Advantage was founded in Toronto, Canada in 1988 by Ron Pirie. Ron believed that there was considerable value to be realized by having companies rate and rank their suppliers . Ron's belief in the importance of collaboration and passion for helping companies to work together more collaboratively created the foundation for Advantage Report™. Ron's original idea to improve performance through collaboration and benchmarking was first sketched on pizza box. This original concept evolved into a 360° design with a framework that outlined how suppliers and retailers could receive feedback from their trading partners. The survey originally called Performance Monitor was launched in the Canadian grocery industry, with a pharmacy version called Pharmacy Track. The business prospered as clients quickly identified the benefits they realized from the survey insights. The name of the survey was changed to Advantage Report™ for feedback provided to suppliers and Advantage Report™ Mirror for feedback provided to retailers. In 2001 Advantage Report was launched in the United States, and then in 2002 in the United Kingdom. That was the start of the global expansion of Advantage Report™. Today we offer full Advantage Report™ programs in over 40 countries and have conducted Advantage surveys in 60 markets worldwide. Our global coverage enables us to offer extensive cross-market reports for global sponsors that summarize their feedback across all the markets resulting in a Global Scorecard. In spite of the development and expansion that has taken place over almost 30 years, the founding principles that make Advantage Report™ essential are the same. Suppliers need candid feedback from their customers and the feedback is most valuable when it is explained by qualitative research. Retailers participate in our benchmarking survey because they want suppliers to gain a comprehensive understanding of what is working and what is not. Retailers also expect suppliers to act on this valuable feedback. Retailers also participate in our program because they value the feedback they receive from suppliers as it gives them a different perspective on how they can better serve shoppers and consumers.
They do business with integrity and rational thinking. Overall, it's an excellent place to work, with products that are winning in the marketplace.