...Competitive Intelligence Term Paper Dr. Ahmed Nassar Prepared by Ahmed Ibrahim Ahmed El Mizayen 1. What is CI? he process of collecting and analyzing information about competitors’ strengths and weaknesses in a legal and ethical manner to enhance business decision-making. Competitive intelligence activities can be basically grouped into two main types – 1) Tactical, which is shorter-term and seeks to provide input into issues such as capturing market share or increasing revenues; and 2) Strategic, which focuses on longer-term issues such as key risks and opportunities facing the enterprise. Competitive intelligence is different from corporate or industrial espionage, which use illegal and unethical methods to gain an unfair competitive advantage. Competitive intelligence means different things to different people within an organization. For example, to a sales representative, it may mean tactical advice on how best to bid for a lucrative contract. To top management, it may mean unique marketing insights to gain market share against a formidable competitor. The ultimate end goal of competitive intelligence is to help make better decisions and enhance organizational performance. While most companies can find substantial information about their competitors online, competitive intelligence goes way beyond merely trawling the Internet, on the premise that the most valuable information is seldom – if ever – easily accessible online. A typical competitive intelligence...
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...Proctor & Gamble Competitive Intelligence Case Tristen Leeder RES/351 January 14, 2013 Instructor: Steve Roussas Abstract In this paper I will show the usefulness of corporate intelligence. While this tool is helpful in making solid business decisions effort needs to go into monitoring of the gathering process. Intelligence gathered by unethical means does more harm to an organization then good. The financial repercussions of involvement in corporate spying are steep, and the damage it does to an organizations reputation can take years to repair. Management teams must continually monitor how intelligence is gathered to make corporate intelligence work for their benefit. Proctor & Gamble Competitive Intelligence Case In spring of 2001 John Pepper, then chair of Procter and Gamble was faced with a dilemma (Tuck School). It had been brought to light that P&G’s competitive analysis department had engaged in corporate spying (CNN). An outside firm hired by P&G had engaged in spying on Unilever, P&G’s main competitor in the hair care industry. According to Jordan and Finkelstein “the spying operation gathered about eighty documents detailing Unilever’s plans for its U.S. hair care business over the next three years, including information on its launch-plans, prices, and margins (Tuck School, p. 1).” In April 1999 John Pepper was the keynote speaker at an SCIP CEO Roundtable, held in Montreal. In his address Mr. Pepper...
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...Introduction VII. Definition and Examples a. Case I b. Case II c. Case III VIII. Origin of Competitive Intelligence IX. Why Collect Intelligence? X. What is Ethical? XI. Methods of Intelligence Collection XII. What Resources Are Used to Collect Information XIII. How Companies Utilized Collected Information XIV. Keeping Companies Secrets Secret a. Buildings b. Communication Systems c. Administrative XV. Conclusion I. ABSTRACT Intelligence gathering is considered commonplace in corporate America. Companies struggle to maintain the high ground within a competitive marketplace. One source for maintaining an elevated position is through information gathering on competitors, better known as Competitive Intelligence (CI). Collection of this information can be accomplished through numerous means. History has shown that the collection of CI is not a new practice, only that the methods used to collect the information have evolved over the past century. Intense pressure for turning profits, winning contracts, and avoiding expensive research and development costs drive the methods used in CI collection. With an increase in CI collection, companies are required to protect themselves from inside and outside intruders. II. PROBLEM STATEMENT Corporate America has become oblivious to the information being divulged concerning company trade secrets. Corporate intelligence or company espionage has become an all to commonplace art form. Due to increase pressure to...
