See the latest industry insights from a variety of market research blogs. This week, we highlight articles covering the markets for ceiling products, construction equipment, pet treats, patient monitoring devices, global housing, healthcare chatbots, and more.

Generally speaking, value chain analysis typically includes two types of ventures:

• Firm value chain analysis (often referred to as Porter Value Chain Analysis) examines internal company practices and their optimization relative to creating value for customers.
• Industry value chain analysis involves examining the various stages of a product’s production, from raw material procurement all the way through the final purchase by end-users.

Chatbots are artificial intelligence software that can have conversations with users based on the principle of natural language processing (NLP). The chatbot processes the input provided by the user, focuses on the semantics, searches for the terms in the knowledge database, and provides the suitable answer as per its knowledge set.

The global patient monitoring devices market is expected to grow from $22.4 billion in 2018 to $30.7 billion in 2022 at an annual growth rate of more than 8%.

Global construction of new housing is expected to rise 1.6% per year through 2023, according to a new industry study titled Global Housing by The Freedonia Group, a leading market research firm and division of MarketResearch.com.

The study focuses on the 55.3 million unit global market for new housing, and provides historical data and forecasts for new housing units and housing stock in 58 countries and 6 regions.

This week, industry analysts shared new data and insights across a broad range of markets including fiber cement, school testing, pets, in vitro diagnostics, and meditation. Scroll through the descriptions and links below for more information.

Meditation is becoming more mainstream in America, boosted by the popularity of experts like Deepak Chopra and Eckhart Tolle. Meditation studios are appearing more often in major cities, and meditation classes are increasingly being offered in the workplace and college campuses to combat rising societal stress levels and to raise worker productivity and morale. Last year, 22% of employers were expected to offer mindfulness training.

In vitro diagnostic testing costs little to the healthcare system and contributes much to clinical practice.  

In vitro diagnostics (IVD) is a growing market, which is one of the reasons that so many companies need to continue to track the market using market research aids. In our latest study The Worldwide Market for In Vitro Diagnostic Tests: 12 Edition, Kalorama Information estimates the in vitro diagnostics market size at $69 billion and growing at 4%, with many sectors of the IVD market growing double that.  

Get the latest market research on a variety of dynamic industries, including marijuana growing supplies, rubber, recycled paper, bearings, wearable medical devices, and pharmaceutical packaging.

The articles highlighted below feature new market forecasts and a discussion of market opportunities, challenges, and trends.

The demand for global pharmaceutical packaging reached an estimated $94.2 billion in 2018, according to new research and analysis from The Freedonia Group’s comprehensive study Global Pharmaceutical Packaging.