Strategic Market Research using an Outside-in Approach
(2014) MIO920Production Management
- Abstract
- The area management responsible for the United Kingdom, Ireland, and the Nordic region within the Company expressed a desire to identify new business opportunities in the Nordic region. The motive was to use the identified opportunities as an argument for additional resource allocation to the Nordic region. In previous years, the Company has performed a number of projects focused on identifying opportunities in the area. However, these projects were predominantly based on either existing customers or the existing product portfolio. This strategic market approach could possibly have missed some opportunities.
In order to address and further pinpoint the Company’s strategic market challenge the authors suggest an approach to market research... (More) - The area management responsible for the United Kingdom, Ireland, and the Nordic region within the Company expressed a desire to identify new business opportunities in the Nordic region. The motive was to use the identified opportunities as an argument for additional resource allocation to the Nordic region. In previous years, the Company has performed a number of projects focused on identifying opportunities in the area. However, these projects were predominantly based on either existing customers or the existing product portfolio. This strategic market approach could possibly have missed some opportunities.
In order to address and further pinpoint the Company’s strategic market challenge the authors suggest an approach to market research based on external factors outside the organ-ization followed by a structured selection process and analysis.
Purpose:
The primary purpose of the master thesis is to formulate and conduct in-depth market research on the Nordic Region in order to identify key growth market opportunities to increase sales for the Company, in both new and existing markets. The purpose is also to explore an Outside-in Approach to market research and use the Company as a case study.
The secondary purpose is to develop a theoretical model for strategic market research by using an outside-in perspective. The proposed theoretical model could hopefully be used by the Company and other companies when performing in-depth market research studies similar to this, using an outside-in approach in the future.
The tertiary purpose is to evaluate the validity of the proposed theoretical framework in order to make it a robust strategic management tool.
Methodology:
The master thesis was performed using a combination of a descriptive and an exploratory case study in order to achieve in-depth knowledge about the key growth market opportunities in the Nordic region and to get an understanding of the applicability of the Outside-in Approach. A combination of both quantitative and qualitative research methods was used. The data was collected through secondary sources in terms of documents at national statistical institutes, articles, literature and other e-sources as well as through primary sources in terms of in-depth interviews with stakeholders both at the Company and at external trade associations.
Conclusions:
The metals & mining sector and the chemical sector were concluded to be key growth market opportunities for the Company in the Nordic region. The metals & mining sector showed the strongest growth potential out of all sectors. This together with the timing of the development of the Company’s global mining strategy made the metals & mining sector a key growth market opportunity. The chemical sector is directly related to the core business of the Company. Further, the Nordic region is becoming more and more of a strategic growth market for advanced products and specialty chemicals. Green chemistry is becoming increasingly important for the chemical sector globally and the Nordic region has a unique position with strong expertise in sustainable and environmentally friendly technologies. The development in the Nordic chemical sector is in line with the Company’s strategic shift towards specialty business and makes the chemical sector a key growth market opportunity.
Based on positive feedback from the Company regarding the empirical results, analyses, and conclusions together with an interview with TM, Head of strategic development for the Company in Europe, the Outside-in Approach could be concluded to be a valid, well-functioning framework for identifying key growth market opportunities in a region. However, there are some critical steps in the approach that can affect the outcome of the market research that need to be handled properly. The critical steps include defining the market, choosing criteria for determining market attractiveness, and handling the subjective nature of the qualitative assessment. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/4519416
- author
- Emanuelsson, Edvin and Nilsson Orvisto, Gustav
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- MIO920
- year
- 2014
- type
- M1 - University Diploma
- subject
- keywords
- Market Research, Market Attractiveness, Outside-in Approach, Strategic Management
- other publication id
- 14/5489
- language
- English
- id
- 4519416
- date added to LUP
- 2014-06-26 13:43:58
- date last changed
- 2014-06-26 13:43:58
@misc{4519416,
abstract = {{The area management responsible for the United Kingdom, Ireland, and the Nordic region within the Company expressed a desire to identify new business opportunities in the Nordic region. The motive was to use the identified opportunities as an argument for additional resource allocation to the Nordic region. In previous years, the Company has performed a number of projects focused on identifying opportunities in the area. However, these projects were predominantly based on either existing customers or the existing product portfolio. This strategic market approach could possibly have missed some opportunities.
In order to address and further pinpoint the Company’s strategic market challenge the authors suggest an approach to market research based on external factors outside the organ-ization followed by a structured selection process and analysis.
Purpose:
The primary purpose of the master thesis is to formulate and conduct in-depth market research on the Nordic Region in order to identify key growth market opportunities to increase sales for the Company, in both new and existing markets. The purpose is also to explore an Outside-in Approach to market research and use the Company as a case study.
The secondary purpose is to develop a theoretical model for strategic market research by using an outside-in perspective. The proposed theoretical model could hopefully be used by the Company and other companies when performing in-depth market research studies similar to this, using an outside-in approach in the future.
The tertiary purpose is to evaluate the validity of the proposed theoretical framework in order to make it a robust strategic management tool.
Methodology:
The master thesis was performed using a combination of a descriptive and an exploratory case study in order to achieve in-depth knowledge about the key growth market opportunities in the Nordic region and to get an understanding of the applicability of the Outside-in Approach. A combination of both quantitative and qualitative research methods was used. The data was collected through secondary sources in terms of documents at national statistical institutes, articles, literature and other e-sources as well as through primary sources in terms of in-depth interviews with stakeholders both at the Company and at external trade associations.
Conclusions:
The metals & mining sector and the chemical sector were concluded to be key growth market opportunities for the Company in the Nordic region. The metals & mining sector showed the strongest growth potential out of all sectors. This together with the timing of the development of the Company’s global mining strategy made the metals & mining sector a key growth market opportunity. The chemical sector is directly related to the core business of the Company. Further, the Nordic region is becoming more and more of a strategic growth market for advanced products and specialty chemicals. Green chemistry is becoming increasingly important for the chemical sector globally and the Nordic region has a unique position with strong expertise in sustainable and environmentally friendly technologies. The development in the Nordic chemical sector is in line with the Company’s strategic shift towards specialty business and makes the chemical sector a key growth market opportunity.
Based on positive feedback from the Company regarding the empirical results, analyses, and conclusions together with an interview with TM, Head of strategic development for the Company in Europe, the Outside-in Approach could be concluded to be a valid, well-functioning framework for identifying key growth market opportunities in a region. However, there are some critical steps in the approach that can affect the outcome of the market research that need to be handled properly. The critical steps include defining the market, choosing criteria for determining market attractiveness, and handling the subjective nature of the qualitative assessment.}},
author = {{Emanuelsson, Edvin and Nilsson Orvisto, Gustav}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Strategic Market Research using an Outside-in Approach}},
year = {{2014}},
}