BenQ has been voted No. 1 as the “most innovative company in response to customer needs” in the Far Eastern Economic Review (FEER) magazine survey for the second consecutive year. The survey also revealed that for the first time BenQ has made it into the Top 10 list of leading Taiwanese companies. The research exercise, which is now in its 11th year, was carried out by ACNielsen International Research and included more than 150 multinational corporations.
Described by respondents as “one of the few Taiwanese companies making a strong push to build a global brand,” BenQ attributes its success to investing in research to find out what consumers want. In the Middle East during 2003, BenQ commissioned a research study from ACNielsen to determine category drivers and shopping habits of computer hardware users in the age group of 15-49 years with a specific focus in the age group of 15-29 years.
According to ACNielsen, the most significant findings from the BenQ-commissioned study are that young consumers in the Middle East are aware of and appreciate brand equity — they are prepared to invest their money in a well-marketed IT brand, particularly on laptops, digital cameras and DVD writers.
“The key element to being successful in our business is to understand what sort of lifestyles our customers lead. By conducting research to get an insight into our customers’ habits, we have been better positioned to come up with innovative and suitable products,” said Robert Dung, MD, BenQ Middle East. “During the past five years, BenQ has allocated on average about four percent of its revenues toward research and development. This level of commitment has resulted in us now holding 1,225 patents worldwide.”
The FEER survey, which incorporates responses from more than 2,800 executive-level readers in 12 leading Asian countries, asked respondents to vote based on criteria such as high quality services or products, long-term vision, innovation in responses to customer needs, financial management and “most-admired company.”