Developing Your Competitive Intelligence Skills

Copyright ©2013 Ellen Naylor,

The Business Intelligence Source

Ellen Naylor @ellennaylor

answers@thebisource.com

+1 303.838.4545 (USA)

www.thebisource.com

http://cooperativeintelligenceblog.com

It’s an Extension for Info Pros,

Librarians and Journalists

CI is NOT a Stretch

April 2013 ©The Business Intelligence Source

The systematic process of gathering, analyzing

and disseminating information about your

competitors’ activities, products/services and

the external market environment to help your

company achieve its goals..

Competitive Intelligence

April 2013 ©The Business Intelligence Source

Competitive Intelligence: Be Broad

Factors that impact a company’s ability to CompeteSuppliers, customers, distributors, competitors, potential competitors

Macro factorsEconomic, socio-cultural, political, regulatory, legal and technology

Turn external information into Intelligence Affects strategic and tactical decision-making

April 2013 ©The Business Intelligence Source

The Intelligence Process

2. Planning & Direction3. Information

Process & Storage

4. Collection

5. Analysis & Production

6. Dissemination

1. Intelligence Users

& Decisionmakers

Other Users

Which competitors, industry trends,

opportunities, challenges

do you target?

April 2013 ©The Business Intelligence Source

Collection Continuum

Public Sources

Social Media

Human Sources

April 2013 ©The Business Intelligence Source

The Information Spiral

Target Company

Ex-Employees

Suppliers

Government

Associations

DistributorsTrade Unions

Customers

Ex-customersApril 2013 ©The Business Intelligence Source

The Importance of Human Networks

• Best source of CI

• Build trust one person at a time

• Eliminate silos and blind spots

• Extends a CI group’s reach & social capital

• Not expert in every function of your business

• Professional challenge: people participation

• Links to sales & marketing essential

April 2013 ©The Business Intelligence Source

Human Networks

• CI networks are not like a pair of socks

– One size does not fit all

• Networks take time to develop

– Require person-to-person contact

• Network maintenance

– Current, growing and secure

• Most successful CI programs develop and use

decentralized, relationship-based networking

April 2013 ©The Business Intelligence Source

Your Focus for Competitive Intelligence

Strategic

Tactical

Technical

Counterintelligence

Benchmarking

April 2013 ©The Business Intelligence Source

Strategic Competitive Intelligence

- Analysis of major competitors, customers,

suppliers, distributors

- Acquisition/merger/divestiture activities

- Opportunity analysis

- Product planning

- Scenario planning

- Executive personality profiling

April 2013 ©The Business Intelligence Source

Tactical Competitive Intelligence

What CI will improve the marketing of your products?

- Changing market environment

- New technology or competitors

- Pricing

- Distribution

- Strength & Weakness analysis

Win-Loss Analysis, Surveys, Trade Show AnalysisApril 2013 ©The Business Intelligence Source

Competitive Technical Intelligence

New Production Introduction Time Line

S

i

g

n

a

l

I

n

t

e

n

s

I

t

y

Discussions

Gray

Literature

Scientific

Papers

R&D Alliances

Joint Ventures

Patents

Process

Development

Product

Announcement

Product

Sales

Source: Competitive Intelligence Review, Vol. 7, No. 3, ©1996 John Wiley

& Sons “Technology Intelligence & Technology Scouting,” Merrill Brenner

Good Book: Keeping Abreast of Science & Technology:

Technical Intelligence for Business by Bradford Ashton

and Richard Klavans

Counterintelligence

Measures to prevent a competitor from gaining

data or knowledge that could give them

competitive advantage over your company.

April 2013 ©The Business Intelligence Source

Benchmarking

Collaborative, mutual benefit

Set high performance targets

Accelerate company culture change by looking externally

Bring accountability to your company

Strategic Competitive Best-in-class

April 2013 ©The Business Intelligence Source

Cooperative Intelligence1 person at a time

Giving

Problem Solver

Clear Communication!

Show

AppreciationPositive

Attitude

Don’t Take

Yourself Too

Seriously

Respect Your

Customers

"Give the world the best you have and the best will come back to you."

