Microsoft Word - Apostoaie Constantin Marius_eng.doc Highlights of Marketing Research in Romania Laura Catalina Ţimiraş, ,,Vasile Alecsandri” University of Bacau, Romania Bogdan Nichifor, ,,Vasile Alecsandri” University of Bacau, Romania Luminiţa Zaiţ, ,,Vasile Alecsandri” University of Bacau, Romania Abstract Being in direct dependence with markets development - namely, with economic development level, intensity of competition and consumers demands - domestic marketing research market registered up to the year 2008 a sustained increased. More and more players have come at this market, as represented of both world famous organizations, and locally operating companies. Revenues from marketing research services showed significant annual increases for most market operators. So as expected, the economic crisis spread at this level too, the year 2009 marking the beginning of earnings decline in marketing research services. On the activity distribution point of view the research marketing market in Romania is a concentrated one, mainly dominated by a relatively small number of multinational companies. Keywords marketing, marketing research, turnover, market operators JEL Codes: M 31, D 83 Introductory Elements Marketing research has the purpose of providing information necessary for decision making. Virtually, at any time of its existence the organization needs information - information about the evolution and impact of macro-environment factors, as well as about the needs, demands, preferences, target consumer expectations, about the evaluation criteria considered by consumers in purchase decision and about what constitutes “value” for them, about the actions of competitors and their offerings, but also those of their suppliers or service providers about brand image and attitude toward their own products etc. Whatever marketing activity undertaken - a new product launching, or relocation of another, planning and operational program communication, selection of the used marketing channels and of suppliers, or establishing prices for certain products etc. - choosing from several action alternatives the one which ensures the best ratio between internal and external organization environmental conditions requires information. Not least, marketing research conducted in a continuous manner, that constitutes a feature of market-oriented organizations, allows the identification of various opportunities and avoidance of future hazards. In fact, marketing research provides a whole arsenal of methods and techniques adapted to various situations faced by the organization: from qualitative research, where the obtained data is not a subject to quantification, some aimed at understanding the irrational and / or unconscious aspects of certain behaviours / events / processes, which require deeper investigation on the human psyche - to quantitative research that may require use of advanced methods for determining the causality of phenomena and to study the statistical significance of the obtained results. Studies and Scientific Researches - Economic Edition, no. 15, 2010 508 Marketing research in Romania during 2005 – 2008 Marketing research market in Romania was formed and developed especially on the account of the request of information shown by multinational companies which take action nationwide. 