In the Research Industry Trends Report 2009 Leonard Murphy asks two important questions:

1. “How long can a healthy industry operate on low margin with insufficient resources? The strain is already apparent as many shops have closed their doors since 2008.”

2. “What should be done to support a perception that research is a valuable resource that demands great expertise and experience and that investing in quality is smart business?”

Let’s take each question in sequence.

First, market research could, conceivably, operate on low margin and in a relatively cash starved environment for a long time, but it wouldn’t be much of a “healthy” business and the situation would only harm the industry’s image. After all, limited money for insights means limited brainpower and limited quality. In my view, this will force a rapid evolution in the industry (along with some extinction) that will redefine what we do and who does it. Already there are many new entrants that could be classified under “market research”, but don’t use the name. I expect this trend to continue. After all, the trend toward data-driven (or fact based) decisionmaking is strong and will only become stronger with time (see Ian Ayres’ SuperCrunchers).

But what should be done?

First, I believe that the entire industry needs to reposition itself away from the image of “masters of data collection methodologies” (even though this is a terribly important core competency) and towards a space that is closer to fact-based consulting, data-driven strategy, etc. It needs to embrace the fact that the industry itself is rapidly evolving and that this can be a very good thing. The deliverables that the industry generates need to become much sharper and more easily socialized with the client. And the market research community needs to do a much better job of touting its successes. This is always difficult because of confidentiality and for competitive reasons (ironically it is our best work that we can’t talk about), but where it can highlighted, it should be. Finally, as researchers we all need to play in a larger strategic sandbox. Everyone knows that it is much easier to simply execute on the study and deliver the report than engage strategically in an extended discussion. Often, the economics of the situation do not support this level of engagement, but we must try.