The value chain classifies the generic value-adding activities of an organization. The “primary activities” include: inbound logistics, operations (production), outbound logistics, marketing and sales, and services (maintenance). The “support activities” include: administrative infrastructure management, human resource management, Research & Development, and procurement. The costs and value drivers are identified for each value activity.

The value chain framework made its way to the forefront of management thought as a powerful analysis tool for strategic planning. Its final objective is to maximize value creation while minimizing costs.
In a guest article (Value Chain Management – Broken Links) Den Taylor - Managing Partner of Strategic Insights – points out the benefits of incorporating strategic intelligence into value chain management.

Recent highprofile cases involving questionable factfinding techniques performed in the name of competitive intelligence have made board members and executives wary of its use as an effective business tool. According to Strategic Insights, companies that rely strictly on traditional competitive intelligence to protect their leadership position could be putting billions of dollars at risk. “Today’s business leaders require more than just an understanding of facts and events,” says Alden R. Taylor, Managing Partner, Strategic Insights. “They require insight into the motivations and decision making processes of competitors so they can evaluate the impact of potential threats on their business and make strategic decisions in advance of a competitive event.” Gaining this type of insight is what Taylor refers to as ‘strategic intelligence,’ the next generation of competitive intelligence.

Taylor established Strategic Insights in 2003 with former Kroll and Citigate colleague Dr. Pamela B. Volkman and George T. Guernsey, a financial executive and consultant who manages their proprietary intelligence software tool, Insight Mapping™ out of their London office. With a global network of over 100 consultants on 5 continents, Strategic Insights helps companies use strategic intelligence to protect their business against financial loss, maintain a competitive advantage, establish best practices and identify strategic opportunities.

“The difference between competitive intelligence and strategic intelligence,” says Taylor, “is competitive intelligence focuses on verifying facts and past events, forcing companies to operate in reactionary mode. Strategic intelligence on the other hand, is forwardlooking, providing executives with insight into the motives and decision making processes of competitors. Executives can make strategic decisions in advance of a competitive event versus responding with 20/20 hindsight.” Although strategic intelligence utilizes industryaccepted competitive intelligence techniques, it is focused on a client’s business, economic, political and marketing environment. Through its proprietary intelligence model and mapping software, Strategic Insights helps companies evaluate the potential impact of threats on their business so they can maximize opportunities and mitigate risk.

“All large companies, R&D facilities and government entities deal with intelligence in one way or another,” says Norman F. Strate, an Advisory Director with Strategic Insights and former executive with RCA, Hertz, Showtime and Talon. “However, the critical intelligence they require is unique to their business and not easily available prior to a transaction taking place,” notes Strate. He adds that the types of transactions that Strategic Insights has been involved with include: evaluating global alliance opportunities, substantiating tangible and intangible attributes of a prospective investment and assessing critical success factors and their attendant risk. “Having an intelligence infrastructure in place allows companies to identify gaps in their strategy and more importantly, how to close them without putting billions of dollars at risk,” says Strate.

In today’s competitive business environment, strict adherence to ethical practices and confidentiality is critical to the success of any client relationship. Taylor is keenly aware of recent events in the intelligence industry and has had to overcome preconceptions from prospective clients on more than one occasion. “This is just part of developing a new relationship,” states Taylor. “Clients know that we do not use methodologies that if publicized would create embarrassment or legal complications for them or our company,” says Taylor.

To aid CI leaders in search of excellence, specific CI best practices are revealed in Managing the Competition: Turning Competitive Intelligence into Strategy, a benchmarking study conducted by Best Practices, LLC. (To download a complimentary study excerpt http://www3.best-in-class.com/rr768.htm).

The study presents provocative sharing compiled from surveys and in-depth interviews with 29 top CI executives at such world-class companies as AstraZeneca, IBM, Merck, GlaxoSmithKline, Kodak, Eli Lilly, Abbott Labs, Progress Energy and SAS.

Interviewed class participants offer informative case studies and best practices that speak to such key CI processes as:

• Collection of competitive information
• Synthesizing findings into critical action steps
• Disseminating data to key stakeholders
• Integrating recommendations into strategy

A brief sampling of harvested insights and best practices include:

• Separate commercial and R&D competitive intelligence functions to align CI personnel to appropriate roles.
• Send competitive intelligence gatherers to conventions to collect specific information based on product team needs.
• Incorporate competitive intelligence personnel at sales and marketing staff meetings to provide updates and exchange information.

