Do You Know What Your Competitors and Clients Are Saying About You? Using Competitive Intelligence to Uncover Vulnerabilities in Your Products and Services Many Competitive Intelligence studies are conducted to uncover strategic information on competitors within a specific industry sector such as: New product/service development; Sales and marketing strategies;…
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Nov
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Brief on the Canadian Market for Medical Marijuana (November, 2016) OBJECTIVE The objective of this brief is to provide an overview of the medical marijuana market in Canada based on publicly available information. It is not meant to take the place of a comprehensive study of the various factors impacting…
May
05
Competitive Intelligence for Start-Ups: Tips on How Entrepreneurs Can Use Competitive Intelligence to Make Smarter Business Decisions & Thrive Starting a company is an exciting adventure fraught with challenges that quickly change a dream into a nightmare. It makes sense, therefore, for any entrepreneur to take the necessary steps to…
Mar
22
Competitive Intelligence: Detecting New Threats Question: In our Competitive Intelligence efforts, my department has been concentrating almost exclusively on our traditional competitors. I am concerned that we may be overlooking some competitive threats that may blindside us in the future. Is this a legitimate concern and, if so, how do…
Mar
22
Competitive Intelligence: Q & A QUESTION: My company’s focus in using Competitive Intelligence has been concentrated on competitors (for example, their product and service bundles, pricing, size of salesforce, new hires, etc.). How can Competitive Intelligence be used to anticipate changes in the industry or competitive environment so that my…
Mar
22
Competitive Intelligence: Information Sources What makes Competitive Intelligence such a powerful, and sometimes frustrating, tool is that it can encompass a wide range of research methods which are then brought together through ANALYSIS to create a detailed and evolving picture of the competitive environment. Here are some of the elements…
Mar
22
Competitive Intelligence: Separate Knowledge from Belief Many CEOs think that CI is bunk and that all the information they need on the competitive environment is already a known factor or can be found through internet searches. These CEOs often can’t see beyond obtaining the sales objectives of the current quarter.…
Mar
22
Competitive Intelligence: Components of Market Awareness The issues that will likely confront your senior management likely centre around the following areas: A. Clients and Competitors Senior management will be concerned about keeping key clients. Keeping in mind Pareto’s Law (the 80/20 rule), it is likely that 20% of your clients…
Mar
22
Human Intelligence Series, #4 Blindside the Old Paradigm, Create New Ones Manipulation of Market Research The need for market research, especially consumer market research, is directly proportional to how far removed decision-makers are from the daily interactions with clients. The greater the number of management and non-management personnel separating decision-makers from…
Mar
22
Human Intelligence Series, #3 Using Executive Profiles To Anticipate Future Actions Mergers & Rumours of Mergers In an era of frequent mergers and acquisitions, management personnel in a distinguished Canadian insurance company believed that their company would soon merge with either one of two major competitors. The Competitive Intelligence professional…