Gfk Group. Market research

Résumé du document

In this document, I present my experiences with the Gfk group with whom I worked for 4 months in the International Department. My work location was in Madrid in the Custom Research service department, headed by Mr Leon Ezcurra, the team manager. The department is in charge of the positioning and strategic surveys, tests products, consultancy on communication, and conducting research on customer's habits. The Team Manager is responsible for the results of his department and allocates the surveys to the 5 employees specialized on different sectors. The GfK Group is the fourth biggest market research organization in the world. Its activities cover five business divisions: Custom Research, Retail and Technology, Consumer Tracking, Media and HealthCare. The Group has approximately 130 companies located in more than 70 countries and a current total of approximately 7, 700 employees. Since its creation in 1925, the company had always based its strategy on combining knowledge of methods and technology used in modern market research with local expertise and knowledge of customer's specificities. In 2005, the sales figures represented 937.3 million EUR with an increase of 40% compared to the previous year. The geographical core markets are situated in Western and Southern Europe, Germany and USA. The company had set itself the ambitious target of achieving the third position in the market research industry.

Extraits

[...] Employee commitment and skills development strategies Risk associated with: - Staff lacking adequate skills to undertake community engagement activities Signs: fears and incomprehension Likeliness: low (strict hiring process) Damages: problem to strong a strong corporate identity/ costs of firing Impact: high Countermeasure: formation and vertical communication Internal communication and engagement strategies - Confusion of direction Signs: incomprehension/ major changes in the boarding strategy Likeliness: low (each manager responsible with the results of the department). Damages: redundancies/ mistakes. Impact: high Countermeasure : increase of the vertical information/ delegation Decision-making and resourcing - Reduced engagement effectiveness: linked to the capacity of the employees to create a closed working relationship. [...]

[...] Global implementation Competition on the market 2. Risk Management within the company and the International Department External Risks of the Group The external risks can be analyzed with the theory of Porter analyzing the: - Social and cultural aspects / Political aspects / Economical aspects / Legal aspects As the activity of GfK is based on a consulting service, the image of the whole organization is a key base for development. We can analyze: Public image and risk of deterioration The service has to be achieved with transparency and strong engagement. [...]

[...] In this way, the global economy is highly linked to the economy of the USA but the risk is low. Signs: economical indicators Likeliness: low except major fact (war, oil crisis ) Damages: decrease of the whole activity Impact: High for GfK and its competitors (key markets: retail, mass products - Risk of modification of the market' structure: concentration of the market and increase of the power of the competitors. Signs: Partnerships, negotiations . Likeliness: low because market highly concentrated. Damages: loss of market and major capacity of investment of the competitors. Impact: High. [...]

[...] Ensure workplace health and safety processes address the needs of staff undertaking engagement, particularly off-site, after hours or in volatile situations. 3.Internal Risks of the Group Vision and business strategy The risk is associated to the global management of a big worldwide structure in which is difficult to harmonize the application of the strategy and culture. Signs: misunderstandings/ local innovation not supported by head office or contrary/ misunderstanding of the global policy/ repetitions. Likeliness: medium. The communication is encouraged as possible but the effective is too important to avoid this kind of problems. [...]

[...] Risks for GfK External Risks for the Group Internal risks for the Group III. Risks for the International Department External Risks for the Department Internal risks for the Department Conclusion Bibliography Summary This study aims to show the risks in a long and short term view for the company GfK. Concerning its activity, Market Researches these risks will deal with mainly marketing, strategic and organizational issues. The success of the firm is based on the special features and techniques developed all along its long experience of this sector. [...]