J.D. Power

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J.D. Power
FormerlyJ.D. Power and Associates
Company typePrivate
IndustryMarket Research
FoundedLos Angeles, California (1968)
FounderJ.D. Power III
Headquarters
Troy, Michigan
,
United States
Key people
Dave Habiger, President and CEO
OwnerThoma Bravo
Number of employees
833
Websitejdpower.com/business

J.D. Power is an American marketing firm[1] based in Troy, Michigan. The company was founded in 1968 by James David Power III. The company, headquartered in Troy, Michigan, describes itself as "a global data and analytics company."[2] It conducts surveys of customer satisfaction, product quality, and buyer behavior for the automotive, banking & payments, wealth and lending, telecommunications, insurance, health, travel, and utilities sectors. The firm is best known for its customer satisfaction research and benchmarking on new-car quality and long-term dependability. Its service offerings include industry-wide syndicated studies, proprietary research, consulting, training, and automotive forecasting.[3]

J.D. Power reportedly charges hundreds of thousands of dollars to carmakers for access to its survey results, a large fee to mention their awards in advertisements, and has a service to help companies make improvements that should raise their rankings.[4] The company claims that its business practices of consulting companies how to improve rankings in their awards and the fees they charge for licensing their awards for promotional purposes are separate.[5]

History

J.D. Power was founded in 1968 by James David Power III. Power had previously worked in advertising and doing customer research for the Ford Motor Company, where he felt customer satisfaction data was too often overlooked. He later joined Marplan, and then McCulloch, a chainsaw manufacturer. He left his position at McCulloch and founded J.D. Power and Associates on April 1, 1968, working at first from his kitchen table. The company incorporated on February 7, 1969. The "associates" referred to in the firm's title were his wife, who assisted him with market research, and his children, who helped stuff envelopes.[6][7][8]

In 1973, the company first drew significant national attention when Julia P. Power, working from the results of customer surveys, discovered a design flaw in the O-rings of certain Mazda rotary engines. The report was then publicized by the Wall Street Journal and widely repeated in other outlets. In the following years, J.D. Power and Associates became particularly known for its automotive customer satisfaction rankings, while continuing to work in other areas such as food and computers. The firm created the first Dealer Attitude Study in 1976 and the U.S. Automotive Customer Satisfaction Index in 1981.[6][7] J.D. Power's entry into the market of consumers surveys for personal computers, long distance providers, and cellular providers were not as successful as their automotive research.[3]

Subaru paid J.D. Power to mention the results of their ranking in the J.D. Power Awards in 1984 and became the first company to mention their results in a television commercial which aired during Super Bowl XVIII. According to J.D. Power, their rankings have appeared in more than 350,000 television commercials and two billion print advertisements.[8][5]

In 2002, the company moved its headquarters from Agoura Hills, California, to Westlake Village in Ventura County.[9] In 2005, James David Power was ready to retire and sold the firm to McGraw Hill Financial and also resigned as chairman. In September 2016, McGraw Hill sold JD Power to XIO Group for US $1.1bn.

J.D. Power expanded its offerings to sell financial and insurance products through car dealerships in 2017.[10] In March 2018, Dave Habiger was named its president and CEO, with the objective of building and enhancing the company's data and analytics and customer insights leadership.[11]

In 2019, J.D. Power was acquired by Thoma Bravo and, as part of this acquisition, J.D. Power was merged with Autodata Solutions, a provider of data and software for the automotive industry.[12][13]

Market research

A selection of the awards presented to the Ford Motor Company by J.D. Power in 2007

J.D. Power's consumer surveys are drawn from analysis of consumer behavior and market data. J.D. Power ratings are based on the survey responses of randomly selected and/or specifically targeted consumers. Although publicly known for the endorsement value of its product awards, J.D. Power obtains the majority of its revenue from corporations that seek the data collected from J.D. Power surveys for internal use.[3] Companies which have used J.D. Power surveys range from automotive, cellphone, and computer manufacturers to home builders and utility companies. To be able to use the J.D. Power logo and to quote the survey results in advertising, companies must pay a licensing fee to J.D. Power.[3]

Automotive surveys

J.D. Power conducts multiple annual surveys of the automotive industry in the U.S. as well as in other countries. The Vehicle Dependability Study (VDS) is a measure of problems experienced after three years of ownership, while the Initial Quality Study (IQS) is a measure of problems experienced within the first 90 days of ownership.[14] Other surveys include the APEAL survey, reflecting consumer's attitudes towards a vehicle's attributes, dealership service surveys, and customer purchasing experience surveys. Similar versions of the Vehicle Dependability and Initial Quality Studies are performed internationally, and usually released with the country's name, followed by the same title, e.g. China Initial Quality Study.[15]

J.D. Power research surveys are conducted in the local languages of India, Japan, Taiwan, China, Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Canada, Mexico, Europe, Australia, Germany, UAE and the UK.[16]

