netrashetty
Netra Shetty
Cartoon Network Studios is an American animation studio. A subsidiary of the Turner Broadcasting System (an arm of the Time Warner media conglomerate), Cartoon Network Studios focuses on producing and developing animated programs for and related to Cartoon Network. Some programming produced by Cartoon Network Studios has also been broadcast on the now-defunct Kids' WB, Cartoon Network's sister network.
The studio began in 1994 as a division of Hanna-Barbera Cartoons which was dedicated to producing original programming for Cartoon Network, including latter-day Hanna-Barbera creations such as Dexter's Laboratory, Johnny Bravo, Cow and Chicken, I Am Weasel and The Powerpuff Girls. In 1997, the division's productions credited them as their parent studio Hanna-Barbera.
In 2000 Cartoon Network Studios produced based on Hanna-Barbera characters Adult Swim series Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law, created by Michael Ouweleen and Eric Richter. Some years later, in 2006, it made second work for Adult Swim - pilot episode of Aaron Springer's Korgoth of Barbaria in co-production with Williams Street.
In 2001, after the death of William Hanna, the Hanna-Barbera name was dropped as a production entity and the H-B studio was folded into Warner Bros. Animation.[citation needed] Cartoon Network Studios was then revived as a separate entity from Hanna-Barbera, growing out of the animation studio.[citation needed] Cartoon Network Studios has continued to thrive with productions such as The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy and Samurai Jack and newer productions such as Chowder, The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack and Adventure Time. In 2010, the company produced its first non-animated series, Tower Prep.
Intelligence is information that has been analyzed for decision making. It is important to understand the difference between information and intelligence. Information is the starting point; it is readily available numbers, statistics, bits of data about people, companies, products, and strategies. As a matter of fact, information overload is one of the leading problems of today's executive and the top reason for needing a competitive intelligence expert. Information becomes intelligence when is it distilled and analyzed. Combining this idea with those of competition or competitors leads to the concept of gathering and analyzing information about competitors for use in making management decisions. Competitive intelligence provides a link between information and business strategies and decisions. It is the process of turning vast quantities of information into action.
The field of competitive intelligence, as a profession, is relatively new in the U.S. An indication of the importance of competitive intelligence is the growth, since 1986, of the Society of Competitor Intelligence Professionals (SCIP), an organization committed to developing, improving, and promulgating the methods, techniques, and ethical standards of the group. SCIP defines competitive intelligence as "the legal and ethical collection and analysis of information regarding the capabilities, vulnerabilities, and intentions of business competitors conducted by using information databases and other 'open sources' and through ethical inquiry." The major research firm in the field, Fuld & Company, Inc., defines it as "information that has been analyzed to the point where you can make a decision and a tool to alert management to early warning of both threats and opportunities. Competitive intelligence offers approximations and best views of the market and the competition. It is not a peek at the rival's financial books." Competitive intelligence can help managers discover new markets or businesses, beat the competition to market, foresee competitor's actions, determine which companies to acquire, learn about new products and technologies that will affect the industry, and forecast political or legislative changes that will affect the company.
EXAMPLES
Examples of competitive intelligence include stock traders who analyze the data on prices and price movements to determine the best investments. These stock traders have the same data as other traders, but analysis of the data separates them from others. Another example is the Japanese automobile industry's analysis of the U.S.-automobile market in the 1970s. High gasoline prices and smaller families created a demand in the United States for smaller, more fuel-efficient cars. Japanese automakers employed competitive intelligence methods to determine this trend and then made manufacturing decisions based on it, beating the U.S. Big Three to market with high quality, fuel-efficient cars. Another example of successful use of competitive intelligence is AT&T's database of in-company experts. Part of this service is the monitoring of companies with which their own employees are most interested. This led to some early insights of emerging competitors. A final example is how Wal-Mart stores studied problems Sears had with distribution, and built a state-of-the art distribution system so that Wal-Mart customers were not frustrated by out-of-stock items, as were Sears's customers.
ETHICAL METHODS
Competitive intelligence is not spying on the competition. It has been associated in the past with the political and military intelligence used during the Cold War era. Because of this association, many people think that competitive intelligence uses illegal, shady, or unethical means to gather information about competitors. Visions of wiretapping, bribing competitor's employees, or stealing information come to mind. This is not true today. Such techniques can damage the reputation and image of corporations and are not worth the risk. SCIP takes a strong position on the importance of ethics and developed a code of ethics for members. Note the words, "legal and ethical," and the emphasis on retrieving data from "open sources." Competitive intelligence experts use openly-available information. They do dig into public records and government databases and use the latest technology (such as satellite photoreconnaissance and software tools such as spiders) to help gather and analyze large datasets. However, the professionals and companies for which they work do not use illegal methods.
