According to a 2011 survey by the MIT Sloan School of Business, nearly 80 percent of all brand and market management decisions made by top-performing companies were primarily based on their CEO's intuition, rather than any form of market research.

Some of the most innovative and well-known CEOs, such as ex-Apple CEO Steve Jobs, have also been known to eschew research in favour of their "gut feeling" of what the market would want.

So why do companies continue to shell out millions for extensive market research? Check out this infographic, which explains how market research and a CEO's intuition can successfully go hand-in-hand in making top management decisions at companies.

Related: Business Management Strategy, Business Strategic Planning

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