Client description: Global chemical manufacturer

Practice area: Market Research and Analysis

Geographic scope: North America

Industries involved: Renewable energy - solar

Services applied: Market opportunity study; competitive intelligence

Business challenge: The client was considering the installation of an EVA sheet manufacturing line in one of their facilities and wanted to measure the market opportunity before making the capital investment.

Methodologies: Qualitative IDIs with 38 respondents, which included thought leaders, internal key stakeholders, customers, adjacent suppliers and competitors.

The result: The client received the information they needed to inform their decision-making and went forward with their plans to add the additional product line to their facility. They received a detailed report that included:

• Analysis of the addressable, viable, and winnable market opportunity
• Assessment of the competition and competitive landscape
• Sensitivity analysis including a high level assessment of the sensitivity of the overall environment (political, economic, and market including substitutes and alternatives)
• Analysis of the needs and wants of the customers
• Go-to-market strategic recommendations to create differentiation, drive preference, take advantage of weaknesses in the competition, create a compelling value proposition
• Recommendations for channels to market

We concluded that there was an overcapacity in the industry and the solar market was soon to face substantial headwinds; we recommended the client proceed with caution, but offered a strategy surrounding UV testing that would provide them a competitive edge.