Annual Report 2008
Research and development
The development of innovative methods and systematic further development of established research instruments is of central importance to the GfK Group in order to intensify existing customer relationships and attract new customers. For this reason, the continual development of innovative methods and instruments constitutes an important part of day-to-day business operations. Most of the necessary development work is carried out by GfK Methoden- und Produktentwicklung in Nuremberg. The 22-strong team focuses on questions relating to statistics and methods, defining populations, optimizing random samples and extrapolation procedures as well as program concepts for data collection and analysis software. In addition, the individual sectors and subsidiaries – sometimes in cooperation with clients, universities and management consultants – also carry out projects on a decentralized basis, especially those which serve to establish new information services in consumer goods markets, countries or regions. GfK worked on the following research and development projects in 2008.