1 Increased competition among different national markets and thus the need to provide to customers real competitive advantages, increasing demands and fast rhythm of change in requirements / consumer preferences have led to awareness in a large extent at the level of all organizations (those native inclusively) of the role and “value” of accurate, current, relevant and sufficient information2 for decision making. This, coupled with the growing number of foreign companies that entered the Romanian market, has generated an increasing demand for marketing information and implicitly printing of an uptrend on the reference market (at least up to 2008). Table no. 1. Turnover (lei)* recorded by some of the most important market operators in marketing research in Romania, in 2005 -2008 period Nr. Crt. Organization name ** web page 2005 2006 2007 2008 1 ACNIELSEN ROMANIA, Bucharest www.acnielsen.com 6991795 m.d. 9087608 11314321 2 AD CONSULTING, Bucharest www.adconsulting.ro 2054447 1654875 2202840 2660522 3 ALFA CONT, Bucharest www.alfacont.ro 1282153 1708797 1864602 2899284 4 CEGEDIM ROMÂNIA, Bucharest www.cegedim.ro 9600454 11976499 15519410 18121221 5 URBAN AND REGIONAL SOCIOLOGY CENTER - (URSC), Bucharest www.curs.ro 1626688 2119020 2626727 m.d. 6 CENTER FOR OPINION AND MARKET RESEARCH (COMR), Bucharest www.csop.ro 2577425 m.d. 4062418 6296216 7 D&D RESEARCH, Bucharest www.ddresearch.ro 574489 631436 1162246 849731 8 DAEDALUS CONSULTING, Bucharest www.daedalusmb.ro 5606736 7278257 8203971 12396446 9 EURODATA MANAGEMENT, Bucharest www.eurodatamanagement.ro 1665626 3448706 4753141 6972485 10 GFK ROMÂNIA, Bucharest www.gfk-ro.com 8638613 12367895 16625213 33127629 11 IMAS MARKETING & BORING, Bucharest www.imas-inc.com 2961118 3848523 5055125 4389588 12 INSOMAR -POLITIC RESEARCH AND MARKETING, Bucharest www.insomar.ro - - 54476 4000684 13 INSOMAR, Bucharest www.insomar.ro 968993 3660751 1453619 1976012 14 ROMANIAN INSTITUTE FOR SOCIO- ECONOMIC RESEARCH AND BORING - IRECSON,Bucharest www.irecson.ro 4562048 4525715 4983299 5880215 15 IRSOP MARKET RESEARCH& CONSULTING, Bucureşti www.irsop.ro 3144936 2563070 2780223 3795518 16 ISRA CENTER MARKETING RESEARCH, Bucharest www.isracenter.com 1640375 3989389 4327912 5809704 17 MARKETSCOPE, Bucharest www.marketscope.ro 673803 443986 726221 1127876 18 MEDNET, Bucharest www.romednet.com 1117922 m.d. 1412417 2543489 19 MEMRB ROMANIA RETAIL TRACKING SERVICES, Bucharest www.memrb.com 7068846 7762983 11478214 11930440 20 MERCURY RESEARCH, Bucharest www.mercury.ro 5615451 6406870 5296788 7322684 21 METRO MEDIA TRANSILVANIA, Cluj www.mmt.ro 594188 1458086 2263526 2774395 22 RESEARCH INTERNATIONAL - MARKET RESEARCH, Bucharest www.research-int.com - - 887893 2542734 23 SYNOVATE, Bucharest www.synovate.com 7387393 10727464 17056710 14631127 24 THE GALLUP ORGANIZATION, ROMÂNIA, Bucharest www.gallup.ro 2197615 3543344 4290321 6413959 25 TNS AGB INTERNATIONAL, Bucharest www.agbnielsen.net 4534589 4933077 4977844 60292 26 VISIONWISE CONSULTING, Bucharest www.visionwise.ro - 421565 1089042 1340305 m.d. – missing data Source: *http://www.mfinante.ro; **Yearbook Media & Advertising, Mediafax, editions: 2009 and 2010; **http://sociologie.dreamstyler.ro/marketing.htm; **http://mcir.doingbusiness.ro/ro/servicii-profesionale-si-de-afaceri. National marketing research market’s size reached in 2008 the level of 44 million Euros3, Romania being actually the country with the highest growth rate in 2008 as against 2007 1 http://www.wall-street.ro/articol/Marketing-PR/12503/Cercetarea-de-marketing-o-piata-de-12- milioane-euro.html. 2 These are the 4 criteria for assessing marketing information. 