Competitive Intelligence for the Competitive Edge (Dutka, 1999)

Competitive Intelligence for the Competitive Edge (Dutka, 1999)

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.

p.4 Competitive intelligence is a process that involves collecting, analyzing, and acting on information about competitors and the competitive environment.

p.12 Analysis and interpretation must address implications... Alternative courses of action should be suggested and evaluated.. the focus [of analysis] must be on the future.

p.12 The competitive intelligence profession is modifying, enhancing, and improving tools borrowed from other disciplines.

p.15 Competitive intelligence must be structured in anticipation of information and analysis requirements... The objective is to enable an organization to act rather than react.

p.18 The competitive intelligence professional must understand the needs of top management and the processes by which managers evaluate alternatives and make decisions.

p.122 information must be used to improve a company's competitive advantage.

p.234 Businesses that can gather, assimilate, and act on competitive information will generate a significant competitive advantage.

p.235 An effective competitive intelligence process involves the on-going collection and analysis of competitive information... Problems and opportunities come to light that would have otherwise been missed.

p.237 The important competitive forces influencing a business or industry are not always obvious.