Market Intelligence in technology-intensive enterprises: Its constitution and utilization in a B2B context - Case Study of a Business Intelligence Outsourcing Supplier in the Automotive Industry

Abstract

An enterprise´s market intelligence involves its knowledge about its customers, competitors, and the future market developments. The constitution of market intelligence is crucial for the enterprise in a variety of perspectives. Market intelligence affects the enterprise´s ability to adapt to different countries and markets, the ability to satisfy current and future customer needs, and the ability to maximize its performance in the long-run. The generation and dissemination of, and the responsiveness to market intelligence are the three constituting elements of effective market intelligence. However, existing research lacks an understanding on (1) how enterprises practically constitute market intelligence, and on (2) how enterprises utilize their market intelligence. Technological enhancements such as the utilization of business analytics software to analyze data sets enlarge the necessity for contemporary research with focus on market intelligence constitution and utilization. This study´s purpose is thus to add depth to existing research by contributing understanding on how market intelligence is constituted and how it is utilized in technology-intensive enterprises. The study finds that market intelligence is constituted on a strategic level and on an operative level. Furthermore, findings indicate that market intelligence constitution occurs both inter-functional and intra-functional. Strategic market intelligence is observed to be constituted inter-functional, while operative market intelligence is constituted intra-functional. The study also finds that the theory´s suggestion on the consecutive order (1) generation and (2) dissemination of, and (3) responsiveness to market intelligence is not generally applicable for all departments or functional units, that are involved in the constitution of market intelligence. Regarding the utilization of market intelligence, the study finds the systematic internalization of customer-related intelligence, subsequent customer benchmarking, and the consolidation of inter-functional expert teams for sales functions as measures that are adopted to skim additional acquisitions of customer projects.