Market Research Freelancers or Consultants are normally individuals operating on a lone basis. Most freelancers have gained a number of years experience working on the agency or client side and then decide to go it alone. Some tend to support research agencies as an extra resource and/or have their own direct clients.
With a Freelancer or Consultant you are buying the individual – often a very experienced researcher. Like a consultancy a freelancer would have to contract out some parts of the project – the fieldwork and data processing.
The main advantage of selecting a freelancer is value for money – because they are mainly ‘one man bands’ they have low overheads and therefore usually offer very competitive rates. In addition, you have the guarantee that a Senior researcher will be looking after your project – not always the case with a larger research agency.
Being a member of the MRS is a good sign – freelancers and consultants should also be members of the Market Research Society.
So is market intelligence the same thing as market research? Absolutely not! Market research is a well-defined discipline with a long history of application in the business world. It takes many different forms, and its ultimate goal is to enhance a firm’s understanding of the market and customer, but it is not market intelligence.
Market intelligence is a much broader term that can be defined as an ongoing, holistic knowledge of all aspects of the marketplace. One way to visualize market intelligence is to picture a pyramid. Each face of the pyramid represents an aspect of market intelligence. The three faces of the pyramid are information, communication, and people/processes. Each of these faces is built upon a foundation of basic capabilities, with movement “up” the face of the pyramid representing increasing capabilities and proficiency. Market intelligence is the culmination of each of these areas at their highest levels.
The differences between marketing research and market intelligence are as follows:
• Market intelligence is all-encompassing. Data gathering is just one aspect of market intelligence. It is a key building block for the information face of the pyramid, but it is not the only building block.
• Market intelligence analysis requires different skills versus marketing research. Market intelligence analysis requires a broad set of analytical skills including business analysis skills. It requires integrating a broad array of information, which extends beyond traditional marketing research data. The analyst must understand the market, key competitors, the financial dynamics of the industry, and the entire business value chain. Often, the best market intelligence analysts have a financial or product management background, whereas many of the best marketing research analysts come from behavioral science or mathematical backgrounds.
• Market intelligence requires integration with all aspects of the business. Whereas marketing research is highly focused on customers, market analysis encompasses the entire view of the market and requires integration into the companies forecasting process, product development process, and other business systems.
The best way to discuss the difference between marketing research and market intelligence is to focus upon each face of the market intelligence pyramid. The information face of the market intelligence pyramid is built upon a foundation consisting of four basic areas: competitor information, product information, market information and customer information. This is depicted in Figure 2.
Product information refers to an understanding of the products in the marketplace, how they are priced, and what tactical marketing activities (promotions, advertising, etc.) are being used with these products. Competitor information refers to the understanding of competitors’ strategies, organizational structure, product investment portfolio, and future product plans. Market information encompasses a view of the market at a macro level including the current market size, market segments, market share trends, and the forecasted growth of the market and the respective market segments. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, customer information (the traditional focus of market research) involves fully understanding the customer preferences, drivers of customer behavior, brand loyalty, satisfaction rates and any other customer views that impact their behavior in relation to your firm’s products or services. It is important to note that each of these areas of knowledge can be a unique discipline in and of itself. However, the real power of the information lies in combining all of these areas to create a complete view of the market, the market intelligence view (Figure 3).
Market intelligence yields an ongoing and comprehensive understanding of the market. Each of the four knowledge areas - competitor intelligence, product intelligence, market understanding, customer insight - interacts to form a complete understanding of the market. Each competitor’s strategies will impact their product actions, the overall trends of market growth and segment interaction will impact the strategies, and underlying all of this, the customer’s behaviors and attitudes will ultimately drive the market dynamics in terms of growth rates and product acceptance. This integration of all four knowledge areas is the ultimate deliverable for market intelligence. Marketing research is a critical and significant source of information. However, it does not encompass all of the information areas which are covered by market intelligence. The scope of information covered is one of the key differences between marketing research and market intelligence.
When examining the communication face of the market intelligence pyramid, the most important difference between market intelligence and marketing research is that good market intelligence involves a dialogue between the market intelligence analyst and the client/decision maker. Conversely, marketing research provides an assessment of a specific issue, or measures a specific market dynamic. While it clearly involves communication with the client/decision maker, it typically consists of limited interaction versus the full dialogue of market intelligence.
The third and final face of the pyramid deals with people and processes. This can be the most defining difference between marketing research and market intelligence. By its very nature market intelligence is a process. One which constantly captures information from many difference sources, assesses it, and then uses the information during the ongoing business decision-making process.
