Online social interaction has also increased substantially. Social media are nowadays a key source for market intelligence, but social media also provide new ways to improve the quality of the market intelligence process.
2 COMMON CHALLENGES IN MARKET
Many companies feel that they are not getting the full benefit out of their market monitoring process. Some common challenges that companies are facing are the following:
• There is too much information
• The information is not relevant
• The information is not insightful
• There is a lack of focus
• The information is delivered too late
• The information is too much backward-looking and not enough forward-looking
• The market monitoring process is isolated from other activities in the company
• The information is in a format which is difficult to understand
• The information is difficult to access
Fortunately, all of these challenges can be overcome using techniques and knowledge that are readily available.
One fundamental reason why many companies are struggling with their market monitoring processes has to do with understanding the relation between market monitoring and strategic management. A clear distinction needs to be made about whether the information delivered by the process is supposed to help them implement a strategy or whether it is supposed to help them formulate a strategy. While there are many more things to consider, to understand that difference is an important first step.
3 MARKET MONITORING AND STRATEGIC
In today’s business world, most large companies have a market monitoring process in place to deliver information about competitors, customers, and other market players to their employees. These systems are generally seen as useful, but the benefits are often difficult to pinpoint. To show how the maximum value can be seized from a market monitoring process, it is useful to start with analyzing the relation of market monitoring to strategic management.
There are two clearly distinct stages in strategic
management: strategy formulation and strategy implementation. Strategy
formulation is the stage that involves strategic planning, self-assessment, and
analyzing strategic alternatives, and eventually leads to decisions regarding
the company’s mission and goals. Strategy formulation is done by the top
management of a company. Strategy implementation, on the other hand, involves
the use and engagement of managerial and organizational resources so that the
goals are reached. Everyone in the company is involved in the implementation of
a strategy. [1]
Market monitoring is a process that can help both strategy formulation as well as implementation. What is required from the market monitoring process for these two purposes, however, is quite different. It is beneficial to consider these two cases separately, and to set up one market monitoring process first. Experience shows that it is best to start with the market monitoring process for supporting the implementation of strategy. Once such a system is in place and it is operating as desired, it can be extended to also support strategy formulation.
In the following chapters we shall first describe the key principles and optimal set-up for a market monitoring process whose purpose is to support strategy implementation. We shall refer to such a process simply as a Market Monitoring System (MAMOS). Most currently existing market monitoring processes in companies worldwide are of this type. At the end of the paper, we will discuss a process which is designed specifically to support the formulation of strategy. We shall call such a process an Early Warning and Opportunity System (EWOS) for reasons that will be clarified later in the paper.
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