld bar code scanner to collect data. This data is then sent to Intage, which sells the information on through a syndicated data service. The company performs a similar service for point of sale, tracking 4,485 retail outlets such as supermarkets and convenience stores to produce "an unprecedented volume of highly reliable data."

The age of the company is a big asset: There are high barriers to entry by competitors and because Intage has been running the system for some time, clients gain the added benefit of historical comparison. Big clients can use the information for decision-making in relation to marketing strategy.

In its Systems Solutions operation, where it develops applications for a wide range of industries (transport, travel, medical treatment, education, insurance and publishing), it again works with the aim of "turning data into intelligence."

JMI may be considerably smaller than companies like Intage, but it has amply demonstrated the concept that "working smarter" wins every time. As Ferris says, "The biggest difference between JMI and our rivals is that we can handle more than just research. We offer a full package for multinationals that want to conduct the Japan contingent of a global market research project. We were founded with the vision of integrating technology into market research."

When it comes to successfully using market research to grow their business, tomorrow's winners will be those companies who are willing to take advantage of the potential offered by these new technologies.