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Research Ethical Guidelines

Krenovate is a professional research services company involved in the collection and reporting of market intelligence and intellectual property subjects. This activity involves both secondary and primary research (individuals) to gain insights necessary to conduct work. The purpose of this document is to clearly state the guidelines followed at Krenovate while conducting this work.

These standards are intended to protect the integrity, reputation, business and legal interests of our clients, the interviewees, as well as Krenovate. Strict adherence to these guidelines, all the time, is considered to be a condition of employment in our Company. Every person in our Company individually signs this document confirming their intent to abide by these guidelines. These guidelines are applicable to all the Employees of Krenovate and any other legal entity that is part of the Krenovate group of companies.

General Rules

  • In general, use common sense. If it "feels" unethical, it probably is. Do not deliberately mislead by making a false statement. Honesty is the best policy at all times.
  • If at any time you are unsure whether a particular research situation might become potentially unethical or illegal, immediately raise the flag and discuss it with your reporting manager, client executive, senior management or the Krenovate Counsel.
  • These rules overrule any instructions potentially given to you by anyone, be it knowingly or unknowingly, be it by the client or internally, leading to any potentially unethical or illegal situations.
  • You have the "obligation to dissent" if you do not agree with the answers given to you by your superiors. If in doubt, discuss it directly with your reporting manager, senior managernent or the Krenovate Counsel.

Client Confidentiality

  • Always ensure that confidential information given to Krenovate by the client remains confidential including the client's name. The only exception is information that has been explicitly made public by the client in writing to Krenovate. Unless told otherwise, always keep the name of the client confidential.
  • No confidential information received by the Krenovate team from the client shall be shared with any other team at Krenovate, either directly or indirectly. All appropriate precautions will be taken to this extent.

Primary Research

  • At the beginning of every primary research interview or survey, introduce yourself clearly stating your name and where you are calling from — either from Krenovate or one of its affiliates — and, if, and only if we have been told to disclose the client's name, working on a project on behalf of XYZ client.
  • At no time attempt to hide or mislead regarding the fact that you are calling from the location of your office.
  • If asked whether you are calling from a competitive intelligence firm, confirm that this is one of the services we provide. You can add that we conduct various types of market researches including segment and market analysis, product commercialisation studies, benchmarking, customer surveys, as well as intellectual property research services.
  • If asked the name of the end-client by an interviewee or whether we are working for a direct competitor of theirs, state that it is our Connpany policy to keep all client names confidential.
  • When conducting any research, be honest regarding the work you are doing. If we have developed a "story line" that explains our purpose for conducting the work, ensure that this story is honest and delivered according to the plan.
  • When conducting a company profiling project covering our client's competitors in any way, if you are asked whether the information you are collecting will be used for the purpose of competitive intelligence — you should state that the information being collected will be used for a variety of purposes, including market and competitive intelligence, and should be given only if it is non-confidential from the interviewee's perspective.
  • Never pressurise someone to provide information that they state is confidential. If you believe that information has come into our hands in violation of a confidentiality agreement or illegally, immediately notify your reporting manager or the senior management about this. Using confidential information is unethical and usually illegal, regardless of the manner in which it was obtained.
  • If an interviewee or any relevant employee of a company being interviewed asks you to stop calling further employees of that company, immediately inform your reporting rnanager or the senior rnanagement and the appropriate client executive, and stop calling.

Copyrights and Intellectual Policy

  • When using secondary sources, be certain that you are not violating any copyright or trademark laws in using the data from these sources. If you have any question in this regard, immediately bring this to the attention of the reporting manager or the senior management.
  • Since we are not an approved reseller of database information, we cannot simply forward "cut and paste" information from our paid sources to clients without any value addition. If asked by a client, discuss an appropriate response with your reporting manager or the senior management.
  • All intellectual property developed on behalf of e client during the course of paid work, or received by the client, is and remains the client's property unless excluded by some explicit agreement.

Any portion of data insubstantial in content extracted from databases and to be used in the deliverables needs to be sourced to the database or website.

Acknowledgement of these Guidelines is annexed as Annexure C

Last update: July 28, 2020