RESOURCES

Aggressive new enterprises and competitors are vitalizing with action plans to take away your market share right now…
What are you going to do?

Competition is a rivalry to capture a customer or market. It's the drive of business, the energy, the juice. If it's missing then all that exists is hope.

Competitive intelligence is the aggressive but legal practice of gathering information about your competitors that will allow you to sprint for a larger market share with targeted tactical and strategic actions.

Exploring your competition is a required business activity in this time of the rising business wave. Avoid this activity and fall into the dilemma of : either protect margins and concede market share to competitors or protect market share at the expense of margins. Both will weaken your enterprise and are good strategies to force your competitors into.

Business is always about action. Action is being alert, aware and able to move quickly to respond to the changing market landscape.

Conducting a competitive intelligence project before embarking on a new business initiative, be it launching a new product or service, reaching for a new market segment or identifying the needs of your existing market share is an enterprise investment.

The analysis of a well researched competitive intelligence report will provide a depth of knowledge to make good strategic decisions.

There are two main sources where information can be accessed; human-source information and the internet.

The human factor is very important. Competitive intelligence can't be reduced to a spreadsheet. Internet information requires filters to separate the vaporware, innuendo and pr from solid data.

Enterprise leaders, economic development bureaucrats and industry experts can be accessed at conferences, industry sector events, by phone and on the golf course where they are more then willing to talk. Human-source information is immediate and an astute listener can plum the depths of a subject quickly.

The internet does have value. Company home pages are particularly revealing. It's the billboard, the first page the browser brings up and the one opportunity to hook attention.

Search engines like excite, altavista and metacrawler provides varied data, even at different times of the day. Subscription based search engines firstcall, profound and dialogweb provides access to reports, papers and databases unavailable in free searches.

Gathering information is easy compared to the analysis. A well researched report has no power without analysis.

A SWOT preliminary analysis starts the process. Identify threats and opportunities early. Cost benchmarking, timelining business processes, manager profiles, bellwether events versus blips and predator identification require revisiting the integrity of the information.

The best analysis applies disciplined critical thinking skills. An industry or a business that is at the cusp of a Moment of Change must rely on more than gut feelings, late night visions or blue sky dreams. Extrapolation based on hope is Las vegas odds.

Positioning an enterprise, be it retail, professional, manufacturing or high tech requires taking advantage of the current economic and market realities. Conducting a competitive intelligence project is the first step in developing a pragmatic action plan. Following through , adjusting the course and pursing targets are the actions of an enterprise leader.

This is preparing to win market share.

Sourcing Successful Enterprises Through Action Management

RESOURCE PAGE DALE BRUDER CATHERINE VIGIL STRATEGIC ALLIANCE