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Thought Leadership

Large-scale Research for Small Companies

By Dmitry Shimanov, General Director of MAR Consult Research Agency
Also accessible on SIS Worldwide Intelligence Library. One of the common mistakes existing in business circles is that marketing research is necessary only for large companies. As a matter of fact, small businesses require it as much as transnational corporations.
Why? Here are four reasons.

First, in order to expand market share, small companies need to find a suitable niche. This is why market analysis and SWOT analysis of competitors will be required. Second, small companies deal with extreme pressure of competition. They have to keep hold of every client, and to do so, complete information on consumers is necessary (from social and demographic features to psychographic portrait).

Book Review: “Truth, Lies & Advertising”

As part of our series of marketing book reviews, we have recently reviewed Jon Steel’s “Truth, Lies and Advertising: the Art of Account Planning.” While focused on advertising, the book’s content can feasibly be applied to other branches of marketing services. In particular, we were eager to read its perspective on market research in Advertising campaigns.

Steel’s goal is to propose a new model of advertising based on the complexity of people and their emotions. The model incorporates a partnership of stakeholders in an advertising campaign:

  • client’s business perspective
  • agency’s creative perspective
  • opinions and prejudices of the people at whom advertising is aimed; In other words, the consumer needs to be probed for insecurities, motivations, habits, prejudices

China, the next wave in Competitive Intelligence?

The China Institute of Competitive Intelligence (CICI) is promoting its 4th Annual Competitive Intelligence International Annual Conference from November 13-15 in Shanghai. Last year, nearly 150 people attended. The China Institute of Competitive Intelligence claims that CI in China is on the rise.

NYU’s Aggressive Globalization Plan

Last year, New York University (NYU) announced an agreement with the Emirate of Abu Dhabi to build NYU Abu Dhabi. The research university, with a complete integration of a liberal arts and science college, will be the “first world-class, liberal arts university in the Middle East”.

NYU Abu Dhabi is still underway, with the first formal academic year planned to start on the fall of 2010. NYUAD, which offer NYU B.A. and B.S. degrees, as well as specialized graduate programs, is projected to enroll at least 2,000 undergraduate students and approximately 800 graduate students. The students will be admitted from all over the world, especially the broad Middle East and South Asia.

The Nigerian Market: Culture’s effect on Business

Culture can be simply defined as a way of life of people in a particular society. In a broad term, culture is a configuration of learned behaviour whose component elements are shared and transmitted by members of a particular community. People from the same cultural background have common trait, ideology, norms, belief, value system, consumption pattern, speak same language and use same currency. Different cultures show a tremendous spectrum of diversity in how a society perceives either a product, idea or service as well as what its members expect.

Book Review: “The Culture Code”

As part of our series of marketing-related books, we have reviewed Clotaire Rappaille’s book “The Culture Code.” In marketing research, Rappaille is known for his style and unique theories on human behavior. He is known for his rejection of the traditional focus group; instead he proposes a 3-hour focus group in which he does unstructured probing of obscure questions to elicit deeply rooted emotions and attitudes. In the book, he talks about how a culture has a code for every concept, and that it is the job of marketers to decode those meanings.

Rapaille lays out 5 central principles that belie his marketing research approach.

The Next Wave in GCC Hospitality

In the June edition of Gulf Business, Mr. Welf Ebeling, EVP and COO of the “Leading Hotels of the World” indicated that while the number of 5 star hotels in Dubai is exploding, the next wave to follow is budget hotels.

Setting up a Business in Turkey

By Nese Yahya, Managing Director of Expatia

The Legal Framework

 

Starting a business in a new country is challenging, as it is everywhere. As a foreigner if you intend to set up a business in Turkey, you first have to look at and get familiarized with the Foreign Direct Investment Law (No: 4875), which was introduced in Turkey in 2003. The most important principles introduced by this law are those of non-discrimination and equal treatment, as they set the legal framework of the liberal investment environment in Turkey.

According to the Foreign Direct Investment Law, the prerequisites and obligations for establishing a company with foreign capital will be equal to those for local companies. Consequently, the various compulsory permits in the past in founding a company with foreign capital are now eliminated. Companies that are founded with foreign capital as considered by the rules of the Turkish Commercial Code are considered Turkish companies. Therefore, all duties and responsibilities are identical despite the nature of the company’s capital creation.

Additionally, within the new FDI law, there are no rules requiring Turkish participation in the capital or management of a company with foreign capital. A company may be established with 100% foreign capital, and almost all sectors are open to foreign capital. The company establishment procedures have also been simplified to a great extent. Now, with the efficient procedures, a company’s registration and establishment of a company in Turkey can be completed in as little as one day. Companies must submit a standard form at one location and will not need to submit applications to many authorities for approvals. Also, the law provides that it is no longer mandatory to establish either a limited liability company or joint stock company. These all are important points to be taken into consideration by foreign investors who plan to do business in Turkey.

Islamic Banking update

At the end of the first quarter of 2008, Islamic banks comprised 13.4% of UAE’s banking assets, according to Kuwait’s Global Investment bank. The sector is on the move with strong growth, rising share of the total banking market, new products and strong deposits. According to this report, the sector is introducing innovative products to account for new market needs. Among these products are Ijarah and Murabaha.

Many banks in the Middle East already have an Islamic banking unit or even converting existing non-Islamic subsidiaries into Islamic ones. The report goes on to mention that compound annual growth rate of deposits at Islamic banks has risen 44% over the past 5 years.

A previous report by SIS International indicates that Islamic Banking has attracted a key market of banking clients, high net-worth individuals (HNWI’s), particularly in the Gulf. While Bahrain is traditionally known as a hub for Islamic banking, banks in the UAE and Qatar are making in-roads into the market by creating Islamic Financial Services subsidiaries.