Market Research Outsourcing: Utilizing External Staff and Contractor Selection & Management

STUDY OVERVIEW

In the changing pharmaceutical landscape, Market Research groups are faced with the challenge of regularly generating a significant number of secondary reports while also continuing to provide more strategic insights. Burdened with headcount constraints and new products to support, executives can potentially gain critical efficiencies through the shrewd use of outsourced personnel.

To identify Market Research outsourcing strategies and solutions, Best Practices, LLC performed this research study. The research is focused on issues of outsourcing staffing levels and activities and contractor selection and management.

The study will help biopharma executives and managers understand how to use outsourcing to create more efficient Market Research groups and processes. Market Research executives can use this study to highlight the prevalence, strengths, and weaknesses of outsourcing work in different functional areas such as secondary report preparation.


KEY TOPICS

• Market Research Group Structure & Staffing Levels
• Using Outsourced Personnel
• Reasons for Outsourcing
• Contractor Selection Management

• Current structure of market research group
• Number of brands supported by market research group
• Responsibility management for primary and secondary research among internal market research employees
• Number of full-time equivalent employees currently performing primary and secondary market research
• Expected number of full-time equivalent employees currently performing primary and secondary market research in 2 years
• Market research functions in which organizations use external contract personnel
• Number of total external contract market researchers used for different functions (i.e. day-to-day primary research, secondary report preparation, etc.)
• Locations in which outsourced personnel operate (i.e. onsite, offshore, etc.)
• Relationship management with offsite personnel
• Factors that play a role in motivating market research outsourcing
• Ranking of primary goals for outsourcing market research
• Process by which outsourcing specific market research functions started
• Ranking of key criteria used to select vendor
• Ranking of time spent on different roles managing external contract personnel

• Static Headcount / MR Groups Stretched Thin: Headcount constraints that drive increased outsourcing were well-observed in this study. More than 50% of all respondents predicted no change or even reductions in internal staffing levels in the next two years.
• Outsourcing Secondary Research Seen as a “Time Save”: Among companies that do contract externally for market research, the outsourcing of secondary research – both analytics and report preparation – is seen as enabling internal employees to redirect their time and focus elsewhere. For primary research, however, 50% of respondents did not discern appreciable time savings.
  

If you purchase Best Practice Database document(s), you will have 30 days from the date of purchase to apply some or all of the cost of the document(s) toward the cost of a Full Access Individual, Pharma, Group or University Membership. Write us at DatabaseTeam@bestpracticesllc.com or call David Guinn at 919-767-9179 if you have any questions.