Gladwin International · Primary Research
Primary Research Services
Decisions are only as good as the ground truth behind them.
Research-led intelligence for boards, CEOs and investors — talent maps, competitor and compensation intelligence, and bespoke primary research commissioned for a single consequential decision. Gathered first-hand, verified, and built to be acted on.
Ground truth, gathered first-hand.
The most expensive leadership and strategy decisions are still too often made on assumption, rumour and stale desk research. Who actually leads the function at a rival? What does the market really pay? Where is the talent, and what would move it? These are answerable questions — but only with disciplined primary research.
Gladwin runs the research engine that already powers our search practice, offered as a service in its own right. We build the picture from the source — practitioner conversations, verified structures, first-party data — not a repackaged report. Every deliverable is scoped to a decision and built to be defended in a boardroom.
It is intelligence with a point of view: not just what the data says, but what it means for the choice in front of you.
What we do
Discrete research products and fully bespoke engagements — always primary-source, always decision-scoped.
Talent Mapping & Market Landscapes
Comprehensive maps of who leads what, where the best people sit, and how a target market or function is really structured.
Competitor Talent Intelligence
An always-on picture of rivals' leadership — hires, exits, org changes and capability gaps — refreshed on a rhythm you set.
Competitor Financial Intelligence
Continuous financial and strategic monitoring of your peer set, distilled into executive narratives and live dashboards.
Compensation Benchmarking
Pay the market, not the rumour mill — role- and level-precise compensation data with a committee-ready narrative.
Custom Primary Research
Bespoke research commissioned for a single decision — expert interviews, surveys and expert-network work, scoped to your question.
Why Gladwin
The research firm inside the search firm.
Because we place leaders for a living, our research is calibrated to the questions that actually change decisions — not vanity metrics. We know who to call, how to verify, and what a board needs to see.
That gives you primary intelligence that is both rigorous and usable: source-verified, confidentiality-first, and framed for the choice at hand.
- Primary-source, first-party — never repackaged desk research
- Calibrated by an active executive-search practice
- Every engagement scoped to a specific decision
- Source-verified and confidentiality-first
- Boardroom-ready deliverables and narratives
- One-off products or an always-on intelligence rhythm
Ask a sharper question.
Tell us the decision you are trying to make, and we will scope the primary research that answers it — cleanly, confidentially and fast.
Primary Research Services — FAQs
Practical answers for boards, CEOs and investors evaluating the engagement.
We build intelligence from the source — practitioner and expert conversations, verified organisational structures and first-party data — rather than compiling existing public reports. Primary research is slower and harder, but it is the only way to answer the specific, high-stakes questions leadership decisions turn on.
Both. Talent mapping and custom primary research are typically scoped as one-off engagements around a decision; competitor talent/financial intelligence and compensation benchmarking can be delivered once or on an always-on rhythm you set.
Discretion is built into every engagement. Sourcing is handled so your interest is never exposed to the market, deliverables are access-controlled, and sensitive work can be run under a blind or third-party framing where required.