China - Drives Asia�s Market Research Industry

While global market research industry is continuing to grow, China, as an emerging market, is positioning as a hub across Asia Pacific managing market research services. However, China is indeed facing challenges as it lags behind West when it comes to talent pool, English competency and innovation. The supply of market research in China is developing and maturing up to global levels. It is expected that China will compete with West for market research services sooner or later. Introduction The global market research industry continued to grow reaching USD 40,287 million in 2013 with an annual growth of 0.7% after inflation is factored in. North America and Europe occupied 40% of total market share respectively followed by Asia Pacific which took up 15%. In 2013, only two regions held positive growth rate, which were North America (2.9%) and Asia Pacific (1.6%). Emerging markets in Asia Pacific such as China, Myanmar, and Bangladesh etc. have seen steady increase in market research demand and started driving more market research focus from West to Asia Pacific. China, along with Japan, account for 59% of regional market research revenue in Asia Pacific. As the second largest market for market research industry in Asia Pacific, China has been forecasted to experience 7% of economic growth rate in 2015, and has a possibility to surpass Japan's market research revenue in near future as market research industry of Japan is close to stagnation.   Author: Sabrina Cai