A more formal definition comes from the Society of Competitive Information Professionals, страница 6

From their analysis, the credit union concluded that its competitor’s depositors were disgruntled by the way the banks were treating them. They hired marketers and advertised their alternative service philosophy and the personal services they provided. As a result, membership grew and economies of scale helped to reduce operating costs (http://www.burkhardtresearch.com/ci_study.html).

Johnson & Johnson

Decades ago in 1975, Johnson & Johnson used competitive intelligence to defend Tylenol against a new competitor. This case occurred before the Tylenol crisis in 1982 when six people died of cyanide-laden capsules. Tylenol, which had fewer side effects than competing aspirin products, charged a premium. In 1975, Bristol-Myers introduced an equivalent product, Datril, which was to be marketed as “just as good as Tylenol, but cheaper.”

The company received early warning of the competition when a manager visiting a printing plant found a Datril marketing brochure being produced. He recognized the importance of the find and notified the Tylenol marketing managers. Through their CI group they knew that Bristol-Myers tested all new products in Peoria, IL, and Albany, NY. They sent multiple observers into the test markets and identified Datril’s market penetration strategy, approaches, and timing. They cut the Tylenol price by 30 percent, and warned Bristol-Myers and the media that Datril could not claim a price advantage. Datril didn’t make it as a competitor.

This example is considered a landmark of the blockmarketing strategy. Its success was due in part to Bristol-Myers not having a counterintelligence strategy at the time. Although the price reduction cut short-term profits by millions, Tylenol gained long-term market share (http://onlinembastudy.blogspot.com/2010/05/johnsonjohnson-successful-competitive.html).

Consultancies

A UK consultancy was hired to find out the launch date of a competitor’s product. They determined the date by interviewing journalists, the competitor’s PR and advertising agencies, packaging suppliers, and

CoMPETITIvE InTELLIGEnCE

retailers who sell the competitor’s products (http://www. marketing-intelligence.co.uk/pubs/cases/case1.htm).

To find out about a competitor’s capacity and capabilities at a regional warehouse, a different UK consultancy spoke with the warehouse workers on a Sunday morning without identifying themselves (an approach considered unethical in the U.S.). They found that the competitor’s warehouse capacity could not supply demand in the region. The firm expanded its own warehouse to fill the gap (http://www.marketing-intelligence.co.uk/pubs/cases/ case3.htm).

Summary

The role of competitive intelligence is to support management in the decision-making process. CI, when done ethically, is the process of ensuring marketplace competitiveness through legal means. It requires understanding both the overall external competitive environment and individual competitors. It also involves protecting your own firm against your competitor’s CI. In performing CI, you can use whatever you find in the public domain, your own internal data, purchased data, and analyses.

The goal is to make sure that you are not surprised by existing competitors, potential competitors, or disruptive technologies. Many analysis techniques are available, such as those described in this paper. Although in many aspects the work is similar to what is done in business intelligence, CI concentrates on what is going on outside the firm.  ■

References

Porter, Michael E. [1998]. Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors, New York, NY: Free Press.

Sawka, Kenneth, and B. Hohhof, eds. [2008]. Starting a Competitive Analysis Function, Alexandria, VA:

Competitive Intelligence Foundation.