Abstract:

The first point is that the industry has continued, impressively, its worldwide growth. The most recent published estimate, by ESOMAR for the year 1997, puts the current value of research by market research institutes at 10.4 billion EURO, equivalent to 11.8 billion US dollars. If we measure growth in national currencies, allowing for exchange rate fluctuations, worldwide research expenditure has increased by roughly 10%, give or take a few percentage points, in each of the past seven years, a time during which both Europe and America experienced severe recessions. Not only is the industry steadily growing, but it appears to have become largely impervious to economic upheaval.