Global Intelligence Alliance Group

Global Intelligence Alliance Group

Former type	Limited Company
Industry	Market Intelligence and Analysis, Competitive Intelligence, Strategy Consulting
Founded	1995 (1995)
Founders	Markko Varnaas, Jouko Virtanen, Pekka Korpi, Leif Backman
Defunct	October 14, 2014 (2014-10-14) (acquired by M-Brain Group)
Headquarters	Helsinki, Finland
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Markko Vaarnas (CEO), Janne Kärkkäinen (CFO), Jouko Virtanen (Senior Vice President, Head of Americas), Nicolas Pechet (Senior Vice President, Head of Asia), Thomas Rideg (Senior Vice President, Head of Western Europe), Jan Kovero (Senior Vice President, Head of Intelligence Services), Saku Oikarinen (Senior Vice President, Global Customer Management), Ville Vanhala (Senior Vice President, Research & Monitoring Services)[1]
Services	Market Monitoring, Market Intelligence, Market Analysis, Competitive Intelligence, Strategic Analysis & Advisory
Revenue	> €15 million (in 2014)
Owners	Management Team, CapMan Group[2][3]
Number of employees	180+
Website	www.globalintelligence.com

Global Intelligence Alliance Group (GIA) was a boutique international market intelligence and advisory company offering market monitoring, intelligence and analysis services and consulting.^[4] In September, 2014 GIA was acquired by M-Brain Group.^[5][6][7] The company had 11 offices in Europe, North and South America, and Asia.^[8]

History

Early History

GIA was founded in 1995 by Markko Varnaas, Jouko Virtanen, Pekka Korpi and Leif Backman. The firm focused heavily on the Finnish market initially, then on the European markets before embarking on aggressive international expansion.

Acquisitions

GIA completed several acquisitions as part of its global expansion, including:^[9]

• Fusion Consulting based in Singapore, Hong Kong and Shanghai (in 2008)^[10]
• Gayer Consulting in Germany (in 2008)
• DeskResearch Nederland in the Netherlands (in 2008).

Services

GIA offered 4 distinct service types.^[11] GIA client engagement teams typically consisted of a combination of industry experts, service type specialists and professionals with local market knowledge.

• Market Monitoring - Customized alerts and tracking of clients' markets, customers and competitors.
• Strategic Analysis & Advisory - Analysis, insight and advisory services. These consulting services include: Growth Consulting; Market Attractiveness & Entry Analysis; M&A Target Screening & Evaluation; Commercial Due Diligence; Market Sizing, Segmentation & Forecasting; Value Chain Analysis; Competitor Market Share Analysis; Competitive Benchmarking; Customer Behavior & Perceptions Analysis; etc.

• Intelligence Best Practices - Consulting services and events to support the development of world class market intelligence within client organizations.

• Intelligence Software - An intelligence software solution offered primarily on a SaaS basis.^[12] The software solution offers collaboration, knowledge sharing, analysis and alert features.

Industry Practices & Expertise

GIA structured its industry expertise around 11 core industry practices:^[13]

• Automotive
• Chemical
• Construction & Property Development
• Consumer & Retail
• Energy, Resources & Environment
• Financial Services
• Private Equity
• Logistics & Transportation
• Manufacturing & Industrial
• Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare
• Telecommunications, Technology & Media

Clients

The company primarily served Global 2000 corporate clients, investment banks and private equity firms.

Research & Publications

GIA consultants and analysts regularly published research and articles about business issues, market dynamics and market intelligence best practices.

Books

In August 2011, GIA published a book on Market Intelligence entitled "Handbook of Market Intelligence: Understand, Compete and Grow in Global Markets". The book was published by Wiley, and is intended to provide readers with a step-by-step roadmap for establishing, conducting, and further developing market intelligence programs within an organization, turning market data into actionable insights. It is based on hundreds of international case studies, including companies which GIA has advised such as ABB, Cisco Systems, Dunkin’ Brands and Statoil. The book was co-authored by 3 GIA Consultants: Hans Hedin, Irmeli Hirvensalo and Markko Vaarnas.^[14][15]

Editorial reviews received for the book include the following:^[16]

• “This book provides a very useful and practical framework to guide the development of a Market Intelligence function that serves as a tool for competitive advantage. The use of multiple and diverse business cases helps readers to understand the implementation of key concepts and provides a set of practical lessons to facilitate this important journey for any organization.” — Carlos Jose Fonseca, SVP/Group Head Global Marketing Strategy, Planning and Analytics, MasterCard
• “Forward looking market understanding is what any CEO needs for securing successful business today and into the future. But how does one manage that in a global organization with thousands of employees? This book neatly lays out the steps to turn systematic Market Intelligence from an ideal to everyday reality.” — Harri Kerminen, former President and CEO, Kemira
• “Comprehensive, practical, to the point; a must read for any strategy, marketing and intelligence director!” — Anders Marvik, Vice President, Corporate Strategy, Statoil

Corporate Social Responsibility

GIA supported Plan International as part of its corporate social responsibility program since February 2005, specifically contributing to "Because I’m a Girl" campaign.^[17][18]

Awards and Honors

Industry Rankings

• In 2011, GIA Asia placed eleventh overall in the annual rankings.^[19][20]
• In 2012: GIA Asia placed thirteenth overall in the annual rankings.^[21]

For Marketing

GIA's website www.globalintelligence.com won two international awards for website excellence.^[22][23]

• The first award is from the Web Marketing Association for “Outstanding Award” at its 14th annual international WebAward Competition. The WebAward Competition names the best Web sites in 96 industries while setting the standard of excellence for all website development. Entries are judged on the following seven criteria on a scale of 0-10 points; ease of use, design, content, technology, interactivity, copywriting and innovation.
• The second award is from The W³ Awards competition by the International Academy of the Visual Arts (IAVA). The IAVA oversees all judging and provides strategic direction for The W³ Awards judging. The IAVA is a membership-based organization of leading professionals from various disciplines of the visual arts dedicated to embracing progress and the evolving nature of traditional and interactive media. The GIA website won a “Silver Award” in The W³ Awards. The judging criteria were for creativity, usability, navigation, functionality, visual design and ease of use.

References

External links

• Official website