Recent Work

Market Analysis

A market analysis study undertaken by IBI Partners in late-2011 forecasts that demand from international students for undergraduate and postgraduate courses at Australian universities will decrease by 9% in 2012 compared to 2011.
The main reasons for the forecast decrease in demand are the continuing high Australian dollar, changes to immigration criteria and the increasing perception of Australian universities being less reputable than those in other destination countries namely the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and New Zealand, across most Asian countries.
Over the past 2 years there has also been increased competition from the above-mentioned countries plus others in the Asia Pacific region such as Singapore and Malaysia, which are being successful in increasing their intake of international students from source countries across Asia at the expense of Australian universities.

IBI Partners recently undertook a detailed study of 80 green products which have entered Asian markets over the past 5 years and found that a key success criteria has been competitive pricing.
The main reason for poor market entry outcomes has been due to green products typically being priced at 15%-30% above similar ‘non-green’ products, with overwhelming evidence to support the view that Asian consumers are slow to value green products and brands as being worth higher prices compared to leading ‘non-green’ products and brands.
There is significant evidence from the more developed economies of Japan, South Korea and Taiwan to suggest that within 3-4 years from market entry, most green brands can move to a premium price level in the market.

In a recent competitive benchmarking study undertaken by IBI Partners, the retail banking websites of 32 major retail banks across 6 countries in the Asia Pacific were analyzed and compared.
It was found that only 15 of the banks provided the level of functionality and usability that customers were seeking, with only 9 exceeding customers expectations.
Direct correlations were found between the higher the level of online banking functionality and usability, and the higher the number and value of online transactions made by customers, in addition to higher overall customer satisfaction rates.

IBI Partners undertook a detailed study investigating healthcare tourism industry across the Asia Pacific region, identifying the main source markets for patients, their size and value, in addition to the main destination markets for patients, their size and value.
It was found that during 2011, there was an overall growth of 13% in the number of international patients from within the Asia Pacific region, with the largest source countries being Indonesia, China and the Philippines, and the largest destination countries being India, Thailand and Singapore.
The number of patients travelling to the Asia Pacific region for healthcare from other regions increased by 19% in 2011, with the largest patient numbers coming from the Middle East, followed by Europe and North America, with the lower cost of treatment and immediacy of treatment being the main drawcards.

In a detailed economic impact study, IBI Partners investigated 12 casino's located in regional areas, popular with tourism, in 5 countries across the Asia Pacific region.
It was found that casinos themselves are typically a second tier tourist attraction and that over the last 5 years their patronage has been stable or in slight decline, conversely large casinos in major cities have seen their patronage increasing substancially.
The economic benefits of casinos in regional tourist areas primarily lies in providing relatively low-skilled and low paid employment to the local community, where annualized over the last 5 years, it was found that on average every $1 invested in a casino provides the local area with $1.42 in economic benefit to the region.