See also

References

  1. ^ For use of the term "marketing firm" see:
    • Laitner, Bill. "Cost of record power outage in Michigan continues to add up". Detroit Free Press. According to a survey last year by the global marketing firm J.D. Power
    • Giordano, Dom (September 13, 2017). "Sports media wrong to glorify athletes who snub national anthem". Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 2 May 2022. When you combine that with a recent poll with J.D. Power, a global marketing firm, that stated most fans
    • Lee, Carrie (24 November 1999). "Car Buyers Find They Don't Always Get Great Deals Online". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2 May 2022. the marketing firm estimates that 2.7 % of 13 million new cars
    • Vlasic, Bill (20 March 2008). "Dismal Year Is Forecast for Car Sales". The New York Times. Retrieved 2 May 2022. The broader economic woes prompted the marketing firm J. D. Power & Associates to cut its annual forecast to 14.95 million vehicles
    • Chen, Brian X. (August 14, 2009). "Survey: Most-Hated Wireless Company Isn't AT&T, It's Sprint". [[Wired (magazine)|]]. Retrieved 2 May 2022. Global marketing firm J.D. Power on Thursday released results of its wireless customer care survey
    • Lynley, Matthew (25 May 2011). "Six in 10 Americans say no to electric cars (poll)". Reuters. Retrieved 2 May 2022. according to a report by global marketing firm J.D. Power & Associates.
    • O'Dell, John (1 October 2001). "Survey Finds Honda Falling Back in Pack". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2 May 2022. The automotive marketing firm's annual nationwide survey
    • Snyder, Stephanie (February 1, 2014). "J.D. Power and Associates: Global influence close to home". Ventura County Star. Retrieved 2 May 2022. Global marketing firm J.D. Power and Associates has been successfully influencing consumers on what products to purchase for more than 45 years.
    • Estrada, Marie (6 February 2014). "Company changed an industry". The Acorn. Retrieved 2 May 2022. Behind the global marketing firm...
    • Shearin, Megan (October 22, 2013). "J.D. Power and Associates Jamey Power IV to speak on Oct. 28". William & Mary School of Business. Retrieved 2 May 2022. J.D. Power and Associates is a California-based research marketing firm
    • Franzen, Harold (24 January 2002). "The Power of J.D. Power". Popular Science. Retrieved 2 May 2022. What is J.D. Power & Associates? A marketing firm...
    • Shrikant, Aditi (27 November 2018). "Why every car commercial mentions J.D. Power and Associates". Vox. Retrieved 30 April 2022. J.D. Power is a marketing firm best known for its automotive research
  2. ^ "A global Data & Analytics company".
  3. ^ a b c d "USNews.com: From boats to Internet service, J. D. Power lives to rank". US News. 2004-03-07. Archived from the original on 2013-10-09. Retrieved 2007-04-05.
  4. ^ Morran, Chris (2010-05-10). "Can You Trust Those Awards You See In Auto Ads?". Consumer Reports.
  5. ^ a b Eric Schilling (December 6, 2017). "Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About The JD Power Awards". Jalopnik. Retrieved April 10, 2018.
  6. ^ a b Al Lewis (December 18, 2013). "How J.D. Power made companies listen to the customer". Market Watch. Retrieved April 10, 2013.
  7. ^ a b Taryn Luna (January 12, 2014). "Seven Things You Need to Know about James David Power". Boston Globe. Retrieved April 10, 2018.
  8. ^ a b Roger Schlueter (April 1, 2017). "This is how J.D. Power became a big deal". Retrieved April 10, 2018.
  9. ^ "J.D. Power Moving to New Headquarters". Los Angeles Times. April 11, 2002. Retrieved April 10, 2018.
  10. ^ "Dave Habiger, J.D. Power's new CEO, is tech expert and car guy". Automotive News. 2018-03-21. Retrieved 2019-12-16.
  11. ^ "New CEO Says His Job Is to Help J.D. Power Grow Faster". Bloomberg.com. 2018-03-21. Retrieved 2020-09-09.
  12. ^ "Thoma Bravo finalizes J.D. Power acquisition". Crain's Chicago Business. 2019-12-16. Retrieved 2022-04-27.
  13. ^ "J.D. Power to merge with Autodata; Thoma Bravo deal closes". Auto Remarketing. 2019-12-16. Retrieved 2022-04-27.
  14. ^ Cheryl Jensen (October 30, 2012). "Why Consumer Reports and J.D. Power Are So Different". The New York Times. Retrieved April 10, 2018.
  15. ^ "Domestic and International Brand Vehicle Initial Quality Gap Continues to Narrow, J.D. Power Finds". JD Power. Retrieved April 10, 2018.
  16. ^ About J.D. Power | J.D. Power

External links

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