Marketing research is typically focused on answering specific questions, or tracking specific issues. While it can benefit from good processes, it is a finite “task” (or series of tasks). Market intelligence is a process, an ongoing interactive process.
This process should be a closed-loop system with a feedback cycle from the executives to the market intelligence team. The executive’s feedback will guide the market intelligence team in future analyses by providing insight into the key issues the executives are facing. At the same time, the market intelligence teams are constantly capturing, monitoring, and synthesizing information that will ensure that the executive team is not surprised by market developments or competitive actions.
In his book Business as War, Kenneth Allard makes a parallel between the business environment and the intense and ever-changing environment associated with a battlefield. In this battlefield environment the intelligence on your enemy’s activities is vital to winning, and it must constantly be monitored and updated due to the fluid nature of the battlefield. Obviously, the stakes are lower in business versus war. We are not fighting for our lives like the brave soldiers in the field of battle.
However, we are fighting for territory (market share and customers) against multiple enemies, all of whom have strategies focused on taking territory from our firms. Building a solid market intelligence system is vital to having the information necessary to compete and win in your business battleground. If your firm’s focus is only on marketing research, your view of the battlefield is limited and potentially threatens your position in the market.
So what about all of these companies listed under the heading of “market intelligence” in our Web search? A quick examination of these companies’ Web pages reveals that most are offering a traditional set of marketing research survey services, as opposed to complete market intelligence services. While market intelligence is an oft-promised capability, frequently companies are simply delivering traditional marketing research services.
So how does one develop a true market intelligence capability? It would take much more than the space in this article to address this question. At a very high level, it involves:
• Having a vision for your market intelligence function. Do you want it to be world-class? What do you want your market intelligence function to excel in? How would you define success for your market intelligence team?
• Obtaining buy-in from your market intelligence team for your vision. This requires a clear articulation of what you are trying to accomplish, providing the team the opportunity to talk about the vision and to actually impact what the final vision is. Working as a team to craft a mission statement that clearly articulates the vision.
• Mapping your vision to a set of core competencies required to fulfill your vision. Identify the competencies that are unique and which represent significant added value by your team. Perform an audit of your market intelligence function in order to ensure your vision maps to your client’s needs, and to identify gaps between your market intelligence vision and your team’s current capabilities and deliverables. Build a plan to address and fill in the gaps, keeping in mind that this doesn’t happen overnight - it can easily be a two-to-three-year process.
The studio began in 1994 as a division of Hanna-Barbera Cartoons which was dedicated to producing original programming for Cartoon Network, including latter-day Hanna-Barbera creations such as Dexter's Laboratory, Johnny Bravo, Cow and Chicken, I Am Weasel and The Powerpuff Girls. In 1997, the division's productions credited them as their parent studio Hanna-Barbera.
In 2000 Cartoon Network Studios produced based on Hanna-Barbera characters Adult Swim series Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law, created by Michael Ouweleen and Eric Richter. Some years later, in 2006, it made second work for Adult Swim - pilot episode of Aaron Springer's Korgoth of Barbaria in co-production with Williams Street.
In 2001, after the death of William Hanna, the Hanna-Barbera name was dropped as a production entity and the H-B studio was folded into Warner Bros. Animation.[citation needed] Cartoon Network Studios was then revived as a separate entity from Hanna-Barbera, growing out of the animation studio.[citation needed] Cartoon Network Studios has continued to thrive with productions such as The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy and Samurai Jack and newer productions such as Chowder, The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack and Adventure Time. In 2010, the company produced its first non-animated series, Tower Prep.
Intelligence is information that has been analyzed for decision making. It is important to understand the difference between information and intelligence. Information is the starting point; it is readily available numbers, statistics, bits of data about people, companies, products, and strategies. As a matter of fact, information overload is one of the leading problems of today's executive and the top reason for needing a competitive intelligence expert. Information becomes intelligence when is it distilled and analyzed. Combining this idea with those of competition or competitors leads to the concept of gathering and analyzing information about competitors for use in making management decisions. Competitive intelligence provides a link between information and business strategies and decisions. It is the process of turning vast quantities of information into action.
