Until recently, a massive amount of data
was simply thrown away because it
was not economical to collect, store, analyze or interpret. But when more than half
of the human race moved a major portion of
its daily habits onto the Internet and more
economical storage technologies evolved, a
mountain of digital data began piling up —
data that can be mined for gold by forward-thinking strategic leaders.
“Several trends in market research are likely to have the greatest influence on strategic
leadership in the next few years,” says Dr.
Joseph Hair, professor, Kennesaw State
University. “Strategic leaders need to be
aware of and prepared to respond to these
emerging trends.”
Smart Business recently spoke with Hair
about how leaders, to be successful in today’s
global economy, must be able to approach
their work with a more strategic tactic.
How do you define strategic leadership?
It is the leader’s ability to anticipate and
position his or her company for the future by
mobilizing and focusing time and resources
on tasks that make a difference and ensure
future organizational success. Strategic leaders apply creativity, intuition and planning to
help organizations identify and reach their
goals. They think and act before they are
forced to — before they are in a defensive or
reactive position. They also must know their
customers — why they do business with you
and what they will be looking for in the future
in an evolving market. Finally, they must be
familiar with competitors and be sensitive to
signals that provide insight about their own
team, senior management and suppliers.
What factors are producing the information
explosion?
Experts are forecasting that in 2007 to 2009
we will generate more information than we
have in the past 1,000 years. The major factors causing this explosion of information is
the increased data from retail point-of-sale
systems, order entry systems and online purchases. But many other sources are generating tons of data — including government,
medical, financial, insurance, pharmaceutical, education and scientific sectors. One important enabling factor is the lower cost of
data collection and storage. A study reported
by the CIO of NCR concluded that in 1992 the
cost of storing one megabyte of information
was $15; by 2007, the cost was only 1 cent.
How will strategic leaders tap this mountain
of information?
Strategic leaders in large and small organizations can convert what had been a ‘waste
byproduct’ — information — into a new
resource to improve decision-making and
provide added value to customers. New technology will facilitate an expansion of the
growing reliance on information/knowledge
to improve decision-making in marketing
and other functional areas of business. But
knowledge-based decisions in marketing will
be fueled by other developments, as well,
including more comprehensive marketing
research, real-time interactions between buyers and sellers that reduce response time,
expansion and coordination of communication channels that enhance the ability to interact with customers, and the development
of enhanced metrics to measure and benchmark performance. The result will be greater
application of knowledge-based approaches
and ‘one-to-one’ customer targeting.
How is this impacting customer decisions?
Customers have more and better information at their fingertips than they can even
make use of in decisions. The challenge for
Google and other popular search engines will
be to design systems that help customers sift
through and find the critical pieces of information — probably less than 5 percent of the
available information. With more than one-half of customers searching online before
making a purchase, and 66 percent regularly
watching TV and accessing the Internet
simultaneously, marketers are able to collect
data on these interactions and develop metrics to understand how search behavior ultimately impacts product and service choices.
To remain competitive, strategic leaders in
both consumer and industrial buying situations must understand and react to a better
informed and more demanding customer.
How are buyers and sellers leveraging
enhanced interconnectivity?
Real-time buyer-seller contact in which
feedback is obtained and utilized almost
simultaneously by both sides will be an integral part of marketing planning and, therefore, strategic decisions. Enhanced interconnectivity also will mean more and better
methods of communication. Connections
with customers via mobile devices as well as
the Internet, WiFi and satellite-based communications will complement more traditional methods of conventional mail service,
telemarketing and face-to-face selling.
How has this changed marketing research?
Global sourcing of marketing research
services will increase substantially. Technology will enable companies to bypass existing
research vendors and choose those that most
closely meet their needs. Strategic leaders
must embrace this global trend in outsourcing research because it will impact not only
their bottom line but also the ability to
respond to emerging opportunities.
DR. JOSEPH HAIR is a professor in the Marketing & Professional Sales Department, Kennesaw State University. Reach him at
(770) 499-3280 or [email protected].