Essay On Nielsen Media Research

1. It is hard to identify a unique set of problems that currently affects Nielsen. It is the combination of several factors and poor alignment between goals and plans that threaten the future of the company. At a first glance most of the issue that Nielsen faces are operational. Equipment overload prevents the company from delivering information to the clients in a timely manner, which is unacceptable in television business, where real-time information about viewers is critical. However, the roots of the problem are much deeper than capacity overload and relate to the strategic direction of the company. Firstly, Nielsen is well-aware of the rising competition from the cable channels, however it fails to deliver strategies that could give it an edge over rivals in the future. Secondly, equipment overload signals that the company is unable to forecast future market development and cannot anticipate customer demands. Lastly, there is a misalignment between the goal of the company to lead the industry as well as to provide information “anytime and anywhere” and the operational plans related to demand forecasting, quality assurance and capacity planning.
2. In order to fix the current issues with Nielsen, it is necessary to implement a multi-step planning process. Firstly, it is important to determine long-term priorities for the company and to formulate a strategy that would help the company to remain competitive in the market. This step should be accompanied by a more thorough analysis of the market trends and customer demands. Secondly, strategic objectives should be translated into actionable plans that would be executed by all people throughout the organization. In this case clear responsibility should be assigned in order to reinforce problem ownership and to focus attention on Nielsen’s current priorities. Furthermore, these plans should include quantifiable targets that would be used for control and performance measurement. Such approach would allow evaluating performance deviations and to resolve issues before they become real problems for the organization.