Market research involves the collection and interpretation of data on buyers and sellers of goods and services for purposes of positioning a product offering to optimize market penetration, improve demand, enhance customer satisfaction, provide insights for new product development and capital investment strategies. Data warehouses and “business intelligence” (“BI”) software can provide massive amounts of data. The art of market research lies in making that data relevant to the enterprise.
As an outsourced service, market research fits within the category of “knowledge process outsourcing” (“KPO”). Traditional methodologies for analysis of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (through “SWOT” diagrams) can be supported and updated more efficiently using specialized personnel using special-purpose “BI” software.
In the course of conducting market research, an enterprise will need to reveal its innermost strategic secrets. Accordingly, the risks of outsourcing of market research should be identified and appropriate verifiable protections should be implemented.