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A case study of the development of a successful market intelligence function is presented. How the principles of marketing intelligence and planning can themselves be applied in this situation is demonstrated. Each element of the marketing process is illustrated by the practice the author developed initially and followed over the three years that he managed the market intelligence function for the UK subsidiary of a multinational computer company. It is argued that success depends to a large degree on the continuing reappraisal of key factors. Just as one segments the external market, creates a market position and promotes one′s products and services, it is equally important to carry out corresponding activities internally. No market intelligence function today can be fully effective without exploiting computer‐based systems. The way in which these have been used to support and enhance marketing professionals is described.

Many large companies in Asia are turning to market intelligence for input into their strategic management system and decision making. Conventional marketing research is increasingly viewed as being too narrowly focused on tactical and operational issues. It is characterized by an overriding concern with data rather than analysed information and the research is often conducted in response to an apparent market threat or opportunity rather than on an ongoing basis. This paper attempts to highlight the role of the Internet for market intelligence purposes. It proposes and demonstrates the marketing intelligence process, techniques and procedures, as illustrated by a case study on Creative Technology. Believes that the intelligent use of the Internet is strategically beneficial for both marketing research and intelligence.

While much empirical work has centered on marketing effectiveness, the generalizability of its relationship to emotional intelligence in the Nigerian context has been under‐researched. The purpose of this paper is to assess the impact of emotional intelligence on the marketing effectiveness of the organization.

A 31‐item survey questionnaire is developed and 108 corporate organizations in Nigeria are selected from the 2007 edition of the Nigerian Stock Exchange Gazette as a sample for this study. Hand delivery survey is conducted from key informants in the organizations. Returned instruments are analyzed using non‐parametric correlation through the use of the Statistical Package for Social Sciences.

The results of the study validate the instruments on emotional intelligence and the earlier instruments for marketing effectiveness and find a strong association between emotional intelligence and marketing effectiveness of corporate organizations in the Nigerian context. The main finding is that emotional intelligence leads to marketing effectiveness in corporate organizations in Nigeria.

The implications of the results are clear for scholars and managers. For managers, the paper has implications for the investigation of the link between emotional intelligence and marketing effectiveness of corporate organizations in Nigeria. In the first place, the paper provides a direct test of the applicability of a western paradigm to the Nigerian economic system different from other cultures.

The paper significantly refines the body of knowledge concerning the impact of emotional intelligence on marketing effectiveness in the Nigerian context. It will, without doubt, contribute to the body of existing literature on emotional intelligence and marketing effectiveness.

Reference to the strategic marketing and corporate intelligence interface is made explicit in this paper, and various contributions to the field of competitive intelligence are highlighted. A conceptual model, known as the strategic corporate intelligence and transformational marketing (SATELLITE) model is outlined, and can be used by corporate intelligence staff to provide better marketing intelligence. The SATELLITE model provides a framework within which strategic marketing staff and corporate intelligence staff can develop intelligence and security related strategies that can counter the moves of competitors and unwelcome protagonists. The model can also be used to identify areas of organizational weakness and can assist senior managers in identifying future areas of market opportunity.

It has been argued that innovation speed has been inappropriately absent in models of market orientation. The present study seeks to provide new insights into whether and how market orientation's three main components: intelligence generation, intelligence dissemination, and responsiveness affect innovation speed and new product performance, and about the mediating role of innovation speed.

Data were collected from a sample of 247 firms in a variety of manufacturing industries. A mail survey was developed to collect the data.

The results indicate that intelligence generation has an indirect positive effect on innovation speed via intelligence dissemination and responsiveness. Intelligence dissemination influences innovation speed positively, both directly and indirectly through responsiveness. Findings report a curvilinear (J‐shaped) relationship between responsiveness and innovation speed. With regard to the effect of the market orientation's components on new product performance, the findings indicate a positive relationship between responsiveness and new product performance. The parameter estimates for the direct paths linking intelligence generation and intelligence dissemination with new product performance were found to be not significant. Instead, the findings show that intelligence generation and intelligence dissemination influence new product performance indirectly through responsiveness. Finally, a positive relationship was found between innovation speed and new product performance.

The research makes three important contributions to the marketing strategy and new product development literatures. First, by splitting market orientation into the components of intelligence generation, intelligence dissemination and responsiveness, the study provides a closer examination into the effect of market orientation on innovation speed and new product performance. Second, the results indicate that the effects of intelligence generation and intelligence dissemination on innovation speed and new product performance are mediated by responsiveness to market intelligence. Third, findings support the argument that innovation speed partially mediates the effect of market orientation's three main components on new product performance.

The strategic management literature emphasizes the concept of business intelligence (BI) as an essential competitive tool. Yet the sustainability of the firms’ competitive advantage provided by BI capability is not well researched. To fill this gap, this study attempts to develop a model for successful BI deployment and empirically examines the association between BI deployment and sustainable competitive advantage. Taking the telecommunications industry in Malaysia as a case example, the research particularly focuses on the influencing perceptions held by telecommunications decision makers and executives on factors that impact successful BI deployment. The research further investigates the relationship between successful BI deployment and sustainable competitive advantage of the telecommunications organizations. Another important aim of this study is to determine the effect of moderating factors such as organization culture, business strategy, and use of BI tools on BI deployment and the sustainability of firm’s competitive advantage.

