[Case Study] Interviewing BtoB Professionals/Academics: Finding the right Thought Leaders and Experts
- Case Study
- BtoB
- Thought Leader
Whether you are trying to forecast some macro trend, or wanting a bright overview of the competitive landscape of the industry, or need to understand the stakeholders' voices and behaviors for knowing the micro trend of your niche market, the simplest and yet efficient way might be to just go meet and ask the experts. If you have some handy data where you can easily run statistical analyses, that may not be the case, but otherwise, interviewing would be a sufficient alternative.
This article will be introducing three example case studies where we propose the approach to thought leaders, key opinion leaders, and industry experts for interviewing over certain topics. Jumping to the conclusion, we think the key success factors to this type of projects are, #1) recruiting, #2) recruiting, #3) recruiting... We believe that connecting with the right target is the root of everything.
The background of the interviewee would largely affect the quality of the outcome. Nikkei Research has good networks that allow the selection of candidates with a detailed profile. Below are examples of how granular we can narrow down our list.
| Case 1 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Topic | Forecasting 2050 (30 years in the future). How people’s life will be surrounded by various advanced technologies. | |
| Interviewee profile | Robotics Engineer | Engineer of development and commercialization of nursery support robots, home appliances, etc. |
| Video Content Creator | Freelance content designer. Career in a game company, planning and designing hardware/software. | |
| Nomad Entrepreneur | Head of organization, focused on the enhancement of cyber literacy. Assistant professor at a university. | |
| Academics | University professor of urban and environmental engineering. Research fields in urban planning and transportation engineering. University Professor. Expert in health economics and social security theory, international comparisons upon mid-long term healthcare measures in the aging society. |
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| Journalists | Reporter. Focus area on retail, restaurants, logistics, consumer consumption, etc.
Editor. Focus area on IT, VC, content business, etc. |
|
| Total interviews | 10 | |
| Case 2 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Topic | Understanding the pharmaceutical landscape. Reputation and brand health. | |
| Interviewee profile | Healthcare Professionals | Physicians/practitioners/pharmacists/family doctors. |
| Opinion Leaders | Executives, directors, head of research, scientists, or economists, in NGOs/think tanks/corporate social responsibility organizations focused on health issues. | |
| Academics | Influential professors, lecturers, doctors, and research fellows in universities or in research entities of healthcare and medical fields. | |
| Policy Makers | Lawmakers and their advisory staffs, directors and executives of the commissioning authorities and regulatory bodies. | |
| Journalists | Editors/reporters of major news media. Area focused on the healthcare industry. | |
| Consumers | Influencers who would promote and affect others upon medicine/healthcare issues. | |
| Total interviews | 50 | |
| Case 3 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Topic | Overview of the biotechnology/life-science and primary materials market, the macrotrends, customer behavior, and ratings of corporate brands. | |
| Interviewee profile | Corporate Researchers | Researchers in manufacturers, pharmaceuticals or CMO (Contract Manufacturing Organization) who are involved in the purchase of research equipment, material manufacturers, and reagents. Example: Head of the team developing advanced power module. Deep knowledge and experiences in procurement and manufacturing costs. |
| Entrepreneur | Co-founder of a startup focused on regenerative medicine. Planning and managing from fundamental research to clinical trials. Example: Co-founder of a company specialized in development of fibroblast-based therapies for cardiac diseases. |
|
| Academic Researchers | University researchers who are involved in the purchase of research equipment, material manufacturers, and reagents. Example: Researcher at a research institute. Involved in the fundamental development and enhancement towards productional use of iPS cells. |
|
| Total interviews | 15 | |
Recruiting is critical to success, but that is not everything.
The interviews are not just an asking process but rather an organic formation of collaborative and creative work. It’s a place where valuable stories are surfaced between the interviewer (moderator) and the interviewee. At Nikkei Research, our interviewers are well experienced and specialized in specific industries, making them capable to dig deeper and fully manage proactively during the session. While those stories from the interviews are just fragments of unstructured, non-numerical, and contextual (complicated) information. It requires certain techniques (frameworks) to decompose into important elements and then rebuilding to meaningful insights.
Below are some testimonials to our works .
The interviewer handled the difficult topic and responded instantly which made us comfortable just sitting back, relaxed and watch.” “We have never heard stories this deep and rich in details from the respondents. I think it’s because they feel the reliance upon providing information to the company; Nikkei Research.” “We were able to run a massive number of interviews. That gave us a really multifaceted and holistic view.” “The connections with the media and journalists were valuable to us. We were able to understand the historical background, the current market overview, and the latest trends.” If you’d like to know more, please contact us.
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81-3-5296-5129(Available on weekdays at 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. JST )
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