The relationship between market research and competitive intelligence

Ruth Stanat

The paper describes the relationship between market research and competitive intelligence and discusses the evolution of competitive intelligence: the definition, the need it fulfills, where it evolved and the penetration of the discipline by industry and geographical region.

The Relationship Between Market Research and Competitive Intelligence

Ruth Stanat SIS International Research, United States.

THE EVOLUTION OF COMPETITIVE INTELLIGENCE

What is Competitive Intelligence?

Competitive intelligence (or CI) is the process of researching a competitor’s organization, products, prices, financial performance, technology and strategy. While the field has evolved in the past decade, there has been much confusion over what competitive intelligence is and what it is not. Competitive intelligence is not corporate espionage, stealing competitive documents or accessing competitor’s computer files. Rather the discipline is a structured approach to a different type of research which has evolved as an...

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