Term Paper

Competitive Intelligence (CI)

Answer any 6 of the following questions:

1-What Is CI?
 CI is systematic and ethical program for gathering, analyzing and managing external
information that can affect your company’s plans, decision and operations

 Specifically , CI is the legal collection and analysis of information regarding the capabilities
vulnerabilities and intentions of business competitors , conducted by using information
database and other “Open source” and though ethical inquiry

 CI enables senior managers in companies of all sizes to make informed decisions about
everything from marketing ,R&D , and investing tactics to long-term business strategies

 Effective CI is continuous process involving the legal and ethical collection of information,
analysis that doesn’t avoid unwelcome conclusion, and controlled dissemination of
actionable intelligence to decision makers

Reference  Power point presentation (Dr. Ahmed Nassar)

2-Why is CI important?
Stay Nimble and React Quickly
“In my opinion, except in very rare circumstances, businesses cannot exist merely to provide a product
or service — regardless of how good they are at it — and not pay attention to what is happening in the
marketplace. They need to watch out for direct competitors (for car companies, that would be other car
companies) as well as indirect competitors (using the same example, for car companies, these can be
services like Uber, public transportation, and other modes of transportation like bikes).

By staying on top of what competitors are doing, a company can be more nimble and react quickly to
their actions. For instance, they can adjust pricing, introduce new products, discontinue products that
competitors are now offering, and take other similar action depending on the needs of their
businesses.

Competitive intelligence is meaningless if you do it occasionally or after your competitor has already
taken a big step. (I get so many clients who come to me years after they have lost market share to a
competitor because it could offer a lower price to customers). What will determine your success is
knowing ahead of time what your competitor is going to do so that you can either implement a strategic
response before it is an imperative or react in a timely manner. Being caught by surprise can be
disastrous.

And finally, the size of the company is immaterial when it comes to having a competitive intelligence
program. The neighborhood Chinese takeout needs competitive intelligence as much as a Fortune 500
company."

— Jay Dwivedi, President of Xinvest Consultants

Learn from the Mistakes of Other Companies

“Competitive intelligence allows us to constantly learn from successes and failures around us.
Everything is so transparent with the internet that one great exercise I sometimes ask start-up founders
I coach to do is to find companies who have failed at selling to the market they're targeting. This can
provide guidance around how to market, position, sell, distribute, and even build out product. We tend
to highlight only the successful start-ups, but we can learn a great deal from what hasn't worked in the
past.”

— Juliana Crispo, Founder and CEO of StartupSalesBootcamp.com

Stay Ahead of Your Closest Rivals

“Smaller businesses should make use of competitive intelligence to grow their businesses to the same
level as their competitors. This then positions them to exceed past their competitors. Larger
businesses should use competitive intelligence to stay ahead of their closest rivals and keep smaller
businesses from becoming close rivals. Common areas of competitive intelligence to look at include
client lists, service/product differentiators, marketing campaign components, sales strategies, service
delivery processes, and customer service methods.”

—  Aaron Wittersheim, COO of Straight North

Differentiate Yourself from the Pack

“Competitive intelligence is essential in today’s hugely competitive marketplace for many reasons. The
most important reason is so you know what not to do! The days of following your competitors are over.
Being disruptive is the only way to succeed these days, and that’s not even a guarantee anymore. You
need to gather data on your competition, but not just for the traditional reasons. You need to clearly set
yourself apart. Your product and service must be different. They must be the best, and they have to
stand out and be memorable. If you know what your competition is doing, you know what you shouldn’t
do: Exactly what they are doing.”

— Ryan Hulland, President & Founder of Netfloor USA Access Flooring

Avoid Pitfalls and Innovate Successfully

“We know that companies need competitive intelligence to better understand their competitors’
strengths and weaknesses, to monitor competitors’ products, advertising and brand platforms — all in
an effort to influence their own strategic decision-making. What business leaders often fail to derive
from competitive intelligence is which pitfalls to avoid and which ideas, if quickly capitalized on, could
serve as innovative differentiators.

Too many successful businesses become complacent, believing that their own product or service will
stand the test of time. Competitive intelligence helps leaders avoid competency addiction, a state
wherein leaders use outdated mindsets and behaviors to solve new challenges. By staying current with
trends, technology, and industry-related developments, leaders are allowing new ideas to flow into the
company and spark fresh thinking that leads to ideation and new offerings.

However, too much focus on using competitive intelligence to benchmark other organizations can steal
time, dollars, energy, and resources away from a much better use of competitive intelligence:
innovation. Innovation that allows you to leap frog in front of your customers (not just mimic and follow)
will help you sustain a competitive advantage. And that means profit. Yes, business leaders need to
know what their competitors are up to, but even more important, they need to gather the trends,
patterns, and relationships they see emerging across industry platforms. They then need to ask, 'How
do we capitalize on this intelligence?'”

— AmyK Hutchens, Founder and Intelligence Activist at AmyK International, Inc

Identify Areas of Opportunity

“I believe competitive intelligence is very important and should be prioritized for the following reasons:
1.) Staying flexible in an adaptive world. Our world is always changing, with new techniques, new
materials, and new protocols to enhance the way things operate and function. By keeping an eye on
major players as well as smaller start-ups, you can enhance your own company by adopting
something of theirs that you like. Why reinvent the wheel or spend lots on creative research when a
simple monitoring campaign would suffice?

2.) Finding areas of opportunity. It's good to know what areas of opportunity exist for your company.
Your competitors can snuff out which space is still fresh for the taking. Try to understand who their
marketing is geared towards and what kind of outreach is being done.”

