June 5, 2014
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Project Objectives
• To conduct market research to answer the following questions:
– What is the APICS brand awareness?
– Why people are not joining APICS?
– What are people looking for in terms of value when they join a professional organization?
– What is the competition?
• To gain insights and create our marketing strategy to grow and retain new members.
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Survey Response was 115 completed surveys from an email list of about 1400 or about 8%.
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Executive Summary
There is not an APICS awareness problem but a value proposition problem.
• High Level of Awareness:
– Question #4: 75% were familiar with APICS.
– Question #5: 87% had a somewhat to highly familiar level of familiarity.
– Question#7: 93% aware there is a St. Louis APICS Chapter.
– Question#8: 76% new others who were members of APICS.
– Question #10: 50% to 95% aware of the APICS service offerings
• Value Proposition:
– Question #9: 74% did not have any APICS certifications.
– .Question #12: 73% not interested to learning more at this time.
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• Opportunities:
– Question #4: 41% do not belong to any other professional association.
– Question #6: 68% have never been a member of
APICS. Plus, 20% were former members.
– Question #11: 23 people expressed an interest in learning more about APICS of which 11 people provided contact information.
– Question #12: Two more provided contact information.
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Executive Summary
• Survey Participant’s Profile
– Question #1: Top 3 supply chain business challenges were: supply chain responsiveness, customer service and operations planning and scheduling.
– Question #2: Top 3 criteria to select an organization to join were: applicability to job function, access to best practices and information communication. Affordability was a close
4 th criteria.
– Question #3: CSCMP (28%) and ISM (16%) were by far the top 2 professional organizations participants were members.
– Question #13: In terms of participant’s location, there was a fairly equal distribution across the St. Louis Region. Plus,
20% lived in Illinois.
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Executive Summary
• Survey Participant’s Profile (continued)
– Question #14: 51% worked for companies >$1Billion.
– Question #15: 48% worked for companies with >1000 employees of which 29% worked for companies >5000 employees. 25% worked for companies with 101-500 employees.
– Question #16: Six industries mad up 79% of the survey respondents:
Manufacturing 23% Aerospace 12%
Transportation 14% Consulting 8%
Technology 14% Energy 8%
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Executive Summary
• Survey Participant’s Profile (continued)
– Question #17: 70% of the respondents were over 40 of which 37% were over 50.
– Question #18: 88% had a Bachelor or Master degree of which 46% had a Master.
– Question #19: 68% of the respondents were Manager level and above.
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#1 How would you rate the following business challenges as they relate to your supply chain?
Comments:
The higher-rated challenges are typically short term issues – customer service, operations planning and scheduling, supplier lead time, procurement costs.
The lower rated challenges were more long term planning issues (capacity planning, footprint, portfolio rationalization).
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#2 How important are these criteria in selecting which professional associations to join?
Comments:
The top three selection criteria are applicability to job function, access to best practices and information communication . Leverage these in marketing material.
Verbatim Comments:
1. The criteria were rated from a personal perspective as my current company does not reimburse for any expenses associated with being a member of a professional association.
2. Centrally Located. Would prefer something in downtown STL so that it can serve the greater
STL region to include southern Illinois.
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(1)
Comments :
41% do not belong to another organization which indicates a large potential market.
CSCMP and ISM were the top two professional organizations.
(1) Other organizations included: AICPA, National Defense Transportation Systems,
Association for Healthcare Resource and Materials Management, Transportation Club of St. Louis, IEEE
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Comments:
High level of familiarity by respondents (76%).
Verbatim Comments:
1 somewhat
2 We do have team members that attend APICS meetings.
3 Former President in St. Louis and CPIM
4 Lack of awareness of APICS prevents any value from membership/certification from being recognized.
5 Familiar with the APICS CSCP Certification.
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What category below best describes your level of familiarity with APICS?
Comments:
87% are at least somewhat familiar with APICS.
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Comments:
68% have never been a member. Potential targets.
20% were formerly an APICS member.
Is there a process to follow-up when members leave to identify the reason and potential for restatement? Yes
Does APICS have a member retention program? Yes
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#7 Are you aware there is a APICS chapter in
St. Louis?
Comments:
Since awareness is 93%, what needs to happen to attract more members?
What avenues are available to inform non-members about chapter activities and services? One idea would be to invite them as guests.
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Do you know others who are members of APICS?
Comments:
76% know other APICS members. In order to attract new members, is there an opportunity for a referral program?
What can be done to help members spread the word about the benefits of APICS membership?
How can we better encourage members to bring non-members to chapter meetings and events?
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Comments:
74% have not earned an APICS certification. What is the value proposition for an APICS certification? Do we have any testimonials?
What more can be done to market the benefits of certification to nonmembers (as a reason to join)?
Verbatim Comments:
1 CMRP - Certified Materials and Resource Professional; CMA - Certified Managerial Accountant
2 Six Sigma Black Belt
3 I am partially certified in CPIM
4 Advance Supply Chain cert SLU
5 Basics of Supply Chain Management
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Comments:
Good awareness of all of the APICS services – ranging from 50% to 95%.
Highest awareness services – Certification Training and Publications
What is the value proposition for each individual service? Are there additional services we could add or services we should discontinue?
Is increasing awareness of career and job search resources an opportunity to attract members?
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#11 Familiar: Would you be interested in learning more about APICS?
Opportunities:
Eleven respondents requested additional information.
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#12 Not familiar: Would you be interested in learning more about APICS?
Opportunities:
74% not interested to learn more. Do they understand the value proposition?
Two respondents requested additional information.
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Comments:
Highest number located in Illinois and mid-county. Lowest number in south county area.
Likely correlation with location of large corporations and industry – e.g., Emerson,
Boeing. etc.
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Comments:
Over 50% of respondents work for companies with over $1 Billion in revenue.
Are there opportunities to attract members from smaller companies?
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#15 How many employees are there in your company (locally)?
48%
Comments:
Nearly half (48%) of respondents work for companies with over 1,000 employees.
25% had employees 101 to 500. This is APICS target market.
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#
Comments:
Top six industries make up 79% of respondents.
Are there untapped markets – e.g.,
Healthcare,
Chemicals, etc.?
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72%
Comments:
72% of respondents over 40. How do we attract the younger generation?
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88%
#18 What category below best describes your highest education level?
Comments:
Highly educated. 88% of respondents have a bachelors or masters degree.
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#19 What category below best describes your current or most recent position in your company?
Comments:
The majority, 68%, of the respondents were at the manager or above level.
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#20 What category below best describes your current or most recent job function?
Comments:
Comparing these demographics to those of current members may highlight membership growth opportunity areas.
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