Kim Smouter, Chair of the Legal Affairs Committee for ESOMAR, sits down with Eyes4Research CEO Rudly Rapahel in a wide-ranging conversation about the lessons he has learned in his career, his role with ESOMAR, and his mission to achieve racial equality in Europe.

What did you want to do professionally when you were younger? How did you end up on your current career path?

When I was young, I wanted to be a cardiologist. When I was a teenager, I realized that I get queasy with blood and I hate dead bodies. And at that point, I decided I want to be an ambassador. I felt like my international background, my mixed-race heritage, and the fact that I lived in different places, probably made me suited to the role of an ambassador.  I moved back to Europe and ended up learning a bit more about that.

I ended up doing

Editor’s Note: Earlier this year, we had Linda Lomelino on our podcast to discuss how Walmart is now leveraging shopper data and serving commercial customers as a research supplier. This strategic decision positioned them as not just an iconic retailer, but a competitive vendor with a solid value proposition. We want GreenBook readers to know about this important development, not just our podcast listeners, so have a look and let us know what you think in the comments!

For more information on how Walmart is influencing the market research industry, tune into the GreenBook Podcast episode How Walmart is Commercializing the Power of Data Science streaming now!  

“For an industry that’s experiencing a mass acceleration in change, understanding what customers want can give companies a competitive advantage.”

The GreenBook podcast recently sat down with Linda Lomelino, the Senior Director of Product Management and data ventures at Walmart,

Introduction

Last month, we discussed about Learning by Doing and how market researchers can use this learning process to expand their knowledge and skills through the experience of executing work. All while improving their innovation process.

This month we’ll begin on a new series on innovation strategy and how it can help you.

What is innovation strategy?

An innovation strategy is a list of items one must consider to grow an organization via innovation. It’s also a great way to understand how to develop a new product, brand or service and plan accordingly

In short, an innovation strategy is a set policies or behaviors needed to achieve a specific goal.

Why do you need an innovation strategy?

Failure is common in innovation initiatives. An innovation strategy helps prevent failure by giving structure and give you guidance to maintain your product’s performance once it’s released in the market.

There’s 3 reasons

If a tree falls in a forest, does it make a sound? And if an insights team throws their research into a shared drive or email thread, does anybody see it?

No one wants to dedicate time (and budget) to a research project that has a limited impact, which is why it’s so important to have an insights management strategy: an approach to capturing, sharing, and driving engagement with your organization’s market research and insights. But it’s all too easy to establish an insights management approach and then set it on autopilot, without thinking about how it may need to change to meet the evolving needs of your business.

Let’s take a look at four common scenarios when you may need to reevaluate your existing insights management strategy.

Your team is restructuring

There are a number of reasons your current team might restructure: your company could be changing where different

A lot of businesses in the ResTech sector are great at tech. A lot of businesses in the sector are great at people. The issue is, I’d wager too few are truly great at both. Companies will have to balance people and emerging research technology if they want to succeed moving forward.

Striking the right balance in combining people and technology is hard, and even harder to do really well. Often companies are torn between wanting to be positioned as a technology business versus trying to capitalize on opportunities and revenue that frequently requires a service component. How much do you lean into one or the other, and what are the implications on your addressable market, your margin profile and, ultimately, your ability to drive revenue?

Tech is first and foremost an enabler

Increasingly, winning companies are those recognizing that it is the “team” and first-class customer service (commonly known