Super Competition will intensify - How can companies respond?

This is a time of unprecedented, super competition, which will only intensify over the next 10-20 years. Top-tier market leaders are being displaced three times as fast as in the 1970s. What is driving this?

Deregulation and technology are breaking down market barriers. There is over supply of labour, production capacity and communications. Entrepreneurs are using the internet to unleash new and sometimes destructive business models. Buyers are finding lower prices and new suppliers online. Organic growth is slower, which will accelerate the struggle for market share.

Evaluate strategic opportunities faster

Management may be preoccupied by the economic downturn and financial crisis, but ignore the bigger picture at your peril. The issue is: how can a company respond strategically to super competition?
Companies have to become faster, more adaptable and create greater value. Every company has strategic opportunities - to re-engineer cost positions or supply chains, improve pricing, enter new segments or emerging markets, or launch innovative products. The challenge is to become quicker at evaluating additional strategic opportunities - and not just during the planning cycle. The role of a company's intelligence function is to provide the external research and analysis to take the risk out of these decisions.

Identify competitive threats earlier

In a period of super competition, there are more strategic threats and profits are likely to be volatile. Equity analysts hate erratic earnings per share. So it is essential to talk openly to your investors about a competitive threat before they read about it in the press. Intelligence functions should establish early warning systems to identify and assess the significance of new threats. This is a critical responsibility in a dynamic competitive environment.

Strengthen your Intelligence capabilities

The Intelligence function should support the whole organisation: Finance, Strategy, Sales, Marketing, Customer Service and Operations. Prioritising internal audiences and their requests is a widespread problem. Lean Intelligence units are often overwhelmed by demand for their services. Urgent tactical requests distract staff from strategic work and quality suffers. Many lack the 'bandwidth' to develop an early warning system and an Intelligence strategy, which is essential if units are to increase their efficiency and effectiveness.

Intelligentsia Increases Intelligence Productivity

At Intelligentsia, we support every business function that needs Market Intelligence or Competitive Intelligence in its struggle for margin or market share. We help companies establish well-organised intelligence capabilities. We aim to assist hard-pressed staff to produce not just more, but higher quality assessments of strategic opportunities and competitive threats.