In Case B$,$ the data analytics $($DA$)$ unit, made of two full$-$time analysts, is under the

direction of the operations department; yet, their main interface is the commercial area. As

stressed by the DA Director, IT tools are central in their activity: "clearly, our operations

may be efficient or not mainly depending on how good we are with using IT tools". The DA

unit routine consists of collecting and analyzing the internal data of their retailers

consumers, i$.$e$.$ the user data constitutes the main data asset of the company and the unique

driver to make decisions at this level. This data may be transactions, events, generated sale

volume or the related margin due to the retargeting company service. This data is mainly

used to develop reports to help the Commercial team to set the margin goals of the next

quarter. Moreover, this unit satisfies occasional on demand clients' requests for customized

market analysis, such us studying the behaviors of their retailers' consumers.

The DA unit works on projects executing more comprehensive and massive market

analysis such as evaluating the trends of Black Friday, specifically requested by the

Marketing area. As a matter of fact, the analyzed user data are under the company's

ownership and directly available on the client's platform, therefore, the interviewed did not

express difficulties related to data acquisition. The main problems are considered urgent

and unexpected requests, according to the manager of the unit and technical aspects of the BI

tools for the analyst.

According to an analyst of the DA unit, web and social networks are leading them to

gather large amounts of data and, thus, CI practices and activities necessarily increase to

cope with continuous change characterizing their business $("$our business is really

characterized by continuous change, the web and digital technologies are both the problem

and the solution to the caos of our industry"$).$

As declared by the interviewees, the function copes mainly with supporting the tactical

decisions of the commercial team, focusing on short and middle term issues. The unit assists

in the launch of new products and$/$or functionalities, forecasting sales and profitability but

also monitors the product$/$functionality performance while it is on the market; ultimately,

they offer support in the enhancement of the customer relationship. Therefore, the unit

contributes to the tactical strategy formulation at the local level by providing intelligence

and suggestions to the commercial area's senior managers, but primarily focuses on

strategy implementation and monitoring by providing feedback about the strategy

performance in the market.

Ultimately, the manager highlights that there is essentially no dialogue with headquarters,

which dictates the strategic objectives with a total top$-$down approach, leaving the company

often vulnerable to existing local competitors' moves and new entrants. Synthesise the findings with industry practice