Factors and Premises Affecting Insights and Market Research over the Next Five Years

Ray Poynter
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Ray Poynter

2 mins

I am working on a new insights/MR scenario project with a time horizon of five years from now. One of the first steps in the scenario-creating process is to gather together the key factors and premises.

The Premises are things that are likely to be important and which, for the purposes of this project, we are going to assume will be predictable during the timespan of the project. The Factors are items which are also important, but where there are two or more plausible forms they might take during the timeframe we are considering.

Here is my current list of Factors and Premises – but remember it is a project in progress.

Premises (things I am assuming will happen over the next five years)

  • Data regulations will get stricter and more onerous
  • No ‘new’ research methods will become major tools
  • The use of customer information by organizations will increase
  • The supply of talented insight professionals won’t significantly increase
  • Timelines will get shorter, and budgets will tend to shrink
  • The demand for DIY research will increase, and so will the number of DIY options available
  • There will be more new entrants in the insights and MR world from non-traditional suppliers of MR & Insight.

Exogenous Factors (i.e. factors from outside the world of MR and Insights)

  • Geopolitical. 1) Things could stabilize. 2) Things could get worse (more conflicts, more undemocratic leaders, more sanctions, etc).
  • 1) We face some inflation and higher interest rates. 2) High inflation, wild swings in currency exchange rates, recessions, and crashes.
  • International Trade. 1) Trade stabilizes (e.g. more trade with China and Russia). 2) Trade gets less free, i.e. more barriers, tariffs and restrictions.
  • 1) Technology expands human connectivity. 2) Technology could become Balkanized, e.g. citizens not being able to connect to the global web.
  • 1) No immediate catastrophes. 2) One or more catastrophes, e.g. things like major earthquakes, nuclear accidents, water poisoning, volcanoes, pandemics and even asteroids – all unlikely but possible.

Endogenous Factors (from inside the world of MR and Insights)

  • Artificial Intelligence. 1) AI improves current processes. 2) AI significantly replaces current processes.
  • Platforms. 1) Continue to expand on the current trajectory. 2) Massively expands in terms of power, ease of use, and lower costs.
  • Participation levels. 1) Stable number of participants, and fraud is under some control. 2) Continued decreases in cooperation rates and fraud increases.
  • USA Dominance. 1) USA stays at about 50% of MR/Insights. 2) USA expands to 60% or 70% of total global MR revenue.
  • The role of qual. 1) Stays at roughly the current level. 2) Expands in volume and as a share of spending.

What would you add, delete, or change?