Commercial Intelligence
The hardest question in any commercial decision is not what to do. It is who to talk to.
Market reports tell you about sectors. Analyst briefings tell you about trends. Neither tells you the name of the person who leads the battery systems programme at a Tier 1 supplier in Stuttgart, or who controls the partnership budget at an OEM in Guangzhou.
That kind of intelligence requires a different approach. It requires the same skills that underpin executive search: the ability to map an organisation, identify the people who hold the relevant responsibility, and build a structured picture of who matters and why.
What we do
Hereward Partners delivers bespoke commercial intelligence projects for clients who need to understand a market at a people level. We identify both the organisations and the named decision-makers and influencers within those organisations, map reporting lines and areas of responsibility, and provide structured, decision-ready outputs that tell you exactly who to approach, why and with what.
This work sits alongside our search capability, not separately from it. The methodology is the same. The difference is the commercial objective: partner identification, market entry, competitive landscape analysis, or investor due diligence rather than a hiring mandate.
How it works
Each commercial intelligence project is scoped and priced on a fixed-fee basis. We agree the target market, the depth of coverage, and the output format at the outset. Deliverables are structured and practical: named contact maps, organisational profiles, and clear analysis of where the relevant people sit and what they are responsible for.
Projects are typically completed within four to eight weeks, depending on scope. We do not produce generic sector overviews. Every piece of work is built from scratch for the specific commercial question the client is trying to answer.
Who this is for
Our commercial intelligence work is most relevant to businesses that are entering a new market, looking for partners, whether that is a commercial partner, technical partner, or investor, or organisations looking for acquisition targets, and need to know who the relevant players are at an individual level. It also serves businesses preparing for a sales or partnership campaign who need named contacts rather than company lists, and investors conducting due diligence who need to understand the human landscape of a sector or target business.
In every case the output is the same: structured, named-contact intelligence that tells you exactly who to approach, what they are responsible for, and why they are relevant to your objective. Not a market overview. Not a list of logos. The specific individuals who matter, with the context to make the first conversation count