THE EVOLUTION OF THE MARKETING RESEARCH MARKET ON THE LEVEL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION COUNTRIES, AFTER 2000

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to identify how the marketing research market evolved after 2000 as a whole and by categories of the EU countries (the old and the new states respectively) as well as the impact of the general economic development on this evolution of the market. Since 2000 the marketing research market registered a spectacular evolution in the new EU members, which certifies that it is in the growth stage. In the old member states the marketing research market reached maturity, the dynamics being slyghtly positive or even stationary. Regardless of the marketing research market trends registered in the old or in the new EU members, the development levels attained in the two categories of states are different. Thus, approximately 90% of the marketing research market of the EU belongs to the old states and only about 10% to the new members. Similarly to the markets of other products, the market studied here was also affected by the economic crisis, so all the EU countries registered involutions (followed by recoveries) along with the onset of recession. In the countries analyzed, the relationship between the size of the marketing research market and the general economic development expressed by the GDP was a strong and direct one (both in the EU as a whole and by categories of EU countries), higher values of GDP being associated with larger (in terms of value) marketing research markets.