Strategic Research

Strategic research helps the enterprise refine an approach to a market, or establish the range of potential meanings of a product, or establish general direction for design.

Strategic work begins with an ethnographic understanding of the enterprise itself. The next step is to narrow the focus, to determine where to go, who to talk to, and what might matter most to develop a deeper understanding of a market or product.

A flight attendant helping a disabled passenger up the stair

PacEth can find answers to ethnographic questions like "How do Chinese shop for luxury cars?" or "What does being disabled really mean and how do people fly with disabilities?"

Questions for the field begin to emerge from fieldwork. We do not pretend to have a firm grasp of questions at first because once you have questions, you already know what answers you want, which may or may not be true. That can be frightening. But feeling the fear and moving through it toward new questions is critical to successful strategic work. In other words, we use what we learn from the previous steps to guide the next steps.

Actually taking action on strategy, moving organizations forward and taking ownership of the action (or stalemate) that happens after the work is done is the client's job.

We are the researchers; we hold to that narrow path. We leave strategic planning to the client. This way, we provide valid and new understandings and options, not just a re-hash of what the enterprise wants to hear.

For tactical research, however, we may roll up our sleeves and dive deeper into organizational dynamics, into results. After all, tactical work should begin with a firm strategic platform at the start.