"TAP-IN" to strategic and tactical intelligence in the sales and marketing functions

This article describes the results of a benchmarking study of mechanisms used in corporate CI operations to coordinate strategic and tactical intelligence for sales and marketing. The American Productivity and Quality Center (APQC) sponsored the study, for which the authors served as subject‐matter experts. The objective was to identify a set of mechanisms that establish a conceptual and operational integration of strategic and tactical intelligence. In‐depth case studies of five best‐practice companies (Amoco, Boehringer Ingelheim, Dow Chemical, Met Life, and SBC), supplemented with quantitative surveys from an additional nine firms, provided the study data. The findings show that best‐practice firms use a set of five coordinating mechanisms that the authors label TAP‐IN™: (1) Teams, (2) CI human‐resource job design and Allocation, (3) the Planning process, (4) Interaction (dialogue), and (5) human intelligence Networks. The use of these five mechanisms in tandem provides a sophisticated means of coordinating strategic and tactical intelligence in the sales and marketing functions and throughout the firm. All of the companies in the sample used the TAP‐IN mechanisms to some degree. The data reveal a relationship between the number of mechanisms used by a company and the overall effectiveness of the coordination process. For instance, Dow Chemical and Amoco used all five mechanisms. These two companies also reported they were able to achieve coordination between strategic and tactical intelligence to a very high degree. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.