I. Topic: “Devising an efficient competitive intelligence capacity”
II. Literature review: Perceiving competitive intelligence merely as being constantly updated on every single move and practice of the competitors would do no justice to the purview of the concept of competitive intelligence (Murphy, 2005). Profitable and sustainable existence in today’s scenario of “survival of the fittest” is made possible only by diverting efforts towards gaining a modest understanding of every aspect that seems to be critical for the endurance of the organization. The ancillary questions that need to be answered by the research to be able to develop a practical and efficient competitive intelligence capacity are as follows:
1. Does the structural design of the competitive intelligence devised look beyond the latest activities of the competitors and make an effort to understand the latest trends related to market intelligence, risk intelligence, technological intelligence, latest customers fads, and industry intelligence on a broader note?
2. Is the employed competitive intelligence system made accessible to all the relevant users such as from almost any access point required by the users?
III. Key phrases: The key phrases that shall be input to bring out the most relevant results that are appropriate enough to answer the research questions are competitive intelligence, business intelligence, market intelligence, risk intelligence, industry intelligence, effective business intelligence capacity and successful structural design on competitive intelligence capacity etc.
IV. Specific research objectives: The present research aims to explore the hidden scope of the concept of competitive business intelligence in today’s era of globalization. The highly competitive environment and frequently changing economic as well as technologically conditions make it imperative for any business to devise an all-rounder competitive intelligence capacity. The research therefore, aims to design a competitive intelligence system that brings into consideration every aspect of being updated in terms of technology, competitors, customers, prospective alliances, suppliers and economic conditions (Cook & Cook, 2000). The questions that need to be addressed in this context are:
1. How does being constantly updated on the technological and economical front, guide the business through the process of amalgamations and mergers which can add to the competitive latent of the business?
2. Does a competitive intelligence capacity of a business contribute towards healthy long-term relationship with its suppliers and customers?
V. Key information sources: Numerous books and academic journals can provide to be instrumental in providing adequate guidance through the successful completion of this project. “Competitive intelligence : create an intelligent organization and compete to win” by Cook, M & Cook, CW, “Exploratory data mining and data cleaning” by Dasu, T & Johnson, T, “Business intelligence competency centers : a team approach to maximizing competitive advantage” by Miller, GJ, Bräutigam, D & Gerlach, SV are a few among the books that shall be referred for the purpose of this research. While, journals such as Competitive Intelligence Review and Information management shall be of considerable help for the purpose of study.
VI. Timeline and stage wise plan of the research: the research project shall be ready to be delivered by the end of the month of April. The project shall be divided into 3 stages namely preliminary stage, intermediary stage and concluding stage. the preliminary stage through the first week of April shall be directed towards gathering and aligning as much data as possible that is relevant and resourceful for the research. The mid of April shall be dedicated towards the analysis of a developed competitive intelligence capacity while considering all the significant factors. Subsequently, the devised capacity shall be evaluated for its success and practicality against the prevailing situations and conclusions shall be drafted.
1. Breeding, B 2000, 'CI and KM Convergence: A Case Study at Shell Services International', Competitive Intelligence Review, 11(4), pg. 12.
2. Christopher, Murphy. (2005). Competitive intelligence: gathering, analysing and putting it to work. England: Gower Publishing Company.
3. Cook, M & Cook, CW. (2000). Competitive intelligence: create an intelligent organization and compete to win, London: Kogan Page.
4. Dasu, T & Johnson, T. (2003). Exploratory data mining and data cleaning. Wiley-IEEE.
5. Miller, GJ, Bräutigam, D & Gerlach, SV. (2006), Business intelligence competency centers: a team approach to maximizing competitive advantage. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons Inc.
