L8 Competitive Intelligence Flashcards
Competitive Intelligence (CI)
Finding your place in the world:
- how do you fit in?
- what is around you?
- are there threats, opportunities or changing circumstances?
The identification, collection, understanding and interpretation of information about your business, your competitors and the environment in which you are (or will be) operating
CI should be an embedded activity in any business
CI is an ongoing process
How do you find your place?
- work out where you are
- work out where the rest of the world is
- work out your relevance to the rest of the world (commercial context)
CI Paradox
- many global 1000 companies don’t have full-scale CI units
- most global 1000 executives believe the success depends on:
1. looking ahead
2. first mover advantage
3. strategic flexibility and manoeuvring - so most companies are simply not doing enough of what they think they should be doing
Secondary vs Primary research
see onenote
Secondary
- published data
- internal e.g. sales reports
- external e.g. internet searching
Primary
- unpublished data
- specialised CI technique e.g. focus groups, interviews
- feedback from sales representatives
CI vs Industrial Espionage
CI is the legal gathering of info.
Industrial Espionage is the illegal gathering of info.
Secondary vs Primary research table
see onenote
- time
- cost
- labour
- limitations
Quantitative vs Qualitative Research
Quantitative
- numerical measurements
- stats, surveys, data
Qualitative
- people’s opinions, underlying feelings and behaviours
- understanding of what people want or need and why people do certain things
Some basic CI rules
see onenote
CI occurs at all stages e.g. uni research vs corporate research
see onenote
Uni research - to get competitive intelligence
- Read all the papers that come out in your area
- Go to conference
- Talk to people
- Narrow focused competitive intelligence, people just don’t refer to it that away
Corporate research
- Market environment is also important therefore, competitive intelligence is seen as more important than in uni research
Databases - What is the disease? (Using Arthritis as an example)
- Medscape
- Australian Institute of Health and Welfare
- Burden of disease
Patent World Database
see onenote
- free online patent searching
- patent attorney firm has professional subscription databases, understands patent searching and understands FTO
Databases - What’s already out there?
See onenote
- FDA
- PhRMA
Databases - Regulations
see onenote
Business Information
- industry publications
- subscription newsletter
- subscription database e.g. Cortellis, UoM library
- subscription alerts
- conferences
- scientific literature
CI Pyramid
see onenote slides
- Recommendations
- Analysis of Data
- Sources of Data
Competitor Analysis
see onenote slides
Short term vs long term CI
see onenote
Short term
- strong focus on market and competitor’s products and the immediate revenue of the company
Strategic CI (long term) - detects weak signals and trends very early so future risks and opportunities can be managed and controlled
Simple but highly useful analyses
see onenote
- Strengths
- Weaknesses
- Opportunities
- Threats
Other factors to consider
see onenote
- political
- economical
- social
- technological
How to perform CI well
see onenote diagram
Why commercial intelligence?
see onenote
- play the game better
- play the game differently
Who’s job is it?
see onenote
How good CI can keep you ahead of the competition - example
see onenote
Good CI is essential to
see onenote
Digest and Analyse Data
See onenote
CARSA
