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Competitive intelligence is the action of defining, gathering, analyzing, and distributing intelligence about products, customers, competitors, and any aspect of the environment needed to support executives and managers making strategic decisions for an organization. Competitive intelligence essentially means understanding and learning what's happening in the world outside your business so one can be as competitive as possible. It means learning as much as possible—as soon as possible—about one's industry in general, one's competitors, or even one's county's particular zoning rules. In short, it empowers you to anticipate and face challenges head on. Key points of this definition: # Competitive intelligence is an ethical and legal business practice, as opposed to industrial espionage, which is illegal.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=https://www.scip.org/CodeOfEthics.php )〕 # The focus is on the external business environment〔Haag, Stephen. ''Management Information Systems for the Information Age''. Third Edition. McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 2006.〕 # There is a process involved in gathering information, converting it into intelligence and then utilizing this in business decision making. Some CI professionals erroneously emphasize that if the intelligence gathered is not usable, or actionable, then it is not intelligence. A more focused definition of CI regards it as the organizational function responsible for the early identification of risks and opportunities in the market before they become ''obvious''. Experts also call this process the early signal analysis. This definition focuses attention on the difference between dissemination of widely available factual information (such as market statistics, financial reports, newspaper clippings) performed by functions such as libraries and information centers, and competitive intelligence which is a ''perspective'' on developments and events aimed at yielding a competitive edge.〔Gilad, Ben. "The Future of Competitive Intelligence: Contest for the Profession's Soul", ''Competitive Intelligence Magazine'', 2008, 11(5), 22〕 The term CI is often viewed as synonymous with competitor analysis, but competitive intelligence is more than analyzing competitors—it is about making the organization more competitive relative to its entire environment and stakeholders: customers, competitors, distributors, technologies, and macroeconomic data. == Historic development == The literature associated with the field of competitive intelligence is best exemplified by the detailed bibliographies that were published in the Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals' refereed academic journal called ''The Journal of Competitive Intelligence and Management''.〔Dishman, P., Fleisher, C. S., and V. Knip. "Chronological and Categorized Bibliography of Key Competitive Intelligence Scholarship: Part 1 (1997-2003), ''Journal of Competitive Intelligence and Management'', 1(1), 16–78.〕〔Fleisher, Craig S., Wright, Sheila, and R. Tindale. "Bibliography and Assessment of Key Competitive Intelligence Scholarship: Part 4 (2003–2006), ''Journal of Competitive Intelligence and Management'', 2007, 4(1), 32–92.〕〔Fleisher, Craig S., Knip, Victor, and P. Dishman. "Bibliography and Assessment of Key Competitive Intelligence Scholarship: Part 2 (1990-1996), ''Journal of Competitive Intelligence and Management'', 2003, 1(2), 11–86.〕〔Knip, Victor, P. Dishman, and C.S. Fleisher. "Bibliography and Assessment of Key Competitive Intelligence Scholarship: Part 3 (The Earliest Writings-1989), ''Journal of Competitive Intelligence and Management'', 2003, 1(3), 10–79.〕 Although elements of organizational intelligence collection have been a part of business for many years, the history of competitive intelligence arguably began in the U.S. in the 1970s, although the literature on the field pre-dates this time by at least several decades.〔 In 1980, Michael Porter published the study ''Competitive-Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors'' which is widely viewed as the foundation of modern competitive intelligence. This has since been extended most notably by the pair of Craig Fleisher and Babette Bensoussan, who through several popular books on competitive analysis have added 48 commonly applied competitive intelligence analysis techniques to the practitioner's tool box.〔Fleisher, Craig S. and Babette E. Bensoussan. ''Strategic and Competitive Analysis: Methods and Techniques for Analyzing Business Competition''. Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, 2003.〕〔Fleisher, Craig S. and Babette E. Bensoussan. Business and Competitive Analysis: Effective Application of New and Classic Methods, FT Press, 2007.〕 In 1985, Leonard Fuld published his best selling book dedicated to competitor intelligence.〔Fuld, Leonard M., ''Competitor Intelligence: How to Get It, How to Use It''. NY: Wiley, 1985.〕 However, the institutionalization of CI as a formal activity among American corporations can be traced to 1988, when Ben and Tamar Gilad published the first organizational model of a formal corporate CI function, which was then adopted widely by US companies.〔Gilad, Benjamin Gilad and Tamar Gilad. ''The Business Intelligence System''. NY: American Management Association, 1988.