Competitive Intelligence
Introduction
One of the obvious developments in business today is increased competition and one reason for so much competition is because the world is now one single marketplace. In addition, distribution channels like the internet now make it possible for anyone to enter the global marketplace. With that said, the rate of change taking place in business is increasing dramatically as a result of increased competition. For example, internet usage now doubles every 100 days. If you expect to keep-up and survive in this fast paced competitive environment, you must know what the competition is doing. To monitor the competition in this age of information overload is with Competitive Intelligence (Penoyer, 2002).
What is Competitive Intelligence?
Competitive Intelligence is a process where one collects, analyze, and transform information about the organization’s competitors into intelligence so you can manage the future and increase the effectiveness of your business (Lawrence & Weber, 2011, pg. 35). Examples of Competitive Intelligence include everything from collecting the annual reports of your competition to setting up automated search routines. The overall objective of Competitive Intelligence is to identify events, trends, and other issues that will impact your organization. The best way to implement Competitive Intelligence is to focus on critical questions confronting your organization (Aqute Intelligence, n.d.). For example, how will this regulation change our business or how will the introduction of a competing product impact our business? You must continually monitor critical issues if you expect to compete. If you fail to implement Competitive Intelligence, then you run the risk of operating in a reactive instead of a proactive mode. And nothing changes a company more than having to survive.
Why is Competitive Intelligence important to Public Affairs function?
The job of public affairs professionals is they provide communications counsel to the
One of the obvious developments in business today is increased competition and one reason for so much competition is because the world is now one single marketplace. In addition, distribution channels like the internet now make it possible for anyone to enter the global marketplace. With that said, the rate of change taking place in business is increasing dramatically as a result of increased competition. For example, internet usage now doubles every 100 days. If you expect to keep-up and survive in this fast paced competitive environment, you must know what the competition is doing. To monitor the competition in this age of information overload is with Competitive Intelligence (Penoyer, 2002).
What is Competitive Intelligence?
Competitive Intelligence is a process where one collects, analyze, and transform information about the organization’s competitors into intelligence so you can manage the future and increase the effectiveness of your business (Lawrence & Weber, 2011, pg. 35). Examples of Competitive Intelligence include everything from collecting the annual reports of your competition to setting up automated search routines. The overall objective of Competitive Intelligence is to identify events, trends, and other issues that will impact your organization. The best way to implement Competitive Intelligence is to focus on critical questions confronting your organization (Aqute Intelligence, n.d.). For example, how will this regulation change our business or how will the introduction of a competing product impact our business? You must continually monitor critical issues if you expect to compete. If you fail to implement Competitive Intelligence, then you run the risk of operating in a reactive instead of a proactive mode. And nothing changes a company more than having to survive.
Why is Competitive Intelligence important to Public Affairs function?
The job of public affairs professionals is they provide communications counsel to the
References: Lawrence, A.T., & Weber, J. (2011). Business and Society: stakeholders, ethics, public policy (13th ed.). McGraw-Hill-Irwin: New York, NY. Penoyer, R. (2002, October-November). Know the competition: survey spotlights growing need for competitive intelligence in public relations. Retrieved October 24, 2010 from BNET website: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m4422/is_6_19/ai_94590109/?tag=content;col1 Aqute Intelligence (n.d.). Competitive Intelligence. Retrieved October 24, 2010 from Aqute.com website: http://www.aqute.com/competitive-intelligence/ Shu, S. (2010, January 14). Musings On Competitive Intelligence Ethically. Retrieved October 25, 2010 from Steve Shu on Management, Consulting, and Strategic Initiatives: http://steveshu.typepad.com/steve_shus_weblog/2010/01/musings-on-conducting-competitive-intelligence-ethically.html#comment-6a00d8341c2f8a53ef0128775b786b970c