Tom H. C. Anderson - Next Gen Market Research

In what situations would a smaller vs. larger market research company be advantageous?

I came across this poll on Market Research World’s website today. While I’m not a big fan of website polls, they do often provide us some directional insights if done correctly. The question posed to visitors of the website was “Do you prefer to use small or large market research agencies?”. (839 visitors were polled)

According to the poll small agencies (31%) are twice as popular as large agencies (16%). The majority though say it depends on the project (43%), and some said either (it doesn’t matter (10%). While I would have prefer to look at survey results over poll results I do think these proportions are probably relatively accurate.

What I would have really liked to see though is “why?”, especially among those 43% who said “depends”.

I can understand why someone would prefer a smaller company (better overall value, working with more senior people etc.). I think in the past there has been a tendency to go with larger firms on global multi-country projects. But today with more and more research being conducted online, even in Europe and Asia, I don’t think there is any real difference in this area either. A global project is usually handled the same way by a large company as a smaller company.

Curious what you think?

-Tom