Nielsen Business Profile

Nicole Crone, Molly Flanagan Abby Merz, Daniel Rowe, and William Pappalardo
2

Nielsen is a global information data and research company headquartered in the UK. They

operate in over 100 countries. Arthur C. Nielsen founded Nielsen in 1923 to provide engineering

performance surveys, eventually spurring the use of consumer market surveys in business. Their

goal to this day is to study how consumers shop to help companies better shape their product

development and marketing. Their data covers 90% of the world population and GDP. Nielsen

demonstrates professionalism, academics, character, and engagement by how they treat their

employees and how they present their company to the world.

Nielsen is growing as a company in some ways, and stagnating in others. Nielsen has failed

to raise its stock price in the last three years, taking a considerable hit at the end of 2016 after

consistently growing through 2015 and the majority of 2016 (Nielsen Holdings). However,

Nielsen has recently made acquisitions to grow as a company. They acquired Gracenote, an

industry- leading media metadata provider, in February of 2017 and Visual IQ, a leading

independent provider of multi-touch attribution for advertising, in October of 2017 (Nielsen

Completes) and (Nielsen Agrees). Both of these companies expand Nielsens to ingest and

analyze more data to deeper analyze consumer behavior and provide better solutions to their

customer. Nielsen has been known for many years as a diverse and advanced company, earning

awards for diversity as well as innovation. However, they have continued to improve on their

services, ranking 32nd on DiversityIncs top 50 for commitment to workplace diversity and 30th

on Forbes list of worlds most innovative companies (Awards). Nielsen is focused on growing its

data analytics and integration ability in order to increase its competitive advantage and market

share. A question we have for Nielsen is what steps will they take to improve revenue and market

share in the long run.

The Nielsen Experience is stated as Be Yourself, Make a Difference, and Grow with us. As

a company, Nielsen promotes growth and diversity for their workforce. They have developed the

Diverse Leadership Network, which is a 15-month program where participants receive mentoring

to diversify the leadership system in the company. They have employee resource groups

established to help unify people with diverse backgrounds, from race to sexuality. The company

has received recognitions for its diversity inclusion, like being named one of the Best Places to

Work by the Human Rights Campaign. [Link] reviews of Nielsen comment positively

about the work-life balance promoted by the company. Nielsens website claims that the focus is

on the Whole You when considering benefits and work hours. Benefits offered include health

challenges, stock ownership plans, and vacation days.

Nielsen prides itself in having a very diverse workforce. They have been ranked by

DiversityInc as the 32nd most diverse company. Their top management has 28% more women

and Asians than the other top 50 diverse companies. As a marketing research company, it is very

important to have a diverse workplace. This allows for many different perspectives and new

ideas. Nielsen stresses the importance of diversity; they want a mixture of new and old, foreign

and native. As Liz Buchanan, the VP of Sales Engineering, says, the core of Nielsen is

openness. The company has to be open to new ideas because the world around us is constantly

changing and so is the way we do marketing. Buchanan says that Nielsen has developed a new

philosophy. They want to be more open to new ideas, which means that they are looking for

people of any age and of any ethnicity that have new ideas and innovations that they can bring to

the company to make it a better place. Because of this prior education is not as important as it

may be at other companies, but professionalism is still key in this environment. According to

their website, Nielsen values the principles of honesty, integrity, fairness, respect, and reliability.
4

Nielsen wants to take people in, foster them, and help them grow as a person and in their career.

Nielsen is a place where you can be yourself, make a difference and grow.

One of the most important factors considered while looking for jobs is the opportunity for

academic advancement available through the company. According to a poll from Gallup, more

than 50% of millennials surveyed ranked the opportunity to learn and grow as extremely

important when looking for a job, considerably higher than the percentages of Gen X and Baby

Boomers. Nielsen has developed multiple programs to allow their employees to gain experience

and further develop their skills.

Nielsen has three distinct programs to help further the education of their employees. The

Emerging Leaders Program -ELP- was developed by Nielsen as a way to help their employees

improve skills through on-the-job experience. The ELP is segmented into five categories

-finance, human resources, technology, operations, and commercial- in order to customize the

program to fit their employees. While in the ELP, employees go through four rotations over the

course of two years, following a track allowing them to gain exposure to the company as a whole

in addition to fine-tuning skills in their area of expertise. The Professional Service Analytics

Experience -PSAE- acts as a fast track for newly hired analysts which allows them to conduct

and analyze market research as well as draw conclusions and make recommendations based off

of their findings. They then have the opportunity to present this information directly to

manufacturing and retail clients. The third program Nielsen offers is the Emerging Technologists

Program -ETP. This program takes participants in-depth into the processes required to gather and

analyze data such as research, machine learning, architecture, statistical modeling, design, and

behavioral methods, in order to better understand the platform and methods of the company.
5

Through these programs, Nielsen provides their employees with the opportunity to further

themselves in their field and in the company.

