For those interested in the trandsformation of market research, I strongly recommend Joel Rubinson’s post regarding Research Transformation.

Here Rubinson details the “ARF’s first Research Transformation super-council meeting.”

MR has a long road ahead of it in order to transform. As I’ve noted before, the BCG research on this paints a stark picture.

Like Kim Dedeker, I do believe that the industry will undergo quite a bit of creative destruction, with some of the larger firms going the way of the dinosaurs and newer entrants redefining the business.

In my view, we are seeing a confluence of trends that will make the industry virtually unrecognizable in the coming years. In fact, I’m not sure that something called “the market research industry” will exist in ten years. And, as my white paper has pointed out, I think we need to consider rebranding “market research” under a better, more descriptive and more compelling name.

What appears to be emerging is a new industry based on three skills (traditional MR, listening and foresight) and held together by one character trait (curiosity) and one clear focus (strategy).

The firms that harness these three skills with curiosity and strategy have nothing to fear.