The Market Intelligence Blog

There are right ways and wrong ways to conduct Competitive Intelligence and Marketing Research. The Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals is a great resource. Here’s SCIP Code of Ethics for CI Professionals

1. To continually strive to increase the recognition and respect of the profession.
2. To comply with all applicable laws, domestic and international.
3. To accurately disclose all relevant information, including one’s identity and organization, prior to all interviews.
4. To avoid conflicts of interest in fulfilling one’s duties.
5. To provide honest and realistic recommendations and conclusions in the execution of one’s duties.
6. To promote this code of ethics within one’s company, with third-party contractors and within the entire profession.
7. To faithfully adhere to and abide by one’s company policies, objectives and guidelines.

While this may look like a pretty ‘white bread’ list of behaviors, a couple deserve note:
Item 2 – One trick is knowing just what the local laws do and do not allow. Clients – You need to know that simply hiring a 3rd party doesn’t get you off the hook, if they break the law. You’re just as liable when your agent breaks the law as if you did it yourself.
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In business – and in electoral politics – knowing what the competitor is up to is critical. Whether it’s called competitive intelligence or opposition research, understanding your competition is part of the foundation of a solid strategy for success.

The first requirement is identifying who your competitor really is: The company who sells a product that looks just like yours? The entrepreneur who’s busy inventing your replacement? Or all the other ways that your customers can spend their money that may have nothing to do with you?

Most people assume it’s the first definition – insurance guys immediately think of the agent down the street, plastics companies think of the other guy’s polyethylene – but …

The most common competition is all those other things you customers can choose to spend their money on. Individual or corporation, they all have attractive alternatives to what you want to sell – a weekend at the beach, for example, instead of the premium on a long term care insurance policy, or a fatter dividend to the shareholders instead of a new computer system for the accounting department.

The most dangerous competition is often the competition you don’t even know you have – the inventor who’s looking to make you obsolete. The very best buggy whip guy was headed for disaster in 1903, unless he foresaw and quickly adapted to the dramatically changing personal transportation market.

Researching and understanding the competitive landscape you face – in an ethical and honest way – is a key element in the foundation of your success.

Imagination without solid, objective facts is mere fantasy
But …
Insight and intuition bring life to the cold, dead skeleton of data

If you’re looking for our Alternative Energy related posts, Marketing Intelligence and Strategy Associates has created a new blog – The Alternative Energy Page . Visit us there for insights, provocative news items and discussions about the science and public policy of solar energy, wind and bio-fuels, clean coal, hydrogen, etc.

For your small business or corporate marketing research, business and organizational strategy, or market development programs needs, visit the MISA website or call us at 423 967-0549.

Hello, and welcome to Market-Intel.com, a website and blog devoted to excellence in marketing, marketing research and new business development.  You can contact us at:

                   Bob Brothers

                   www.market-intel.com

                   Telephone 423 967-0549

I am Bob Brothers, a creative, forward thinking business development and marketing professional, with a record of accomplishment with global leaders in science driven products for consumer and industrial end users. Building on BS and MS degrees in Chemical Engineering, I have excelled in market development / new business development / marketing research roles addressing a broad range of science and technology driven products and services, across a variety of end use markets and complex business models.

I led or played key roles on business development teams which created and executed marketing and business strategies to introduce new products, to enter new markets, and to capture additional sales in existing businesses. For example …
- Introducing a new family of engineering polymers into BPA-free housewares and containers, infant care products, medical devices, and similar applications
- Creating a subsidiary to provide business process outsourcing services in the Health, Safety and Environmental compliance area
- Building marketing and manufacturing licensee channels and creating business / marketing plans for new decorative and functional building products
- Developing marketing and business strategies, and managing the sales development team, for a new industrial chemical
- Generating marketing insights and business development strategies to support Coal Gasification Services and Chemicals from Coal ventures
- Rationalizing and reorganizing internal and market-facing plastics recycling operations

I have, in addition, played a substantial role in building global marketing capabilities by creating and rolling out important components of Business & Marketing Excellence and Stage Gate platforms. I enjoyed great success managing, training, and gaining recognition and promotions for new marketing research staff members, and am sought-after as a mentor for young marketing professionals.

I performed a similar spectrum of market research and business development roles in support of subsidiaries and distributors in Latin America.

I earned a BS degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin, and an MS in Chemical & Petroleum Engineering from Kansas University.