Research firm launches in Beijing
AFTER a year of consolidation and a modest seven per cent annual growth, Frank Small and Associates (FSA) is expanding to China.
It opens its Beijing office on March 2, becoming the first market research company to launch in northern China.
In an agreement with the Ministry of Foreign Relations and External Trade, the FSA has a 100 per cent-owned office in Beijing and will continue to work with the Centre for Marketing and Trade Development and the Shanghai Research Institute of International Economy and Trade.
''The agreement is a co-operative one. FSA Beijing is a fully represented office, wholly owned by FSA,'' said Mr Mike Caldwell, regional managing director of FSA.
Where other market research companies have expanded into Guangdong, FSA's move to Beijing is part of a deliberate strategy to be wherever the national government is.
''There is a lot going on in Guangdong, and it is an exciting place, but it is hardly the world's greatest adventure because it is so like Hongkong,'' Mr Caldwell said.
''Beijing is the seat of power and that is where the best connections with people are.
''If we go in on a co-operative note and forget the co-operative line with them, we can use the facilities. We are helping to develop the local market research industry rather than competing with it.'' The venture is already making money as on-going projects are profitable. Profits will finance expansion of property and staff.
FSA's current billing base in Hongkong comprises about 12 per cent of mainland Chinese business - a rate which is growing by about 10 per cent annually.
''How can we not be in China? There is significantly greater disposable income than published figures which, expressed in spend terms, make China a dynamic market with a volume of consumer goods that is staggering,'' said Mr Caldwell.