— Curtis Boyd, CEO/Founder, Future Solutions Media

Referencehttps://blog.marketresearch.com/the-importance-of-competitive-intelligence

3-Does CI really make a difference to the bottom line?

Yes. Research shows that companies with well-established CI programs enjoy greater earnings per share than companies
in the same industry without CI programs. Moreover, "In a recession, competitive intelligence can pay off big," reported
Business Week magazine in its Nov 26, 2001 issue. Among the examples cited: At Texas Instruments, the CI team
uncovered the need to pursue an acquisition before a rival could do so "and safeguard what is now a $100 million business
with enormous growth potential at a time when bright spots on the tech horizon are few."

Among the findings in a March 2002 Trendsetter Barometer survey from PricewaterhouseCoopers: Fast-growth CEOs who
rated competitor information as being either "very" or "critically" important grew revenues by 14.2 %, versus 11.8% for all
others -- a 20% faster rate. Significantly, those placing a premium on competitor information are outperforming their peers
on sustained revenue growth, gross margins, and a number of other key performance measures.

Consider a 2001 marketing case study presented by Clifford Kalb, former SCIP president, and vice president of strategic
business analysis at the pharmaceutical firm Merck & Co., Inc. According to Mr. Kalb (and as reported in CI Magazine,
Jan./Feb 2002), Merck's CI group was responsible for developing a counterstrategy to a competitor's forthcoming product
rollout that, over a period of 30 months has enabled Merck to "anticipate and outmaneuver the competition," and resulted in
"saving approximately $200 million to the bottom line -- so far." And the estimated boost to the bottom line could go as high
as $400 million.

Reference  ie-lobbying.info/wiki/index.php/Competitive_Intelligence_FAQ

4-Is it true that CI is only important for big businesses?

No. Clearly, executives at many global companies -- like Xerox, IBM, and Motorola -- have already realized the importance
of CI and have developed their own operations. But small businesses, like large corporations, must compete in the
marketplace. It's just as important for decision makers in small businesses to know what lies ahead as for CEOs at Fortune
500 companies.

CI is very important in small businesses, as these businesses need CI To:

 Reduce risk of making wrong decisions

 Get early warning of threats and challenges
  Uncover inaccurate assumptions
 Learn what they don’t know
 Understand market niches and differentiation
 Find potential alliances and partners
 Develop a strategic action plan
Reference  ie-lobbying.info/wiki/index.php/Competitive_Intelligence_FAQ and PPT Dr. Ahmed Nassar

5-How is CI different from business espionage?

CI is available via legal and ethical means – not spying

CI is Information that has been analyzed to the point where you can make a decision.

CI is not Spying or espionage. Spying implies illegal or unethical activities. While spying does take place, it
is a rare activity. Corporations do not want to find themselves in court, nor do they want to upset
shareholders.

Espionage is the use of illegal means to gather information. It isn't necessary to use illegal or unethical
methods in CI. In fact, doing so represents a failure of CI, since almost anything decision makers need to
know about the competitive environment can be discovered using legal, ethical means. Most information
that can't be found through open-source collection and ethical inquiry can be deduced by using a variety of
analytical tools -- just one of the ways CI adds value to an organization. By joining SCIP, a member agrees
to abide by the Society's Code of Ethics, which forbids breaching an employer's guidelines, breaking the
law, or misrepresenting oneself.

Reference  ie-lobbying.info/wiki/index.php/Competitive_Intelligence_FAQ and PPT Dr. Ahmed Nassar

6- What are the general uses of CI information?

Design Strategies
As mentioned earlier, competitive intelligence services primarily help in planning the future as well as
present business strategies. They are qualitative in comparison to other market research services.

Target Other Businesses

In North America, companies that invested more than $1 million in competitive intelligence services
experienced a 10% total growth. Competitive intelligence services work on a broader prospect. They
consider potential competitors track their activities in the market and manufacturing techniques, which helps
businesses, plan their own movements.

Plan for Future Financial Circumstances

Competitive intelligence services possess a forward-looking perception. The strategies planned are planned for more
than 5 years. All regions including Europe, Asia, and the North America have reported a growth of at least 5 percent
in their corporations after partnering with competitive intelligence services. The finance remains largely undisturbed
even when there are disruptive changes in the financial cycles. This does not mean that there are no damages at all,
rather they are significantly less

Product Launch
While they record market trends, they also keep a track of the demand and supply cycle. This proves to be useful
when a business wishes to launch a new product in the market. The research related to the supply and demand rate
allows the businesses to predict the success rate of their product in the future or the prevailing market conditions.

Competitive intelligence services enable businesses to never lose vision of their goals. They help businesses to stay
updated with market trends, keep up with their competitors’ pace, and even overtake them. They serve as an alarm,
warning businesses to be equipped for any disruption in the market system. Thus, presently, it stands as a million-
dollar industry.

Reference  https://www.iresearchservices.com/4-primary-uses-of-competitive-intelligence-services/

7-Information has numerous sources, which have different degrees of

reliability. Describe 5 such sources and rank them in terms of highest to
lowest level of reliability for competitive intelligence.

Most sources (70%-80%) for CI are secondary (not first hand), such as newspapers, journals, press releases, ads, web
sites, etc. which have lower degree of reliability Primary sources (first hand) include interviews, surveys, and other
direct research techniques.-->highest source of reliability CI should try to enlist in-house experts. Larger companies
should create and maintain a Yellow Pages of in-house experts. And CI Professionals live by their rolodexes – the
contacts and sources for completing their CI Projects.

Deadline: BEFORE Thursday, Jan 30, 2020

Email to: drahmednassar@gmail.com

Important: Please write:

Your Name_H4_Group 56 4th Global_H_Spring 19201_Jan 24-25, 2020

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