Competitive Intelligence For Dummies

Make competitive intelligence part of your business practice—and be on the cutting edge Competitive intelligence is the art of defining, gathering, analyzing, and distributing intelligence about products, customers, competitors, individuals, concepts, information, ideas, or data needed to support executives and managers in making strategic decisions for an organization. Competitive Intelligence For Dummies introduces you to this fascinating subject and gives you the tools you need to incorporate it into your business decision–making process. Conducted within an organization, competitive intelligence serves as a catalyst in planning and strategic growth. It is part of the value chain that converts gathered data to actionable information that results in strategic decisions. Competitive Intelligence For Dummies helps readers gather valuable information on the competition, the operational environment, and the target customer. It also explains how to carefully analyze and use this information in decision making processes to gain market share and stay on the cutting edge of an industry. Whether you are just starting a business, venturing into new areas with your existing company, or looking to gain ground on a key competitor, Competitive Intelligence For Dummies gives you insight on how to gather valuable information on not only your competitors, but on your market and key customer base. Gets you up to speed on how to locate, collect, and process competitive intelligence Shows you how to carefully analyze competitive intelligence and disseminate it throughout your organization Illustrates how competitive intelligence can help you gain market share If you′re a business owner, analyst, manager, or researcher, Competitive Intelligence For Dummies gives you and your business an edge.

Introduction 1 Part I: Brushing Up on the Basics 5 Chapter 1: Gaining Information Advantage 7 Chapter 2: Getting Started with CI 29 Chapter 3: Doing Competitive Intelligence on a Low Budget 49 Chapter 4: Addressing Legal and Ethical Issues 63 Part II: Gathering, Confirming, and Organizing Relevant Data 79 Chapter 5: Gathering Intelligence from Internal Resources 81 Chapter 6: Exploring External Sources for Valuable CI Information 99 Chapter 7: Tapping the Power of Experts and Expert Panels 125 Chapter 8: Tuning In to the Silent Conversation with Intuitive Listening 141 Chapter 9: Validating and Organizing Data for Analysis 159 Part III: Turning Data into Meaningful Intelligence 175 Chapter 10: Intelligence Analysis 101 177 Chapter 11: Applying Advanced Intelligence Analysis Techniques 195 Chapter 12: Profi ling the Competitor CEO 217 Chapter 13: Creating Competitor Profiles 233 Chapter 14: Spotting and Forecasting Industry Trends 249 Part IV: Getting Support for Intelligence Dissemination and Implementation 265 Chapter 15: Overcoming Barriers to Change 267 Chapter 16: Shepherding CI Information through Your Organization 285 Chapter 17: Perfecting and Promoting CI 299 Chapter 18: Defending against Competitor Intelligence 315 Part V: The Part of Tens 325 Chapter 19: Ten Questions to Help You Assess CI′s Effectiveness 327 Chapter 20: Ten Actions a CEO Can Take to Bolster CI′s Impact 333 Chapter 21: Ten Signs Your Organization Is in Trouble 339 Index 345