“I’m honored to have been elected to the SCIP board for the next three years. I greatly appreciate this opportunity and the confidence of the SCIP membership in my ability to represent them,” stated Kalinowski.

This industry profile is an assimilation of insider knowledge, market characteristics and economic indicators. It analyzes the critical success factors in the industry – how the industry has evolved and how competitive dynamics have impacted market behavior. The profile is a tool to help your company gain an in-depth knowledge and competitive advantage in the industry.

Sectional Highlights

• Structure of the industry, market size, and growth rates have been analyzed
• Value chain analysis categorizes the value-adding activities to develop low-cost differentiation strategies
• Trend analysis detects historical patterns that could help in forecasting future demand periods
• Critical issues are reviewed that may become a threat to the industry
• PEST analysis uses a framework of external factors for macro-environmental scanning of the industry to help in taking advantage of opportunities and making contingency plans for threats
• Competitive positioning of the industry leaders has been evaluated in terms of sales, profitability, stock trend and other performance indicators

Key Benefits

• Provides input for strategic business planning
• Targets business opportunities & risks
• Exploits competitive intelligence

Target Audience

• Investment Managers
• Venture Capitalists
• Management Consultants
• Research Companies
• Other Industry Professionals

Topics Covered

More information can be found here.

The China Plastics Overview, free from Primary Impact, will provide clear information about the areas of growth, opportunity, and challenges in this dynamic market place. The study, which was produced for and sponsored by PlasticsNews, a trade publication serving the international plastics industry, was released at its first “Plastics News China Forum 2006 - Navigating China’s Business Landscape”, held November 14 - 15, 2006 in Chicago. The forum provided plastics industry decision-makers with current information and trends, and brought together experts in the field to share industry knowledge.

Primary Impact, a research firm specializing in primary competitive intelligence for the plastics, automotive, medical device and pharmaceutical industries has released findings of a broad overview of the China plastics industry. The 50-page study includes market data concerning plastics machinery suppliers, resins, molds and dies, plastics processors and end-use products produced in the Chinese plastic market. The data, gathered mostly firsthand from the Chinese government and trade association sources, provides an overview of production revenue, production volume, number of companies, geographic segmentation, ownership types, profitability, and imports vs. exports.

At the China Forum, Primary Impact made available four subscription studies designed to help executives uncover deeper knowledge of the China plastics industry, specifically in the masterbatch, compounding, injection molding and extrusion markets.

“These studies will detail the remarkable growth of the China plastics market, the changes resulting from expansion, and new trends driving each of these segments,” said Anthony Napoletano, Managing Director, Primary Impact. These segments of China’s plastics industry are driving much of the industry transformation. Primary Impact is responding to industry needs for a high level of firsthand, comprehensive data.

The masterbatch market study will detail the competitive structure of the marketplace and will provide insights for color suppliers and additive manufacturers.

The compounding market study addresses reinforced polyolefins, filled nylons, styrenics, olefins, polycarbonate/nylon blends, color compounds, and concentrates. It focuses on the impact of trends in markets, materials, and additives and its impact on the overall manufacturing growth in its end-use markets. This report captures new opportunities and issues as compounders try to keep pace with processors experiencing expansion.

The injection molding market study addresses processors, molds and dies, and molding machinery. It profiles and segments companies by sales, geography, industry focus, and expansion plans. It analyzes thousands of companies and profiles the companies who produce the majority of business.

The extrusion market study addresses extruder companies and extruder manufacturers in China. It analyzes production companies responsible for the majority of business to reveal new trends. It profiles and segments companies by sales, geography, industry focus, product lines, and expansion plans. Product lines include plastic pipe, film, filament/woven products, foam and profiles.

To receive a copy of the free, 50-page China Overview or to review more information about the subscription studies, visit the Primary Impact website at Primary-Impact.com.

Drugs and diagnostics (existing and candidates) which are monitored address most frequent neurodegenerative diseases (Alzheimer, Parkinson, Multiple Sclerosis, Huntington, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) as well as rare disorders (eg. Batten, Menkes, Pick, Sandhoff, Adrenomyeloneuropathy etc.).

“What we are looking for with these publications is to provide pharma, biopharma, biotech and diagnostics industry decision-makers with a unique, synthetic and global source of competitive intelligence data. Time is money, and costs associated with the collection of this information can be tremendous,” said Christian Girard.

