MRS and Japanese research association JMRA announce new international partnership
04 October 2021

The leading research associations for the UK and Japan have formalised their close ties through a new partnership agreement. MRS and the JMRA (Japan Marketing Research Association) have jointly announced this new agreement and confirmed its scope, following many years of co-operative working and the continuous sharing of information.

This represents MRS’ first formal partnership with a research association based in Asia. The overall objective of this historic international collaboration is to strengthen the relationship between the two organisations, which have long records of effectively serving their national markets.

Specifically, the agreement will involve reciprocal discounted member rates of 10% for all MRS and JMRA members joining the other research association. It will also include exemptions from any joining fees and will mean JMRA Official Members can become MRS Company Partners.

The initial duration of the partnership will be three years with activities to be reviewed annually to ensure they are being delivered as set out.

Shunichi Uchida, chairman of JMRA, comments: "For many years we have maintained contact with the global market by engaging with international market research organisations. This has become even more important as internationalisation has increased – and the recent Covid pandemic has added to the need for us to be aware of global market conditions, trends and technical information.

“I am convinced that this partnership with MRS will support JMRA and its member companies more than ever to the global marketplace and provide new guidance for overcoming the challenges in this environment.”

This new partnership follows on from the International Tripartite agreement between MRS, and the leading research associations in the US (Insights Association) and Australia (The Research Society), announced in August last year. As well as creating closer links between the organisations, it also allowed for shared research projects, the most recent of which is an initiative about the presentation of research and insight to corporate partners.

A roundtable was held this summer – with representatives from each of the three research associations – about how research professionals could adapt their language to elevate the role of insights with businesses and their board members. The initial findings are to be released in a report imminently.

Jane Frost CBE, chief executive of MRS, comments: “In this increasingly challenging global environment, it is vitally important that we look to create closer international ties. This is especially the case for a sector such as research, which is playing a key role in the global economic recovery from the pandemic and in directing efforts for creating a fairer, greener, more inclusive world.

“Our International Tripartite agreement – with The Research Society and Insights Association – has already resulted in a number of important initiatives, including our collaboration on using corporate language to showcase the benefits of insight. I’m confident that our new partnership with the JMRA will be similarly successful and that many of our members will benefit from us working together.