Primary Interviews Are Not Supplementary — They Are an Independent Verification Layer

In China-related investment, M&A, business partnerships and supplier assessment, there are situations where public information and company explanations alone are not enough to support a judgment.

Company materials, management statements, industry reports, customer lists and public articles are all important sources of information.

However, when they rely on the same assumptions or the same underlying company narrative, a large volume of information may still provide limited independent verification.

This is where primary interviews with people outside the target company become important.

The Purpose of Primary Interviews Is Not to Collect Comments

Primary interviews are not conducted simply to add market commentary to a report.

Asking broadly, “What do you think of this company?” does not necessarily produce information that is useful for decision-making.

What matters is to identify the assumptions and claims that need to be tested in advance, and then verify them through independent sources.

For example, if a company says that “demand is strong,” the question is not simply whether the overall market is growing.

Are customers actually purchasing more?

Are distributor inventories at healthy levels?

Are price reductions or rebates becoming more common?

Are competitors seeing the same strength in demand?

Are there meaningful differences between regions?

Can temporary shipment growth be distinguished from sustained sell-through?

Primary interviews are therefore not primarily about collecting opinions. They are used to test the assumptions underlying a decision.

What Needs to Be Tested Is the Consistency Between Company Claims and Market Behavior

A company explanation may sound reasonable without necessarily being consistent with what is actually happening in the market.

For example, if management says that relationships with key customers are stable, that statement should not simply be accepted at face value. It needs to be examined from several perspectives.

Do customers regard the company as an important supplier?

Does the scale of purchasing match what the company describes?

Are transactions still ongoing?

How is the company positioned relative to alternative suppliers or competing products?

The same applies when a company says that it is expanding production capacity.

Has the capital expenditure actually taken place?

Is the company hiring more people?

Have procurement patterns or component purchases changed?

Are utilization rates and shipment volumes consistent with the company's explanation?

Primary interviews break these claims down one by one and examine them through the perspectives of customers, distributors, suppliers, competitors and other local market participants.

Designing an Independent Information Layer

An interview does not automatically become independent information simply because it is conducted outside the company.

If interviewees are limited to contacts introduced by the target company, intermediaries within the same network, or parties with strong commercial interests in the transaction, the information may simply repeat the same company narrative.

For this reason, primary research requires careful design of who should be interviewed.

Clarify the claims that need to be tested.

Map where relevant information sits across the industry value chain.

Identify sources that do not have a direct interest in the transaction outcome.

Distinguish facts from opinions, assumptions and hearsay.

Cross-check findings across multiple independent sources.

Record contradictory information and areas that cannot be verified rather than forcing them into a single conclusion.

Not every source will point in the same direction.

The reality visible to different participants may vary by region, position in the value chain, stage of the transaction or point in time.

Primary interview findings therefore should not be treated as a simple majority vote.

Who is speaking?

From what position?

About what period of time?

Is the information based on direct experience?

Can it be confirmed through other independent sources?

Only after these questions are considered does primary interview evidence become useful for judgment.

At FUWA LAB, we regard primary interviews in China-related investment, M&A, business partnerships and supplier assessment not as supplementary information, but as an independent verification layer.

The purpose is not to reject public information or company explanations.

It is to use them as a starting point and compare them with what is actually happening among customers, sales channels, suppliers, competitors and local operations.

We believe that this accumulated verification provides a more reliable basis for judgment in complex markets.