As a market to sell in or as a destination to outsource to, businesses across the world have been fascinated by China. The Chinese economy has relied heavily on exports – mostly contract manufacturing. Contract manufacturing here is a loosely... Read More.
As a competitive intelligence professional in an emerging economy, documentation is my pet peeve. Business and economic growth in developing economies will be higher with greater transparency and information, all other things remaining unchanged. The argument is simple. Under-documentation is a... Read More.
The financial sector is actively wooing the SMEs in India. SMEs constitute the bottom of pyramid that is large, has a high potential, but has been neglected for a long time. According to the latest annual report of the Ministry of... Read More.
There is deep wisdom within our very flesh, if we can only come to our senses and feel it. ~Elizabeth A. Behnke No. I am not about to launch into a philosophical discussion. I am actually still on the topic of... Read More.
In the real world, it is impossible to have perfect information on the competitive environment, although that is what everyone would ideally like to have. In order to stay ahead of the game, senior managers are required to take fast decisions.... Read More.
Ask any one in a company whether they care about what is happening in their industry - I would bet that most of them will answer in the positive. Now if you ask them if keeping tabs on the business environment... Read More.
In recent weeks, we have been treated to a debate about how one defines an Indian company. The debate was sparked by a statement from the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), which said that ICICI Bank and HDFC... Read More.
Ever played “20 questions”?* You win if you ask smart (the right) questions. Successful CI is a little like playing 20 questions. ... Read More.
Picking out and piecing together relevant bits of information on the business environment from the noisy information overload around, is what CI practitioners must do. ... Read More.
Most organisations approach competitive intelligence in a fire-fighting mode. They watch their market share go down one quarter, and hope it just a one-off thing. After the trend persists in the second quarter, they start making noises internally and call... Read More.
