How do you define CI?
Curious about what a person would see if they searched Google for the definition of competitive intelligence, I came up with the usual 1M+ results. Below, in order of appearance, are the top 10 definitions. Which do you agree with? What definition does your organization use?
Bonnie Hohhof
1. A necessary, ethical business discipline for decision making based on understanding the competitive environment. (scip.org)
2. A systematic and ethical programme for gathering, analysing, and managing any combination of Data, Information, and Knowledge concerning the Business environment in which a company operates that, when acted upon, will confer a significant Competitive advantage or enable sound decisions to be made. Its primary role is Strategic early warning. (Vernon Prior, Language of CI.scip.org)
3. A process that transforms disaggregated information into relevant, accurate and usable strategic knowledge about competitors, position, performance, capabilities and intentions. (Glossary, SensaCom.com)
4. The systematic gathering of open information when collated and analyzed provides a better understanding of a competitor firm’s structure, culture, behavior, capabilities, and weaknesses. (glossary, fbig.ca)
5. The action of gathering, analyzing, and applying information about products, domain constituents, customers, and competitors for the short term and long term planning needs of an organization. (wikipedia.com)
6. The purposeful and coordinated monitoring of your competitor(s), wherever and whoever they may be, within a specific marketplace. (aurorawdc.com)
7. the gathering of information about a business’ competitors to make one’s own business more competitive, the kind of market research designed and carried out to find and keep a business’ market share. (about.com)
8. A process which includes three basic sub-processes: collecting information, analysis to turn information into intelligence, and dissemination of intelligence to identified intelligence customers inside the business. (emp-is.com)
9. A process - using legal and ethical means - for discovering, developing, and delivering timely, relevant intelligence needed by decision makers wanting to make their organizations more competitive (worksys.com)
10. Continuous process of monitoring a firm’s industry or market to identify current and future competitors, their current and announced activities, how their actions will affect the firm, and how to respond. (businessdictionary.com)
LinkedIn and Social Networking
Have you joined the SCIP LinkedIn group yet? If not, you might be missing out from what we’re seeing. We’re pretty excited that more than 800 SCIP members have joined the SCIP LinkedIn group (visit this link to find out more about the group). The feedback we’ve had has been very positive with a few people even saying that the LinkedIn group was a factor in them renewing their membership.
I’m still getting the handle on social networking myself so I’d like to ask for comments in two areas. First, can those that have already joined the LinkedIn group articulate the real value for other members who might not understand LinkedIn.
Secondly, staff and volunteer committees are evaluating networking opportunities offered by SCIP and how to address new opportunities presented by web 2.0 and social networking. For instance, we’re considering posting video of past award recipients to YouTube to promote visibility. Are there other social networking groups where SCIP should have a presence (maybe Orkut?)?