upon by academics and companies today. The PIMS databases currently comprise over 25,000 years of business experience at the SBU level (i.e. where the customer interface takes place and where marketing and investment decisions are made). Each SBU is characterized by hundreds of factors over a period of 3+ years, including the market share of itself and its competitors, customer preference, relative prices, service quality, innovation rate, vertical integration, etc., as well as a number of market luring factors and fairly detailed income statement, balance sheet and employee data. Data collected In the PIMS study, more than 50 different core metrics were regularly surveyed. The most important of these are presented below: Characteristics of the business environment (market attractiveness): (Short/long-term) market growth Market size Distribution channels (direct, wholesale, retail, etc.) Customer characteristics (purchase amount, frequency, importance, etc.) Inflation (materials and energy, labor costs, prices) Position in product life cycle Competitive strength: Relative market share (compared to the 3 largest competitors) Relative innovation rate and product line breadth Location cost advantage Relative marketing effort (salesforce, advertising, promotion) Relative market coverage Relative product quality Characteristics of the service provision Supply chain fitness: Investment intensity (= investment volume / turnover) Extent of vertical integration versus outsourcing Labor productivity Capacity utilization Investment mix (fixed vs working capital) Lean overheads Marketing intensity (= marketing expenditure / sales) Research and development intensity (= research and development expenses / sales) Dynamics of change Changes in competitive strengths Changes in supply chain fitness Economic success factors (as variables to be explained): Return on investment (ROI) (= profit / tied capital) Return on sales (ROS) (= profit / sales) Real growth While most of the variables appear obvious, PIMS has the advantage of providing empirical data that defines quantitative relationships and attributes them to what some would consider reasonable. Participation in the PIMS study: cost and benefits Companies wishing to use the service will provide detailed information, for each of their main strategic business units including: Market and customer structure Competitive strengths and weaknesses Income statement and balance sheet Existing market projections and business plans. Based on the data provided, PIMS provides four reports (Lancaster, Massingham and Ashford): A "par" report - shows the expected profitability for this business profile – and why that differs from an average business A "strategic analysis" report, which calculates the predicted consequences using several alternative strategic measures. It takes into account information from