MindShifts believes in sharing knowledge and encouraging the growth of Competitive Intelligence (CI). Here are some articles to provide you with a deeper understanding of CI and its benefits.

"MI for the Strategic Planning Process - Case Examples"
By Global Intelligence Alliance

This topical GIA White paper addresses the role of Market Intelligece within the strategic planning process and presents five case studies.

Organisations in practice have very different ways of conducting their strategic planning, let alone formalizing the different phases in it. As a result, how companies support the planning round through Market Intelligence output also varies a great deal.

The case stories in this paper are based on interviews with representatives from selected companies and were carried out from November 2007 - January 2008. Each one has a different approach and framework in place to linking MI with strategic planning but similarities between the companies are also evident.

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Staying Ahead of the Competition - The State of CI in Australian Firms
By Dr Chris Hall (MGSM) and Babette Bensoussan (The MindShifts Group)

Report Summary - 2006 Survey
This research report examines the ways that a representative cross section of the corporate population manage their knowledge of the competitive environment, and use it to stay ahead of the competition.  The study is based on two surveys, one which was undertaken in 1996, and again run in 2006, thus spanning a decade of enormous global change.

In summary, just over half of the corporate population manifests some evidence of an unhealthy degree of ignorance, dissonance, or lack of trust.  As a result CI capability tends to be significantly inhibited by the presence of these three factors.  In a highly competitive globalised environment, this has enormous consequences for the competitiveness of firms, and nations.

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The State of Business Competitive Intelligence in Australia
By Dr Chris Hall (MGSM) and Babette Bensoussan (The MindShifts Group)

Report Summary - 1996 Survey
Hall and Bensoussan undertook the first empirical study to estimate the extent of use of business competitive intelligence in Australia. While most survey participants recognised the need to improve the quality and integration of their competitive intelligence, less than half are in the process of implementing or developing plans, and many seem unsure of how to adopt more effective, integrated, and systematic approaches to BCI.

In summary, there is widespread recognition that competitive challenges and risks will increase significantly in the future, and that there is an increasing need to monitor competitors if firms are to remain competitive themselves.

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A FAROUT© Way to Manage CI Analysis
By Craig S. Fleisher (Wilfrid Laurier University) and Babette Bensoussan (The MindShifts Group)

Despite abundant data, most enterprises suffer intelligence deficiencies. A system for rating analytic tools could set things right.

Having trouble wading through the varied - and often puzzling - business, competitive, and strategic analytical models at your disposal? Ever tried one only to discover that the data couldn't be 'massaged' in ways to use it properly? Or perhaps you've undertaken a much-discussed method of analysis only to find it provided no real conclusions relating to your company's future.

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Australian CI Practices: A Comparison with the USA
By Babette Bensoussan & Edward Densham

Is there a difference between the practice of competitive intelligence in Australia with its practice in the US? While globalisation is shrinking the barriers of distance, environmental differences in the two business arenas exist in the form of competition pressure, national and corporate culture, government and legal policies, and market alliances.

Although the discipline may have originated as a formal and structured function in the U.S. back in the 1980s, it would appear that organisations in Australia have been slower to accept the value and benefits of a formalised approach to information gathering and analysis.

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Trade Show Intelligence: intensive, Exhaustive and Fun
by Jonathan Calof (University of Ottawa) and Bob Fox

It’s a trade show and, as would be expected, collection activity abounds. A look at the floor reveals the following...

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Why is Marketing Analysis Performed So Poorly and What Can Be Done to Improve It?

For every marketer that focuses on the internal data their computers generate, change is passing them by. "Managers have come to rely heavily on the computer’s information and you can not put into the computer the data that you don’t have. Because of the plethora of inside information that the computer spits out, day in and day out, a very large number of executives spend all their time with these internal figures. The information you need the most, and not just in business – is about the outside world."

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So You Want To Do CI?

This article focuses on the first couple of stages of the competitive intelligence cycle - identifying the Users Needs and the direction of the Key Intelligence Assignment.
The intelligence process is about the techniques and processes used to select and filter information and to interpret and analyse it. The aim is to provide insights as to what is likely to happen in one’s marketplace and to help executives make better decisions about the future of their organisation.

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CI Survival: Making CI Pay Off

For years, companies have been establishing competitive intelligence units to watch their external environment and provide early warning of threats and opportunities. While establishing such units is more relevant than ever in these times of rapid change, many units are being eliminated while others aren't providing the value that had originally been hoped for.

The unfortunate result is that companies have stopped watching their external environment at a time when their businesses could most benefit from the insights and early warning that true CI can provide.

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Competitive Intelligence: Why Your Company Needs It

Through the increase in computerisation, change management, globalisation and the use of information technology, management is faced with information overload, and a constantly and rapidly changing environment. Nothing is stable for long anymore.

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Competitive Intelligence: How Well Informed Are You?

Today is the age of information and information technology, and unlike previous ages, the problem is not a shortage of information. In fact it is quite the reverse, information overload, particularly for management.

This article addresses understanding information value, identifying the sources of value, the information needed and eliminating the rest. This is an integral part of the process of competitive intelligence, which can be facilitated through the use of appropriate information sources.

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Competitive Intelligence: Where is the Intelligence?

Having collected all the data and information you need, have you ever wondered why most organisations have data overload but intelligence deficiencies? Well, this step is the cornerstone that turns information into intelligence, which is far too often is missed out.

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