Esomar
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This document discusses how increasing gender diversity, especially having more women in leadership positions, can lead to greater profitability in the market research industry. It notes that while emerging areas like big data and mobile are fueling growth globally, the industry has seen little growth in North America, Europe, and other regions. Traditional business leadership is seen as "male" focused on direct orders and competition, but relationship building is also vital. Studies show companies with more gender diversity on boards outperform those with less in terms of financial measures. The document argues the industry needs to address its lack of gender diversity at senior levels to unlock more growth and profit potential.
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Esomar
- 1. Male, Pale and Stale? How more women equal greater profitability Necessity of gender diversity for industry growth
- 2. The market research industry is constantly evolving… +0.4% …yet we have seen little growth Emerging markets Big data worldwide +1.7% in North America Gamification +1.3% -1.3% in Europe -1.3% +1.7% in Asia Pacific in Middle East and Africa in Latin America Mobile/ Tablets 1
- 3. The traditional business management style is considered ‘male’ Gives/follows orders Performance Competitive Direct Aggressive Independent M Winters Leadership Styles: Men vs. Women 2011 2
- 4. But: Relationship building is vital Kerry Glazer Ruth Bolton CEO of AAR Managing Customer Relationships
- 5. The traditional business management style is considered ‘male’ Gives/follows orders Performance Competitive Direct Aggressive Independent M Winters Leadership Styles: Men vs. Women 2011 Encourage/motivate Relationships Cooperative Indirect Calm Team work 4
- 6. Female representation on boards – global 31.9% 20.8% 8.5% 15.7% 8.2% 12.9% 7.3% 12.5% 5.3% 9.4% Deloitte 2011 9.2% 3.7% 5
- 7. Female representation on boards – UK 2003 2013 1 female CEO 18% of employees Phyllis Macfarlane, CEO NOPWorld work under female CEOs Research Magazine The fairer sex fight back 2003 Research Magazine Gender Differences In the Market Research Industry 2013 6
- 8. Why does gender matter? Diversity on company boards Homogeneity on company boards Davies Report 2011 7
- 9. Financial measures excel where women serve £ Sales 42% Invested capital 66% Davies Report 2011 The Bottom Line: Corporate Performance and Women's Representation on Boards Catalyst 2007 Equity 53% 8
- 10. Gender diversity = growth “ Companies need to wake up to gender disparity and add this crucial ingredient to long-term growth and profitability “
- 12. Speaking on gender diversity… Mandy Pooler Kantar Board Director “ “ Women are rising to the top less frequently than they were… Women …our current business are ‘checkingkilling business. to get model is out’ and failing past middle management.
- 13. Senior level: 53% male Lower level: 67% female Research Magazine Gender Differences In the Market Research Industry 2013 12
- 15. Implicit Association Testing: Gender associations Leader Success Boardroom Management Profit Confident Salary May 2013 Base = 184 Capable Communication Committed Resourceful Responsible Proactive Organized 14
- 16. Both males and female recognise the exact same qualities required for success in market research 87% 81% 66% A good communicator Confident Competitive Risk-taking Responsible But when asked to identify which qualities they possessed… Proactive Confident What qualities do you feel are necessary for success in your industry? What qualities do you feel you possess? Base = 184 94% 81% 69% Good communicator Responsible Consistent Proactive 15
- 17. We are losing vital growth and profit not generating gender diversity at senior levels… 16
- 18. Addressing this gender imbalance at senior levels will lead to increased growth and profit! £ £ 17
- 19. So what now? Outside industry initiatives Senior mentoring schemes 18
- 20. Thank you!
Editor's Notes
- One major problem that we see all around us in all industries today is it’s getting harder and harder to make money, to make profit, to see growth! Today I’d like to point to one possible very simple and easy solution, that gender diversity equals profit.
- DT: Innovation is key in market research. New markets emerge, we are exploring Big Data, and our offering evolves with gamification and mobile surveys. But while we do see new ways of working, new markets, new opportunities, this hasn’t translated into profit.Market Research is an industry that has seen little growth for too long. Client budgets remain static, or decline in real terms and there is more competition Just last year, world turnover was at 3.8% (or 0.4% after inflation). Splitting this out by region, we can see that Europe, for example, an area responsible for 42% of all market research last year, saw negative growth of -1.3%. We can see that real growth is a very real concern in market research today.Our industry, by its very nature, is an innovative and forward-thinking industry, so why just apply this way of thinking to our clients’ business needs? What about our business needs? We are constantly updating what we offer, but how about who we are? How we do business?In a post economic crisis world, it is becoming increasingly difficultto know which direction is best for growth. What we can control, however, is *how* we operate, *how* to best place ourselves to seek out those growth opportunities.
- DT: Looking at how our companies are run, in a report by M Winters in 2011, within senior positions, the traditional management style is ‘self-confident, dominating, competitive, decisive, aggressive and independent’. Also known as the male style of management. If we want to understand how to seek out growth, we need to understand if this traditional leadership style still ideal, or even working, or even relevant?What we have come to learn in a post crisis world, when it comes to any interaction of user/buyer and supplier, whether it’s a brand and its consumers, or us as Market Researchers and our clients as Market Research users – RELATIONSHIPS ARE KEY!
- DT: As Kerry Glazer, CEO of the AAR , theleading authority in client-agency relationships in the UK said, “In a tough economic climate, a good relationship between client and agency is vital for health, wealth and happiness” We can see that relationships are key for growth, key for success, key for profit!Ruth Bolton wrote in Marketing Research in that “Increased revenues, profits, and shareholder value are the result of marketing activities directed toward developing, maintaining, and enhancing successful company–customer relationships.”We see it coming out in the language we use to talk about Market Researchers; we aim to become trusted advisors, trusted business partners, not simply research suppliers.