3 Source: ESOMAR (European Society for Opinion and Marketing Research). Studies and Scientific Researches - Economic Edition, no. 15, 2010 509 worldwide - 22.8%. In the same year global market research marketing totalled around 21 billion Euros4. Table no. 1 presents the turnovers of some of the well known marketing research organizations in Romania. Among these, the German company GfK, which works in over 90 countries worldwide, is a national market leader in the field, reaching in 2008 a turnover of over 33 million lei and a market share of 19,3%.5 Alongside GfK Romania, the most powerful marketing research market competitors in Romania are: Cegedim, Synovate, ACNielsen, MEMRB, Daedalus, Gallup and Mercury Research6, the only domestic company among those listed being Daedalus. Figure no. 1 reflects the turnovers realized in 2008 by the main six companies that operate nationally and have exceeded the threshold of 10 million lei. In fact, the six companies, holding the first places in the hierarchy of marketing research organizations in Romania have achieved altogether revenues of 101.4 million lei, which represents over 55% of the total market. Therefore, we may state that marketing research market in Romania is a concentrated one, mainly dominated by multinational companies. 11.3 11.9 12.4 14.6 18.1 33.1 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 AC NIELSEN R OM ANIA M EM R B R OM ANIA R ETAIL TR AC KING SER VIC ES DAEDALUS C ONS ULTING SYNOVATE C EGEDIM R OM ANIA GFK R OM ANIA m il. le i Figure no. 1. Turnover of the first 6 competitors in the market for marketing research in Romania, with values exceeding 10 million revenue in 2008 (million lei) Source: processing by http://www.mfinante.ro/ Real turnover growth is observed for almost all studied organizations during 2005 - 2008, reaching in some cases over 200% in 2008 compared with 2005 (Metro Media Transilvania, Eurodata Management, GfK Romania). In fact, 2008 represented in Romania’s marketing 4 http://www.revista-piata.ro/articole/research/criza-ne-a-invatat-sa-fim-mai-ieftini-oferind-aceeasi- calitate.html. 5 http://www.money.ro/cercetare-de-piata/gfk-romania-a-obtinut-in-primele-sase-luni-ale-anului- afaceri-de-peste-16-5-milioane-lei.html. 6 Main players on the national marketing research market were listed by the Wall Street journal, based on the turnover recorded in 2006. (Http://www.wall-street.ro/articol/Start-Up/40250/A-renuntat-la-un- post-de-manager-de-multinationala-pentru-a-si-infiinta-propria-afacere. html). Studies and Scientific Researches - Economic Edition, no. 15, 2010 510 research a reference year, with the largest revenue made by specialized companies. (Table no. 2). Table no. 2. Change of the turnover recorded by some of the most important market operators in marketing research in Romania, during 2005 – 2008 period7 2006 2007 2008 1 AD CONSULTING, Bucharest m.d. m.d. 15.4 34.3 2 ALFA CONT, Bucharest -24.4 27.0 12.0 7.5 3 CEGEDIM ROMÂNIA, Bucharest 25.1 4.1 44.2 87.7 4 URBAN AND REGIONAL SOCIOLOGY CENTER - (URSC), Bucharest 17.1 23.6 8.3 56.7 5 CENTER FOR OPINION AND MARKET RESEARCH (COMR), Bucharest 22.3 18.2 m.d. m.d. 6 D&D RESEARCH, Bucharest m.d. m.d. 43.7 102.8 7 DAEDALUS CONSULTING, Bucharest 3.2 75.6 -32.2 22.8 8 EURODATA MANAGEMENT, Bucharest 21.8 7.5 40.1 83.5 9 GFK ROMÂNIA, Bucharest 94.3 31.5 36.0 247.5 10 IMAS MARKETING & BORING, Bucharest 34.4 28.2 84.8 218.3 11 INSOMAR -POLITIC RESEARCH AND MARKETING, Bucharest 22.0 25.3 -19.5 23.0 12 INSOMAR, Bucharest m.d. m.d. 6709.4 m.d. 13 ROMANIAN INSTITUTE FOR SOCIO- ECONOMIC RESEARCH AND BORING - IRECSON,Bucharest 254.6 -62.1 26.0 69.3 14 IRSOP MARKET RESEARCH& CONSULTING, Bucureşti -6.9 5.0 9.4 7.0 15 ISRA CENTER MARKETING RESEARCH, Bucharest -23.5 3.5 26.6 0.2 16 MARKETSCOPE, Bucharest 128.2 3.5 24.5 194.0 17 MEDNET, Bucharest -38.2 56.0 44.0 38.9 18 MEMRB ROMANIA RETAIL TRACKING SERVICES, Bucharest - - 67.0 88.8 19 MERCURY RESEARCH, Bucharest 3.1 41.0 -3.6 40.1 20 METRO MEDIA TRANSILVANIA, Cluj 7.1 -21.1 28.2 8.2 21 RESEARCH INTERNATIONAL - MARKET RESEARCH, Bucharest 130.3 48.1 13.6 287.6 22 SYNOVATE, Bucharest m.d. m.d. 165.5 m.d. 23 THE GALLUP ORGANIZATION, ROMÂNIA, Bucharest 36.3 51.7 -20.5 64.4 24 TNS AGB INTERNATIONAL, Bucharest 51.3 