Civil Unrest in both Bulgaria, Lithuania & Latvia

Unrest in Bulgaria

Violence erupted in Sofia due to dissatisfaction with the government, new policies designed to counteract the recession and the worsening economic situation.

Unrest in Latvia

This video shows recent unrest in Latvia because of anti-government sentiment and the economy.

Unrest in Lithuania

Lithuania has had to implement tax raises for the population and salary cuts on government workers due to the economic recession.

Developing International Information Databases: Ruth Stanat in 1990

Ruth Stanat remembers her article from 1990 regarding Strategic Intelligence.

Maximizing your Research Budget in a Recession

How to Maximize your Research Budget in a Recession
Ruth Stanat, President and CEO SIS International Research
January 28, 2009

The Recession

Clearly, this deep global recession has taken it toll on marketing departments and market research and competitive intelligence budgets. Senior executives, strategic planning and marketing departments face the following challenge of how to continue the following initiatives with a reduced research budget:

Global expansion plans
Customer satisfaction tracking
Competitor intelligence monitoring
Market opportunity/market sizing projects
Customer and brand loyalty projects
New product development tests
Ad tests

The Challenge and Opportunity of a Reduced Research Budget

The Need for Competitive Intelligence in a Recession

Global competitors never stop their Strategic Planning and Competitive Monitoring In any recession, companies may be tempted to believe that their competitors have “shut down” their Market Research and Competitive Intelligence budgets. While corporate budgets are cut, there are ways that companies can continue their competitive monitoring during the year and the next few years … Read more

How to Continue Your Expansion in Emerging Markets in this Recession

How to Continue Your Expansion in Emerging Markets in this Recession
Ruth Stanat, President and CEO, SIS International Research
January 26, 2009

Background

Luxury Car Buyer Market Research

Learn more about Luxury Car Buyer Market Research.

Higher Education Market Research in Europe

Learn more about Higher Education Market Research in Europe.

Social Media, the Future of Market Research?

Facebook is truly an example of a social networking site that has innovated how the world’s youth socialize on an unprecedented daily basis.

Automotive Sensor Market Research

Automotive systems are getting smarter with each passing day. The evolution and inventions for the advance systems powered by a growing automotive market of Europe are increasing on a high pace. Sensors today define a new wave of automotive comfort and advance technology. The European automotive sensor industry is in a highly optimistic state. Opportunities … Read more

Hungary in Troubled Economic Times

Bloomberg indicates troubled times in Hungary due to

the global economic recession and the lack of reform from communism over the past two decades.
Hungary’s main trading partner is the European Union which is in recession.
Veritas has cut shops
Audi has closed its plant
Rising unemployment, with predicitions of a rise to 8-10% unemployment
Violent protests due to an unpopular president
Bloomberg has indicated that analysts put the economic decline at about 2% next year.
the IMF helped thwart a major default by the country by bailing the country out
inflexible labor market and tax structure
Opportunities may arise for Hungary to attract businesses seeking to lower costs.

Action taken

$6.5 billion stimulus targeting small and medium businesses

Opportunities

attracting foreign businesses and investment by improving its tax structure, labor market and incentives

Discounting at Luxury Retailers

Understand the pros and cons of discounting at super luxury retailers.

White Paper: Which Comes first: Demand or Supply?

By Dmitry Shimanov, General Director of MAR Consult Research Agency
Also accessible on SIS Worldwide Intelligence A famous economic law says: “Demand determines supply”. Is this really true?

Regular consumers take this assumption for granted. In today’s market, however, this law requires further revision and clarification. At first, supply determines demand and only then does demand begin to expand the amount of supply.

Book Review: “Hey Whipple Squeeze This”

As part of our series of marketing-related books, we have reviewed Luke Sullivan’s book “Hey Whipple Squeeze This.” While focused on advertising, the book delves into solving problems and understanding consumers. Likewise, it can be applied to other areas of marketing services. We have structured this review on interesting concepts on which the author focused.

Brainstorming
Sullivan asserts the value in posing the problem as a question. One of our favorite quotes in the book was when Sullivan stated, “A problem well-stated is a problem half-solved.” By focusing on the question, people can facilitate the brainstorming process.

Election Follow up: Analysis of Marketing Strategy on Election

The 2008 US Presidential Election was fascinating for a multitude of reasons, but in particular because of the use of new marketing.

Hungary’s Economic Woes

According to Al Jazeera, Hungary was once the 10th most dynamic economies in the world. Yet, many multinationals that sought this growth have divested and gone elsewhere, to Bulgaria, Slovakia and Romania. Now the country may become divided on why the economic crisis has turned so sour.

The heating and plumbing business mentioned in the video blamed the left-wing government for its policies. Another family business which imported soya beans from Latin America is struggling from the Credit Crunch and a lack of liquidity to finance operations. It made it difficult to pay for the cargo.

The IMF bailed out hungary to prevent economic destablization in the region. More instability may arise due to the social services being cut in order to service debt and lack of liquidity.

Thought Leadership

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