Jon Last
President
Sports & Leisure Research Group

Despite murmurs of economic optimism, the research profession will continue to see the lingering effects of the past 18 months. Large suppliers, who made massive cuts, often at senior levels, will suffer the consequences of bloated and misaligned overhead structures. Some will see their more ROI focused clients question the lack of high level attention, coupled with oppressive margins, and migrate to smaller, nimbler and more cost effective solutions. Many clients, after gutting their staffs, will look externally for similarly efficient, high level outside support. Quality will remain a battleground. But the definition will expand to include greater introspection on scope creep, unrealistic expectations and elusive searches for magic bullets.