 About AWARE
Our Ethical Approach
AWARE follows a strict ethical code based on the ethical guidelines laid down by the Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals (SCIP).
In addition to the SCIP ethical code, the following principles are adhered to by AWARE and its associates:
AWARE will only engage in legal and ethical approaches to obtaining competitor information and will make no attempt to obtain information that has been classified as a trade secret. (Note that public domain information is not restricted to published information, but can also include information obtained through a variety of research approaches including interviews with competitor employees and employees working for competitor clients as well as others who have direct knowledge of the competitor. Information gathered during such interviews can be used so long as it is not flagged as confidential).
AWARE will always aim to protect client interests and reputation. We will thus not engage in any practices, which could, were they discovered, bring our client's name into disrepute. This includes, but is not limited to practices such as misrepresentation and lying, bribery, "dustbin searches", entrapment and other approaches, which AWARE views as unethical business practices.
In interviews or other direct contacts, AWARE will disclose all relevant information for the purpose of the interview, including the interviewer identity and contact details. However AWARE will never divulge client names or the ultimate research purpose without prior authority from the client.
AWARE will protect client confidentiality and will not use information gathered or learned in one project in any other project. In this context, AWARE recommends and encourages the signing of a confidentiality agreement with clients. This can either be the client's own agreement (if available), AWARE's standard contract or any variation agreed by both parties.
AWARE will always seek to avoid any conflict of interest between clients. As a result, AWARE works with only a single or limited subset of companies within an industry or industry sector and will either turn down work from competing companies of an existing client, or will ensure that the same associate does not work on both companies' projects where any conflict of interest could arise.
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Books - Competitors (Fahey)
Recommended Book
Competitive Intelligence: Gathering, Analysing and Putting it to Work
Christopher Murphy
Buy UK £ or US$
Read our review of this book
| If you are interested in learning about competitive intelligence with a UK / European focus then this book is for you. Most books on CI are written by US authors and take a US perspective. They fail to note the significant differences between what is available in the US and Europe and the UK. For example, in the US the US Freedom of Information Act is key for finding a lot of information. Such legislation has only recently been enacted in the UK and the type of information available is more limited. In contrast, financial information is much easier to obtain in the UK than the US. Murphy's book redresses the balance and fills a gap in guiding the CI newcomer on how to gather CI in Europe.
One of the best sections is a detailed examination of the sources and types of financial CI information that can be obtained within the UK. In fact I think this is unique. Of all the CI books I've read - none give anything like the same depth on this crucial topic.
For a thorough review of this book check out FreePint's book review.
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For more recommendations visit our book selection.
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Public training
Competitive Intelligence Training
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Our services in competitive intelligence research, competitor analysis and CI training will help you integrate and use competitive and marketing intelligence in your business, strategic and marketing planning processes. Whether you need research, advice or training, our mission is to support our clients so that they achieve their growth objectives.
For the best UK & European competitive intelligence and competitor analysis services, contact us today.
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Copyrights, etc.
Copyright © AWARE 1995-2008
Last page / site update: Wednesday, December 10, 2008
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