He added, “Our news center daily collects, filters, sorts and saves industry and academy primary information, avoiding press redundancy and delays. The publications are derived products. Each report is divided into several parts, following the homepage introducing mentioned companies and institutions: All News, Regulatory, Research, Preclinical, Clinical, Products, Funding, Financial, Deals, Litigation and IP. Links to companies’ websites and full-text releases are included.”

A recent issue of this publication can be viewed at: txpreview.com

About HiTIS Competitive Intelligence Publications

HiTIS Competitive Intelligence Publications family includes several focused electronic publications covering therapeutic fields or technologies, like:

Vaccines Competitive Intelligence Weekly, Neurodegenerative Diseases Tx/Dx Competitive Intelligence Weekly, and Eye Therapies Competitive Intelligence Weekly.

Other similar publications will be announced in due time. Note that specific, customized publications may be developed upon request.

Managing your competitive intelligence function is a task in coordination and salesmanship. Human networks and global efforts

As your competitive intelligence function develops capabilities to address new demands, it will become evident that an active human intelligence network is required. Successful competitive intelligence functions develop and use decentralised, relationship-based human networks to leverage experience, expertise, and resources across their organisations. Conduct competitive intelligence in a practical manner aligned with company objectives.
View competitive intelligence from a global perspective. Integrate formal and informal human networks. Traditional competitive intelligence literature emphasises the creation of formal intelligence networks. Two types of social networks

The forums can also support the development of new competitive intelligence functions throughout your organisation.

The second type of network links the rest of your organisation to the competitive intelligence function. The coordination of the diverse networks assists in the development of local competitive intelligence advocates.

Third, using networks allows your competitive intelligence function to leverage its resources, however limited. A competitive intelligence function that is focussed primarily on answering ad hoc requests will tend to develop a decentralised, loose network of contacts, whereas a competitive intelligence function that conducts in-depth projects on selected focus areas will have a small network of coordinated strong ties.

Tightly coordinated network

There are five basic approaches for developing networks.
Members of a competitive intelligence function often have as part of their job responsibility the recruitment of new members to their network. As part of the systematic approach, the competitive intelligence function will have established processes for recruiting and training network members.
Develop a network as the opportunity arises.

You can read the full article “Managing your competitive intelligence function” on expresscomputeronline.com.

Written by a team of scientists, industry veterans and market research experts, each report presents the reader with a thorough understanding of the market, and the scientific and business implications of the results based on advanced statistical analytics.

The 21 titles featured in the newest catalog cover both technology-specific and general marketing topics. Technology-specific titles assess the needs of scientists who use those products and outline how suppliers can better meet those needs. Technology-specific titles included in the new catalog are:

• Market Opportunities in Biodefense Research: Trends & Forecasts
• The Global Market for Synthetic Oligonucleotides
• Influencing Brand Preferences in the Flow Cytometry Market
• The Market for Antibodies: Keys to Success for Commercial Suppliers, Volume II
• The Market for DNA Molecular Weight Markers: Climbing the Ladder to the Top
• Securing a Competitive Advantage in the Reverse Transcriptase Market
• The Market for Restriction Enzymes: Cutting Out Your Competition
• The Taq Wars: Competitive Intelligence on How to Survive
• The Neuroscience Perspective: Opportunities for Market Entry & Expansion
• Protein Microarrays: Technology Adoption & Utilization
• The Market for DNA Microarrays: Core Lab and End-User Perspectives
• The Market for SNP Genotyping Products & Services
• The RNA Purification Market: Evaluating Competitive Dynamics & Establishing Benchmarks
• Mass Spectrometry: Opportunities in the Life Science Market

Marketing titles from BioInformatics are a unique resource, unavailable from any other source. These reports address how scientists respond to various marketing channels, define which suppliers are seen as best-in-class, and assess brand identity for leading suppliers. Far more than simply market research, these reports are how-to manuals that inform the decisions of corporate, marketing and sales executives throughout the life science industry. The marketing titles included in the Fall 2006 catalog are:

• Marketing to Life Scientists 2006
• Customer Loyalty & Satisfaction: Creating a Branded Customer Experience
• Maximizing Market Share Through Brand Differentiation
• Advertising to Life Scientists: Maximizing Ad Effectiveness
• Marketing to Life Scientists: Navigating Channels Through Segmentation
• Life Science Product Catalogs
• Scientific & Medical Journals on the Web

Consumers are also very supportive of businesses that conduct these types of activities, especially marketing research, which receives the strongest support (84% strongly or somewhat support organizations that do this), followed by support for environmental scanning (69%), and business intelligence overall (63%). A smaller group is supportive of competitive intelligence activities (45%).
In today’s sophisticated marketplace, a sizable proportion of consumers indicate they are either ‘very’ or ‘somewhat’ knowledgeable about business intelligence/knowledge management (44%), environmental scanning/secondary research (40%), or competitive intelligence (44%). The vast majority is knowledgeable about market research activities (84%); a small majority is knowledgeable of company’s data mining activities (52%). Only between 10% and 20% of consumers claim to be ‘not at all’ knowledgeable about these activities. Comparisons to a similar survey Ipsos Reid did last year shows that consumers are almost as knowledgeable about BI activities as business intelligence leaders at organizations who conduct these activities.

