The Handbook of Market Intelligence: Understand, Compete and Grow in Global Markets, 2nd Edition

Chapter 15Implementing Market Intelligence Programs

THE CHALLENGE OF A NEWLY APPOINTED HEAD OF MARKET INTELLIGENCE

Mark was smiling inwards. He was quite happy with the presentation he had prepared for a conference where he had been invited to speak about setting up a Market Intelligence (MI) program. In his mind, he had gone through once again the multiple initiatives that had kept him occupied for the last one and a half years, reflecting on his past experiences and selecting some of the key things to discuss in his presentation. One thing clearly stood out: never before had he had such an extensive network of people around him, all of whom were stakeholders to the intelligence program that he was leading. Mark felt somewhat pressured – he felt personal responsibility for delivering on the promises that his program continuously made to the organization – while at the same time he thought nothing could be more rewarding than this: being able to support the managers and experts around him by providing top notch intelligence to their needs. As a people person, he really enjoyed his job. This was what he would start his presentation with.

Mark was working in a relatively large logistics company whose services covered express delivery, freight, warehousing, and distribution. Originally, the initiative to establish a systematic intelligence program in the company had come from one of the Board members who had previous experience of a solid intelligence program in operation. It ...