Qualitative Research
It is crucial to have you ear to the ground to know what people in your field are thinking and how it will affect your organisation.
With our decades of experience in qualitative and policy research in emerging and developed markets, Baird’s CMC can help you conduct the qualitative and policy research assignments that help you gain vital market intelligence.
Opinions and Attitudes
What do policymakers in the field really think about you? How is your organisation or NGO perceived amongst officials and policymakers? What do doctors and pharmacists think will help improve access to innovative medicines for diseases? Which particular region of a country would be most amenable for you to launch your new pilot programme? Who would be the best civil society partners for you to engage with?
It is important to know the opinions and attitudes of key stakeholders to be able to execute a strategy. At Baird’s CMC, we don’t toe the line and tell you what you want to hear. We go out, get answers to your most pertinent questions and present answers to you that help you understand.
We conduct in-depth, semi-structured interviews based on ESOMAR guidelines in which interviewees are encouraged to speak in in detail about issues that matter to them, and you. We also use research techniques such as focus groups, structured exercises, self-completion questionnaires and participation in structured group discussions to get the market intelligence you need.
Scenarios about future developments
Predicting the future is impossible. But it is possible to plan and prepare for what may happen in the future. Speaking to the right people and asking them the right questions is key to understanding what policy developments are likely both in the near term and the long term.
What is likely going to be the future of Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) in Europe? Are “developing” nations such as India and Brazil going to contribute more than their usual share? What is the impact of a government imposing a compulsory licence for a particular drug, and more importantly, is it likely that the government will issue more such licences in the future? Is it a one off or will it become the norm?
Baird’s CMC has an extensive network of associates and implementation partners answering these questions in every continent bar Antarctica. We have networks with senior journalists, academic researchers, policymakers and activists who help us get the best market intelligence for our clients.
Intentions
We at Baird’s CMC understand that various political, social, economic and legal factors come into play when making policy decisions. This is true whether it is the passing of a new law by the government or a particular pharmaceutical company trying to determine launch price for a new cancer drug in an emerging market.
Whatever the scenario, Baird’s CMC helps you determine the intentions behind that policy decision to help you draft out the best possible strategy for the future.
Our experience
Baird’s CMC and its partners have conducted qualitative and policy research exercises for most of the world’s top ten pharma companies, for activists, for global NGOs, for Foundations and donors, for multilateral organisations and national governments.
We have looked at stakeholders, the policy environment, drivers and barriers in coming to market, pricing, intellectual property and the best ways to encourage South-South R&D collaboration…among many other subjects.
What we’ve done
- A rapid mapping of potential recipient organisations in India working in maternal and child health, diabetes and neglected tropical diseases for a major international fund that needed an analysis that was clear, actionable, and in touch with realities on the ground
- A qualitative research exercise to forecast the likely future direction of European policy on overseas development assistance, in particular for spending on green issues, family planning, HIV and hepatitis
- A multi-level public affairs campaign for the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) as a way to maintain a level playing field between cellular-phone and new CDMA applicants. The campaign was a response to the Telecom Ministry’s announcement of a policy that showed preference to CDMA operators who wanted to enter the mobile telephony market, much to the detriment of existing and potential cellular operators in the country. Baird’s CMC used multi-level messaging targeted to key stakeholders, drawing upon media, political advocacy, and dialogue with other stakeholders and opinion leaders to highlight the drawbacks of this policy for India’s emerging telecom sector. Our work helped build multiple riders into the new type of mobile license of thus helping maintain the competitive advantage of cellular operators
- Using semi-structured interviews and mapping techniques to work on donor attitudes to funding specific healthcare interventions in low- and middle-income countries for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Merck & Co Inc, the Shell Foundation and PATH (these were individual projects on various interventions)
- Reaching out to and mapping reactions from opinion leaders and stakeholders to new data on the relative cost efficiency of funding voluntary family planning programmes as a way of averting future climate change, for the William & Flora Hewlett Foundation
- In 2012 we launched the Payments meets Mobile project in collaboration with Visa Europe to capture the thoughts and perspectives of some of the biggest players in the evolving mobile payments industry. We interviewed senior executives from different sectors including Visa, Telefonica, Vodafone, Barclaycard and Monitise to establish the state of and appetite for industry collaboration
