In collaboration with the Wirtschaftskammer Baselland (Baselland Chamber of Commerce), we conducted a study among companies in the Basel region on current issues of transformation and the use of customer insights in strategy development. The results were presented at an event at the Haus der Wirtschaft on 4th April. Now the digital study report is available.
The key findings can be summarized as follows:
- Companies are facing a wide range of challenges, in particular digitization, sustainability, service business expansion, and more. They are well aware of both the need to gear up their strategies for the future and the efforts this will require.
- From the companies' point of view, focusing on customer needs is key in transformation.
- However, only a few companies systematically examine customer insights and utilize this knowledge for strategic development. Opportunities for the systematic collection of customer insights are often not exploited, or knowledge about customers does not flow back into the organization.
- The barriers are often home-made, particularly due to time bottlenecks and the lack of professional skills.
- Great potential is lost here, since companies systematically focusing on customer needs are significantly more successful and better equipped for the future. They compete better in the marketplace and, at best, succeed in actively engaging their employees in customer-centric strategy development.
In cooperation with the Wirtschaftskammer Baselland, a workshop series on strategy development and transformation for SMEs will be launched in fall 2022. The workshops will be followed by subject-specific programs on specific transformation domains, such as digitization, starting in 2023.
