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The book, Proven Strategies in Competitive Intelligence, by Prescott and Miller is lead off with a section committed to case studies. Each new chapter is devoted to a specific company or organization’s personal story about competitive intelligence (CI). The chapters are in depth and special because they are told through a leader of that organization through past speeches. For example, the first chapter is John Pepper, chairman of Procter & Gamble, giving a keynote to the CEO Roundtable of Procter & Gamble in 1999.

During his speech to the roundtable Pepper stated that now is the time to be talking to be talking about competitive intelligence because a business needs it to have a successful strategy. Pepper goes on to talk about how the company has adapted and changed over time but still held on to the values that were born with the company. With that positive note Pepper moved toward the future saying that changes need to be made because Procter and Gamble is not changing fast enough. (Pepper pg. 24, 2001)

Pepper goes on about change and moving the company in a move productive direction when he brings up something a London P & G employee once said to him, “It won’t be the big that eats the small; it will be the fast that eat the slow” (Pepper pg. 25, 2001). This statement can find relevance on many levels, not only CI but also any information industry could benefit with an understanding of that sentence.
I believe that everyone can benefit from the statement made by Michael Allen the P & G employee from London. Now more than every with the information age booming all around us can we especially (professionals or soon-to-be professionals) take light from this statement and apply it to your lives.
The statement is so profound; it has foresight into the future. Pepper also believed this because to roughly based new ideas for P & G around it. Pepper wanted speed to be an attribute of his company. Quickness would separate them from the rest. But, why would a company need to be fast? The company itself does not need to be fast but it needs to operate on a global scale quickly. Everything from product manufacturing, product updating, shipping, billing, every aspect of the business needs to happen faster to stay ahead of the competition. How does the company know where the competition lies? Competitive Intelligence.

The second section of Proven Strategies in Competitive Intelligence that I examined was the chapter on Competitive Intelligence at Lexis-Nexis. This chapter is a keynote speech by the company’s president and CEO Han Gieskes. In his speech Gieskes talks about how important CI is and how it has affected the company. This chapter gives an interesting look at CI and how it can take place. Lexis-Nexis is an information provider. They supply users with legal and business news and documents. The interesting part about Lexis-Nexis is that their competitors can use their services to do CI research for themselves.
At Lexis-Nexis CI is used for strategic planning and development. Some of the benefits that CI gives the company include: alerts the business to competitive plays, explores growth and market opportunities, underscores product/market strengths, identifies product development ideas, provides support for alliances and acquisitions, reduces financial risks, and keeps employees smart. (Gieskes pg. 71, 2001).

Gieskes states, “If CI isn’t part of a corporation’s strategy, then it’s just an interesting exercise. In my organization, nobody has time just for interesting exercises” (Gieskes pg. 69, 2001). This comment only proves to the listeners of Gieskes speech how serious he takes CI. The list above goes to show that at Lexis-Nexis CI plays are large role in other branches of the company.

From what I have gathered from the few sections of Proven Strategies in Competitive Intelligence I have read is that CI is largely about keeping a lookout for your company by looking out for other companies. This doesn’t mean your direct competitor, but the unconventional IT companies that could be developing a technology that could greatly advance your company. I believe CI is a must have for any organization that wants to move forward and be know for their success.
KITs and Their Purpose

KITs, no not the black car with the red light from Knight Rider, Key Intelligence Topics are a fairly new organizational strategy. In the book, Competitive Intelligence and Global Business, the article author Meera Mody explains the purpose and reasoning behind the new term.

Mody explains that CI is an ever-changing process with many different areas that need to researched and studied (Mody pg. 18, 2005). With many of the world’s companies finding it easier to go global they is no shock that competition is a growing business factor. With globalization a fairly easy task, CI is a must have for companies (the above section explains why is to be true). However, like I stated earlier, going global is not a high hurdle for many companies creating a very large number of fish in a sea that does not grow. The number of companies and new technologies that need to be researched are overwhelming CI professionals. This is where KITs come into the plan.

According to Mody a senior manager is responsible to identify and communicate to the CI processionals on which key areas to focus their research on. This way the CI is not wasting valuable time researching lost causes or dead ends. The upper management can point the company in a direction. Then the senior managers can relate that information to the CI team so they can directly assist in the change. (Mody pg. 18, 2005)

In my opinion KITs have most likely existed ever since the first CI professional, they probably just didn’t call them that. A CI professional will not waste the company’s time and money researching useless information. The key to a CI professional is the word professional. I am positive that if a CI professional does his or her job then they are fully aware of which way the company is headed and is focused on that particular area of business. I do however like the fact that someone has given this narrowing of topics a name. Now other companies can benefit and start using KITs and make sure that their CI professional’s time is being best used for the company.