Published by rwatstein October 12th, 2008
in competitive intelligence.
When we hear the word вЂtrademark’, we often think of catchy jingles and lawsuits. But, trademark filing data can be a marketer’s friend. It can offer big clues about what your competition is up to and can illustrate new marketing trends. As a marketer, keeping an eye on the competition and tracking trademark filing activities in your industry can be an effective way to make sure you’re in the loop. Here are five reasons to incorporate monitoring trademark filings into your overall marketing strategy.
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In a classic good news/bad news report on Competitive Intelligence (CI), more U.S. corporations now use it to drive critical strategic and tactical decisions than ever before. But the same survey, conducted by consultants Outwards Insights, found that fully one-fourth (24%) of respondents still don’t have a structured way to deliver intelligence to decision-makers in their organizations. These are two of the key findings in the most recent version of “Ostriches & Eagles,” which gauges the effectiveness and use of CI among U.S. companies across industries, and compares results with a similar survey conducted in 2005.
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Market intelligence portals are becoming more important to technology organizations, especially as Web 2.0 applications continue to change the way portals work and enable employees to collaborate, according to a new study from IDC. The study, “Market Intelligence Advisory Best Practice Series: MI Portals That Provide On-Demand Intelligence,” offers insight and case studies on the management of market intelligence (MI) portals, which are intranets or internal Web sites for market intelligence professionals that pull together primary, secondary and other types of research and information from various sources. The portals pull all that information into one place so market intelligence professionals, as well as other employees, can access it easily without having to go to several Web sites, said Laura Curtis, director of IDC’s Market Intelligence Advisory Service for the Executive Advisory Group.
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A new survey by advisory firm Fuld & Company finds that companies in Israel, India, Sweden and Brazil are on average using more sophisticated competitive intelligence technology than ones in the United States, Great Britain, France or Germany. In general, competitive intelligence software programs collect analyze and display information around discrete topics, such as monitoring a company’s reputation by gathering message board comments or keeping up-to-date on competitors’ pricing. They are considered a cousin to BI (business intelligence) systems. For its study, Fuld & Company used information from a database it has been building since 2006. It contains responses from more than 480 companies regarding various aspects of their competitive intelligence strategies.
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“I don’t meet competition, I crush it” Charles Revlon, founder of Revlon.
In the last century, competition was one of the biggest concerns for businessmen and managers, especially in the private sector where products which provide the best value for money win, or have a competitive advantage for consumers. Other products would have to put up with severe competition. Nevertheless, when competition is excessive, this would result in costly mistakes such as bidding too high for contracts comparing to the competition or price wars in the market, benefiting only the customer at the expense of the industry and its growth. Conversely, A less obvious but increasingly important issue lies in what is the ideal trade-off and cooperation in the competition. This means that players in the market have an understanding of what the competition is doing; their plans, strategies, strengths and weaknesses, and hence the concept of competitive intelligence has emerged.
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In business, you always need to know what your competitors are doing. To survive you must perform competitive intelligence activities and monitor the broader market for new developments that could affect your company, your products and brands, suppliers, and distributors. Tracking your competitors is the only way to make to make sure you are thwarting threats, taking advantage of opportunities, marketing effectively, and, ultimately, winning in the marketplace. By performing competitive intelligence, you will significantly increase your margins and profitability.
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What is implied by market research? How can we fit competitive intelligence in strategic planning? Are competitor analysis and competitor intelligence the same thing? How can you incorporate competitive intelligence in corporate intranet strategy? Apart from mergers and acquisitions, there are companies that grow and expand on the grounds of customer satisfaction. No company can grow or develop unless it satisfies the needs of the consumers. Companies try their best to match up with the expectations of the consumers, by differentiating it from the competitors’ product and pricing it in a competitive fashion.
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A competitive intelligence head once noted that, “Competitive Intelligence is like oxygen. You have to have it, but the only time you realize you need it is when it is in short supply.” In today’s marketing space, most companies need competitive intelligence to effectively deal with a turbulent business environment, it is when the key insights are lacking that people begin to realize how critical competitive intelligence is in helping with:
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Published by rwatstein March 23rd, 2008
in competitive intelligence.
