You’ve Got to Know Where You’re Going: Conducting Research Internationally

We in the United States are often accused by those who live beyond our borders of having cultural blinders on -- of being ignorant (perhaps even dismissive) of other people and cultures. As stereotypes go, this is, sadly, a pretty good fit.

According to Census Bureau statistics, over 82% of the U.S. population speaks only English, while just 8% can hold a passable conversation in a language other than English. According to the Philadelphia Tribune, only 8% of U.S. college students take courses in a foreign language, while two-thirds of all U.S. high school students graduate without ever having studied a foreign language.

Contrast this with the fact that American tourists can typically find their way around Europe without knowing a word of any language other than English, simply by imposing on the English-language abilities of their European hosts. Increasingly, the same can be said for Asia. I've traveled extensively within both Europe and Asia and have been amazed that even in the smallest, most remote hamlets, I've always encountered someone who can converse in my native tongue.

Then there's the sad fact that 88% of Americans cannot find the country of Afghanistan -- so much a focus of our collective thoughts and energies for most of this decade -- on a map, while 66% cannot locate either Saudi Arabia or Iraq. Sadder still is that nearly half cannot find the continent of Europe (the "motherland" for the majority of us).

So, what does this all have to do with market research?

With the globalization of economy, American businesses and their employees are increasingly doing business with people from other cultures. And all too often, these businesses, so singularly focused on their "captive" U.S. market, have little more than the most basic understanding of how to go about this. Typically, they hire locally within the markets into which they are looking to expand, hoping this will make it all that much easier. All too often, though, a wall appears between their U.S. and local employees -- a wall whose foundation lies on the U.S. side's lack of understanding of their local counterparts' language, culture, customs, and business practices. This wall impedes all subsequent efforts at becoming more familiar with this market and the people who comprise it. All too often, the end result is failure and retrenchment.

That's where market research, done locally by researchers who are familiar with conducting international research, often becomes critically important to the success of American businesses looking to expand overseas. We've conducted research on six of the seven continents (we're still waiting for that client who's hell bent on breaking into the Antarctic market), in dozens of countries, including China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Spain, England, France, Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina, to name but a few. And we're proud to have on staff a number of researchers who have extensive international research experience and, importantly, are familiar with cultural nuances that come into play when conducting research outside the United States.

Why is this important? Well, for example, in Indonesia, time can be somewhat of a relative thing. As such, the standard recruit of 12 for 10 to show becomes more like recruit 25 for 8 to show when conducting focus groups in Jakarta.

Focus groups with physicians in New Delhi, India, are seldom conducted in the native Hindi, but instead in the more academically and socially acceptable English.

And in China, you should never give a clock as a thank-you gift (e.g., for an interview), as clocks are symbolic of death in many Chinese cultures.

While some other U.S.- and Europe-based research firms have built global networks of wholly owned, "local" research organizations, we've instead taken the approach of partnering directly with locals (on occasion, the local branches of these large, international firms). We believe this gives us greater flexibility to choose the local firm we feel has the greatest expertise in the field we're researching.

The bottom line is that the American model for conducting business and market research often does not fit beyond our borders. It is critically important that American companies take the time to get to know the people they are hoping to make customers. Market research, conducted locally, with a strong sense of the local culture and sensibilities, can often make the difference between failure and success.