Competitive Intelligence For Dummies

Book excerpt: Make competitive intelligence part of your business practice—and be on the cutting edge Competitive intelligence is the art of defining, gathering, analyzing, and distributing intelligence about products, customers, competitors, individuals, concepts, information, ideas, or data needed to support executives and managers in making strategic decisions for an organization. Competitive Intelligence For Dummies introduces you to this fascinating subject and gives you the tools you need to incorporate it into your business decision-making process. Conducted within an organization, competitive intelligence serves as a catalyst in planning and strategic growth. It is part of the value chain that converts gathered data to actionable information that results in strategic decisions. Competitive Intelligence For Dummies helps readers gather valuable information on the competition, the operational environment, and the target customer. It also explains how to carefully analyze and use this information in decision making processes to gain market share and stay on the cutting edge of an industry. Whether you are just starting a business, venturing into new areas with your existing company, or looking to gain ground on a key competitor, Competitive Intelligence For Dummies gives you insight on how to gather valuable information on not only your competitors, but on your market and key customer base. Gets you up to speed on how to locate, collect, and process competitive intelligence Shows you how to carefully analyze competitive intelligence and disseminate it throughout your organization Illustrates how competitive intelligence can help you gain market share If you're a business owner, analyst, manager, or researcher, Competitive Intelligence For Dummies gives you and your business an edge.