The field of competitive intelligence, as a profession, is relatively new in the U.S. An indication of the importance of competitive intelligence is the growth, since 1986, of the Society of Competitor Intelligence Professionals (SCIP), an organization committed to developing, improving, and promulgating the methods, techniques, and ethical standards of the group. SCIP defines competitive intelligence as "the legal and ethical collection and analysis of information regarding the capabilities, vulnerabilities, and intentions of business competitors conducted by using information databases and other 'open sources' and through ethical inquiry." The major research firm in the field, Fuld & Company, Inc., defines it as "information that has been analyzed to the point where you can make a decision and a tool to alert management to early warning of both threats and opportunities. Competitive intelligence offers approximations and best views of the market and the competition. It is not a peek at the rival's financial books." Competitive intelligence can help managers discover new markets or businesses, beat the competition to market, foresee competitor's actions, determine which companies to acquire, learn about new products and technologies that will affect the industry, and forecast political or legislative changes that will affect the company.
EXAMPLES
Examples of competitive intelligence include stock traders who analyze the data on prices and price movements to determine the best investments. These stock traders have the same data as other traders, but analysis of the data separates them from others. Another example is the Japanese automobile industry's analysis of the U.S.-automobile market in the 1970s. High gasoline prices and smaller families created a demand in the United States for smaller, more fuel-efficient cars. Japanese automakers employed competitive intelligence methods to determine this trend and then made manufacturing decisions based on it, beating the U.S. Big Three to market with high quality, fuel-efficient cars. Another example of successful use of competitive intelligence is AT&T's database of in-company experts. Part of this service is the monitoring of companies with which their own employees are most interested. This led to some early insights of emerging competitors. A final example is how Wal-Mart stores studied problems Sears had with distribution, and built a state-of-the art distribution system so that Wal-Mart customers were not frustrated by out-of-stock items, as were Sears's customers.
ETHICAL METHODS
Competitive intelligence is not spying on the competition. It has been associated in the past with the political and military intelligence used during the Cold War era. Because of this association, many people think that competitive intelligence uses illegal, shady, or unethical means to gather information about competitors. Visions of wiretapping, bribing competitor's employees, or stealing information come to mind. This is not true today. Such techniques can damage the reputation and image of corporations and are not worth the risk. SCIP takes a strong position on the importance of ethics and developed a code of ethics for members. Note the words, "legal and ethical," and the emphasis on retrieving data from "open sources." Competitive intelligence experts use openly-available information. They do dig into public records and government databases and use the latest technology (such as satellite photoreconnaissance and software tools such as spiders) to help gather and analyze large datasets. However, the professionals and companies for which they work do not use illegal methods.
Market Research Freelancers or Consultants are normally individuals operating on a lone basis. Most freelancers have gained a number of years experience working on the agency or client side and then decide to go it alone. Some tend to support research agencies as an extra resource and/or have their own direct clients.
With a Freelancer or Consultant you are buying the individual – often a very experienced researcher. Like a consultancy a freelancer would have to contract out some parts of the project – the fieldwork and data processing.
The main advantage of selecting a freelancer is value for money – because they are mainly ‘one man bands’ they have low overheads and therefore usually offer very competitive rates. In addition, you have the guarantee that a Senior researcher will be looking after your project – not always the case with a larger research agency.
Being a member of the MRS is a good sign – freelancers and consultants should also be members of the Market Research Society.
So is market intelligence the same thing as market research? Absolutely not! Market research is a well-defined discipline with a long history of application in the business world. It takes many different forms, and its ultimate goal is to enhance a firm’s understanding of the market and customer, but it is not market intelligence.
Market intelligence is a much broader term that can be defined as an ongoing, holistic knowledge of all aspects of the marketplace. One way to visualize market intelligence is to picture a pyramid. Each face of the pyramid represents an aspect of market intelligence. The three faces of the pyramid are information, communication, and people/processes. Each of these faces is built upon a foundation of basic capabilities, with movement “up” the face of the pyramid representing increasing capabilities and proficiency. Market intelligence is the culmination of each of these areas at their highest levels.
The differences between marketing research and market intelligence are as follows:
• Market intelligence is all-encompassing. Data gathering is just one aspect of market intelligence. It is a key building block for the information face of the pyramid, but it is not the only building block.
• Market intelligence analysis requires different skills versus marketing research. Market intelligence analysis requires a broad set of analytical skills including business analysis skills. It requires integrating a broad array of information, which extends beyond traditional marketing research data. The analyst must understand the market, key competitors, the financial dynamics of the industry, and the entire business value chain. Often, the best market intelligence analysts have a financial or product management background, whereas many of the best marketing research analysts come from behavioral science or mathematical backgrounds.
• Market intelligence requires integration with all aspects of the business. Whereas marketing research is highly focused on customers, market analysis encompasses the entire view of the market and requires integration into the companies forecasting process, product development process, and other business systems.
