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AWARE Competitive Intelligence Strategy, Training, Research Services for Competitive & Marketing Intelligence

AWARE: UK competitive intelligence consultants offering competitor analysis and research services, competitive intelligence training & workshops and CI and marketing strategy consultancy.
 
 
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AWARE Help & Support
Competitive & Marketing Intelligence Help

Although books and the web are useful for finding information, occasionally it can be difficult to find the answer - especially when the question is specific to a particular CI issue - perhaps applying something described theoretically to a real situation.

Our CI & Marketing Help service - where you can ask a question and get answered by a marketing & competitive intelligence expert - is provided for just these circumstances. We will answer your question for free if it intrigues us or does not require extensive research time or effort. (Note: Terms and Conditions apply - we may refuse to answer questions that we believe could involve illegal or unethical practices. We also will not spend time researching complex questions in the free service - although we will generally try and give pointers to how to do the research. Also, whereas we will guarantee confidentiality for our paid services, we reserve the right to include our answers to free questions as part of our FAQs or in articles we may write).

Over the years, we have been asked for help on a variety of CI related issues. Often we get asked the same question again and again - in different guises. Questions range from topics such as how to find pricing information and what is SWOT, PEST and Value Chain Analysis to queries on what is the difference between knowledge management, competitor intelligence and competitive intelligence and detailed requests for help with competitor strategy. We've collected some of these questions and included our response and you may find the solution on our Frequently Asked Questions pages.

Finally, we include a series of articles, tips and ideas on better practice. These have been published on our pages as a Quick Tip from the right column on many of our site pages, or are selected from our marketing tips newsletter and blog, and cover CI, marketing and general business management issues.

Our Help & Support pages are aimed at supplementing our CI Resources pages, which include a list of recommended web-sites for finding CI, and suggested books on CI and marketing for learning more.

Use our pages to help your competitive intelligence effort, and feel free to use the ideas you find here. Just do us the favour of saying where you found them or linking to us from your own web-site.
Quick Tip: Deadly Sins

The Seven Deadly Business Sins

1) Greed - Are you satisfied with what you've achieved or are you always seeking more, and never consolidating and strengthening what you currently have?
2) Opinion - Do you ever dismiss ideas without analysis? There have been many opportunities that were missed because opinionated management failed to see the wider picture.
3) Routine - Just because something worked in the past does not mean that it will continue to work in the future.
4) Emotion - Is the reason for your decision based on analysis, or emotion? Many managers are driven by their fears and desires without ever stopping to justify the reason for their fear or hatred or love. Often these prove to be unjustified and unjustifiable.
5) Ego - Do you make decisions because you are the cleverest, the biggest, the market leader? Are you obsessed with your own image and abilities? Many leaders in the past also thought that they were invincible. A quick look at history shows that they were not!
6) Success - Over-confidence is dangerous and can blind you to competitors seeking to emulate your success.
7) Hope - Can you justify your reasons why things will improve, or are you just burying your head in the sand, and refusing to see reality?

These seven deadly business sins are based on some work by Ben Gilad, one of the foremost Competitive Intelligence experts. Businesses need to understand their blindspots - what they would rather not see, and work to remove them. Each of these seven sins is a type of blindspot if it dominates the thinking within the company. It's OK to have each to a certain degree, balanced by the others. (All businesses need to believe in themselves, have hope, aim to make money....). The problem is when one aspect starts to govern the way things are done in the company, preventing rational and logical thought.

 

Books - Art of the Long View

Recommended Book

Art of the Long View
The Art of the Long View
Peter Schwartz
Buy UK £ or US$
This is an excellent introduction and guide to scenario planning.

Read our review of this book

If there is one book that is head and shoulders above all the other on the subject of scenario planning, this is it. Schwartz's book is a joy to read and gives a tremendous introduction to the subject, leaving the reader with a firm grounding and understanding in the way that scenario planning has helped many companies gain competitive advantage in their industries. The text includes many case studies and anecdotes making it a must-read book. Peter Schwartz is not only one of the world's leading scenario planners - but an excellent writer also.

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For more recommendations visit our book selection.

 

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.

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: Tuesday, November 3, 2009

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