~Madeline Bridge~

April 2013 ©The Business Intelligence Source

Clear Communication

• Communicate to be understood

• Speak Straight

• The quality of your answers is directly related to the quality of your questions

• Give them a stake in the outcome by making sure they participate in the process

• Set and ask for expectations

• Take responsibility

• Follow-up on Everything

April 2013 ©The Business Intelligence Source

Thorough collection and brilliant analysis

are worthless without communication

• Newsletters

• Monthly summaries

• Intranet site

• White papers

• Ad-hoc reports

• Comprehensive studies

• Special presentations

• CI Road Shows

Continuous InformationLargely self-initiated

Standing client requirements

Special ProjectsClient or self-initiated

Source: Kodak

Role of SWOT Analysis In Crafting a Better Strategy

Develop a clear understanding of a company’s

- Resource Strengths

- Resource Weaknesses

- Best Opportunities

- External Threats

Drawing conclusions about how best to deploy

resources in light of the company’s internal and external

situation

Thinking strategically about how to strengthen the

company’s resource base for the future

Bensoussan and Fleisher, SCIP 2002

SWOT Approach

1.

Threats2.

Weaknesses

Your

Company

3.

Opportunities4.

Strengths

Bensoussan and Fleisher, SCIP 2002

SWOT Analysis: What to Look For

Potential Resource Strengths

Potential Resource Weaknesses

Potential Company Opportunities

Potential External Threats

• Powerful strategy

• Strong financial condition

• Strong brand name image/reputation

• Widely recognized market leader

• Proprietary technology

• Cost advantages

• Strong advertising

• Product innovation skills

• Good customer service

• Better product quality

•Alliances or JVs

• No clear strategic direction

• Obsolete facilities

• Weak balance sheet; excess debt

• Higher overall costs than rivals

• Missing some key skills/competencies

• Subpar profits . . .

• Internal operating problems . . .

• Falling behind in R&D

• Too narrow product line

• Weak marketing skills

• Serving additional customer groups

• Expanding to new geographic areas

• Expanding product line

• Transferring skills to new products

• Vertical integration

• Openings to take MS from rivals

• Acquisition of rivals

• Alliances or JVs to expand coverage

• Openings to exploit new technologies

• Openings to extend brand name/image

• Entry of potent new competitors

• Loss of sales to substitutes

• Slowing market growth

• Adverse shifts in exchange rates & trade policies

• Costly new regulations

• Vulnerability to business cycle

• Growing leverage of customers or suppliers

• Shift in buyer needs for product

• Demographic changes

Bensoussan and Fleisher, SCIP 2002

SWOT

Strengths• Market leader in most

products

• Strong Brand ID

• Strong technical support, including engineering & customer service

• High responsiveness

• High quality products & guarantees

• Professionalism

• Sales force, an asset

• Field technicians, an asset

Weaknesses

• Many products not

essential to operations

• High price

• Distribution is confusing:

could be cleaner

• Bad relations with some

distributors

April 2013 ©The Business Intelligence Source

SWOT

Opportunities• Improve & innovate: Listen!

– Sales, Distributors, Dealers, Customers, Engineering…

• Specific business XXX– More applications

– Other industries

• Potential Alliances

• R&D Center– Test new products

– Develop products that are essential to customer’s operations

– Test competitor’s products

Threats

• Competitors “catching up”-- Especially Competitors A+B

• Competitor C penetrating

• Competitor D alliance in business XXX

• Competitor C Engineering Systems’ claims

• Patent infringement

• M & A of competitors

April 2013 ©The Business Intelligence Source

BCG Matrix ShareL

on

g-T

erm

His

tori

cal

Mark

et

Gro

wth

Rate

Long-term Historical Growth of Sales

F

A

B

D

CE

Holding

Share

Losing Share

Gaining Share

Source: Adapted from “The Use of the Growth Share Matrix in Strategic Planning,” A Hax & N S Majluf, 1983 Interfaces, 13(1), p. 52.

