MARKETING RESEARCH
Marketing research in India is clearly at a point where it is set to become indispensable if the liberalization of the economy and expansion of consumer choice, which has become palpable in the recent years, is going to continue. With the opening of the Indian economy, the markets have gradually become buyers' markets. In India, market research is essentially used as a reactive tool, it is in the static stage; whereas, I feel that MR should serve as a proactive tool, helping corporations optimize their functioning by bringing research into all marketing efforts, by integrating it into the long and short term marketing strategies and by involving the operational staff who actually carry out the work that can use informed research results. Market research often ends up being used as an isolated tool that gives a narrow picture of the past without giving a holistic view and an insight into the future.
The need of the hour are MR professionals who are true managers - managers who have to facilitate a radical change in the way market research is looked upon today; very often as an activity done by a separate cell and an end in itself. I see myself, as an MR professional, using research as an actionable tool, incorporating cutting edge methodologies, getting the needed results while saving time and money. I want to turn it into a dynamic instrument, use it to feel the pulse of the market, make probabilistic predictions abut the market through sophisticated tools and ultimately get involved in product innovation and strategic planning.
To achieve this, I would like to gain exposure to the latest practices adopted by the trend makers in the field of market research and information systems. To this end, I would probably want to work with a leading international market research firm that would enable me to help corporations leverage their focus. I would like to bring this acquired expertise back to India, and use it to help companies to grow in the stiffly competitive market. I see market research as a sensitive and flexible instrument to be applied with insight, imagination and creativity.
Working at Centennial Cotex and then later at NMC Corp as a part-time associate intern led me to realize the importance of market research to a company. At Centennial Cotex, I was part of a cross-functional team that helped the firm shift its focus to the handicraft market where such coarse fabric was a good alternative. It is here that I gained wide exposure to the SPSS software and other tools of research design. At NMC, I have worked as an efficient and effective coordinator throughout research processes and work directly with numerous researchers on a wide variety of projects. I have experience in research design, questionnaire development, analysis, writing and interpreting results and a range of quantitative and qualitative methods. I am proud to say that I am an enthusiastic individual with good people skills and enjoy working as a team player in a multi-task environment across department lines and organizational levels.