Question #6: Using Inclusive Market Research to Identify and Reduce Risk

[Meg Buckley, ACDI/VOCA]

This is a question for everyone to respond to, including experts and participants:

What are some strategies or benefits for the private sector to use inclusive market research to identify or reduce risk in their supply chains or services? How can inclusive market research help the private sector identify and mitigate potential risks?

Looking forward to the conversation!

[Christiane Yelibi]

Inclusive market research can help understand better the potential beneficiary pool by gathering insights from a diverse range of participants, including people of different ethnicities, genders, ages, socioeconomic backgrounds, and abilities. Collecting data on these specific perspectives will help businesses learn about each of these groups' pain points and the specificities that affect their experience. 

MR can also help discover information/data that was not considered previously. Whether it is by updating our research instruments or changing our processes, we can then access new groups or new knowledge, which will improve the quality of our offer/services -whether it is by offering better or by avoiding specific issues. For example, it is advised to regularly do process mapping exercises to ensure an optimized experience for clients and consultants. 

[Gloria Enwema]

Thanks Christiane, I really like your point that speaks to optimization.

Let me also add that; Inclusive market research helps the private sector identify and mitigate potential risks by providing insights into the needs, preferences, and behaviors of different stakeholders in the supply chain.

Some of the strategies and benefits are:

1. Building Company's Resilience Towards a Competitive Advantage: Inclusive market research helps companies understand consumer trends related to sustainability, social responsibility, and ethical sourcing. This can enable the private sector to anticipate and respond to changes in consumer demand and mitigate reputational risks. For fluctuations in supply, it helps the company diversify its suppliers or service providers, develop contingency plans, and/or invest in more sustainable production practices. This helps the private sector to stay competitive even in economic fluctuations.
2. Foster Innovation to Enhance Brand Value: Inclusive market research can foster innovation by identifying certain risks that predict emerging gaps for opportunities to create social and environmental transformations. This can lead to the development of new products or services that meet the core long-term needs of customers with huge social and environmental impacts.  This in turn, leads to increased sales, improved financial performance, and greater brand visibility & market share.

[Ydun]

Loving your insights, Gloria! I'm just nodding along as I read your post.

I'll add that a core aspect of market research is indeed to understand how you can reduce business risks. For example, SWOT analysis identifies the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats for your business. By casting an inclusive net and gathering diverse perspectives, inclusive market research can lead to a deeper understanding of both customer perspectives/needs, which is crucial for growth, and business risks. Then, with information on risks, companies can move toward developing strategies to reduce those risks through diversifying markets, shifting customers segments, developing new product offerings or sales channels or other strategies to address those business-specific risks.