If you have been thinking about strategic or tactical planning, management, change or analysis; Maximizing opportunities, acquisition business targets, best practices or benchmarking, new market insights, inventions or new products, distribution or processes.............................

Great! You have

  come to the right place.

Minimize Risk: Maximize Opportunity

Speaking particularly to CEO’s and other decision makers, no one can know your corporate vision, goals, and business as well as you do. We do not try to run your business, however, we can often offer alternatives both to the vision, and how to achieve that vision. We do this by taking a collaborative approach to help our clients develop imaginative tactics and strategies. 

As business or competitive intelligence (CI) professionals, we are information retrieval specialists. We explore the terrain between where you are, and where you want to go, looking for obstacles and the best way over, around or through any particular obstacle encountered. In other words, knowledge that indicates the significance of the obstacle, and possible strategic and tactical alternatives. Knowledge that should make your march forward easier and less risk prone, while you remain firmly in charge.

Is CI Effective?

You bet. For the results of a formalized study, click here.

For a real world case study, click here.

Your company is probably doing some sort of ad hoc CI right now. Why not systemize it and reap the maximum benefit?

So, in practice, how do CEOs use CI?

As companies  search for ways to react to intense competitive pressures, there is a great need to identify and implement winning strategies, which in turn requires fact based intelligence. It helps if their advisors act as a catalyst to stimulate creative thinking.

Most strategic/tactical studies concern themselves with augmenting the ability to determine the right thing to do, and doing it right. While such studies take tedious and continuous effort, they, like most other hard work, pay of handsomely in the end.

Value to client

Usually, about half our value to the client comes from expanding on information that is surmised by the original mandate, and about half from avoiding nasty surprises not envisaged by the original mandate. It is an unusual mandate indeed, that does not raise nearly as many questions as the study set out to answer.

However, if you look at it closely, raising additional questions normally means that you did not learn the answers to the previous questions the hard, and usually expensive way, in the school of hard knocks.

Assessment.

Areas which can be studied include:

· Self assessment. You might think most companies know what they do well. You would be wrong. Core competencies, where the company wants to go, measures of performance, products, services and alternatives, existing customer base vs potential customer base. Benchmarking against “best in class” often leads to dramatic results. Have a plan. Work that plan.

· Market assessment. Where is the best market, steps needed to initiate pursuit of market opportunities, and a mechanism to monitor for new opportunities. What changes can be expected in the market?

· Competitor assessment. What other entities are positioned, or likely to go after the same opportunities? What are their strengths, weaknesses, and personalities?

·  Alliances. Merger, acquisition, joint venture, strategic alliance, sales, divestiture.

 

Examples.

Because one can strategize about almost anything, specific examples about any one strategic issue are unlikely to be completely apropos another. However, the thought, or logic process is possible to demonstrate. Following are some examples. Click on the indicated words for a more completely documented version. If you would like to discuss a more specific application, contact us. 

 

· An engineer had “invented” a variation on an existing product that alleviated certain repetitive motion, back or lifting strain problems. Initial, limited studies, indicated a likely high level of interest by customers. Two methods of locating probable customers were developed, one broader, and likely to find 80% of the likely immediate customer base, and one narrower, and likely to find the cream of the crop. (and thus be immediately profitable) Available funds for the project were limited.

 

· A European firm, whose products volume made it impractical to ship, had 6 patents surrounding improvements to an existing, widely used product. The client wanted to of attack the lush North American market. Studies of the best way of going about this were conducted.

 

·  An Indian firm was interested in acquiring an American firm, to establish a North American beachhead. While several candidates were proposed, and 1 completed, recommendations regarding cultural differences and possible alternate strategies were ignored. The result is apparently, at best, struggling, and may have to be closed, due to culture clash.

 

If you would like to discuss you project in confidence, and in more specific detail, please contact us. 

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