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...Competitive Intelligence At Lexis-Nexis Submitted to: Ms. Marian Pio Submitted by: Lourdes Andrada Paolo Garces Ji Hyeon Kim (Leila) Victor Kim Jevan Sugue Julia Valenzuela Koko Victory Table of Contents Background of the Company 3 Background of the Business Intelligence Undertaking: Challenge 5 Background of Business Intelligence Undertaking: Solution 6 Sources 6 Background of the Company As a market leader with a significant revenue base to protect, Lexis-Nexis certainly understand the value of competitive intelligence. A source of real time and archival information for 26 years, with 1998 revenues of $1.3 billion, the Lexis-Nexis Group provides customers with highly structured information tools. Our mission is to be the preferred provider of decision support information and services to professionals in legal, business, and government markets. We are comprised of companies operating either within Lexis Publishing (for the legal profession) or the Nexis business unit (serving business, government, and academic markets). Their brands guarantee access to information from authoritative sources, enriched with enhancements such as indexing, linkages, and segmentation. Lexis-Nexis is a large group, global organization with about 8,000 staff in 63 locations, and all 8,000 staff members have access to our CI tools through our internal corporate intranet. Lexis-Nexis have 1.8 million subscribers, excluding the two-thirds of the U.S. undergraduate...
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...premiere gourmet grocery store that offers shoppers the finest baked goods, meats, cheese and dairy, produce items and an assortment of domestic and imported wines. Kudler Fine Foods offers all customers a wonderful shopping experience and the finest quality of foods and wines. Leaving room to expand its current services and opening new locations. The company’s growth span is leading to an increased customer base. Kudler Fine Foods is increasing and looking to drive revenue upward while leaving the current prices as set. Kudler Fine Foods is ready to develop changes to increase their revenue . I will discuss in this paper the important elements needed in Kudler Fine Foods goal towards advancement in marketing and the role of using the competitive intelligence tactics. This could include other ways to successfully achieve goals of growth. Marketing Research “Although marketing research isn’t perfect, it seeks to reduce risk and uncertainty to improve decisions made by marketing managers” (Armstrong, , 2011) . Marketing research can help develop new product ideas and offer a fine tuning in slimming down products and services. Businesses use market research t o help determine who will be interested in purchasing their products and services. Marketing research will reach out to a target group of people based on certain feelings, needs, income and age. Mrs. Kudler conducted surveys to reach out to customer and receive feedback in areas of potential improvements. Pointing them in the...
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...Competitive Landscape When it comes to this type of argument it is very compelling to understand what needs to be done here. It is very important for a company to be able to understand what their competitive landscape market is and how they are going to use it. Within the Jackson Hewitt Company, they have many different competitors that offer similar to the same type of services they do. So the question here really is how Jackson Hewitt markets themselves and the new service of financial services that makes them more appealing to the customer. Marketing is the key, the whole purpose of why a company has marketing teams. Here are some examples of Jackson Hewitt’s competitive landscape. So let’s start out with the most obvious question, what is competitive landscape. “A competitive landscape (also known as “competitive intelligence”) provides cohesive, detailed information on what your competitors are doing including” (Koch, 2009). So when doing the research on Jackson Hewitt, I had come to a conclusion that they do not offer financial advisory to their customer such as some of their competitors do like H and R Block. So when a company wants to start up a new service, they need to research their competitor s to find out exactly what they are offering and the pricing of those services. A company needs to offer more for less in order to be competitive in a field that is already crowded. “In gathering competitive intelligence and creating your competitive landscape, you will...
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...Analyzing Your Competition Overview Almost everyone in business understands the principle of trying to offer something better than what their competitors are offering. Gaining an advantage is the key to success and even survival. But many of the so-called advantages that businesses rely on are not sustainable. They can be easily copied, stolen or negated. Real competitive advantages — things like brand name recognition, patented manufacturing processes or exclusive rights to a scarce resource — cannot be easily copied. Every company has a unique set of strengths, and it's critical that you determine yours, as well as your competitors'. Hold a brainstorming session with your staff and advisors to perform a formal SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis. This analysis helps you to see how your strengths stack up against your competitors' weaknesses and suggests ways to take advantage of marketplace opportunities. After you have performed the analysis, there are four basic competitive strategies to consider. 1. Become the low-cost supplier. By under-pricing the competition, you can achieve greater volume, which can drive your costs down even further by realizing economies of scale. Of course, it's important to still maintain a healthy profit margin so the key here is to lower costs, not just prices. 2. Achieve product or service quality differentiation. Think about the hundreds of companies that have achieved such differentiation for themselves...
