Market & Business Research


The role of research is to identify the right questions in an effort to generate good answers and better understanding. With this in mind, Bella Carlo's staff designs and does research projects to gather insights into a business opportunity, the marketplace, and/or to support decision making. Businesses, executives, trade associations, governments, the media, accountants, attorneys, private-equity groups, banks, other financial institutions and advisers, and academics have benefited from our research.

CAPABILITIES AND EXPERTISE

The following capabilities and expertise are provided to help decision-makers make good decisions from practical, fact-based research and analysis.

  • Fundamental and seasonal economic analysis to understand the underlying supply and demand conditions in the marketplace,
  • Market and industry-organizational research to understand the competitive landscape and cost-structure influencing the competitive environment,
  • Workouts and bankruptcies to help re-structure companies who suffer from under and unprofitable performance,
  • Business valuations based on asset values, sales and cash-flows, and returns on investment, and
  • Detailed business plans to outline strategic and tactical options available to owners, employees, and others with vested interest in a firm’s success.

EXAMPLES OF APPLICATIONS OF OUR SERVICES

Applications of our analytical services illustrate their uses and value:

  • Due diligence for acquisition of assets and/or businesses,
  • Expert testimonials,
  • Estate and succession planning,
  • Marketing and business plans,
  • Investment banking,
  • Consumer and market research, and
  • Business valuations and appraisals

ASSIGNMENTS WHERE OUR SERVICES WERE USED

Here are some examples of assignments where we applied our skills and capabilities:

  • Consumer behavior and needs’ assessment,
  • Market size and potential (in 16 countries),
  • Product positioning and development,
  • Industrial (competitive) structure and behavior,
  • Market-channel evaluation,
  • Margin analyses by SKU,
  • Category management,
  • Financial health, solvency and liquidity,
  • Estimating economic damages and crop losses,
  • Cost-engineering and –structure analysis,
  • Lender liability, and
  • Business valuations,

SELECT PROJECTS

Select projects further illustrate the value and uses of Bella Carlo’s analytical services:

  • A large California-based bank was accused of lender liability and thus used our analytical services to support their defense against the charges.
  • California’s cling-peach industry, through its trade association, had us research the marketplace and draft a go-to-market plan to expand sales into Mexico.
  • A California-based pasta company commissioned a plan to expand its sales overseas.
  • A southern California meat processor and exporter had us draft and manage their export plan into Japan.
  • An almond grower sued a chemical company for damages sustained from a loss in his crop and the chemical company used our business-valuation methods to determine the value of the losses.
  • A Canadian horticultural company supplemented an analysis they did using Bella Carlo’s research to estimate market potential and shares.
  • A family-owned diversified farming operation used our economic and business-planning skills to lead the formation of its strategic plan.
  • A software company used Bella Carlo’s analytical, market-research and economic services to identify its value proposition and form a plan to raise growth capital.
  • A publicly-traded food manufacturer asked Bella Carlo to conduct consumer research as part of a re-branding strategy.
  • Another publicly-traded food manufacturer had us do the work on positioning for a new product roll out
  • A California-based animal-health distributor had Bella Carlo do the market research for its overseas expansions.
  • We studied the impacts of the NAFTA on agricultural transportation.
  • A seasonal business was reorganized based on our fundamental and seasonal economic analyses of sales, costs and margins.
  • One of the campuses in the California State University system had us do the strategic portion of a plan to start and manage a new academic program in agricultural business.
  • A premium juice company had Bella Carlo identify and estimate market potential, pricing and supply-chain margins, production capacity and costs, amount of working capital, transportation costs, alternative overhead structures, financial structure, and return on investment as part of a plan to capitalize the company with five million dollars.
  • Our analytical services are used to form plans to buy, manage and build companies, which served as the foundation from where Bella Carlo served as merchant bankers to purchase the assets of a fertility firm, a tree-nut processor, a horticultural company, a food processor, a cheese manufacturer, a juice company, and a Latin-American exporter of fruits and vegetables.

Dr. Juan Batista leads Bella Carlo’s research services. He manages projects to insure they are well designed, creative, practical and, most importantly, probing.


If you would like to hear more about our research capabilities or to request a proposal, please call Dr. Juan C. Batista at 831-484-1152. Or you can email him at juanb@bellacarlo.com. Thank you.