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40% of all respondents and almost 50 These survey findings suggest that there were few executive initiatives in
% of the C level executives said that companies were not conducting an this area, although the probability of
if they faced the same situation again, effective, ongoing, sophisticated analysis being surprised was increasingly high.
they would conduct their analysis the of their competitors’ potential actions. The price a company paid for being too
same way. They also did not take proactive steps confident and not looking proactively at
Although the survey stated to monitor systematically their markets the business environment is significant.
that “management theory says the and their competitors. Executives did not seek original
first concern of companies facing a Although there was no direct moves and relied mostly on obvious and
significant competitive move is to reference to the contribution of a common information to develop their
protect their position or to try turning competitive intelligence function in the counteractions. The lack of good and
the situation to their advantage”, only a responding companies, the results have timely intelligence on the competitor’s
quarter of executives said they intended an interesting insight into the question intentions plays a significant role in
their response to deny their competitors how intelligence might support firms to creating fewer response options and
any benefit. gain competitive advantage. potentially wrong decisions. It is not
Executives received alerts that surprising that while these executives
were not timely nor high quality, and lacked strategic vision, they did not
Looking forward they did not have the time to take feel the need to create a CI capability
Additional information in this reasonable decisions and to respond to assist them in preparing results
survey described that since companies to competitors’ actions effectively. for longer time frames in advance of
focus on earnings and market share, Competitors that introduced successful competitive actions.
more than half of the executives competitive moves had significant
limited the timeframe of the forecasted advantage, more than could be
potential impact of their competitive expected. A lack of CI input in these Conclusion
counteraction to less than two years. situations may lead us to assume that Recent McKinsey surveys
From this McKinsey survey we either CI functions did not exist in have provided important input to
find that, contrary to what many many of the responding firms, or that competitive intelligence practitioners
people in the business environment these functions were not fulfilling their and consultants. They suggest the
believe, managers are satisfied with low goals. Management has a great need challenges executives face and how they
results and do not favor a more active to receive timely alerts regarding the can use or create better intelligence
approach. Fighting back strongly by intentions of the competitors and their functions.
using effective initiative steps almost potential moves. . The results of this survey from CI
did not exist. The survey’s responses indicated prism shows that executive awareness to
When executives found themselves that executives had only limited access CI’s potential value is still low and that
in a delay which affected their business to powerful analytical information companies still face major difficulties in
results we expect that they will look to prepared for them by any function applying CI discipline for their benefit.
change the situation and to place their in the company. They relied more Executives are the key to better CI
companies in a stronger competitive on coincidental information than on implementation.
position. According to this survey, this systematic intelligence. The survey I suggest using this survey’s results
did not happen. analysis pointed out clearly that those as a starting point to inquire how your
executives lacked a sense of urgency executives would respond if they had
and a low appreciation for the potential a powerful CI to supply them with
Competitive Intelligence dangerous effects these competitor timely intelligence about competitors’
overview moves had on their business results. intentions and their moves. CI
I would expect that when Executives relied heavily on their capability supported by a strong
executives find themselves surprised and personal capabilities or on coincidence analytical focus clearly creates many
affected badly by a lack of intelligence rather than on a strong analytical potential positive effects on business
concerning their competitors’ capability that would support them performance. This may also change the
intentions, they would act firmly with the needed options concerning view of executives as presented in this
to improve their intelligence and to business threats. survey. Companies that react strongly to
enable a longer alert that would help Unfortunately we cannot learn competitive moves, supported by their
them to plan better response moves. from this survey how many executives CI arm, give themselves a competitive
Nevertheless, as we see from this survey, actually initiated inquiries about the advantage as they fulfill their business
this was not the direction most of them current and potential moves of their plans.
pursued. competitors. My impression is that