PPI uses the most appropriate mix of data-gathering techniques to achieve the objective of the research activity, including mail surveys, Internet surveys, telephone interviews, and/or personal interviews. Each technique is coupled with the most appropriate analytic methodology, which ranges from the purely qualitative to highly sophisticated quantitative statistical analysis, to ensure that the most meaningful actionable results are obtained. These activities are supported by highly experienced research designers and statisticians, our extensive research library, and our global research database of over 17,500 supplier completed questionnaires.

Recent research activities include:

• Designing and implementing an Internet-based worldwide survey of a client’s suppliers to determine the suppliers’ evaluation of the client’s supplier-related policies and procedures, the suppliers’ response to the working relations the client has created, and the suppliers’ response to various commercial and engineering interfacing activities, across geographic regions, departments, and product groups within the client;
• Determining the perceptions of our client’s procurement and engineering personnel of their working relationship with the firm’s customers, and comparing and contrasting these perceptions with the customers’ perceptions of their relationship with our client;
• Benchmarking the customer commercial and engineering interfacing activities of major competitors of a client;
• Evaluating customer satisfaction with the products and interfacing activities of our manufacturing client;
• Determining emerging industry technology trends and their impact on our client and its industry;
• Measuring the effectiveness of a client’s customer service programs;
• Determining the market potential of potential new products; and
• Benchmarking across multiple manufacturing industries, leading consumer and business-to-business manufacturers’ structure design, and processes and procedures used to ensure the quality of purchased goods, and recommending world class practices to our client.