One fast way to hamstring your small business is to ignore your competition. While you’re busy ignoring them, they may be chomping away at your market share. If you don’t know what the competition is up to, you can’t make the intelligent decisions that will keep the customers you have or entice new ones. But as a small business person, how can you gather the competitive intelligence you need to keep or expand your market share? Here are six ways.
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Published by rwatstein March 23rd, 2008
in competitive intelligence.
The key to collecting meaningful competitive intelligence is using multiple information sources to gather data. Companies use tools and techniques ranging in complexity from picking up the phone and calling a competitor, to monitoring the air emissions outside a Competitor’s manufacturing plant. Best-in-class CI groups use a variety of methods and often experiment with new collection sources to ensure data gathering efforts cover as much ground as possible, according to research by Best Practices, LLC, a leading pharmaceutical research firm.
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To formulate an effective corporate strategy, it’s essential to understand two basic questions: What is your company doing, and what are your competitors doing? You may have a handle on what’s going on under your own roof, but developing a detailed picture of your competitors’ activities usually requires some sleuthing. Competitive intelligence is a field of strategic research that specializes in the collection and analysis of information about rival firms. Don’t worry: This doesn’t require Dumpster diving or shady tricks. Instead, competitive intelligence is about adhering to a strict ethical code by collecting bits of information that are available either in the public domain or from other players in the marketplace. The goal is to amass enough data to make meaningful comparisons between your firm and your competitors — and to make better-informed strategic decisions as a result. Here’s how to get started.
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Kurt Neubauer doesn’t wear disguises or sift through a company’s trash hunting for secret information. But he is involved in corporate espionage. Rather than calling himself a spy, however, Neubauer’s job title is competitive intelligence analyst. Everything he does is legal and ethical, he says, and his services increasingly are sought by mid-size and large firms that spend an estimated $ 1 billion a year for inside dope, a figure predicted to grow tenfold by 2012.
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A new study shows businesses continue to have headaches in reducing risks. The KPMG study of 544 global executives shows that many companies want to be able to be able to manage their performance, but only 20 percent are able to make reliable forecasts. Yes, it’s increasingly difficult to stay on top of marketplace challenges and to invest in trends to get the most return on your investments. That’s why the Competitive Intelligence (CI) process is sweeping the planet. CI enables a company to reduce risks and accelerate profits.
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Published by rwatstein December 16th, 2007
in competitive intelligence.
While it’s a relatively new function, Competitive Intelligence can have a long-lasting impact on an organization’s position in the marketplace. By delivering high-impact analyses on competitors’ products and operations, a high-functioning CI group can alert companies to emerging market opportunities or warn them about potential external risks. Competitive Intelligence groups track an average of 60 products sold by competitors, according to new research by Best Practices, LLC. However, the study found the number of competitor products tracked by CI groups varies significantly between pharma and non-pharma organizations, with pharma companies tracking an average of 49 products and non-pharma firms tracking an average of 77 products.
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by Rachel Watstein
Leading effective change management, while challenging, can be incredibly rewarding on both a personal level as as well from an organizational/institutional standpoint and the utilization of Competitive Intelligence (CI) techniques can help drive this success.
A key component to CI is setting up an environment in which people feel comfortable to talk to you. Through this, you not only get information you need, you can gain someone’s trust. You can also build and enhance relationships. These are can be critical when it comes to people buying in to the change you are suggesting or deploying.
CI techniques also involve finding people who have information you can use. This goes to the point of talking to people at all levels within an organizaton/institution as well as those who may provide services to an organization/institution and external colleagues. Often, those at a lower level may have more time to talk and may know more of the true workings of how something is truly being run rather than at a top managerial level.
Often, not always, but often, the more information you have had the opportunity to analyze,the better equipped you will be to see how something new might fit into an existing organization/institution, how things could be improved, and how to successfully deploy a change.
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