- DT: So how can we build this relationship building right into our leadership model? Women! Female management skills are based around motivating, building relationships, working in a team, all of which we have now learnt are vital for growth.
- DT: Looking at data published by Deloitte in 2011, concerning all industries, we can see a smattering of female representation on company boards. We have Norway leading the way with around 30%, and Italy coming up behind with around 4%.
- DT:If we look at Market Research in particular, and take one of the, historically, largest markets for MR, the UK, just ten years ago, there was a single female CEO out of the top 10 MR agencies in the UK. A decade later, 18% of employees in Market Research work under a female CEO
- DT: So why does this matter?In 2009, McKinsey and Co, a global consultancy firm, surveyed 800 business leaders worldwide, which confirmed that “certain leadership behaviours typically adopted by women are critical to perform well in the post-crisis world” These behaviours include being more risk-sensitive and bringing balance to the decision making process.Gender homogeneity on company boards leads to quicker, more poorly thought out decisions, group thinking and an inferior ability at complex problem solving.Whereas gender diversity on company boards can lead to more effective management, better customer understand, more vigorous and balanced well thought out decision making as well as being superior at complex problem solving. Diverse boards argue, and take longer to reach better solutions. An additional point found in the Research report on Gender Differences in the Market Research Industry found that job satisfaction under females CEOs was a lot higher than under male CEOs (67% and 54% respectively)
- DT: Companies with more women on their boards were found to outperform their rivals with a 42% higher return in sales, 66% higher return on invested capital and 53% higher return on equity.If we want market research to experience strong growth again, these are figures we simply can’t ignore!
- As reported in the Grant Thorton International Business Report in 2013, “companies need to wake up to gender disparity and add this crucial ingredient to long-term growth and profitability”So why are we losing this vital gender diversity as we go further up the corporate ladder?
- DT: So, thinking about the lack of female representation on company boards and in senior positions, I sought to understand the hard-wired beliefs of males and females in the workplace. I carried out an Implicit Association Test within my own company, TNS, amongst all staff. I had a fantastic response rate of 184, with a fairly even spilt between senior management (CEOs, board directors and directors) as well as mid to low level staff (junior management and general staff) Briefly to tell you a little bit about Implicit Association Testing, it rests on the premise that everyone hold implicit beliefs, and that an association between concept and attribute can be made quickly. How quickly indicates how strong the association is. I also had the pleasure of interviewing a very talented and successful Kantar Board Director, Mandy Pooler, to give a real-time perspective on the issues facing senior women getting into senior positions.
- DT: Speaking on gender diversity, Mandy Pooler says our current business model is killing business. She notes a worrying trend that women are rising to the top less frequently than they used to, women are ‘checking out’ and failing to get past middle management”.
- DT:This is seen in the figures as well. According to a report published in Research last year called Gender Differences in the Market Research Industry, females make up 67% of employees at the lower levels, and males make up 37%. But at senior levels, this female-skew turns into a male-skew, with 53% of males at senior levels.Now, obviously there are a lot of factors influencing why there isn’t better female representation at senior levels, but I’m aiming to look at just attitudinal problems around gender.
- DT: And the Implicit Association Test results? Quite simply put, we think men equal profit!
- DT: Both males and females within the sample made associations between ‘male’ and leader, success, boardroom, management, profit, confident, salary…and these in bold are the strongest associations where people took less time, on average, to make the association. Whereas, softer qualities we now know are required for commercial success, are found amongst females; communication skills, resourcefulness, proactivity, responsible…these are also vital skills! Interestingly, no strong associations were made amongst any attributes associated with females.Men and women look at the world differently. Drawing upon these diverse perspectives is how we generate new ideas, new ways of thinking and new solutions.
- DT: When asked what qualities were required for success, out of a list of 11 possible attributes, both genders identified the same qualities necessary; a mixture of traditionally deemed ‘female’ qualities such as being a good communicator and proactive, as well as being confident, a typical ‘male’ quality.But when asked to self identify which qualities they had, males were much more likely to identify as confident, competitive and risk-taking, whereas females were less likely to self-identify with these qualities. Instead, females were much more likely to strongly identify as good communicators, responsible and consistent, as well as proactive and motivating to a lesser extent. So we can see males and females identify with different, yet equally vital qualities necessary for success within market research.
- DT: So what does this mean? We can see that qualities necessary for growth and profitability are found in women, but aren’t highly prized and are under-utilized. As Mandy Pooler said, women lack the confidence to put their hands up and stand up for value of the very different skills sets they can provide, and are indeed, required in a post-crisis world. We are losing these relationship building skills, and failing to make the best use of our talent pool in a very difficult market!
- DT: Having a more equal representation of gender, especially amongst senior and board positions not only makes use of a whole range of skills, but also benefits from diversity, strengthening a company’s ability and efficiency as well as becoming more likely to make more profit!
- DT: So how can we remedy this? How can we get MR back on track? Outside of our industry, initiatives are beginning to take hold; like the 30% Club, which aims to increase female representation on boards to at least 30%. Or 50 foot women which aims to link high-profile senior women with women who need a mentor, across all industries.We can instigate and use senior mentoring schemes, like one already run by Kantar called the X-factor for high potential women, or the Women in Research network established in America. These schemes are vital to provide women with the confidence to use their talents and push their skills to the very top, as well as opportunities to build upon these skills.But we need to do more, for the benefit of our companies, for our talented staff and for our clients, we need to set gender diversity at the top of our agenda and show the world that Market Research is still the most innovative, forward-thinking and exciting industry today.