MrWeb's MR-a-thon

Beijing to London, via... Everywhere!


Welcome To Taiwan
Country number
5
Selected MR Agencies
  • Elephants Can't Jump

    Ensuring brand initiatives work in practice as well as in theory. To have marketplace impact, we believe every research assignment should consist of three elements consumer exploration or validation, within a competitive context, generating commercial outputs.
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  • Firefish Ltd

    29 full time staff, operating in all corners of the globe, on all manner of projects. No methodology is squashed to fit. We approach each brief with fresh eyes and minds, to make sure you get the most out of your research, helping your brand move forward.
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  • Grass Roots

    Grass Roots is one of Europe's largest performance improvement companies. Established in 1980, Grass Roots UK is the founding company of a group with offices and partners operating in 15 countries around the world.
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  • DIGITAL-MR

    In addition to Social Media Research (Web Listening) DigitalMRs solutions also include community panels, access panels, Web usability and a distinct focus on qualitativeresearch online.
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An Introduction to Taiwan

Officially the 'Republic of China', Taiwan's current borders are basically those established at the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949, and neither it nor the People's Republic (or PRC - commonly known today as China) has relinquished its claim to the other territory - see wikipedia for details. In the Olympics, the country goes under the compromise name of 'Chinese Taipei'. See full country profile.

Latest Research News from Taiwan

Jan 16
Shanghai-based fieldwork and research services provider Holden Healthcare has welcomed a partner in Korea to its Asia Physician Panel Alliance (APPA). Seoul agency Nownfuture joins existing partners Seed Planning in Japan and The Owl Consulting Company in Taiwan. Jan 16 2024
Mar 3
China-based fieldwork and research agency Holden Healthcare has established a partnership alliance called the Asia Physician Panel Association (APPA), aiming to enhance physician panel access across APAC, inclusive of difficult to access markets. Mar 3 2023


1 current Taiwanese job:

Survey Research Manager, Remote Working - Worldwide, $ Competitive salary - (posted Feb 27 2024)


Fast Facts
Map of Taiwan
CAPITAL: Taipei
GOVERNMENT: Multiparty democracy
AREA: 35,980 sq km
POPULATION: 23,024,956 (July 2010 est.)
MAJOR LANGUAGE: Mandarin Chinese, Min Nan Chinese
Martyr's Memorial, Taipei
Martyr's Memorial, Taipei


Diversifying trade: In recent years, Taiwan has successfully diversified its trade markets, cutting its share of exports to the United States from 49% in 1984 to 20% in 2002. Taiwan's dependence on the U.S. market should continue to decrease as its exports to Southeast Asia and China grow and its efforts to develop European markets produce results.

A little More Knowledge?
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Taiwan in Profile

Officially the 'Republic of China', Taiwan's current borders are basically those established at the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949, and neither it nor the People's Republic (or PRC - commonly known today as China) has relinquished its claim to the other territory - see wikipedia for details. In the Olympics, the country goes under the compromise name of 'Chinese Taipei'.

Taiwan was known as one of the 'Four Asian Tigers' following rapid economic growth in the second half of the twentieth century. An export-driven economy dominated by small and medium-sized businesses, Taiwan has become a major foreign investor in many surrounding countries including the PRC where up to a million Taiwanese and their dependents live.

Some Business and General Info

GDP: $361.5 bn (2009 est). Real growth in GDP has averaged about 8% during the past three decades, slowing in recent years

Religions Buddhist, Taoist 93%; Christian 4.5%; other 2.5%

Currency: New Taiwan dollar (NT$)

Telephone Code: +886

FCO


Overview of the Research Industry

MR Association(s):

Taiwan's MR industry has not shown steady growth of late, according to ESOMAR figures, adding only 4% in the last five years in absolute terms (0.4% after allowing for inflation). In 2004 turnover was $92m, in 2005, $90m, in 2006, $87m, in 2007 $88m, and in 2008, $97m. Hong Kong, New Zealand, Greece and India are among the countries whose ESOMAR turnover figure has overtaken it in that time.
Source: ESOMAR

Overview of Trade and Industry

Trade: Major export partners: China 26.6%, Hong Kong 14.4%, US 11.6%, Japan 7.2% (2006 est.) Singapore 4.2% (2009)

Major import partners: Japan 20.7%, China 14%, US 10.3%, South Korea 6%, Saudi Arabia 4.8% (2009 est.)

Foreign Trade: (2009) exports US$203.7bn, imports US$174.7bn.

My view
from...
Taiwan
Researchers Talk!
Have your say!
If you are a researcher based in Taiwan, in whatever capacity, then we would love to hear from you!

Email me:
laurence@mrweb.com

Views from...
Joyce Gan, Director Taiwan, GfK Healthcare Asia
Taiwan is an interesting place to live. Being a foreigner here and having worked as a market researcher in Taipei for the past 10 years, I find my senses better trained now than before. Perhaps it is the diversity here that indirectly affects how I see and interpret things, or maybe I have got into the habit of analyzing and see things from multiple perspectives as a result of being in this field for too long. Anyway, this is a place full of dynamism and you have to constantly catch up with 'what's new?' if you are to move along with the trend.

Having worked in consumer rese'rch for most of my market research career, I have one very strong impression about the market; that is, this is a place full of creativity. If you come to Taipei and visit a convenience store like 711 today, you will be impressed to see a wide range of beverage choices and cooked food which you will not find in other markets. Consumers here are demanding, and I guess that is why creative ideas are flourishing in the market. Many creative marketing gimmicks are used here to attract the hard-to-please consumers.

Given such business sentiment, the clients are working under great stress. Any piece of information about competitors or any new insight about the market would be very much appreciated. Clients are no longer expecting us to be data providers but more insight advisers.

Unfortunately insights are not something that you discover every day or a skill you could possess overnight. But they certainly can be discovered through establishing the 'habit' of observing and relating what you have observed to your hypothesis. Research data then is just to prove if your hypothesis is correct or not. It's a tough process as it involves a lot of intense thinking. But when you see a client's appreciation to what you have discovered, you know it's worth the effort.