〕 The first professional certification program (CIP) was created in 1996 with the establishment of The Fuld-Gilad-Herring Academy of Competitive Intelligence in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In 1986 the ''Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals'' (SCIP) was founded in the United States and grew in the late 1990s to around 6,000 members worldwide, mainly in the United States and Canada, but with large numbers especially in the UK and Australia. Due to financial difficulties in 2009, the organization merged with Frost & Sullivan under the Frost & Sullivan Institute. SCIP has since been renamed "Strategic & Competitive Intelligence Professionals" to emphasise the strategic nature of the subject, and also to refocus the organisation's general approach, while keeping the existing SCIP brandname and logo. A number of efforts have been made to discuss the field's advances in post-secondary (university) education, covered by several authors including Blenkhorn & Fleisher,〔Blenkhorn, D. and C. S. Fleisher (2003). "Teaching CI to three diverse groups: Undergraduates, MBAs, and Executives", ''Competitive Intelligence Magazine'', 6(4), 17-20.〕 Fleisher,〔Fleisher, C. S. (2003). "Competitive Intelligence Education: Competencies, Sources and Trends," ''Information Management Journal'', March/April, 56–62.〕 Fuld,〔Fuld, 2006〕 Prescott,〔Prescott, J. (1999). "Debunking the Academic Abstinence Myth of Competitive Intelligence", ''Competitive Intelligence Magazine'', 2(4).〕 and McGonagle.〔McGonagle, J. (2003). "Bibliography: Education in CI," ''Competitive Intelligence Magazine'', 6(4), 50.〕 Although the general view would be that competitive intelligence concepts can be readily found and taught in many business schools around the globe, there are still relatively few dedicated academic programs, majors, or degrees in the field, a concern to academics in the field who would like to see it further researched.〔 These issues were widely discussed by over a dozen knowledgeable individuals in a special edition of the Competitive Intelligence Magazine that was dedicated to this topic.〔(Competitive Intelligence Magazine, 2003, 6(4), July/August)〕 In France, a Specialized Master in Economic Intelligence and Knowledge Management was created in 1995 within the CERAM Business School, now (SKEMA Business School ), in Paris, with the objective of delivering a full and professional training in Economic Intelligence. A Centre for Global Intelligence and Influence was created in September 2011 in the same School. On the other hand, practitioners and companies regard professional accreditation as especially important in this field.〔Gilad, Ben and Jan Herring. "CI Certification - Do We Need It?", Competitive Intelligence Magazine, 2001, 4(2), 28-31.〕 In 2011, SCIP recognized the Fuld-Gilad-Herring Academy of Competitive Intelligence's CIP certification process as its global, dual-level (CIP-I and CIP-II) certification program. Global developments have also been uneven in competitive intelligence.〔Blenkhorn, D. and C.S. Fleisher. Competitive Intelligence and Global Business. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2005〕 Several academic journals, particularly the ''Journal of Competitive Intelligence and Management'' in its third volume, provided coverage of the field's global development.〔(''Journal of Competitive Intelligence and Management'', volume 2, numbers 1-3〕 For example, in 1997 the '' (''School of economic warfare'') was founded in Paris, France. It is the first European institution which teaches the tactics of economic warfare within a globalizing world. In Germany, competitive intelligence was unattended until the early 1990s. The term "competitive intelligence" first appeared in German literature in 1997. In 1995 a German SCIP chapter was founded, which is now second in terms of membership in Europe. In summer 2004 the Institute for Competitive Intelligence was founded, which provides a postgraduate certification program for Competitive Intelligence Professionals. Japan is currently the only country that officially maintains an economic intelligence agency (JETRO). It was founded by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) in 1958. Accepting the importance of competitive intelligence, major multinational corporations, such as ExxonMobil, Procter & Gamble, and Johnson and Johnson, have created formal CI units. Importantly, organizations execute competitive intelligence activities not only as a safeguard to protect against market threats and changes, but also as a method for finding new opportunities and trends. Organizations use competitive intelligence to compare themselves to other organizations ("competitive benchmarking"), to identify risks and opportunities in their markets, and to pressure-test their plans against market response (war gaming), which enable them to make informed decisions. Most firms today realize the importance of knowing what their competitors are doing and how the industry is changing, and the information gathered allows organizations to understand their strengths and weaknesses. One of the major activities involved in corporate competitive intelligence is use of ratio analysis, using key performance indicators (KPI). Organizations compare annual reports of their competitors on certain KPI and ratios, which are intrinsic to their industry. This helps them track their performance, vis-a-vis their competitors. The actual importance