• November 9, 2005 Global CI Study Among Large-Scale Companies: Competitive Intelligence Has Established a Position on Management’s Agenda

November 9, 2005

Global CI Study Among Large-Scale Companies: Competitive Intelligence Has Established a Position on Management’s Agenda

he Global Intelligence Alliance (GIA, www.globalintelligence.com) is proud to announce the results of an extensive Competitive Intelligence (CI) interview study, conducted amongst large-scale enterprises in eight countries and in the Asia-Pacific region by seven Global Intelligence Alliance (GIA) member companies. The study shows that in most of the interviewed companies, CI has established a position on the agenda of top executives in that it primarily fulfills strategic roles, and has both raised its status and increased its budget. The survey respondents were responsible for CI in their respective companies.

• On average, 87% of the interviewed companies systematically collected and analyzed information about their external operating environments.
• The terminology varies a lot: In total, 79% of all interviewed companies called the activity either Business Intelligence, Market Intelligence, Competitive Intelligence or Market Research, while the remaining 21% still had a variety of other terms in use.
• On average, 71% of in-house intelligence activities were conducted in a centralized unit.
• 64% of the researched companies already used a CI technology tool, and an additional 9% were planning to get one.
• 62% of the companies perceived top management as the most important user group of information products produced by CI. There were also market-specific variations.

Among the studied organizations, practicing CI had most often benefited companies in the form of increased quality of information and improved threat and opportunity identification, which is logical. The perceived development areas included improving the utilization of information possessed by personnel, and identifying critical information needs. These issues for their part suggest that operative functions such as sales and business development are becoming an increasingly important user group of CI.

Hans Hedin, the GIA Coordinator comments: “Within the GIA, we conduct global intelligence projects for our clients, but I am also happy that we can contribute to the knowledge development of the field of CI as such. I believe that there is a lot to learn from this study, especially if you are managing strategy, business development or intelligence projects on a global level.”

Says Peter Read, Director of Fusion Consulting, the GIA Member company that conducted the Asia-Pacific research: “Traditionally, large Asian companies have relied more on informal networks for information gathering and market intelligence, rather than formal research and analysis. But this is changing as companies see the benefits of deriving strategy from business intelligence, especially better identification of threats and opportunities, decisions based on higher quality information and faster decision-making.”

Thomas Rideg, Director of InfoAmericas that conducted the research in Brazil and Mexico, comments: “In both Brazil and Mexico, market intelligence is becoming a priority among top management. This is a very positive sign, because it allows information to be transformed into intelligence which will be put into action. Despite this trend, there still are several large companies where this activity remains delegated to different areas and the information collected is often fragmented and not utilized to potential. This study has enabled us to better understand the market concerns and has allowed us to refine our solutions to better serve our clients.”


For more information, please contact either the GIA Coordinator or the individual companies that were involved in conducting the study:

Mr. Hans Hedin (hans.hedin@globalintelligence.com)
GIA Coordinator
Tel. + 46 735 340 173

InfoAmericas in Brazil and Mexico
Mr. Thomas Rideg
Tel: +55 (11) 3168-9767
www.infoamericas.com

Fusion Consulting in the Asia-Pacific region (several countries covered)
Mr. Pete Read
Tel: +65 6423 1681
www.fusionc.com

Intag Intelligence Agent in Switzerland
Mrs. Maarit Seppä
Tel. +41 (0)43 422 07 07
www.intag.biz

Gayer Consulting in Germany
Mr. Carsten Gayer
Tel: +49 (0)201-26690-0
www.gayer-consult.com

Intermedium in Norway
Mr. Dag Lyster
Tel: +47 22 95 85 95
www.intermedium.no

DeskResearch Nederland in the Netherlands
Mr. Philippe Brandts
Tel: +31 (0)20 77 068 77
www.deskresearch.com

Novintel in Finland and Canada
Mr. Markko Vaarnas
Tel: +358 (0) 424 956 200

Mr. Jouko Virtanen
Tel: +1-416-231 0828
www.novintel.com


About the Global Intelligence Alliance
The Global Intelligence Alliance (GIA, www.globalintelligence.com) is a global network of professional Competitive Intelligence and business research companies. Leveraging its world-wide reach, the GIA provides multinational organizations with a single source for all CI requirements including: intelligence services; process consulting; training; and leading technology solutions.