Synovate Business Consulting

Infobox_Company
company_name = Synovate Business Consulting
company_
tag_line = Research Reinvented
company_type = Business practice
foundation = 1994 as AMI consulting
location = [Singapore]
key_people = Peter Snell, CEO
industry = Business Consulting
services = Management Consulting, Business Intelligence, Market Analysis
revenue = profitUS$720 million (Synovate Inc., 2007) [ [http://www.synovate.com/about/ About Synovate ] ]
num_employees = 5,925 (Synovate Inc.,2007)
homepage = [http://www.synovate.com/bc www.synovate.com/bc]

Synovate Business Consulting (SBC) is a global business consulting firm with special focus on market analysis. It is a division of Synovate Inc which is the market intelligence arm of Aegis Group plc, a global media communications and market research group present in over 80 countries [Aegis in numbers [http://www.aegisplc.com/ags/about/numbers/] ] . Synovate has a presence in 58 countries [ Synovate Inc (2008) [http://www.synovate.com/about/doc/Curiosity%20in%20Action.pdf] ] . Synovate Business Consulting is headquartered in Singapore and has a strong presence in the Asia Pacific region. Leveraging on Synovate’s local presence in other regions, the consulting offers services beyond the APAC regions as well. SBC’s services include market opportunity analysis, market profiles and sizing, distribution and value chain consulting, competitive intelligence, market feasibility analysis, market entry strategy and partner evaluation. [Services Areas [http://www.synovate.com/bc/services.php] ]

History and origin

Aegis Group is a media and market research group founded by Peter Scott in 1989 as a separate company based the original WCRS Group media buying division which itself was centred around the French media business Carat. It is headquartered in London and listed on the London Stock Exchange. The current businesses of Aegis Group include Carat, Vizeum, MMA and Posterscope.

In 2003 Aegis Group consolidated all its market research activities under the brand name ‘Synovate’. It has grown inorganically into multiple markets with an average of 3 markets per year in the last half a decade. Today it has a presence in 58 countries. [ Company presence on about us page [http://www.synovate.com/about/] ] Synovate claims that it is a company without any headquarters and is built on the principle of the 3Is - International, Integration and Innovation [ The 3 I's of Synovate [http://www.synovate.com/about/threeis.jspx] ] . Synovate Business Consulting has been providing business consulting services since 1994 [ Firm track record [http://www.synovate.com/bc/industry.php] ] . Prior to it becoming a part of Synovate, it was known as AMI consulting.

Synovate practices

Synovate, the market research group, has compartmentalized its business into closely integrated practices. Though each practice has its own business focus, they are known to work closely on major projects to widen the range of services. Apart from Synovate Business Consulting , the following are the [http://www.synovate.com/whatwedo/ other practices] of Synovate
* Aztec
* Censydiam
* Healthcare
* Loyalty
* Marketquest
* Motoresearch

Sectors and services

SBC is known to be an aggressively growing company mainly because of the fact that it provides business intelligence services in a wide range of sectors. Synovate covers sectors like "automotive banking, finance & insurance, petrochemicals & chemicals, retail & consumer goods, food & agribusiness, government & non-profit, healthcare, industrial equipment, info-communications technology, media & entertainment, professional services and travel & logistics" [Industries of expertise http://www.synovate.com/bc/industry.php ] .

The basket of services offered by SBC are "regional consulting on market entry strategies , competitive and customer intelligence, business sizing, partner evaluation, product launch strategies, quantitative modeling, technology forecasting & management, investment feasibility, distribution channel analysis, pricing analysis, location analysis and business plan generation". It actively leverages on its research network to gather market insights.

Special methodologies

Having conducted over 1500 engagements related to market consulting, they have a few offerings / methodologies / tools such as the ‘Partner Compass’. This is a systematic approach to conduct a business diligence on a potential partner. This would include an acquisition target, a joint venture partner, channel partner etc. Similarly another methodology of theirs is the ‘Path to Growth’. This is s systematic set of modules to evaluate and enter a market.

Clients

SBC has worked with clients across the globe in a variety of sectors. They have completed over 1,500 client engagements since 1994 [ Synovate clients [http://www.synovate.com/bc/industry.php] ] . A brief list of the clientèle –

Employees

The people working at SBC are typically candidates with an engineering or management background.Candidates with interest in international business, strategy, marketing, and economic issues and proven leadership potential, strong team orientation are preferred. [ Careers [http://www.synovate.com/bc/careers.php] ] Lateral recruits come generally from the industry or from other consulting firms with experience in management consulting, business advisory, or commercial analysis. There are about a hundred business consultants in the division.

Knowledge resources

Being in the business of consulting, SBC has access to a wide pool of secondary resources. There is a dedicated knowledge management team. The "internal knowledge management system" is accessible through a customized knowledge portal and is available to all the consultants worldwide. This gives them access to not only subscribed databases, but also the whole library of past projects, methodologies, models, templates, etc.

Publications

SBC labels itself ‘the world's most curious company’. Given the amount of market ground work and data analysis that this firm does to derive business intelligence, they are quite right about their tag line. An offshoot of such data crunching is the regular market reports that they generate. Most of these reports are freely available in the periodicals that they regularly churn out. [ [http://www.synovate.com/insights/ Synovate Insights] ]

* [http://www.synovate.com/bc/publications/periscope/issues/200801b/ Periscope] - The case study publication from SBC.

* [http://www.synovate.com/insights/infact/ In:fact] – This magazine offers a look at just-in market research findings. This is a compilation of the large scale global surveys that Synovate conducts

* [http://www.synovate.com/insights/changeagent/ Change Agent] –This magazine basically showcases how market research is driving change in the enterprise, the marketplace and society.

* [http://www.synovate.com/insights/research-on-research/ Research on Research] – This online section more firmly upholds their “Research reinvented” tag. It archives in-house research initiatives of broad interest to marketers.

Besides, these freely downloadable publications, there are a few syndicated [http://www.synovate.com/insights/publications/ reports and white papers] that can be bought at their website.

News & media

[http://www.indiantelevision.com/interviews/y2k6/executive/tim_balbirnie.htm Interview with Synovate Asia Pacific CEO ]

*SBC : Contributors to [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2006_Dec_18/ai_n16911958 GMB's Doing Business in India] [ [http://www.globalmarketbriefings.com/?id=2504 Global Market Briefings: Synovate Business Consulting ] ]

*SBC on [http://www.financialexpress.com/news/Time-for-a-reality-check/323783/0 Manufacturing in India]

*Philanthropic fund raising in the Asia Pacific [http://www.moneycontrol.com/india/news/trends/synovate-business-consulting-ties-uporbis-intl/11/34/238912]

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBhhl8uLjaY Synovate R
] an interesting video from the 2007 Global Synovate Conference in Prague

References

External links

* [http://www.synovate.com/bc Synovate Business Consulting official website]
* [http://www.aegisplc.com/ Aegis Group plc website]
* [http://www.synovate.com/bc Synovate Inc. website]
* [http://finance.google.com/finance?q=synovate Synovate profile on Google Finance]
* [http://www.redhotcurry.com/entertainment/books/business/doingbusiness_india.htm Doing Business in India review]