This research uses combination of resource-based theory and diffusion of innovation (DOI) theory to examine BI success and its relationship with firm’s sustainability. The research adopts the positivist paradigm and a two-phase sequential mixed method consisting of qualitative and quantitative approaches are employed. A tentative research model is developed first based on extensive literature review. The chapter presents a qualitative field study to fine tune the initial research model. Findings from the qualitative method are also used to develop measures and instruments for the next phase of quantitative method. The study includes a survey study with sample of business analysts and decision makers in telecommunications firms and is analyzed by partial least square-based structural equation modeling.

The findings reveal that some internal resources of the organizations such as BI governance and the perceptions of BI’s characteristics influence the successful deployment of BI. Organizations that practice good BI governance with strong moral and financial support from upper management have an opportunity to realize the dream of having successful BI initiatives in place. The scope of BI governance includes providing sufficient support and commitment in BI funding and implementation, laying out proper BI infrastructure and staffing and establishing a corporate-wide policy and procedures regarding BI. The perceptions about the characteristics of BI such as its relative advantage, complexity, compatibility, and observability are also significant in ensuring BI success. The most important results of this study indicated that with BI successfully deployed, executives would use the knowledge provided for their necessary actions in sustaining the organizations’ competitive advantage in terms of economics, social, and environmental issues.

This study contributes significantly to the existing literature that will assist future BI researchers especially in achieving sustainable competitive advantage. In particular, the model will help practitioners to consider the resources that they are likely to consider when deploying BI. Finally, the applications of this study can be extended through further adaptation in other industries and various geographic contexts.

Exporting is a popular foreign market entry mode, especially among small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The success of SME exporters depends on their ability to establish and maintain profitable long-term relationships with foreign customers. This study aims to propose that the development of an effective export sales strategy can contribute greatly toward this aim. The study also demonstrates that export market intelligence generation and export market intelligence dissemination activities are important drivers of export sales strategy. Export sales strategy comprises three dimensions, which are expected to have a positive influence on export performance.

The study uses survey data obtained from 168 exporting firms based in Greece, to test a set of research hypotheses. Structural equation modeling procedures are used.

Findings indicate that export market intelligence generation and dissemination activities support and facilitate the development of effective export sales strategies, tailored to serve individual foreign accounts. Furthermore, all strategic dimensions of export sales strategy demonstrate significant positive effects on export performance.

The research underlines the importance of incorporating export sales strategy in studies that aim to investigate the drivers of export performance.

The findings also indicate that exporting firms must actively engage in market intelligence activities to reinforce their strategic decision-making process.

The study emphasizes the crucial importance of export sales strategy in achieving superior export performance. The study provides a theory-driven conceptualization and operationalization of export sales strategy and offers an empirical assessment of a comprehensive model that includes the key antecedents and performance outcomes of export sales strategy.

Marketing intelligence is seen as a vital part of any organisation's ability to compete now and in the future. It is established through “procedures and sources used by executives to obtain their everyday information about pertinent developments in the marketing environment” (Kotler, 1984). The detail discussed here considers how Du Pont UK executives can improve their knowledge of their marketing environment so as to enable them to make more effective strategic decisions in the future. To do this, they need information, but they also need to reveal by analysis the messages this information contains — in fact, their goal — i.e. marketing intelligence.

Marketing departments spend endless time and energy on marketing the company and its products to the outside world, yet they often overlook the importance of their models and expertise to internal services within the company. The author describes the setting up of a market intelligence function within the UK subsidiary of a multinational computer company, using marketing techniques to research and “sell” the service to other departments within the company. The value‐activities of marketing – market understanding, strategy formulation, detailed planning and marketing operations are discussed, and how each of these informed the establishment and development of the market intelligence function is considered. Having established market intelligence in the company, the author discusses the management of the service, particularly the need for constant evaluation and adjustment, and the importance of computer systems which meet the user′s needs.

Many companies have developed corporate database systems and/or management information systems, some have established intelligence units. However, the systems often fail to scan the external environment to which the companies are exposed, and fail to yield meaningful intelligence, thus overwhelming managers with internal data. Argues that to address the information needs of top marketing managers, the environmental factors that have immediate effects on the company′s operation should be identified. Computer‐based information systems could play an important role in collecting environmental information from various sources; however, in interpreting data and disseminating intelligence to marketing managers, a human‐computer mixed system is essentially required. The system would be used in conjunction with a corporate database system to present intelligence to marketing managers, so as to keep them instantly informed, reinforce their knowledge learning, and support their decisions. Highlights the critical factors for developing and utilizing such systems. The approach adopted is to examine managers′ working style and decision processing, to develop a framework of environmental scanning, human‐computer‐based data filtering, interpreting, and intelligence reporting system with natural interface.