In the 4th century BC, Sun Tzu, considered one of the greatest strategists of all time, wrote that to become invincible in any battle, one must know oneself and one's adversaries completely. Millennia after this teaching, the premise becomes increasingly true in the business world, where it is more necessary than ever to be competitively intelligent.
However, Competitive Intelligence (CI) is a much more comprehensive organizational process than simply spying on competitors. It is a strategic plan that aims to gather a complete overview of the entire market context, obtaining a range of valuable information that, in the long term, will guide immediate decision-making within the company.
In practice, CI serves as a diagnosis of the level of canadian business email list competitiveness of the business itself in comparison to companies that share similar realities . From this, its results become a guide to continually achieving greater competitiveness, remodeling practices, goals, processes and everything that encompasses that corporation.
It is common for managers who do not develop the concept of IC in their organizations to be surprised by decisions made by companies that share the market. Due to the lack of a systemic analysis process, third-party actions are discovered when they are already being implemented.
Often, advances in competition have a direct impact on the routine of the entire segment, requiring immediate responses from other corporations. Unprepared companies are forced to develop immediate strategies without proper planning because they cannot foresee the reality. As a result, losses may occur in several areas.
Being intelligent in the corporate environment means moving from being reactive (waiting for a reality to materialize before taking action) to becoming proactive (perceiving trends in order to take action before they happen). To do this, it is necessary to develop a methodology known as the Competitive Intelligence Cycle, with well-defined action steps.
This is a method for correctly reading and interpreting all signals offered by the market through a systemic operating model. Its implementation ensures the minimization of negative surprises, allows the identification of threats and good opportunities, gathers information for decision-making, differentiates good and bad actions, among several other positive effects on business development.
Content
Types of competitors
1- Planning
2- Collection and processing
3- Analysis and validation
4- Diffusion/Dissemination
Types of competitors
First of all, it is essential to know the types of competitors that any manager will face. The first is the direct competitor, which operates with the same type of product (two drugstores, for example). The second is the indirect competitor, which operates with different products, but which serve the same purpose (for example, a transportation app and a city bus company).
The third type is an establishment that offers different services or products, but which are aimed at the same target audience, and can retain customers from one another. For example, a cinema chain and a private theater offer different leisure attractions, but compete for a similar consumer profile.