China Will Continue to be the Focus of Market Intelligence Activities in Asia Pacific Region, Customer Intelligence to Increase Overall
The economic downturn has meant budget cuts on Market Intelligence activities conducted by global and regional companies operating in the Asia Pacific, with a greater focus on securing customers. Companies nonetheless recognize the need for MI, and the scope for development is evident when comparing Asia Pacific companies to counterparts in Europe and North America.
Conducted by Global Intelligence Alliance, the 2009 Global Market Intelligence Survey shows that almost a third of the 47 executives surveyed who were based in the Asia Pacific feel they do not have the information about the external environment that they need to make key business decisions. Almost 60% were concerned about making poor decisions because of faulty, inaccurate or incomplete information. Respondents were from China, India, Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, New Zealand and Japan.
Asia Pacific Companies Lag Behind Rest of the World in In-house Market Intelligence Operations
Only 51% of those surveyed said they had existing Market Intelligence operations. This compares to 85% for companies in Northern Europe, 68% in Western Europe and 59% in North America, indicating clear scope for increasing Market Intelligence operations in the Asia Pacific region.
In the Asia Pacific, there is a strong trend for multinationals with operations in China to have Market Intelligence set up in North Asia. This reflects the focus of interest in the China market, and a strong need for Market Intelligence to tackle the market size and opportunities there. Reliable published information on China is scarce and a solid Market Intelligence strategy is needed if companies hope to access the kind of intelligence they need to make the right decisions.
Overall, 84% surveyed expect investment in Market Intelligence to remain the same or increase in the next 2 years.
Market Intelligence investment plans were diverse for companies in the Asia Pacific, ranging from a relatively high percentage of companies saying they planned to significantly decrease investment to an equally high relative percentage saying they planned to increase investment significantly.
17% of companies in the Asia Pacific said they planned to increase investment in Market Intelligence significantly in next 2 years (as opposed to just “moderately”) compared to just 3% in Northern Europe and 6% in Western Europe. These companies are seeing good prospects and are bullish about the region and will therefore spend more to explore opportunities.
On the other hand, some companies have had to reset their spending plans in many areas because of the global impact of the recession, with Market Intelligence being one of them. Head offices are reluctant or less able to allocate Market Intelligence budget to the Asia Pacific, especially if sales are already strong in the region. This is reflected in the 16% who will decrease spending.
Planned MI investment over the next two years for companies surveyed in Asia Pacific
Source: Global Intelligence Alliance, Global Market Intelligence survey 2009
Market Intelligence is currently most likely to be organized under the Sales and Marketing function of companies. While budgets for Market Intelligence tend to be lower that companies in North America and Europe, more than half of the companies in the Asia Pacific surveyed (55%) nonetheless said they have more than USD140,000 to spend on Market Intelligence a year.
In terms of progress of overall Market Intelligence operations in companies, 46% of companies surveyed in the Asia Pacific consider themselves at intermediate stage only, mainly acting as “coordinators”. 29% consider themselves to be at an informal or basic level of Market Intelligence development, and none consider themselves advanced.
Dissatisfaction with the integration of MI in the area of product innovation development was particularly high (46% of companies saying they were “dissatisfied” or “extremely dissatisfied” with this particular area) compared to dissatisfaction with integration of MI in continuous monitoring, strategic planning, supply chain management, marketing and sales or M&A activities (dissatisfaction ranging from 21-33%).
With the more critical need to secure customers and gain competitive edge in the poor economic climate, many companies finding a strong need for business-to-business (B2B) customer intelligence as a means to understand how to improve their product or service offering to customers and secure revenues.
Progress of overall MI operations for companies surveyed in the Asia Pacific
Source: Global Intelligence Alliance, Global Market Intelligence survey 2009
* Market Intelligence or MI is the discipline where organizations systematically gather, process and analyze information from their operating environment to facilitate decision-making
Download 2009 Global Market Intelligence Survey report
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