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| Primary
Business Activities |
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 Technical Marketing Consulting
Research/Project Design
Data Collection
Sampling
Research Analysis
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| Description
of Capabilities |
We are professional B-to-B investigators specializing in Human Intelligence Investigations where a limited number of enterprises account for a large share of the market and multiple buying relationships dictate demand.
Our investigative consulting efforts are usually directed at highly dynamic industries that are being driven by rapidly changing market conditions brought about by deregulation, enhanced competition, and/or emerging as well as converging technologies. |
| Specialties |
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Our human intelligence investigations address tough technical questions requiring informed input from knowledgeable persons with unique industry expertise. Given the level of difficulty associated with our assignments, we have established rigorous normative research procedures for conducting professional in-depth market and competitive evaluations using the Delphi investigative methodology in three key human intelligence practice areas:
Three Key Practice Thrusts
I. New Business Development Investigations
- Identifying and Assessing New Business Opportunities
II. Market Intelligence Investigations
- Driven by Changes in Market Dynamics
- Technology
- Regulation
- Competition
III. Business Intelligence Investigations
- Competitive Intelligence
- Pre-transaction Intelligence
- Infringements of Intellectual Property
- New Market Entry
White papers presenting the methodologies employed with these three key practice thrusts can be found at www.charlescharles.com.
You may also download the white papers from the links below:
Exploring Difficult-to-Research Technical Markets:
The Delphi Investigative Paradigm
Beyond Initial Impressions:
Morphological Content Analysis
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| Mission
Statement |
Our mission is to provide market-driven assessments of technical products and services to help clients:
- Identify and assess new product/market growth opportunities
- Investigate market structure changes, emerging and converging technologies
- Evaluate strategic strengths and weaknesses in competitive environments
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| Company
History |
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Charles H. Ptacek, CMC
Charles Ptacek has over 25 years of consumer, industrial and B-to-B quantitative and qualitative marketing research experience specializing in the identification and assessment of new product/markets growth opportunities, investigating market structure changes/emerging and converging technologies, and evaluating strategic strengths and weaknesses in competitive environments.
Prior to founding Charles, Charles and Associates (1981), Mr. Ptacek served as Manager, Marketing Research and Development, Corporate Strategic Planning at General Electric Company; as Manager, Marketing Science Services for Marketing Research Counselors, Inc. (M/A/R/C); and as a New Products Market Research Analyst for the Green Giant Company. He has also served as Director of Business Intelligence Services for Kroll Associates, a world leader in business intelligence and investigations.
Mr. Ptacek received his B.S. in Psychology at Kansas State University and his M.S. in Consumer Psychology at the University of Minnesota with additional post-graduate work in decision theory at Kansas State University. He is an Executive Member of the American Marketing Association and a member of the Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals as well as an Associate Member of the American Psychological Association and a Certified Management Consulting
CMC (Certified Management Consultant) is a certification mark awarded by the Institute of Management Consultants, USA, and presents evidence of the highest standards of consulting and adherence to the ethical canons of the profession. Less than 1% of all consultants have achieved this level of performance. |
| More on the Delphi Approach |
With the Delphi approach, human intelligence, rather than a mathematical model, is the primary provider of facts, knowledge, and information. Experts converge on the “best” intelligence by the application of mental processes rather than by the use of formulas.
The Delphi paradigm meets five key guideposts of sound inquiry:
- Objectivity
- Reliability
- Validity
- Intensive analysis
- Marketing applicability
Our human intelligence Delphi investigations are predictive in addition to be descriptive, and provide foresight as well as insight with value-added components. By blending practical experiences in market planning with strong skills in technical marketing research, clients have realized a number of key benefits from our state-of-the-art investigative efforts, including:
- Progressive identification of “market-driven” new business opportunities.
- Enhanced ability to allocate resources to those programs that have the highest probability of success.
- Improved opportunity to create value-added, customer-oriented marketing programs.
- Augmented offerings that lead to significant and sustainable differential advantages over competition.
- Mitigated costs of additional market surveys and competitive analyses.
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| Other
Information |
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We regularly recruit participants for a variety
of research activities, including:
- Business Panels
- Central Location Studies
- One-on-One
In-Depth Interviews
We
are also adept in carrying out many types of research
studies and activities, including:
- Attitudinal studies
- Benchmarking
- Brand equity and related studies
- Concept testing
- Forecasting and trend research
- Multi-lingual interviewing
- New product testing
- Satisfaction studies
- Secondary research
- Segmentation
- Strategic planning
- Syndicated studies
- Usability studies
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