Coffee Break

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A FICTITIOUS (BUT REALISTIC)
COFFEE BREAK CASE HISTORY

September-October 2002

Recently we heard from a lost client who moved to Japan a year ago…..

He’s back and he remembered us! We remembered him too – his name is Jason and he is the newly promoted VP, Licensing at his old company. He graciously called to introduce us to his Market Research Director, who would be handling “all his problems” from now on. We were not surprised to hear that an emergency had just arisen: a licensing opportunity had popped up and a go/no go decision had to be made in 10 days if our client wanted to stay in the running. His CEO was not wholeheartedly behind the idea of Rood’s quick turnaround market research: although he liked the in-depth approach, he opted for the higher degree of certainty afforded by a larger, statistically enhanced sample.

We recommended our new TwinTrack service which would meet both objectives. The client was delighted and the research strategy was mapped out. Under TrackA we held our normal, in-depth telephone discussions with 25 community-based gastroenterologists. The normal pricing applied. For TrackB, the eight quantitative questions in the discussion guide were turned into a brief, simple questionnaire and fielded simultaneously to 75 additional GIs who met the same screening criteria. TrackB, at $150 per interview (including honoraria), was highly cost-effective.

Within one week the results of both tracks were in and the numbers from TrackB were integrated into the quantitative questions of TrackA. Because the TrackA and TrackB samples underwent the same screening criteria, each set of numbers complemented the other, as expected. The client thought the methodology was innovative and highly successful, but the study results less so: 68% of the participating gastroenterologists were negative towards the proposed new treatment option for H.pylori, basically because they saw no need for it: the existing therapies were effective and, with some generic components being available, sufficiently cost effective.

The client decided not to pursue the licensing opportunity.