1. Which companies does the research firm have good relationships with? When working with an outside research organization there are several things to consider. First and foremost, the international marketer should find an outside research firm that has expertise in acquiring and analyzing international data. Second, it has been suggested that for B2B marketers such a firm should be able to ‘focus on the client’s clients, manage language differences and negotiate the ins and outs of business culture in the target countries’ (Vence, 2003). Project costs can be expensive, running into hundreds of thousands of US dollars, or they can be as low as a few thousand US dollars.

Third, since it helps if the research firm has offices in, or established relationships with partners, in the client’s target market countries