April 2013 ©The Business Intelligence Source

Telco: Presentation-BCG

Relative Market Share

AT&TNTIRolm

NEC

Intecom

April 2013 ©The Business Intelligence Source

Sociological - Social trends, issues, demographics, consumer

demand patterns

Technological - Impact of new technologies and applications,

development in network, IT & communications technologies

Economic - Effect of macroeconomic issues e.g. employment

trends, interest & exchange rates, trade & tariff issues

Environmental - E.g. greenhouse gases & global warming, waste

reduction & pollution control initiatives, pollution control regulations

Political - Regulatory & legislative requirements, political ideology,

change of government, government policy

STEEP Analysis

Identify issues, trends and factors from external business

environment which might impact your market, strategies or

how you conduct business.

©The MindShifts Group Pty. Ltd

The Radar Screen: Network Services

AT&T

Verizon

CenturyTel

BellSouth

Verizon

Comdisco

WangNEC-ENS

Intel

Sprint/Paranet

NetSolve

NCR

Lucent

Carriers

Professional

Services

RBOCs

Equipment

HPSource: Adrian Slywotzky

Value Migration. 1996

HBS Press

Competitors by Core Service

April 2013 ©The Business Intelligence Source

Win Loss Analysis

Highest Value Research for Expended Effort

Most Accurate Measurement of Positioning

Huge Data/Insight Mining Opportunity

Company Thinks They’re Already Doing It

Benefits Overlooked Due to Politics

April 2013 ©The Business Intelligence Source

Win Loss AnalysisHow It’s Ideally Done

Systematic, Planned Effort

Structured Interview

Ideally Conducted by 3rd

Party (internal or external)

April 2013 ©The Business Intelligence Source

Win Loss Analysis

• Blind Versus Open

• Frequency?

• Which Accounts? Why?

• Tracking

• Analysis

• Sales Versus Marketing

April 2013 ©The Business Intelligence Source

Simple Win Loss Analysis: Results Versus Competitor A

#1 Reason Lost Percentage

Positioning 15

Technology 30

Pricing 10

Delivery 10

Customer Service 20

Reliability 20

April 2013 ©The Business Intelligence Source

Win Rate is 60% vs Competitor “A” Last Year

Us Competitor A

Pricing We average 10% higher

Features 3.5 4.5

Delivery 5 4

Positioning 4.5 4

Product Depth 4 4

Customer Service 4 4.5

5 is highest rating

Win Loss Analysis: Trends Over Time

April 2013 ©The Business Intelligence Source

33

Example of Quick Win Loss Recommendations

• Improve quality of References– Companies with Brand ID/cachet

– Contacts within companies who really know and are excited by the COMPANY’s product

– References by industry to match the customer’s

• Tell the client how you will solve their business problems with industry knowledge in your proposal

• Tech Support needs to be more uniformly responsive and up sell appropriately

• Sales needs to find that fine balance between professionalism and being too pushy to close

April 2013 ©The Business Intelligence Source

Steps to Form a CI Process

1. Identify primary users

2. Focus on critical users’ needs

3. Fashion products to meet users’ needs

4. Be mindful of the company culture

5. Identify & build on infrastructure that supports CI

6. Organize & expand your people network constantly

7. Promote communication

8. Don’t implement automation before people

9. Checkpoint performance always

10. Stay focusedApril 2013 ©The Business Intelligence Source

Competitive Intelligence Books

• Competitive Intelligence: How to Gather, Analyze, and Use

Information to Move Your Business to the Top by Larry Kahaner

• Competitive Intelligence Advantage by Seena Sharp

• Starting a Competitive Intelligence Function by SCIP edited by

Bonnie Hohhof and Ken Sawka

• Analysis without Paralysis: 12 Tools to Make Better Strategic

Decisions by Craig Fleisher and Babette Bensoussan

• Win/Loss Reviews: A New Knowledge Model for Competitive

Intelligence by Rick Marcet

• Join our mailing list & get 140+ list of CI books: Here

We don’t spam & our newsletters are monthly at most.April 2013 ©The Business Intelligence Source

Thank You!

Twitter @ellennaylor

answers@thebisource.com

+1 303.838.4545 (USA)

www.thebisource.com

http://cooperativeintelligenceblog.com