SRIworld.com

CAPABILITIES

Qualitative Research
One-on-one in-depth interviews or focus group sessions for purposes of developing preliminary insights into market structure, product positioning, or product or advertising conceptualization.

Consumer Motivation
Determination of the specific mix of characteristics that would maximize consumer acceptance of new products or services. These studies frequently incorporate segmentation techniques which identify discrete groups of consumers, defined in terms of differential needs regarding the product or service category. “Investors’ Choice” is a study of this genre, designed to define the market for socially responsible mutual funds on the basis of investor motivations.

Competitive Structure
Definition of the market in terms of how competitive offerings are perceived by their target audience on characteristics that are relevant to the purchase decision. These studies generally delve into aspects of consumer awareness and experience with these offerings and frequently provide analyses in terms of market segments, defined on the basis of differential needs regarding the product or service category. “CORPUS” (Corporate Responsibility Profiles in the US), a system for the continuous measurement of company reputations among investors is currently on our drawing board.

Concept Testing
Determination of the extent to which individual or alternative product, positioning or communications concepts are compelling to defined audience segments.

Tracking Studies
Periodic evaluation of the effectiveness of marketing activities, including the introduction of new or re-staged products and implementation of marketing communications programs.
CSR Report Monitor is a program by which various aspects of in-market effectiveness of corporate social responsibility reporting can be determined.

Satisfaction Studies
Periodic evaluation of the extent to which investors in individual corporations, mutual funds, and public and private pension funds are satisfied with the performance of these entities on financial and social responsibility criteria.

SRI LANTERN

CORPUS (Corporate Responsibility Profiles in the US)

Scrutiny of corporate behavior today is unprecedented. It is a focus of attorneys general, legislators, pension fund administrators, institutional investors, financial consultants, advocacy groups (such as the Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility and Social Investment Forum) and both mainstream and financial media.

The enormous growth of socially responsible investing over the past ten years is largely attributable to heightened awareness of corporate behavior, most recently in reference to issues of governance. As investments in companies are increasingly related to how they are perceived on both financial and corporate social responsibility dimensions, it would seemingly be appropriate for companies to have mechanisms in place to gauge their performance in these regards.

SRI Lantern is planning to launch CORPUS, a survey-based information system that will allow corporations to track their reputations among a nationally representative sample of investors. The program would elicit perceptions of scores of corporations on a continuous basis, rather than as a simple snapshot at scheduled points in time. You will know where your company stands in the mind of this critical public, both before and after events that could alter your reputation. Like ad campaigns, important news announcements, M&A speculation or, perish the thought, a press disaster that requires containment.

Before formalizing CORPUS, we would like to get feedback for purposes of gauging preliminary interest and identifying ways in which it might be made more attractive. Please contact Doug Wheat or Mel Kram at 802-251-0500, or by email, if you have any questions or care to share your reactions with us.