AC Nielsen in Nepal

Change of ownership has been quite frequent in ORG-MARG, the market research firm, ever since it opened shop in Nepal. The Soaltee Group, which had brought it here in 1993 as a joint venture, divested from it three years ago.  Before that the foreign shares in the firm were handed over to Business India Group which took over the ORG-MARG operation in India as well. The more recent development is that this research firm is taken over by AC Nielsen, an American multinational company, when it took over almost all of ORG-MARG operations the world over last year. AC Nielsen itself is owned by VNU, a publishing and information company of the Netherlands.

With 45 full time employees in its payroll (which include researchers and system analysts), 100 freelance interviewers in its roster and a number of senior consultants in its panel, (ORG-MARG) Nepal, as the firm AC Nielsen is formally called, is capable of conducting any type of research in Nepal. It can coordinate research also in the regional level with the help of the wide network of AC Nielsen which has its presence in 110 countries of the world, claim the company officers.

Now the company has in its portfolio such research brands of AC Nielsen as “Winning Brands”, “ads@work”, “BPCM and Bases”. While ‘Winning Brands’ is a brand of customized marketing research in the fields of brand equity, brand health and diagnostic research, ads@work is advertising research brand and it is “checking on ad before spending on it” and “making ad work for the brand”, as the company brochure puts it. BPCM stands for ‘branded price choice modeling’ and it is a pricing research that answers such questions as “What will happen to my market share if I raise my price by 5%?” and “If I drop my price by 10%, how will my (and my competitor’s) share change?” Bases is the brand of a ‘simulated test marketing’ needed while the companies have to launch, extend single line variant, extend multiple line variants or relaunch brands.

Besides these, the company is also conducting continuous monitoring and tracking studies called ‘retail store audit’ in which it carries out retail tracking of consumer products such as FMCG, soft drinks and cigarettes.

As long as ORG-MARG was with Soaltee Group, the firm was suffering a sort of complacency, as Palas Bhattacharya, the country representative (or the chief of the Nepal office), was quoted as saying in a newspaper recently. That was because the Soaltee Group’s clout was enough for the firm to get the business it needed. But when Soaltee pulled itself out, the firm was to fend for itself. That led to a spate of high employee turnover in the organization. Though such turnover has helped in setting up of a couple of other market research firms in Nepal manned by the ex-employees of ORG-MARG, “it was unfortunate”, says Bhattacharya who also adds that the situation now is changed as the firm has now stabilized being a part of the largest market research firm in the world.

Following the loss of the comfort of Soaltee backing it, ORG-MARG was forced to make some change in its style of business. After 1999 the firm started setting targets and expanding its business. Now the firm is focusing on marketing itself while helping the others to do the same with their products. But Bhattacharya also notes that the awareness about marketing research is higher in Nepal than in some comparable areas in India such as eastern India, Delhi, Maharastra and UP. At the same time, it is also interesting that even some MNC affiliates in Nepal are not that enthusiastic to expand their market here as they would in India or Bangladesh, as per the analysis of the Chief of ORG-MARG Nepal.

With a wide range of regular clients in its portfolio which includes not only the business firms but also the NGOs and UN agencies, AC Nielsen (ORG-MARG) is now investing heavily in HR and training, management and operations systems and research and survey technology, says Bhattacharya. In addition to that, the firm is also to recruit one Nepali Director so as “to develop and nurture homegrown talent in Nepal”, as he puts it.

Cover Story | Editorial | Business News | Biztoon | Marketing | Political  | Economy & Policy |
  No Laughing Matters | Personality | I-tech | Sectoral | Corporate | Interview | Stock Taking | Last Word  | Main | Past