Monday, August 24, 2015

International Business Intelligence For Multinationals

By Ruthie Livingston


International business is more than just producing and selling goods and services. A business needs to be informed on what the customers need and what its rivals are up to. This prevents the erosion of a business competitive advantage to its rivals together with its profits. Business intelligence keeps a firm on top of its game. A competent international business intelligence service provider can be of help in assisting the firm in several areas.

The international entrepreneurship intelligence service providers exploit the data warehouse to mine for vital statistics and other facts to come up with a true picture of the industry standing and the organization performance. This information enables a company to project its future and come up with plans to counter competition or improve its product offering.

There are several firms that are offering products similar to what the company is offering. These firms are targeting the same customers that the enterprise is targeting. The firm must outdo its rivals at the marketplace by offering better products. To do this, it requires to be innovate and adopt the best technologies in its processes. The enterprise intelligence comes in to keep the firm aware of new ideas and technologies that are in the market and what the rivals are up to.

Crisis management is very vital to prevent the firm from going down. A multinational company is threatened by several elements in the market due to the facts it deals with different political and socio-economic landscapes. It may make judgment errors and cause damage to its production or marketing systems, may be blackmailed by its rivals and suffer from political upheavals. The intelligence assists identifying vulnerable areas, authorities that the enterprise can lobby, and strategies for dealing with damaged goods or reputation.

A business must always provide the right solutions to customer needs. When getting into new markets, the enterprise may not be familiar with customer preferences, tastes, and unique needs of its clients. Research is required to ensure that the market is served with the right solutions. The firm can seek assistance from international entrepreneurship intelligence firms in determining customer needs, planning on market entry, and developing effective marketing plans. This helps the firm grow its market share and beat its rivals at the marketplace.

There are several risks that a firm is exposed to in different regions in the international marketplace. Such risks include potential damage to assets, energy problems, brand and reputation damage, problems in getting raw material, lack of expertise in some area among others. A firm may hire an international entrepreneurship intelligence service provider to assist in developing an enterprise risk management plan, identifying the vulnerable areas, and helping come up with a backup plan.

Businesses have to cope with legal challenges at some point in their existence. Some may be with their own clients, rival firms, or authorities. For example, a customer may sue for a defective good, or some government official may ask for a bribe to release some license. These cases require the firm to do thorough private research to defends its interests. A business intelligence consultant can help unravel the truth to save the company at the floor of the court.

If the multinational company were human, the top-level management would be the eyes, the employees the hands, investors the legs and enterprise intelligence the brain. Without proper business aptitude, a company is likely to make serious mistakes of judgment and be outdone by rivals or fail to serve its international customers optimally.




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