Situation

Actions

Results

Case Study

Turning Market Researchers into Heroes

The head of market research for a large hotel chain told Schmalensee Partners that her group was involved in many pieces of research each year but that very little seemed to happen as a result. While millions of dollars were being spent on research, she could not predict whether managers would use the research information or not. Worse, many major decisions were being made without any input from market research. She asked Schmalensee Partners to turn her group into heroes instead of bystanders.

Schmalensee Partners began by listing and assessing all the research that had been done in the past two years. We then studied which pieces of research had had an impact and which had not. Finally, we asked decision-makers why they did or didn’t ask market research for information from the customers’ point of view.

This information led us to study the managers’ incentive systems, focusing on how their performance was evaluated. With this knowledge, we mapped out a three-year plan of research that would address all major on-going information needs and allow resources for addressing new and important issues as they arose.

A key part of the plan was a series of meetings to demonstrate to decision-makers the value that research could provide. This focused on the ability of research to find ways to increase revenues or hold down needless costs.