of these categories of information to an organization depends on the contestability of its markets, the organizational culture, the personality and biases of its top decision makers, and the reporting structure of competitive intelligence within the company. ''Strategic Intelligence'' (SI) focuses on the longer term, looking at issues affecting a company's competitiveness over the course of a couple of years. The actual time horizon for SI ultimately depends on the industry and how quickly it's changing. The general questions that SI answers are, ‘Where should we as a company be in X years?' and 'What are the strategic risks and opportunities facing us?' This type of intelligence work involves among others the identification of weak signals and application of methodology and process called Strategic Early Warning (SEW), first introduced by Gilad,〔Gilad, Ben (2001). "Industry Risk Management: CI's Next Step", Competitive Intelligence Magazine, 4 (3), May–June.〕〔Gilad, Ben. Early Warning. NY: American Management Association, 2003.〕〔Gilad, Ben (2006). "Early Warning Revisited", ''Competitive Intelligence Magazine'', 9(2), March–April.〕 followed by Steven Shaker and Victor Richardson,〔Shaker, Steven and Richardson, Victor (2004). "Putting the System Back into Early Warning". ''Competitive Intelligence Magazine'', 7(3), May–June.〕 Alessandro Comai and Joaquin Tena,〔Comai, Alessandro and Tena, Joaquin (2007). "Early Warning Systems for your Competitive Landscape", ''Competitive Intelligence Magazine'', 10(3), May–June.〕〔Comai, Alessandro and Tena, Joaquin (2006). "Mapping and Anticipating the Competitive Landscape", ''Emecom Ediciones'', Barcelona, Spain.〕 and others. According to Gilad, 20% of the work of competitive intelligence practitioners should be dedicated to strategic early identification of weak signals within a SEW framework. ''Tactical Intelligence'': the focus is on providing information designed to improve shorter-term decisions, most often related with the intent of growing market share or revenues. Generally, it is the type of information that you would need to support the sales process in an organization. It investigates various aspects of a product/product line marketing: * Product – what are people selling? * Price – what price are they charging? * Promotion – what activities are they conducting for promoting this product? * Place – where are they selling this product? * Other – sales force structure, clinical trial design, technical issues, etc. With the right amount of information, organizations can avoid unpleasant surprises by anticipating competitors' moves and decreasing response time. Examples of competitive intelligence research is evident in daily newspapers, such as the ''Wall Street Journal'', ''Business Week'', and ''Fortune''. Major airlines change hundreds of fares daily in response to competitors' tactics. They use information to plan their own marketing, pricing, and production strategies. Resources, such as the Internet, have made gathering information on competitors easy. With a click of a button, analysts can discover future trends and market requirements. However competitive intelligence is much more than this, as the ultimate aim is to lead to competitive advantage. As the Internet is mostly public domain material, information gathered is less likely to result in insights that will be unique to the company. In fact there is a risk that information gathered from the Internet will be misinformation and mislead users, so competitive intelligence researchers are often wary of using such information. As a result, although the Internet is viewed as a key source, most CI professionals should spend their time and budget gathering intelligence using primary research—networking with industry experts, from trade shows and conferences, from their own customers and suppliers, and so on. Where the Internet is used, it is to gather sources for primary research as well as information on what the company says about itself and its online presence (in the form of links to other companies, its strategy regarding search engines and online advertising, mentions in discussion forums and on blogs, etc.). Also, important are online subscription databases and news aggregation sources which have simplified the secondary source collection process. Social media sources are also becoming important—providing potential interviewee names, as well as opinions and attitudes, and sometimes breaking news (e.g., via Twitter). Organizations must be careful not to spend too much time and effort on old competitors without realizing the existence of any new competitors. Knowing more about your competitors will allow your business to grow and succeed. The practice of competitive intelligence is growing every year, and most companies and business students now realize the importance of knowing their competitors. According to Arjan Singh and Andrew Beurschgens in their 2006 article in the ''Competitive Intelligence Review'', there are four stages of development of a competitive intelligence capability with a firm. It starts with "stick fetching", where a CI department is very reactive, up to "world class", where it is completely integrated in the decision-making process. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Competitive intelligence」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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