Five kinds of work. Most assignments combine two.

A multidimensional view of a market that can be delivered in full or in modules. Demand is sized from the buyer up rather than from GDP down; competitors and channels are mapped; the policy and macroeconomic environment is read for what will change the answer. Recommendations cover market potential, key success factors and optimal positioning, then the entry or development strategy itself: pricing, distribution and organisation.

• Strategic market assessment
• Market entry planning and implementation
• Market segmentation and opportunity prioritisation
• Scenario modelling of mutually exclusive outcomes
• Demand characteristics and forecasts
• Policy environment and political risk
• Pricing (PSM and conjoint)
• Position papers and white papers

Typical output. Market sizing by segment, priority list, entry plan with route and partner options, scenario set with probabilities and triggers.

Assessment of commercial customer needs, the leverage points in their decision-making and the criteria they use to select preferred suppliers, separating the qualifiers from the differentiators. Decision-process work follows the principles of Strategic Selling: who influences the purchase, in what order, and what each of them weighs. Satisfaction measurement benchmarks the client against best practice and shows where the relationship with key accounts can be built.

• Customer satisfaction measurement
• Needs analysis
• Decision-making process assessment
• Strategic Selling analysis
• Corporate demographic and psychographic segmentation
• Key account relationship mapping

Typical output. Buyer influence map, satisfaction benchmarks against competitors, segment profiles, sales strategy and tactics by account type.

Investigation of regional and local competitors to reveal new or potential entrants and anticipate countermoves. Each profile covers objectives and commitment, size and profitability, cost structure, current and past strategies, organisation and culture, exit barriers, strengths and weaknesses. Clients learn from competitor successes and failures, and the same work surfaces acquisition and partnership targets.

• Competitive mapping and benchmarking
• Competitor profiling
• Countermove scenarios
• Due diligence on targets and partners
• Client internal audit of image and positioning
• Industry structure analysis

Typical output. Competitor profiles, benchmark tables on shared criteria, likely countermoves, shortlist of targets.

Identification and screening of strategic partners against the client's own criteria. Site selection applies one framework to diverse questions, from an aircraft parts overhaul centre or an oil refinery to a regional headquarters or shared service centre: industry structure, country risk, infrastructure, labour laws and organisation, local availability and training. Advice on organisational structure covers equity and distribution options, the practicalities of market management and profit potential.

• Strategic partner identification and screening
• Manufacturing and facility site selection
• Country screening and site comparison
• Organisational structure in Asia Pacific markets
• Regional headquarters location
• Distribution and channel structure

Typical output. Scored shortlist of partners or sites, phased country screen, structure recommendation with legal and commercial rationale.

Intercedent's newest line of work, built on the Board Technology & Innovation Benchmark, which codes every Fortune 1000 board on how it oversees technology, cyber and AI: committee structure and charters, director expertise and disclosure, scored on a four-level maturity scale. Company diagnostics compare a single board against its sector and size peers. Board advisory, delivered with Ashis Bhattacharya, works through what to change and how.

• Board Technology & Innovation Benchmark
• Company diagnostic report
• Peer comparison by sector and size
• Board advisory sessions
• Technology and innovation committee design
• Disclosure review

Typical output. Benchmark score and maturity level, diagnostic report with peer set, advisory recommendations. About the benchmark.