David Taylor and Roger Brooksbank in their article “Strategic marketing in action: A comparison of higher and lower performing manufacturing firms in the UK” highlight the key elements of high performing manufacturing companies in the UK. What I found most interesting is the role that market research has to play in helping organisations become ‘High Performers’ and that high performers make greater use of marketing information systems.

The key findings were:

1. High Performers do more and better marketing research;
2. High Performers carry out a more comprehensive strategic situation analysis;
3. High performers pursue a strategy based on providing superior value to the customer;
4. High performers make greater use of marketing information systems.

When high performers talked about their marketing information systems they tended to focus on customer feedback and how this was managed. Mention was made of how customer advisory panels enabled the high performing organisations to capture effectively and efficiently the opinions of their customers.

Customer advisory panels are ideal for any organisation looking to create a sustainable competitive advantage. While achieving a sustainable competitive advantage can be like looking for the holy grail, one of the easiest ways is to understand your customers better, which is exactly what a Customer Advisory Panel can enable an organisation to do.