Nielsen also partners with academic institutions to provide data for use by students, faculty,

and administration. In the classroom, this data can be used by faculty to set curriculum, and can

be used by students as secondary data that can facilitate the collection of primary data or

collection of further secondary data. PhD and Postdoctoral students can use Nielsen data in the

writing and publishing of scientific or academic journals. Administration of institutions can use

data collected by Nielsen to shape marketing and PR projects, attract prospective students, and

encourage alumni engagement. Another question we have for Nielsen is how does sharing data

with academic institutions provide Nielsen with monetary or material benefit, and how can

Nielsen use these connections to provide value for the company.

More than eight in ten millennials believe companies need to make a public commitment to

be a good corporate citizen (Faw). Additionally, having a social mission can increase brand

loyalty, create a strong corporate culture, and promote positive publicity. Mitch Barnes, Chief

Executive Officer for Nielsen said, The vitality of a business is closely linked to the health of

the markets and communities in which it operates. So it is important for us to care for the

markets and communities we rely on to operate our business. This is the primary motivation

behind our sustainability efforts, both for our own company and in support of our clients

sustainability objectives (Global Responsibility and Sustainability). Nielsen has demonstrated

extreme commitment to community engagement and has shown strong character through their

actions to promote socially responsible practices.

Nielsen has created a culture of giving through their program Nielsen Cares. The initiative is

devoted to serving the community through four main focus groups: hunger/ nutrition, technology,

diversity/inclusion, and education. Every year the company donates time, energy, and money to

nonprofit organizations. The company has served over 1,400 projects in 92 countries (Nielsen

Cares). They demonstrate their impact on the community through the formula Insights plus

involvement plus investment equals impact. Every year, Nielsen invests over ten million dollars

in data, products, and services, a large investment to a mission of global giving. Additionally,

each employee serves 24 hours in acts of community involvement as a way to bring employees

closer to the causes the company invests in. While the companys dedication to corporate giving

helps those in the community, it also motivates employees. 95% of Nielsen volunteers said that

volunteerism is a core or positive part of their overall job satisfaction (Nielsen Cares). In

addition to Nielsens community outreach program, they have also dedicated resources to

implementing green and environmental efforts in a program called Nielsen Green. They continue

to push the envelope of corporate social responsibility through sustainable supply chain

practices. Nielsen as a whole has worked tirelessly to make their company a socially responsible

company. A question for Nielsen is how they will continue to expand their efforts and

demonstrate growth in the sector of giving.

Nielsen demonstrates PACE ideals throughout multiple areas of their company. Nielsen

shows professionalism through the treatment of their employees and emphasizes character

through the promotion of respect, honesty, integrity, fairness, and reliability within the

workplace. Nielsen encourages their employees to further their education by providing multiple

programs that allow them to gain useful experience and strengthen their skills. Nielsen is
7

engaged in their community through outreach programs and promoting sustainability efforts, and

encourages the same engagement from their employees.

Works Cited

Adkins, Brandon and Rigoni, Amy. What Millennials Want from a New Job. Harvard Business

Review, 5 Oct. 2017. Web.

Awards & Recognition Nielsen, The Nielsen Company. 2017. Web.

Early Career Programs - North America | Nielsen Careers

Faw, Larissa. "Millennials Expect More Than Good Products, Services To Win Their Loyalty."

Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 22 May 2014. Web.

Nielsen Agrees to Acquire Visual IQ Nielsen, The Nielsen Company. New York, NY, 3

October 2017. Web.

Nielsen Completes Acquisition of Gracenote Nielsen, The Nielsen Company LLC. New York,

NY, 1 February 2017. Web.

Nielsen History Goes Back Further Than You Think. JKR Advertising & Marketing, 16 Dec.

2014. Web.

Nielsen Holdings PLC MarketWatch. 2017. Web.

Staff, DiversityInc. Nielsen | DiversityInc Top 50. DiversityInc,

The Nielsen Company. Nielsen, 2017. Accessed 24 October 2017.