Client description: Foundation / Membership Association

Practice area: Market Research and Analysis

Geographic scope: US

Industries involved: Education

Services applied: Market Opportunity Study, Voice of Customer, Competitive Intelligence, Brand Perception & Awareness

Business challenge: Client needed to understand the overall market for memberships and was interested in determining if there was sufficient market demand to continue offering a leadership development program for executive leaders.

Methodologies: Extensive secondary research to identify, profile, and rank qualifying organizations in the region. Research led to 41 qualitative in-depth interviews (IDIs) with CEOs, Presidents, Executive Directors and mid-level management professionals.

The result: Delivery of a detailed report displaying the varying professional development needs of mid-career professionals and CEOs, size of the addressable market, how foundations (targets) differ, interest in leadership program, likes & dislikes of competitor programs and thoughts on the ideal leadership program.

Findings unveiled some misalignment between the program premises and target foundations. Mid-career professional development was more about enrichment rather than advancement. It was also very challenging to design a suitable program as every foundation and executive exhibited a different need. As a result, a recommendation was made to discontinue the program. Nevertheless, thoughtful analysis was required to determine if it was possible to develop a universal program addressing all needs vs. unbundling program contents and offering them as individual services.