Abstract:

Ever-increasing resources are being devoted to learning about customers. What do they want how do they perceive us and our offer how do we match up against the competition? Attendant pressures mount on research specialists product brand and marketing managers to provide insights to inform strategy formulation. While these investments are well motivated relatively little is known about whether they are value creating and if so how? This descriptive paper explores the relationship between market sensing activities and competitive performance. It cautions that many investments in learning about markets may not yield substantive returns without appropriate alignment of the supporting organizational infrastructure. Managers are urged that achieving organizational alignment is a requirement for making intelligence count.