Market Research helps strategy definition process

Companies develop strategies that help them move in the direction they want to develop in. Growth or expansion is often an important element of the strategy definition. But growth requires acquiring new clients or developing new products and services that new or existing clients buy. Strangely enough, a vast majority of business consulting activities as described in the picture below… are mainly internally focused.

Figure 1: Dominant elements in business consulting

I’m not suggesting the strategy definition process should drop these elements altogether. I am advocating the use of outside-in information and insights obtained via Market Research. This should strengthen the process and improve the quality of the outcomes. This goes beyond having a marketing strategy (or multiple product based marketing strategies), as it is merely a further specification or detail behind the corporate strategy. Simply put, if the marketing strategy doesn’t have any outside-in elements to it… it’s time to shake that department up!

Business Consulting AND Market Research

In my 15 plus years of being a strategy consultant in the business consulting industry, I have seen first-hand that the strategy definition process is largely done without any (or limited) market research. Market Research often first shows up at the stage of marketing strategy – some call it business marketing.

I’m convinced businesses could benefit from adding outside-in perspectives and insights obtained through solid market research at the strategy definition stage. It’ll be more effective compared to waiting for the marketing strategy definition stage to kick off. It would be good if business consulting and strategy consulting practitioners would incorporate market research into their standard approach.

Note

Our director, Max Van der Pols, was invited by the ADB Dutchcham and Netherlands Embassy in Singapore to speak about the role of Market Research in Strategy Definition. This article is based on the presentation he gave.