Is the market stagnating or are we missing out on opportunities to accelerate growth?

How disciplined market reviews and competitive intelligence help industrial leaders uncover opportunities to accelerate growth, even in stagnating markets.

Executive summary

Whether markets are growing, stagnating or declining is of critical importance to industrial companies and will drive their strategic decision making. Fortunately, there are many things executives can do to obtain an accurate and well-rounded view of their markets. The answer to the question if markets are stagnating or the business is missing out on opportunities to accelerate growth need not be clouded in fog. It is indeed one that can be answered through a thoughtful and deliberate process of disciplined market reviews and an independent competitive intelligence position.

Industry challenges and issues

In this time of global geopolitical uncertainty, differing economic growth rates across regions, competition from China and big shifts in technology, many companies in industrial markets are confronted with stagnating sales and lackluster demand. In executive performance reviews the question “Is it the market or is it just is?” is often hotly debated. It is difficult for sales to admit to losing business or market share to competition. Not least because your customer base will be loth to inform you about your loss of share. Most clients of industrial products aim to maintain a diverse supplier base to mitigate supply chain risk and would like to keep these suppliers on board even if they have less business to spend or shift the mix away to competition.

Pathways to opportunities to accelerate growth

So, how do you get accurate insights into your market position and the competitive dynamics in your markets? There are several things executive leadership can do to help the organization build a holistic view of the markets and market segments it has decided to play in. For one, the topic of market size, volume as well as value, should be a structural part of any budgeting process. It should also be updated and reviewed in monthly and quarterly executive sales review meetings. If maintained with sufficient discipline, inconsistencies and changes in market dynamics can be identified early. It pays to train the sales force to recognize early symptoms of competitor activity at (key) accounts. And to teach them to engage with customers in a structured and methodical way to extract as much market intelligence from each customer engagement as feasible.

Independent competitive intelligence function

Executive leadership could also establish a competitive intelligence position independent of operational sales. The market intelligence officer’s job is to collect information about market size and competitor activities through the collection of internal and external (i.e. public domain!) information. Public databases, such as those with import and export data, prove invaluable tools in benchmarking forecasted growth rates and competitor activity. The competitive intelligence function will help organizations build a well-rounded view of its markets, its own position and the strategies and positions of competitors.

This article was written by Erik Delnoij.