In 2013, some multinational companies in the chemical industry spent as much as US $6.5 million * on market intelligence. While this may seem impressive, they are not the largest consumer group. In contrast, some manufacturing and industrial companies may spend as much as $130 million a year on market intelligence.
After investing millions of dollars in market intelligence, do industry executives think the time and resources they invest in intelligence are useful? How efficient is market intelligence in the chemical industry?
According to the 2013 global market intelligence survey of m-brain (formerly GIA), 52 respondents from the chemical industry responded to an online questionnaire in early 2013, with a total of more than 1200 respondents;
81% of the people in the chemical industry said that the investment of chemical suppliers in market intelligence has been rewarded.
56% thought their “decision-making was very efficient”.
However, only 44% said “information is always at hand.”.
Among the 20 industries listed in the study, the chemical industry ranks ninth in terms of market intelligence capability. By contrast, executives in the media and entertainment industries believe that their market intelligence is very advanced, ranking first on the whole; but interestingly, the expected return on investment (ROI) of these companies is the lowest. In terms of market intelligence, the industries with the highest return on investment are the environment and renewable energy industries, and their budgets are only slightly higher.
The study also shows that huge budget can not guarantee more advanced market intelligence function. For example, the average investment of medical equipment and healthcare enterprises in market intelligence is more than eight times that of chemical suppliers, but their market intelligence ability ranks 17th in the study.
It seems that more work needs to be done to improve the market intelligence ability of chemical suppliers to the world-class level.
According to the benchmark used in the study, since 2011, companies with the most advanced market intelligence capabilities have increased the amount of market intelligence delivered directly to their top management to 46%, compared with 36% for an “~ average”. It turns out that the decision-making efficiency of these world-class market intelligence companies is 28% higher.
Their market intelligence managers are 33% more likely to be seen as trusted consultants by top management, and 50% more likely to use efficient software tools to serve internal customers.
*Market intelligence refers to the function of a company to collect and analyze the information that affects its business, and then transform the information into market insight to support decision-making. It covers customer interviews and insights, technical analysis, competitor analysis or strategic analysis. In order to effectively conduct market intelligence, enterprises invest in business information management tools, and carry out research projects and seminars to help them predict major trends and plan ahead.