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...to in regards to weaknesses and strengths to determine if it is moving in the right direction (Internal Organizational Analysis, n.d.). When internal analyses are not completed honestly and accurately it will affect various portions of the business. Generally, the finances are affected. Finances determine the sustainability of many organizations because of the overhead. When credit is maxed out and there are no funds available to pay employees, vendors, or produce then the company could potentially go out of business. Upon researching, surveying, and reviewing cost I would ensure that the information received is valid. I think that S.W.O.T. (Strength, weakness, opportunities, and threats) internal analysis could increase a level of competitive advantage. Many organizations tend to...
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...Kudler Fine Foods After searching for opportunities for a different lifestyle, Kathy Kudler had a vision of opening her own gourmet food department. On June 18, 1998, Kathy Kudler’s first store front of Kudler fine foods opened their doors, in La Jolla, California (Kudler Fine Foods.) Within two years later she open an additional establishment in Del Mar, California, which is within 30 minute distance from the La Jolla Store. Five years later she open a third store located in Encinitas, California. Kudler fine foods’ businesses have been doing great with the exception of one of the stores making enough money to break even. Kathy wanted her store to sell the finer items of the international cultures. Kudler Fine Foods consist of freshly bake breads, the finer meats, freshly organic produce, gourmet cheese, and superior selection of wine. Importance of Marketing Research Kudler Fine Foods is an upscale food supplier that will attract customers who are of a median to upper income. Marketing research is of importance when dealing with this any organization, especially when the products exceed the average price the same items. Kathy would need to know the target market of her customers. The target market consists of the characteristics and dimensions of their present and potential clients. Kathy needs to be aware of the average income of individuals in the area of the store, their lifestyle, population, sex, marital status, and the commute from Kudler fine foods to their home...
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...[pic]Porter's Four Corners Model Porter’s four corners model is a predictive tool designed by Michael Porter that helps in determining a competitor’s course of action. Unlike other predictive models which predominantly rely on a firm’s current strategy and capabilities to determine future strategy, Porter’s model additionally calls for an understanding of what motivates the competitor. This added dimension of understanding a competitor's internal culture, value system, mindset and assumptions help in determining a much more accurate and realistic reading of a competitor’s possible reactions in a given situation. The Four Corners Motivation – drivers This helps in determining competitor's action by understanding their goals (both strategic and tactical) and their current position vis-à-vis their goals. A wide gap between the two could mean the competitor is highly likely to react to any external threat that comes in its way, whereas a narrower gap is likely to produce a defensive strategy. Question to be answered here is: What is it that drives the competitor? These drivers can be at various levels and dimensions and can provide insights into future goals. Motivation – Management Assumptions The perceptions and assumptions the competitor has about itself and its industry would shape strategy. This corner includes determining the competitor's perception of its strengths and weaknesses, organization culture and their beliefs about competitor's goals. If the competitor thinks...
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...business STRATEGIC AND COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS: Methods and Techniques for Analyzing Business Competition 1 © The MindShifts Group Pty Ltd Page 1 of 5 www.mindshifts.com.au STRATEGIC AND COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS: Methods and Techniques for Analyzing Business Competition By Craig Fleisher and Babette Bensoussan (Prentice Hall, 2002) Book Description Given the priority of competitiveness in modern companies, practitioners of competitive or strategic corporate intelligence (CI) need to come to terms with what business and competitive analysis is and how it works. More importantly, they need to be able to convert the wealth of available data and information into a valuable form for decision-making and action. Collected data must be converted into intelligence. This is accomplished through analysis. Strategic and Competitive Analysis comprehensively examines the wide spectrum of techniques involved in analyzing business and competitive data and information including environmental analysis, industry analysis, competitor analysis, and temporal analysis models. It helps business analysts and decision-makers to draw effective conclusions from limited data and to put together information that does not often fit together at first glance. The Analysis Iceberg Strategic management involves all aspects of a business and requires a knowledge and understanding of the environmental impacts on an organization to ensure that correct decisions are made and taken. It is not just about looking at best fit...
