Need to know about the global market for specific products, such as personal protective equipment (PPE)?
Research and Markets (R&M), a source for international market research and market data, is one place to start. R&M currently markets more than 80,000 major research publications from most of the leading publishers, consultants and analysts worldwide. R&M provides businesses with current data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends. R&M is a “one-stop-shop” for market research reports and industry newsletters from specialist research firms and niche market analysts.
R&M, based in Dublin, Ireland, doesn't produce its own reports. Instead, it's a market research broker that markets and sells research data and reports from a variety of publishers, including Access Asia, ALM Books, Business Research Group, First Research, Frost & Sullivan, Global Industry Analysts Inc., Harris Infosource, Industry Watch Group LLC, MarketStrat Inc., Primary Research Group Inc., Rapra Technology Ltd., ResearchInChina and Richard K. Miller & Associates Inc.
R&M's Web site (http://www.researchandmarkets.com), which has information on more than 387,000 market and industry reports, is an Internet tool worth checking. The research database at this site includes information about more than 350 market sectors, including: telecommunications and computing, business and finance, manufacturing and construction, pharmaceuticals and healthcare, consumer and retail, energy and transport, government and public sector. It also includes more than 26,000 company reports, including stock reports and franchises, as well as more than 1,500 country reports on export, trade and political risk.
Reports listed at the R&M site often provide a variety of analyses, including strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT), and political, economic, socio-cultural and technological (PEST) business environmental analyses.
The site features a powerful search engine, permitting users to locate information on a wide variety of markets and companies. A search at the site for information on “protective equipment” reports along with the year 2008 yielded a variety of pertinent items, including this sample listed here:
- Personal Protective Equipment Spain, MSI Reports Ltd., February 2008, Pages: 182
- Chinese Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Markets, Frost & Sullivan, March 2008, Pages: 79
- West European Market for Textiles in Personal Protective Equipment, Textiles Intelligence, June 2005, Pages: 20
- Infection Control in Ambulatory Care (2008 Update), Apollo Managed Care Consultants, January 2007, Pages: 115
- European Markets for Protective Gloves, Frost & Sullivan, January 2008, Pages: 147
- Risk Management and Safety Issues for Medical Practice (2008 Update), Apollo Managed Care Consultants, January 2008, Pages: 119
- Non-Occupational Logging Fatalities - Vermont, 1997-2007 (Table)(Clinical report)(Article), Cengage, March 2008
- Guide to BS 7671:2008: The IEE Wiring Regulations 17th Edition, John Wiley and Sons Ltd, January 2008, Pages: 302
- Edwards Disaster Recovery Directory 2008, Edwards Information, January 2008
- Performance Apparel Markets: Business Update, 1st Quarter 2008,
- Textiles Intelligence, May 2008, Pages: 32
(Hint: Here's a shortcut. Just paste this link in your browser to produce this protective equipment report search: http://www.researchandmarkets.com/search.asp?q=protective+equipment+2008&cat_id=0&x=46&y=6.)
What to Look for in a Good Research Report
The Customer Service Team at R&M offered these words of advice for report seekers who are visiting the R&M site:
“The general mantra vis-a-vis searching for research on our site would be ‘you get what you pay for.’ In other words, the more informative and in-depth reports are on the higher end of the price scale - from $4,000 and upwards. The size and volume of these better-quality titles is also somewhat indicative of their quality.”
Determing Value
The Customer Service Team at R&M suggests that to determine the value of a report to your business, look first at the publisher, then the publication date and the cost and page count/volume of the report in question. Almost all titles on the R&M site include a detailed table of contents.
It also is important to use the “Enquire Before Buying” feature on each page, as any queries can be either answered directly by the R&M Customer Service Department, or referred to the analysts who compiled the report in question.
Michael Keating is the research editor for EHS Today. He can be reached at [email protected]