My
name is Robert Thams, head of a market research
company called Thams & Nyås Management
AB. Me and my partner, Per Nyås,
have produced approx.1000 research projects
with our method Problem Detection Study
(PDS), of which more than 20% have been
outside Sweden and slightly less than 20%
have had a personnel and organization focus.
Most international jobs have been in Europe,
mostly UK, Germany, Holland and Scandinavia.
During the past 18 months we have also performed
studies in China, Hong Kong, India, Brazil
Japan and Europe for companies such as Electrolux,
Sandvik, Heidelberg, Siemens and IKEA. We
have organized our studies in a back data
list under a number of different headings,
e.g. insurance, airlines, hotels, energy
etc.
PDS is a semi qualitative research method,
originally developed by U.S. advertising
agency BBDO for fast moving consumer products.
Thams and Nyås started in 1984 with
the primary aim to run studies for the industry
and service sector, that at this time were
of lesser interest to the advertising business.
Since then we have developed and improved
the method and put it into a business development
format. Today it is a unique concept that
is difficult to copy and is documented in
a manuals, routines, drafts etc.
A PDS study is run in several steps. 30
in-depths interviews with client customers
as well as client personnel results in a
list of more than 100 problem and opportunity
statements described in a very detailed
and concrete way. These are put in a questionnaire
together with situation analysis and segmentation
questions and quantified on 500-1000 persons
in the target groups. The most important
part of the analysis is the ranking list
where all problems and opportunities are
placed in market priority for each segment.
With the support of a factor analysis the
highest ranked problems are then clustered
into opportunity areas.
The main advantages and differences
compared to traditional research are:
| · |
Questions are generated by the target
group not by clients or consultants |
| · |
The whole business area is covered
not only selective parts |
| · |
The question base includes both quality
assurance, business opportunities and
future needs |
| · |
Questions are detailed and concrete |
| · |
Problem statements avoid tactical
answering |
| · |
The ranking list constitutes a clear
and indisputable document |
In my booklet, Thriving on Customer Problems
many of our success stories and market experiences
are described together with facts about
the method. To get your copy of Thriving
on Customer Problems, please contact robert@thams-nyas.com.
» Read more about our method in: Don´t guess (8 pages)
Robert Thams |
©
Thams & Nyås Management AB, 2002 