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...fine bakery products, meats and seafood, produce, cheese and dairy, and wines. The company wants to expand with a new location. With the expansion, Kudler needs to focus on the marketing strategy and incorporate additional marketing research. Competitive intelligence and analysis helps Kudler redefine the marketing strategy. Importance of Marketing Research According Kerin, et. al. (2009), “Marketing research is the process of defining a marketing problem and opportunity, systemically collecting and analyzing information and recommending actions” (Marketing, 2009, p. 199). Marketing research helps create long-term business plans, launch new products or services, and expand into new markets. Market research determines what the consumer desires in the store and the ranking against competitors. Kudler identifies the market share through research. Marketing research involves five steps. The five steps are defining the problem, develop the research plan, collect relevant information by specifying, develop findings, and take marketing actions (Longmeyer, 2011). Using the five steps of market research identifies the weaknesses and strengths in the expansion development. Additional Market Research For Kudler to remain competitive, they need additional market research in business trend research. Business trend research shows the growth rate and trends in the food industry. Although surveys help determine satisfied customers with the store, customers are not satisfied with...
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...Mariam Diab ID:10931041 Sec: C Date: 19-4-2014 Dr.Ali Dirani IMGT497 Entrepreneurship 1- Competitive intelligence is the action of defining, gathering, analyzing, and distributing intelligence about products, customers, competitors, and any aspect of the environment needed to support executives and managers making strategic decisions for an organization Competitive intelligence is an ethical and legal business practice, as opposed to industrial espionage, which is illegal Competitive intelligence essentially means understanding and learning what's happening in the world outside your business so you can be as competitive as possible. It means learning as much as possible as soon as possible about your industry in general, your competitors, or even your county's particular zoning rules. Ethics has been a long-held issue of discussion among CI practitioners. Essentially, the questions revolve around what is and is not allowable in terms of CI practitioners' activity. A number of very excellent scholarly treatments have been generated on this topic, most prominently addressed through Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals publications. The book Competitive Intelligence Ethics: Navigating the Gray Zone provides nearly twenty separate views about ethics in CI, as well as another 10 codes used by various individuals or organizations. Combining that with the over two dozen scholarly articles or studies found within the various CI bibliographic entries, it is clear...
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...develop an exhaustive list of every possible factor that could influence the business. 4) External audits attempt to identify key variables that offer actionable responses. 5) Five major categories of external variables are: 1) economic forces, 2) social and cultural forces, 3) political, governmental and legal forces, 4) technological forces and 5) demographic forces. 6) As many managers and employees as possible should be involved in the process of performing an external audit. 7) To perform an external audit, a company first must gather competitive intelligence and information about social, cultural, demographic, environmental, economic, political, legal, governmental and technological trends. 8) Freund argues that key external factors must not be hierarchical. 9) The I/O approach to competitive advantage advocates that internal factors are more important than external factors in a firm achieving competitive advantage. 10) An economic trend in America is the increasing numbers of two-income households. 11) Economic factors do not have much impact on the attractiveness of strategies. 12) An increase in interest rates is directly related to an increase in discretionary income and an increase in the demand for discretionary goods. 13) Motor vehicle firms in the United States are vulnerable when the value of the dollar falls. 14) A low value of the dollar means lower...
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...researchandmarkets.com/reports/657511/ UK Automotive Industry: Sector Report Description: This industry profile is an essential tool to help your company gain an in-depth knowledge and competitive advantage in the industry. The profile is an assimilation of insider knowledge, market characteristics and economic indicators. It analyzes the critical success factors in the industry – how the industry has evolved and how competitive dynamics have impacted market behavior. Sectional Highlights -- Structure of the industry, market size, and growth rates have been analyzed -- Value chain analysis categorizes the value-adding activities to develop low-cost differentiation strategies -- Trend analysis detects historical patterns that could help in forecasting future demand periods -- Critical issues are reviewed that may become a threat to the industry -- PEST analysis uses a framework of external factors for macro-environmental scanning of the industry to help in taking advantage of opportunities and making contingency plans for threats -- Competitive positioning of the industry leaders has been evaluated in terms of sales, profitability, stock trend and other performance indicators Key Benefits -- Provides input for strategic business planning -- Targets business opportunities & risks -- Exploits competitive intelligence Target Audience -- Investment Managers -- Venture Capitalists -- Management Consultants -- Research Companies -- Other Industry Professionals Contents: 1. Industry Overview...
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