The best way to discuss the difference between marketing research and market intelligence is to focus upon each face of the market intelligence pyramid. The information face of the market intelligence pyramid is built upon a foundation consisting of four basic areas: competitor information, product information, market information and customer information. This is depicted in Figure 2.
Product information refers to an understanding of the products in the marketplace, how they are priced, and what tactical marketing activities (promotions, advertising, etc.) are being used with these products. Competitor information refers to the understanding of competitors’ strategies, organizational structure, product investment portfolio, and future product plans. Market information encompasses a view of the market at a macro level including the current market size, market segments, market share trends, and the forecasted growth of the market and the respective market segments. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, customer information (the traditional focus of market research) involves fully understanding the customer preferences, drivers of customer behavior, brand loyalty, satisfaction rates and any other customer views that impact their behavior in relation to your firm’s products or services. It is important to note that each of these areas of knowledge can be a unique discipline in and of itself. However, the real power of the information lies in combining all of these areas to create a complete view of the market, the market intelligence view (Figure 3).
Market intelligence yields an ongoing and comprehensive understanding of the market. Each of the four knowledge areas - competitor intelligence, product intelligence, market understanding, customer insight - interacts to form a complete understanding of the market. Each competitor’s strategies will impact their product actions, the overall trends of market growth and segment interaction will impact the strategies, and underlying all of this, the customer’s behaviors and attitudes will ultimately drive the market dynamics in terms of growth rates and product acceptance. This integration of all four knowledge areas is the ultimate deliverable for market intelligence. Marketing research is a critical and significant source of information. However, it does not encompass all of the information areas which are covered by market intelligence. The scope of information covered is one of the key differences between marketing research and market intelligence.
When examining the communication face of the market intelligence pyramid, the most important difference between market intelligence and marketing research is that good market intelligence involves a dialogue between the market intelligence analyst and the client/decision maker. Conversely, marketing research provides an assessment of a specific issue, or measures a specific market dynamic. While it clearly involves communication with the client/decision maker, it typically consists of limited interaction versus the full dialogue of market intelligence.
The third and final face of the pyramid deals with people and processes. This can be the most defining difference between marketing research and market intelligence. By its very nature market intelligence is a process. One which constantly captures information from many difference sources, assesses it, and then uses the information during the ongoing business decision-making process.
Marketing research is typically focused on answering specific questions, or tracking specific issues. While it can benefit from good processes, it is a finite “task” (or series of tasks). Market intelligence is a process, an ongoing interactive process.
This process should be a closed-loop system with a feedback cycle from the executives to the market intelligence team. The executive’s feedback will guide the market intelligence team in future analyses by providing insight into the key issues the executives are facing. At the same time, the market intelligence teams are constantly capturing, monitoring, and synthesizing information that will ensure that the executive team is not surprised by market developments or competitive actions.
In his book Business as War, Kenneth Allard makes a parallel between the business environment and the intense and ever-changing environment associated with a battlefield. In this battlefield environment the intelligence on your enemy’s activities is vital to winning, and it must constantly be monitored and updated due to the fluid nature of the battlefield. Obviously, the stakes are lower in business versus war. We are not fighting for our lives like the brave soldiers in the field of battle.
However, we are fighting for territory (market share and customers) against multiple enemies, all of whom have strategies focused on taking territory from our firms. Building a solid market intelligence system is vital to having the information necessary to compete and win in your business battleground. If your firm’s focus is only on marketing research, your view of the battlefield is limited and potentially threatens your position in the market.
So what about all of these companies listed under the heading of “market intelligence” in our Web search? A quick examination of these companies’ Web pages reveals that most are offering a traditional set of marketing research survey services, as opposed to complete market intelligence services. While market intelligence is an oft-promised capability, frequently companies are simply delivering traditional marketing research services.
So how does one develop a true market intelligence capability? It would take much more than the space in this article to address this question. At a very high level, it involves:
• Having a vision for your market intelligence function. Do you want it to be world-class? What do you want your market intelligence function to excel in? How would you define success for your market intelligence team?
• Obtaining buy-in from your market intelligence team for your vision. This requires a clear articulation of what you are trying to accomplish, providing the team the opportunity to talk about the vision and to actually impact what the final vision is. Working as a team to craft a mission statement that clearly articulates the vision.
• Mapping your vision to a set of core competencies required to fulfill your vision. Identify the competencies that are unique and which represent significant added value by your team. Perform an audit of your market intelligence function in order to ensure your vision maps to your client’s needs, and to identify gaps between your market intelligence vision and your team’s current capabilities and deliverables. Build a plan to address and fill in the gaps, keeping in mind that this doesn’t happen overnight - it can easily be a two-to-three-year process.