Ke Huixin, chairman of the newly established China National Market Research Industry Association, said the market research industry will play a greater role in China when the country moves further towards a more market-orientated economy.

Last year, the sector grew by 8.3 percent worldwide while China's grew by 58 percent.

However, despite the fast growth, the current revenue of the domestic market research field is small.

Domestic market research companies had a revenue about US$133 million last year, about 1 percent of the world's total.

The revenue of Japan's market research industry reached US$1.16 billion, and the United States' figure was US$5.43 billion.

Increased competition and more sophisticated consumers have forced more and more domestic enterprises and foreign companies in China to pay attention to market information, Ke said.

The revenue of domestic market research firms is meagre and does not match the country's fast growing market, Ke said.

"It all indicates that domestic market research companies have much more to do to get potential customers," Ke said.

Researchers need to build up confidence among potential customers.

Currently, China has 500 market research companies.

Due to the lack of unified management, the market seems chaotic.

Ke said his association, which was set up last month, will spare no efforts to improve the situation.

Meanwhile, there are no pricing regulations set by the government, which means there is a large gap between the charges companies make.

"Other than asking for government regulation, we can only depend on the companies' self-discipline," Ke said.

At the same time, many foreign market research companies have come to China, which threatens their domestic counterparts.

Already half of the top 20 market research firms in the world have entered China, most of them in the form of joint ventures.

Due to acquisitions by foreign companies and fierce competition, only five domestic firms are more than five years old among the 500 research firms.

The domestic market research industry has been taking shape for more than 10 years.

Tony Zhao, deputy managing director of East Marketing Research Co Ltd, said the major difference between foreign and domestic market research companies lies in the staff.

The foreign companies employ many highly qualified people with advanced degrees, including MBAs. Many employees have also studied abroad and worked for large multinational corporations, Zhao said.

The professional background allows the foreign companies to put out high-level data analysis and come up with effective solutions, Zhao said, while most of the home companies just collect data.

Ke said it is necessary for domestic companies to cooperate with universities to establish courses to foster their own professionals.

(Xinhua 05/08/2001)