Why employ local research organizations?

Because of the complexity and sensitivity of industrial market research, foreign research organizations often remain in the wings, consigning the job to local research organizations. Apart from the language barrier , which can make communications difficult or impossible , there are other considerations when employing local research providers, such as concerns about disclosing identity, culture and tradition that may influence the general willingness to respond, and distortion may arise from language and/or cultural differences when it comes to understanding questions and answers.

The general practice of foreign research organizations in conducting industrial market research in China is that local research providers are commissioned to carry out fieldwork in a way that should follow international practice, and submit the findings to the foreign research organization for analysis and interpretation. The drawback of this practice is that the interpretation of the research findings without involvement of the local resident researchers may build distorted understanding into the analytical process and lead to mis- interpreted conclusions.