How far should people in a business firm ‘ ge 30 in gathering tiv intelligence? Where do you draw the line? 8 gathering competitive Evaluate each of the following approaches that a business firm could use to gather information about competition. For each approach , mark your feeling about its appropriateness: 1 (definitely not appropriate ), 2 (probably not appropriate), 3 (undecided), 4 (probably appropriate), or 5 ( definitely appropriate). The business firm should try to get useful information about competitors by: Carefully studying trade journals. Wiretapping the telephones of competitors. Posing as a potential costumer to competitors. Getting loyal customers to put out a phony “request for proposal” to solicit competitors’ bids. ' —______ Buying competitors’ products and taking them apart. ——__ Hiring management consultants who have worked for competitors. ——_ Rewarding competitors’ employees for useful “tips”. ——__ Questioning competitors’ customers and/or suppliers. ——___ Buying and analyzing competitors’ garbage. ——__ Advertising and interviewing for nonexistent jobs. ——__ Taking public tours of competitors’ facilities. ——__ Releasing false information about the company in order to confuse competitors. ——— Questioning competitors’ technical people at trade shows and conferences. ——___ Hiring key people away from competitors. ——_ Analyzing competitors’ labor union contracts. Hiring employees date persons who work for competitors. —___ Study:ing aerial photographs of employees facilities. 45 aca