In this series, we spotlight specific publishers on Profound and MarketResearch.com. Through Q&A discussions, we highlight each publisher's unique expertise and how they help businesses get the insights they need to achieve mission-critical objectives. Today, we’re interviewing the Freedonia Group, a leading international market research company that publishes more than 400 studies annually. Learn more about them in the post below.
Tell us about your expertise as a market research publisher.
The Freedonia Group focuses primarily on heavy industry — building materials, chemicals, plastics, heavy equipment, industrial components, oil & gas, metals & minerals, packaging, as well as many others. Although some people may not find a title on industrial valves or mining equipment to be very sexy, our titles provide critical data and analysis to strategic planners in the industries we cover.
What types of market research reports do you offer?
Our off-the-shelf published research comes in two forms — our in-depth Industry Studies and our less detailed, compact Freedonia Focus Reports. The Industry Study is our flagship product. An Industry Study is generally 300 to 500 pages in length and includes market size, market share, product segmentation, market segmentation, important industry trends, a discussion of industry structure, and profiles of the top 30 or 40 participants in the industry. Each Industry Study is filled with helpful tables and charts which present our findings in an easily digestible fashion for a busy executive.
Our Freedonia Focus Reports are necessarily less detailed than our Industry Studies and generally range between 20 and 30 pages in length. They provide a more general view than our Industry Studies but are a great way to get up to speed on the basics of an industry fast and can form the basis of an affordable subscription program.
What kinds of problems does your market research help clients solve?
Freedonia's off-the-shelf research provides timely access to reliable, unbiased analysis from which to benchmark performance and answer critical questions:
- Is your business growing faster or slower than the overall market?
- Is your organization gaining or losing market share?
- Which products and markets are the most desirable to explore for expansion?
- Are there industry trends or competitor activities that present an opportunity for, or a threat to, your business?
With its relatively low investment level, our off-the-shelf research offers a great ROI and can help business leaders make informed, analytically driven decisions. When considering the time, effort, and expertise that goes into it, our off-the-shelf research saves our clients time and money.
What differentiates you from other market research publishers?
Freedonia prides itself on the high quality of our research and reports. We do not put together “computer generated” content. All of our Industry Studies and Freedonia Focus Reports are authored using a team approach. Freedonia maintains its own team of economists who are responsible for the macroeconomic forecasts used in every Industry Study and Focus Report. Our specialized industry analysts are engaged to quarterback the authoring of each Study or Report.
In addition to gathering and distilling large amounts of secondary material (including trade association publications, corporate annual reports, trade journals, and government publications), our analysts conduct primary interviews with participants in the industry and use our internal proprietary databases to reconcile conflicting sources of data and develop reliable forecasts of future demand. Freedonia employs a stringent editorial process to ensure that the final report meets the high level of standards demanded by our clients.
The Freedonia Group has long been recognized as a premier international market research firm with reliable and unbiased analysis. Because of this, our firm is often quoted in trade journals and the business media, including the Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, and the Economist, as well as many others.
Which market research reports or topics are particularly relevant or timely right now?
It’s tough to pick particular studies. However, with all of the attention paid to terrorism around the world, and with issues surrounding the use of deadly force by police in the U.S., our study on Electronic Security Products may be particularly relevant. Active & Intelligent Packaging is an area where government regulations and consumer demands are helping to change the industry. Both of these studies were published in October.
Is there anything else readers should know about your products?
The Freedonia Group is a pretty unique place, filled with smart, hard-working, curious, and funny people. It was formed in 1985 when Bill Weiss, previously the Market Research Director of Predicasts, Inc., hired five former employees to start a new industry market research firm. From its original five employees, the Freedonia Group has grown to a staff of about 100 in its main headquarters in Cleveland, Ohio, and a satellite office in Beijing, China. Today, Freedonia carries on the tradition of excellence first established by Bill and refined over many decades of conducting industry market research analyzing global markets.
How to learn more
In addition to MarketResearch.com, market research reports by the Freedonia Group are also available on www.profound.com, where subscribers are able to purchase the individual sections, chapters, tables, or charts of a report they need without having to pay for the pieces they don’t.
To learn more about Profound, request a demo and begin browsing reports from a variety of leading publishers.
