Cultures
How can we stop the decline of analyst relations?
There is a huge opportunity for vendors to benefit from the generalised decline in the responsiveness of analyst relations. Most vendors fail to act in the knowledge of the last year’s changes, creating huge benefits for those AR teams that fill the gap. That is the overwhelming tone of conversations with around two dozen analysts […]
26Feb2010 | Editorial | 1 comment | ContinuedAre analysts too cool for school?
One of the most stressful events for analyst relations managers is working out what to do when analysts attack. This is a topic we’ve discussed a lot over the past few years. AR managers often find that as well as focussing on the external relationship with the analyst, they need to manage the internal […]
10Jan2008 | Editorial | 0 comments | ContinuedPenteo: a case study in defendable borders
Penteo, the main analyst house in Spain, is a deeply influential firm: almost all its revenue comes from end-users; it is independent, and is seen to be independent; its business model is based on deep relationships, meaning that it has strong customer loyalty.
Penteo is, in many ways, the archetype for the analyst firm that […]
"The world’s leading…" exponents of puffery
What attitude should analyst relations managers take towards boosterism, the use of positive hype that is so excessive it produces negative reactions?
Boosterism is a common sign of both weak marketing and self-orientation: promoters unable to identify valuable features and benefits can make generalizations that are hard to fault, but have little real meaning. A classic […]
IDC’s European forum in Berlin
Around 150 executives were here with me for the start of IDC’s ICT Forum in Berlin, and the numbers are now probably closer to twice that. There are a number of AR professionals here, and it’s a good opportunity for them to see how large events like this can run well, and be improved.
IDC has […]
Do analysts’ interests reflect ICT markets?
My colleague Ivana Lazovic has been leading some fascinating research to see on which geographies analysts seem to be focusing their work.
As you can imagine, it’s sort of question that some analysts won’t give a straight answer to. They might say that their research is global, or that it has no geographical aspect.
Luckily, it is […]
Norma LaRosa joins Cross Cultural Journeys Foundation
Norma LaRosa, who co-founded Kensington Group with Efrem Mallach, is now Program Director of Africa for Cross Cultural Journeys Foundation.
Norma been involved in cross-cultural and charitable work in Eastern and Central Africa at least 15 years, so this is a great hire for the Foundation. Norma is helping develop micro-lending to help improve access to […]
30% of overseas firms free to leave New York Stock Exchange
Telecoms and tech companies based outside the US are giving up their listings on the NYSE. PCCW, Telstra, Telekom Austria and Vernalis are the latest to go, following Cable & Wireless and others.
Changes being introduced at the NYSE in June allow firms to delist if less than five percent of their trading volume is […]
You can’t win a "military victory" against the competition
A “military victory,” in the sense of total control over the whole territory imposed on the entire population, is not possible.Henry Kissinger, former US Secretary of State, quoted in this week’s Marine Corps Times.
Competitive approaches in tech market reflects military doctrine in two ways. First, there is great variance between the dominant doctrines found in […]
Don’t be scared of statistics
Managers’ comfort with statistical information varies greatly. When shown a chart like the one on the right, they either know what questions to ask themselves, or they skip over it.
In this chart, the blue line shows the performance of a firm over the last year, and the other lines try to explain the data. Most […]
Don’t assume analysts only follow their domestic market
I had an interesting comment in an email recently:
Why does Lighthouse emphasise cross-cultural differences so much? I think a lot of people will be offended by the way you call attention to these differences, especially since it comes across as stereotypically anti-American. More seriously, some people will think that you’re suggesting putting analysts in little […]
Another mention of the IHT
My previous post discussed the International Herald Tribune, whose issue today is well worth reading.
Today’s ‘Marketplace’ page discussed how the volume of US corn being used to make ethanol now equals the volume exported. It includes this map, which will fascinate any geographer.
There’s big news: Syria and Algeria seem to now share a border, while […]
I think what has changed is not AR but the fact that social media is a mainstream platform for content/opnion ...
Actually, I wrote my own NDA agreement (in my URL). Smaller vendors, as a rule, are fine with it. Multibillion ...
Excellent wise and solid advice as ever Duncan 
Hi Arpit,
The top analyst firm is certainly Gartner [www.gartner.com]. Email us if you have any other questions.
Duncan. 
