The challenge
A global lubricants company needed to understand demand, supply and equipment-maker dynamics in three major metal-producing markets. The insight sat with a handful of senior experts who only engage under genuine confidentiality and professional handling.
Our approach
We built a separate guide for each part of the value chain and ran native-language interviews under full confidentiality.
- Prepared tailored discussion guides for operators, suppliers and equipment makers
- Interviewed senior decision makers for 45 to 60 minutes each
- Ran local-language interviews under confidentiality protocols
- Delivered verbatim transcription and translation
The results
- Showed that approved specifications, not unit price, decide who wins a plant
- Showed buyers moving to total cost of ownership over headline price
- Gave a market-by-market view of volume versus premium demand
Client project. Client details are anonymised.