The most skepticism is levied against data mining activities, as nearly one-half are either ‘somewhat’ (27%) or ‘strongly’ (21%) opposed to this, and only 32% support companies that conduct this activity.

Consumers are willing participants in a wide range of Business Intelligence activities, and are quick to see the benefits of participation.

The vast majority of consumers have at some time participated in a wide range of BI activities such as market research (98%), give out credit card numbers online (87%), give personal information for warranties (85%), willingly provide email addresses to companies (80%), join customer clubs to receive rewards/price discounts (79%), join mailing lists (74%), sign up for frequent purchase cards (74%), provide personal info to get free online content (53%), or pay a fee for customer club cards (52%). Consumers agree with a wide range of benefits to doing these types of things, seeing things like getting rewards for frequent shopping, getting price discounts, getting free information, having the ability to voice their opinions to companies, saving time, building personal relationships with the companies they shop with, and finally, allowing companies to tailor their offering to match buying patterns of the consumer.

Although consumers for the most part, participate in BI activities willingly, they have a number of suggestions for where businesses could improve the way in which they conduct themselves in these areas.

Consumers strongly believe that they will only give out information to companies they trust (88%), and admit that they are very concerned about personal identity theft (72%). They also believe that companies are asking for too much personal information (63%) and unnecessary information (64%). A slight majority believes that companies misuse the information that they collect (55%), and while they may collect it, many believe companies don’t make good use of the information they do collect (45%). Those who are reluctant participants of these types of activities cite concerns about getting more junk mail/spam, the invasion of their personal privacy, concerns about selling personal information, identity theft, and uncertainty over what companies are using that information for.

“Today’s consumer is highly sophisticated, and understands the need for businesses to collect information from consumers and to conduct various business intelligence activities”, says Steve Mossop, President of Ipsos Reid’s Western Market Research practice. “However, businesses must do a better job in protecting consumer privacy, and better utilizing the information that is collected so they don’t damage the trust that consumers have…”. “Consumers play a vital role in business intelligence – much of the information that businesses utilize emanates from consumers. Their knowledge and support of business intelligence activities is very encouraging and serves to reinforce the direction our industry is taking,” says Gail Tibbo, Chair, Business Intelligence Conference. “Still, we have a distance to go in educating consumers about the more sophisticated and technical uses of data. We must tailor consumer information to specific requirements, and justify our data requests with solid, convincing consumer-centric explanations. We need their continuing cooperation and advocacy for a healthy business intelligence climate to reign.”

This was the second online business intelligence study of this nature conducted by Ipsos Reid. The first study conducted this time last year involved surveying business decision-makers across Canada, and the current undertaking focused on consumer perspectives towards business intelligence.

Sponsored by Ipsos Reid and MRIA, the goal of the study was to gather perspectives on BI and determine the current trends and challenges that exist in this area. For the purpose of this study, BI is defined as a process for professionally gathering, processing, analyzing and disseminating decision-making information relevant to an organization. It can also be referred to as knowledge management. BI involves the collecting, filtering, analyzing and prioritizing data from various sources including:

• Environmental scanning or secondary market research information (market data such as industry information on trends, technology, sales, production levels, inventories, viewership, readership information).

• Primary market research (from survey-based research, focus groups, etc.);

• Competitive intelligence (organized collection of information about your competition); and,

• Data mining (from customer records, databases and other internal sources).

The full results of the study will be presented by Steve Mossop, President, Market Research Canada West, Ipsos Reid, at the upcoming Second National Business Intelligence Conference sponsored by MRIA on November 9th, 2006 in Vancouver, BC.

These are some of the findings from an online Ipsos Reid poll conducted on behalf of MRIA between October 18 and 25, 2006. The poll is based on a sample of 578 adult British Columbians and Albertans from our randomly recruited and representative Voice of the West Panel. With a sample of this size, the results are considered accurate to within ±4.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.