Introduction to Online Competitive Intelligence Research gives you the tools you need to stay ahead of your competitor's moves. Numerous research problem scenarios and cases with suggested search strategies are included. Step-by-step methodology takes you through the CI research process, including planning and direction, data collection, analysis and dissemination. One section provides insight into how your firm might protect itself from the unwanted CI efforts of competitors. Like all the titles in the Business Research Series, this book contains a number of business research applications that can be used for both in-house research training and reference. Internet research can be quick, easy, and effective, but also challenging. The Business Research Solutions Series provides business and financial research reference guides and online training manuals to bridge a major gap in the field of online research methodology. These invaluable tools provide step-by-step advice on how to analyze, interpret, and collect data for informed decision-making.

Every business manager needs intelligence to find suppliers, mobilize capital, win customers and fend off rivals. Obtaining this is often an unplanned, instinctive process. The manager who has a conscious, systematic approach to acquiring intelligence will be better placed to recognize and seize opportunities whilst safeguarding the organization against the competitive risks that endanger its prosperity - and sometimes even its survival. Christopher Murphy's Competitive Intelligence explains: ¢ the theory of business competition ¢ how companies try to get ahead of their rivals ¢ methods of research and sources of information that generate the raw material for creating intelligence ¢ analytical techniques which transform the mass of facts and opinions thus retrieved into a platform of sound, useable knowledge to support informed business decision making. The text includes plenty of examples and experiences from the author's own consulting experience. He draws on a wide variety of disciplines, including literary criticism (or how to read between the lines of company reports, announcements and media stories) and anthropology (understanding corporate culture), as well as the more obvious ones such as financial analysis, management theory and business forecasting techniques. This fusion of insights from many fields of expertise provides a very readable, practical and imaginative framework for anyone seeking to gather and make effective use of market and company data. While focused on the British business environment, the lessons drawn are of universal application, and examples are taken from across the globe. In addition a chapter is devoted to researching industries and companies in other countries. Although primarily concerned with commercial enterprises, many of the principles and techniques will also be of considerable practical relevance to managers in the public sector or not-for-profit organizations. Competitive Intelligence also provides a legal

Essential to any student of the discipline, this textbook offers a comprehensive, applied approach to understanding and designing market research. Balancing the fundamental quantitative methodologies and theoretical structures with practical applications of qualitative techniques, this book is ideal for the novice researcher, and for those more familiar with the discipline. With an emphasis on both critical thinking and hands-on application, the textbook contains: several real life case studies; useful learning features such as key terms, definitions and discussion topics, and is supported by a companion website.

This new edition of Strauss's guide helps users to find current information for and about businesses of all kinds—both private and public, U.S.-based and international—related to finance, investment, industries, and entrepreneurship. Strauss's Handbook of Business Information is a resource for finding and understanding business information. It contains explanation and instruction on the key facets of business information and provides detailed descriptions of key resources within both broad and specific categories. It can be used as a guide to further understanding the what, how, and why of business information research. The changing arena of business information requires regular updating and awareness. This new edition has been thoroughly updated with three new chapters: Entrepreneurship, Competitive Intelligence, and Corporate Social Responsibility. Other additions of note include subsections on internet and mobile marketing and tax havens and related issues; coverage of new legislation (e.g., Dodd-Frank); and subsections on index funds, investment communities, regulatory bodies and laws, hedge funds, venture capital companies, assessing risks, robo-advisors, and more. The Handbook is for students, faculty, librarians, and information professionals looking to gain a broader and deeper understanding of business information. Anyone needing to gain quick exposure to business information needs and resources for solutions will benefit from the volume as well.

Responding to the needs of market researchers, business analysts, CI professionals, and other decision makers who understand online technology, Vibert provides a series of problem-driven, analytical frameworks to help them make better sense—and use—of the vast amounts of information now available and easily accessed on the Internet. Organizational decision makers, forced to understand complex competitive environments, have two important aids; analytical tools and information sources. To be truly effective, these tools must be used in concert. Vibert's book focuses on these tools and their usages. In doing so it provides ways for organizational decision makers to protect their own operations as they seek to gain better knowledge of their competitors. Analysts, market researchers, corporate trainers, CI professionals, and others in decision-making capacities, in industries enabled by the Internet, will see quickly how well the content of Vibert's book fits what they do day-to-day. Academics and other teachers will find that the book challenges the traditional case method style of teaching by showing how real-time analysis can be brought into the classroom, the corporate training suite, and other places where information and knowledge are transmitted. Vibert maintains that real-time teaching or training depends on the use of library resources—and the world's largest library is the Internet. Unfortunately, the net has grown so large so fast that stakeholders lack ways to organize the vast quantities of information available there. It is these ways, these tools and resources, that Vibert provides in his discussion of question-driven analytical frameworks, the core of his book.

Effective strategies for outsmarting the competition and driving better bottom-line results In this groundbreaking book, T.J. Waters has turned his experience collecting and analyzing competitive intelligence for the CIA into effective strategies for businesses wanting to stay on the leading edge of their industries. The book describes a practical process from planning (identifying competitive threats and determining the resources needed to counter them) through implementation (creating an organizational strategy) to execution (collecting key information and turning it into bottom-line results). The book is filled with illustrative examples of companies from start-ups to multi-nationals that have used similar strategies successfully. Offers a key resource for gaining competitive advantage in tough times Outlines a proven strategy for planning, implementing, and executing a strategic plan for bottom-line results Written by T.J. Waters who has combined his intelligence expertise with his years of business experience This book clearly shows that it's no longer a question of becoming the next Google, IBM, or Coca-Cola-it's all about knowing what your competitors are doing.

User experience (UX) strategy requires a careful blend of business strategy and UX design, but until now, there hasn’t been an easy-to-apply framework for executing it. This hands-on guide introduces lightweight strategy tools and techniques to help you and your team craft innovative multi-device products that people want to use. Whether you’re an entrepreneur, UX/UI designer, product manager, or part of an intrapreneurial team, this book teaches simple-to-advanced strategies that you can use in your work right away. Along with business cases, historical context, and real-world examples throughout, you’ll also gain different perspectives on the subject through interviews with top strategists. Define and validate your target users through provisional personas and customer discovery techniques Conduct competitive research and analysis to explore a crowded marketplace or an opportunity to create unique value Focus your team on the primary utility and business model of your product by running structured experiments using prototypes Devise UX funnels that increase customer engagement by mapping desired user actions to meaningful metrics

Business Research Handbook is the best strategic approach to research. It gives you ready-to-adapt strategies that streamline and focus your information search, complete with: Procedures that progressively sift and regroup your research decision points that allow you to evaluate which steps remain The most cost-effective ways to take advantage of today's electronic media resources Efficient ways to retrieve the information your search has located. Easy-to-adapt sample research strategies are found throughout the book to help you confidently and quickly conduct your research in unfamiliar areas. You will find that the Business Research Handbook is designed in a graphic, user-friendly format with easy-to-recognize icons as reference pointers, and extensive lists of sources and material to help you obtain the information you need to: Compile biographical information on key players or parties Investigate potential business partners or competitors Engage in marketing research Compile a company profile Locate expert witnesses and verify credentials And much more.

Now it's possible for small and medium sized businesses to make strategic decisions using the same resources that large corporations spend thousands of dollars for. Burwell includes over 1,000 online sources for competitive intelligence information.