15.5 38.6 142.2 25 VISIONWISE CONSULTING, Bucharest 2.1 -3.8 -98.9 -98.9 26 360INSIGHTS, Bucureşti m.d. 146.4 14.1 m.d. + / - in percents as against the previous year + / - in percents in year 2008 as against the year 2005 Nr. Crt. Organization name m.d. – missing data Source: processing after http://www.mfinante.ro Marketing research in Romania after 2008 Starting with 2009, as result of economic crisis, which significantly affected the marketing budgets of agents acting locally, marketing research market entered a downward trend. In fact, the involution was observed worldwide (and not just locally), the marketing research 7 Real increases and decreases for turnover are shown. CPI was used for this purpose served by the NIS average year (http://www.insse.ro). Studies and Scientific Researches - Economic Edition, no. 15, 2010 511 market following the trend required by the overall economic development. Basically, the economic crisis effects have been felt in the global marketing research market prior to 2009, research marketing market in Romania knowing the effects with relative delay. 8 Not having on disposition information with on a higher presence level concerning the income of organizations acting in the domestic market of marketing research, we reproduce below, with purely indicative purpose, the turnover dynamic derived from activities of advertising and market research, data reported by INS up to January 2010. An upward trend of turnover by late 2008 may be observed (just as shown by the indicators presented earlier on turnover of key market operators in marketing research). The year 2009 marks the decline of the market research marketing and advertising; decline that probably will be attenuated simultaneously with the overall economic recovery. (Figure no. 2). 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 2005 = 100% Figure no. 2. Dynamics of monthly turnover of market research and advertising activities (% vs. 2005) 9 Source: http://www.insse.ro/ (TEMPO-Online - Time Series) In conclusion, marketing research market in Romania met until 2008 a sustainable development, being in agreement with overall economic development. With the emergence of economic crisis, profile organizations have registered decreases in revenues, a result of reduced marketing budgets of the organizations - potential customers acting in the national market. Marketing research market in Romania can be broadly described as being dominated by foreign companies that operate globally, a phenomenon manifested by the concentration of market activity at a relatively small number of competitors. In addition to foreign companies, Romanian companies have managed to prevail in this market, one of them - Daedalus manages to be at the top five competitors in terms of realized revenue, according to data for 2008. 8 http://www.revista-piata.ro/articole/research/criza-ne-a-invatat-sa-fim-mai-ieftini-oferind-aceeasi- calitate.html 9 Indicator communicated by INS: Turnover indices for market services especially made for enterprises. Gross series - base year 2005. Division “Advertising and market research activities”.) Studies and Scientific Researches - Economic Edition, no. 15, 2010 512 Bibliography 1. Boier, Rodica, Laura C. Ţimiraş. (2006), Marketing Research, Performantica Publishing, Iaşi 2. Media & Advertising Yearbook, 2009, Telegraph 3. Media & Advertising Yearbook, 2010, Telegraph 4. Wall Strett Journal 5. Market Magazine 6. Economic Tribune Magazine 7. http://www.insse.ro 8. http://www.money.ro 9. http://mcir.doingbusiness.ro/ro/servicii-profesionale-si-de-afaceri 10. http://www.mfinante.ro 11. http://sociologie.dreamstyler.ro/marketing.htm Studies and Scientific Researches - Economic Edition, no. 15, 2010 513