Management
Issue No. 21 - February/March 2005
Executive intelligence no spy game
Competitive intelligence
by Allan Day
The global Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals defines competitive intelligence as the process of monitoring the competitive environment to enable 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.
Taken one step further, the broader concept of corporate intelligence also includes the exploration of policy and business process innovation, legislative implications and predictive futures within the business environment to support effective strategic decision-making.
Corporate intelligence can therefore be diagrammatically represented below:
The term 'corporate intelligence' has been frequently misunderstood and has conjured images of "spy vs spy", which is more often the domain of corporate espionage. Corporate intelligence professionals legally and ethically collect, analyse and apply information. The goal - to supply actionable intelligence that provides a competitive and/or operational edge.”
Who needs it?
It would be much easier to say who doesn't need it! All organisations, whether they are private sector, public sector, not-for-profit, large or small, operate in a fast changing, complex, competitive and global environment. Keeping a competitive edge and sustaining excellence in this environment is extremely challenging.
We all realise the importance in keeping abreast of all the factors that impact upon our industry, markets and business operations. But with so much information available and so little time where do we look:
- For what we know we know;
- For what we know we don't know; and
- For what we don't know we don't know?
These are the questions that can often be answered by corporate intelligence professionals.
The importance of corporate intelligence to business and the public sector in South Australia cannot be underestim...
