APPENDIX C
About NFI Research
Every two weeks, NFI Research sends surveys via e-mail to 2,000 executives and managers in 50 countries. The surveys are short, and results are anonymous. These surveys have been conducted every two weeks for the past 10 years.
When the questions list potential answers, NFI Research asks respondents in the panel to check all answers that apply, thereby providing a majority consensus in results. The surveys do not necessarily match intensity of feeling about any given subject, but rather what the majority of respondents agrees and disagrees on. NFI Research repeats some surveys over the years, so that benchmarking is possible and changes in attitude are identified. NFI does not share the e-mail addresses or any personal information about any of its members. There is no charge for membership, and the members all receive the survey results every other week for free. Response rates are typically at least 10 percent or higher. NFI Research survey results are routinely reported in newspapers, magazines, newsletters, and blogs around the world.
Survey participants fall into one of two categories: senior executive (chief executive officer, chairman, president, chief operating officer, chief financial officer, chief information officer, executive vice president, senior vice president, general manager, etc.) or manager (assistant vice president, director, manager, supervisor, etc.). Respondents are usually about half senior executives and half managers. Some percentages do not equal 100 percent due to rounding. All research in the book, unless otherwise stated, is primary research conducted by NFI Research.
Respondents also identify themselves by company size, based on the total number of employees, and the results generally are a fairly even split among the groups. Some of those differences, as well as those between senior executives and managers, are used in the book when there are differences worth noting. Company sizes are based on the number of employees, with small having 1 to 499 employees, medium 500 to 9,999, and large with 10,000 or more employees.
A small sampling of the more than 1,000 companies for which members work are IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Borders, Morgan Stanley, Microsoft, Merck, Motorola, Freddie Mac, Progressive, MasterCard, SAP, Oracle, Marriott International, Mercer, American Cancer Society, Allstate, Heineken, Western Energy Institute, Walmart, Wells Fargo, Air Canada, Allied Waste Industries, American Association of Advertising Agencies, American Cancer Society, American Express, 3M Company, AT&T, Bank of America, Bell Canada, Best Buy, California Credit Union League, Bristol-Meyers Squibb Company, Canon, and Procter & Gamble.
You may obtain further information at www.nfiresearch.com, where, if you are a senior executive or manager, you may apply for free membership. You may also contact coauthor Chuck Martin directly at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @chuckmartin1.