The media-modeling tool was kicked into high gear two years ago when Chad Jacoby, senior manager of Nissan's Business Intelligence Unit, used years of Nissan's consumer research to build a computer model comparing the relationship of each phase of their "purchase funnel"--from awareness to purchase consideration to a transaction--to the phase before it.

FORBES: Ad Vantage

The huge trading and logistics operation, backed by a savvy business-intelligence unit, has a global presence in a vast array of commodities that far exceeds that of rivals such as Cargill or Trafigura.

ECONOMIST: Xstrata and Glencore

The University of Chicago's Graduate School of Business has claimed top spot in the Economist Intelligence Unit's 2007 ranking of full-time MBA programmes ( full report and methodology).

ECONOMIST: Which MBA?

"The rise stems from increased investment in information technology, particularly back-office and in fact call centres, " Gareth Price of the Economist Intelligence Unit told the BBC's World Business Report.

BBC: India sees jump in foreign investment

The implications for the Kenyan economy are huge, Patriba Thaker, the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) regional director for Africa told BBC's World Business Report.

BBC: Trouble ahead for Kenya's economy

After serving in the Army for three years in a European intelligence unit, he joined The Wall Street Journal as a staff writer where he spent 11 years covering business and finance.

FORBES: Backseat Driver