What if a complex market development, like a major M&A deal, didn’t derail your week, but instead turned into a value-added update you could deliver before lunch?
For most market intelligence teams, that scenario still feels far off. Take Paul, for example. Until recently, responding to urgent questions about competitors, market share, or strategic moves meant days lost to spreadsheets, scattered sources, and rushed conclusions.
The trigger: an unexpected merger in dairy
Today, we'd like to share a story on how a Market Intelligence Analyst managed to answer a major M&A question in only a few minutes.
For that, let's get back to Paul, a Market Intelligence Analyst at a leading European dairy company. His daily work involves analyzing market data, preparing reports, and handling frequent ad-hoc requests from the leadership team.
One morning, Paul receives a message from Christina, the CFO:
“Can you give me a breakdown of the Royal FrieslandCampina and Milcobel merger? Also, compare it to the Arla and DMK case and flag any potential risks.”
It wasn’t a simple ask. To provide a meaningful response, Paul needed to:
- Manually collect data from financial statements
- Track industry developments
- Compare margins
- Assess capacity changes
- Compile everything into a polished report.
In a nutshell: it meant long days and having to pause other projects. And by the time it was shared, the opportunity to act had passed.
But, this time around, Paul simply logged into A-INSIGHTS.
In just a few minutes, he had a complete, side-by-side view of the two major consolidation moves in the European dairy sector. He quickly identified what mattered most and prepared a clear internal briefing.
%20(2000%20x%201000%20px)%20(6).png)
From reaction to readiness
Because, too often, strategy begins after something happens.
By the time the business spots a major event such as price spike, regulation shift, competitor move, Paul scrambles to gather context and assess the impact. But the clock is ticking. The decision window is narrow, and most of it is spent just trying to catch up.
What if you could flip that timeline?
Instead of reacting late, imagine building 70% of the context before the event occurs. That way, when the moment comes, you're not playing catch-up: you’re choosing from well-prepared scenarios and guiding the business forward with confidence.
That’s how you protect the window of opportunity:
📍 Use it to decide, not to gather, clean, and interpret data.
Here’s how that shift looks:
Two mergers reflect one market shift
Royal FrieslandCampina and Milcobel
This merger reflects a strategic move. Royal FrieslandCampina is acquiring assets from Milcobel to strengthen its processing capacity and secure milk supply. The deal helps increase scale in Belgium and stabilize input availability amid tight supply conditions.
Arla and DMK
Arla’s acquisition of DMK focuses on operational efficiency. It aims to optimize production and expand private label capacity in Germany’s highly competitive retail environment.
What Paul uncovered using A-INSIGHTS
Instead of starting from scratch, Paul used A-INSIGHTS dashboards to quickly find:
- Financial context, including operating margins, milk volumes, and capacity use for each deal
- Strategic motivation, with FrieslandCampina focused on volume security and Arla focused on margin improvement
- Potential risks:
- FrieslandCampina may face integration complexity and exposure to continued milk volatility
- Arla may encounter pressure from private label pricing and risks related to capacity utilization
- Comparison across both deals, showing differences in goals, footprint, and competitive strategy
With visual insights already in place, Paul prepared a high-impact internal memo that highlighted downstream effects for his business. He had everything ready before lunch.
The shift from reactive to proactive Intelligence
This is not just a story about Paul. It reflects a broader shift in how companies use Market Intelligence.
In our recent A-INSIGHTS webinar, we highlighted the importance of moving away from reactive research. Leading companies are now building intelligence systems that identify signals early and help guide decisions at the right time.
This proactive approach allows teams to:
- Spot emerging trends or disruptive moves
- Understand the context and implications
- Share findings with internal stakeholders early
- Make faster and better-informed decisions
If you missed the webinar, you can download the recording here.
See the platform that made it possible
If you are curious how this would look in your market or industry, we would be happy to walk you through it. Book a personalized session here and see how A-INSIGHTS could help you support smarter, faster decisions.
