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About Us > Publications > Competitive Intelligence Case Studies

Competitive Intelligence for Business Success
AWARE Case Studies


AWARE has been involved in numerous research projects aimed at uncovering information on organizations. The intelligence we gather helps our clients' strategic and tactical decision making.

These projects cover a range of industries and topics - and include classical competitive intelligence primary and secondary research, trade show evaluation, due dilligence research, and more. Some are straightforward in that the conclusions that can be drawn are obvious. Others are more complex and require various types of analysis to understand what is actually happening.

We are always happy to explain our approach to ethical intelligence gathering and analysis, but in most cases, we are bound by confidentiality agreements, and so are unable to offer details on individual projects. Instead we have prepared six case studies based on actual projects. Each highlights the client brief, how we gathered the information, the results and lessons learned.

The case studies include classical competitive intelligence research, due diligence research prior to a joint-venture, and a case showing the importance of analysis for assessing competitor intentions.

Case Study 1: Discovering the launch date for a new product.

Our client wished to establish the launch date for a competitor's new product. With this information our client was able to run their own major publicity campaign on the same day, thereby dampening the effect of the competitor's launch. More details

Case Study 2: Uncovering a person's biographical details.

Our client was attending a high profile meeting with an external organization who had recently recruited a new key manager who would be responsible for decisions involving our client. We were able to provide biographical details on the new appointee enabling our client to be understand this person's attitudes and anticipate what issues might be raised. More details

Case Study 3: Establishing a competitor's capabilities.

With customer demand rising, our client wanted to know how much business their competitor was able to handle. With our information our client was able to expand their business safely and profitably. More details

Case Study 4: Due Diligence -Finding a partner for a new product launch.

An overseas client sought a UK partner for a new business venture. We were able to evaluate the credibility, financial security and overall suitability of potential candidates. A suitable partner was found and our client successfully launched their product. More details

Case Study 5: Risk Analysis - anticipating competitor actions.

Our client wanted to know a competitors likely future intentions. We were able to predict the competitor actions allowing our client to respond in advance of the event. More details

Case Study 6: Finding the truth in a rumour

Our client had heard a rumour about an associate company dealing with a competitor thereby breaking their contract agreements. We were asked to investigate the rumour to find out whether it was true or false. More details

AWARE News

In March 2012, Arthur Weiss, AWARE's CEO, was elected to serve as Membership Development Director of the Association of Independent Information Professionals (AIIP). (Press Release). AIIP is the organisation for independent information specialists and has a global membership with expertise covering all aspects of the information profession. Visit the AIIP web-site to find out more and to join us. Arthur also led two pre-conference workshops at AIIP's May 2012 conference in Indianaposlis, USA.


Publications / Presentations

AWARE's CEO led a workshop on Online Competitive Intelligence at the Institute of Competitive Intelligence's conference in Bad Nauheim, Germany in March 2012 and gave a paper looking at how national cultures can influence primary research efficacy.

Other recent events included: training workshops held in Jakarta, Indonesia and Shanghai, China; conference papers / seminars at the Online Information 2011 Conference and at the WebSearch Academy, Internet Librarian International Conference.

See our presentation & papers pages for more information or to download these.


If you are interested in competitive intelligence training and workshops contact us, or visit our training pages. We offer custom training looking at all aspects of marketing & competitive intelligence including online research, marketing research, competitor analysis, scenario planning, war-gaming and much more.


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Books - Strategic and Competitive Analysis

Recommended Book

Strategic and Competitive Analysis
Strategic and Competitive Analysis: Methods and Techniques for Analyzing Business -
Craig S. Fleisher & Babette Bensoussan
Buy UK £ or US$

Read our review of this book

This book provides an excellent review of the most common techniques of competitive and strategic analysis - giving instructions on how to use each technique, when to use it, and each technique's pros and cons.

The book should be on every strategic planner and competitor analyst's "must have" list and is essential reading for business studies and MBA students. The book covers all the main analysis techniques:

  • the Boston Box
  • financial analysis,
  • Porter Analysis,
  • Value Chain Analysis,
  • Blindspot analysis,
  • SWOT analysis,
  • PEST analysis

and many more.

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For more recommendations visit our book selection.

 

Competitive Intelligence Training

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Finding Competitive Intelligence using Online Sources

AWARE consultants are experts at discovering competitor information online and have developed a market-leading course on Finding Competitive Intelligence using Online Sources. This course has been given as an in-house course to numerous companies across industries (IT, publishing, telecoms, chemicals....) and countries, as well as publicly at SCIP annual and European conferences, the London International Online Information Conferences and other similar events.

The workshop has received high praise for its unique approach to finding competitive intelligence on the Internet. The workshop - available as a half-day summary, full day or 2-day in-depth training course with extensive practical online sessions - teaches attendees how to find actionable competitive intelligence rather than just present a list of sources that quickly date. Like all AWARE's in-house training, the course can be customised to focus on industry or competitive area.

For more information on this workshop and how it can help you become a more effective Internet researcher check out our Competitive Intelligence Training and ask us about our courses on finding CI information.


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.

AWARE Phone numbers: 0845 430 9125 (International: +44 20 8954 9121). Fax: 0845 430 9126 (International: +44 20 8954 2102)

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Last page / site update: Sunday, February 19, 2012

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