Competitive Intelligence For the Competitive Edge

by Alan Dutka

Overview

Get a Leg up on Your Closest Industry Rival! With years of real-world business experience behind him, author Alan Dutka offers this compelling look at competitive intelligence--the process of collecting, analyzing, and acting upon information about your competitors and the competitive environment--and how it can improve your company's bottom line and give you a leading edge. Taking a true practitioner's approach, Competitive Intelligence for the Competitive Edge shows you how to integrate your business's operations--particularly marketing, advertising, and strategic planning--with the latest competitive intelligence techniques in order to achieve positive results in all areas. The author also:

• Reviews the latest tools and techniques for data gathering, storage, and analysis
• Provides helpful insight on information interpretation and dissemination of intelligence within a corporate structure
• Includes numerous real-life examples of using competitive intelligence techniques in actual business situations
• Offers important information on obtaining competitive intelligence information for the global marketplace
• Provides a list of resources for competitive intelligence information

Competitive Intelligence for the Competitive Edge is a must-have for any business professional interested in launching a successful competitive intelligence program. About the Author Alan Dutka is President of National Survey Research Center, a marketing and opinion research company based in Cleveland, Ohio. He is a frequent lecturer for the American Marketing Association and for the Society for Competitive Intelligence. Mr. Dutka's other published titles include State of the Art Marketing Research, second edition, with Al Blankenship, and The AMA Handbook for Customer Satisfaction.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780071394116
Publisher:	McGraw Hill LLC
Publication date:	04/22/2000
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	336
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

McGraw-Hill authors represent the leading experts in their fields and are dedicated to improving the lives, careers, and interests of readers worldwide

Table of Contents

	Preface	vii
	Acknowledgments	xi
1	Competitive Intelligence in a New Competitive Environment	1
2	Competitive Intelligence in a Marketing Research Context	21
Example 2-1	Evaluating and Quantifying Market Potential	24
Example 2-2	Evaluating the Effectiveness of a Competitor's Advertising	29
Example 2-3	Giving Business Away	32
Example 2-4	Intelligent Information in Cross Tabulations	37
3	Integrating Competitive Intelligence and Customer Satisfaction Research	45
Example 3-1	Detecting and Combating Changes in a Competitor's Marketing Strategy	48
Example 3-2	Profiting from Competing Products	52
Example 3-3	Quadrants and Gaps	55
Example 3-4	Event-Driven Satisfaction Research	71
4	Competitive Benchmarking	81
Example 4-1	Exploring Company Web Sites	88
Example 4-2	Benchmarking Research and Development Expenditures in the Cosmetic Industry	94
Example 4-3	Benchmarking Selling and Distribution Expenses in the Greeting Card Industry	105
Example 4-4	Designing and Interpreting Telephone Surveys to Obtain Benchmarking Information	116
5	Analyzing Text Data to Gain a Competitive Advantage	123
Example 5-1	Educating the Potential Customer	128
Example 5-2	Adapting Messages to Changing Times	144
6	Competitive Intelligence in a Strategic Environment	151
Example 6-1	The Electric Industry: No Longer Business As Usual	154
Example 6-2	Prospering in a New Business Environment	164
Example 6-3	The Demise of Centerior Energy	187
7	Reacting to an Unexpected Event	199
Example 7-1	A Strategic Focus on Growth	207
Example 7-2	Initial Analysis of an Unexpected Event	212
Example 7-3	Ongoing Monitoring Following an Unexpected Event	224
8	Competitive Intelligence as a Multifaceted Process	235
Example 8-1	Identifying a New Competitive Threat	239
Example 8-2	Strategy Development	254
9	Competitive Intelligence from a Global Perspective	277
10	Counterintelligence: The Other Side of the Competitive Intelligence Coin	295
Example 10-1	Enforcement of the Economic Espionage Act	304
	Bibliography	309
	Index	313