Serving High-Tech and Internet Companies - Essay Example

Serving High-Tech and Internet Companies Seeking to provide a thorough yet concise case analysis of the Forrester Research Company, the following will explore a leader in the independent research industry. Forrester Research is a multinational company with an impressive array of clients for more than 26 years. The following will provide a competitive case analysis and will utilize the case study rubric employed by Louise A. Mauffette-Leenders, James Erskine and Michiel R. Leenders in their book "Learning with Cases". Accordingly, this case study will be structured in the following manner. Section One will provide a thorough background analysis of the Forrester Research Company and this will be followed by a section devoted to defining the issues at hand. An analysis of case data will follow as will a section on alternatives. The final section will conclude with recommendations and a summation of the information studied in this concise brief. Furthermore, we will conclude with answers to the questions found in the “CHECK IT OUT” and “A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE” articles. We now turn to a brief introduction to the Forrester Research Company. Section One: Background In today’s competitive high-tech world, Forrester Research (www.forrester.com)has staked out a claim for itself as a leader in market research provision and market data analysis. With offices in places as diverse as Australia and Dubai, Israel and South Africa, Forrester Research is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Accordingly, this company has more than 1,800 clients around the world in the fields of marketing and informational technology, Forrester Research is presently traded on the US stock market (Nasdaq: FORR) and is a company which has exhibited tremendous potential and incredible growth in a short span of time. Forrester Research promotes what it calls the “Forrester Difference” and aims to be at the cusp of industry change. Thus, the solutions provided by Forrester are targeted toward marketing executives, strategic planners and IT professionals to be at the forefront of technological change. Section Two: Define the Issue The major issues facing Forrester Research today include continued competitiveness in a changing market and the ability of this company to maintain its significance in the provision of market research to information technology companies. Can Forrester compete with the recent plethora of online survey companies which provide cash and a whole host of other incentives to get respondents? Does Forrester Research have an organizational strategy for revitalization? How can it compete with the growing competitors offering cash incentives to individuals? Major changes to the respondent incentive structure may be necessary in order for Forrester Research to maintain its supreme position in the high tech market research industry. This is an immediate issue which must be addressed by Forrester Research. Section Three: Analysis of Case Data: Forrester Research is a leader in the technological market research industry, and in 2003 its revenues were $126 million representing incredibly one year sales growth of 30%. Its initial public offering allowed for the sale of 2.3 million shares at $16 USD per share. At the second public offering, the share price rose to $39 USD per share. A big component of Forrester Research’s success has been its ability to stay at the forefront of technological trends and be at the cusp on industry changes. Accordingly, Forrester Research predicts that B2B procurement, also known as online purchasing, will experience a resurgence in tandem with the decline of Google’s stranglehold over the search engine industry. Thus Google’s monopoly on the search engine industry will weaken as it faces stiff competition from new competitors. The viability of Forrester Research’s future success is dependent upon its predictive capabilities so these predictions will be important to follow. While Forrester Research has thus far maintained its supreme position in the technological survey world, as we shall below, this company is facing new challengers and it must adapt to the changing industry if it hopes to maintain its position as a leader in the market. Section Four: Alternative There appear to be many alternatives to Forrest Research and other established research companies online. Seeking to address the proliferation of new companies, will people become survey junkies, as outlined in the Check it Out analysis of Paidsurveys.com? Probably not, as the time consuming nature of surveys poses a major hindrance to the “addiction” of potential respondents. Accordingly, while people may enjoy taking surveys it is highly unlikely that this will become a hobby for many. The length of some surveys actively discourages people from doing this more than once in a while. How can companies control online survey junkies? Changing incentives will certainly have an effect on people who choose to complete surveys in their spare time; changing or reducing incentives could thus have negative ramifications on peoples’ willingness to complete surveys. Thus, there is really no need to control so-called “survey junkies”. The article A Global Perspective explores certain questions with respect to the incentives offered for taking online surveys. Some of the incentives that we found included cash, unnamed prizes, American express gift cheques, “ipoints” & “zoompoints” (not really clear what those are) and in fact some of the surveys were restricted to UK citizens. Judging from this site, it is apparent that Europeans are quite active in conducting marketing research online. There exist then potential for competition within the realm of online market research and this is something that Forrester Research should definitely be aware of. Section Five: Recommendation Due to the proliferation of online competitors both in the United States and around the world, Forrester Research must understand the changing dynamics of its market and respond to smaller competitors offering rewards in an aggressive fashion. Although Forrester Research has steadily increased its client base from 2006-2008 and has been ranked among the top 75 Best Small Companies on the Forbes 200 list for five years in a row, the industry is changing and this market research leader must understand the dynamics of a changing industry. References About Us. Forrester Research Group. Last Accessed September 2, 2009 http://www.forrester.com/FactSheet Mauffette-Leenders, L.A., Erskine, J. & M. R. Leenders. Learning with Cases Ivey Publishing: London, 2007 Paid Surveys. Last Accessed September 1, 2009 www.paidsurveys.com Research. Forrester Research Group. Last Accessed September 2, 2009 http://www.forrester.com/rb/research Read More