It is a very different topic and should be of interest to those seeking to join Business Research companies. These are the companies primarily into Financial Analytics , Equity Research and Market Research and provide hi end secondary research. This is the world of KPO(Knowledge Process Off-Shoring)
The one thing that is different about these companies is that these take mostly post graduates and not plain graduates.While most companies prefer Finance background as they do a lot of financial research. Those with techinical industry knowledge are also prefferred.
They key is they will always ask u questions on Demand Estimation.So how do u estimate the market size for a soap in delhi, how u estimate number of cars in delhi, no of marriages in delhi are all a part of the usual grilling process. Expect the interviewers to be very spectical and will get after you, but more important is the approach. They are bothered about the analytical approach of the individual and how how he analyses, synthesises information and not about the exact number.The key is how to get to one particular figure and what is the figure required a factor of.
The financial part of the interview will linger around concepts like P/E , Corporate Finance and Capital Markets knowledge.They do have a liking for Chartered Accountants and will prefer them over MBA’s for financial analytics.
Now salaries are generally much better than other areas and on an average should be around 3 lakhs for fresh MBA’s. The kind of work would be mostly information synthesis and analysis and some advisory based on knowledgeable insights.
The clients that these companies will serve would typically be Investment Banks, Consulting Companies , Hedge Funds, Private Equity, Asset Mgt Companies and general corporations for market sizing
Now finally what are the companies operating in this field? . The largest of them is EValueserve which has a host of IIT, IIM and other top-bschool passouts workin for Investment Banks.Other big players include hi-end equity research company Irevna and Office tiger which is located in Chennai & Sri-Lanka
Other companies include Pipal Research, Progeon, Smart Analyst, Smart Cube,
Pulsar Knowledge Centre, Copal Partners, WNS , Rocsearch, Aranca Equity Resarch, Netscribes, Recerche and Inductis.
The captive operators are Mckinsey Knowledge Centre, A.T.Kearney, J.P.Morgan, Lehmann Brothers all have their research centres set up in India .
Currently we have so many of these companies getting loads of work from Investmt Banks but how long will teh bubble last?..Is it gettin heated?...The key question is taht what r the exit options from this industry?..mainline consulting is not certainly a career option as this is more of research...and investment banking could be an option, but its a question of trying to prove yourself fit wherever you go..