Competitive intelligence and knowledge management
First, what is a competitive intelligence
Although "Competitive Intelligence" has been well known for many information workers, there is basically no uniform understanding. Professor John E Prescott, University of Pittsburgh, Joseph M.Katz Business School, is a complete and clear summary of competitive intelligence concepts. He believes that "competitive intelligence" is not only a process, and it means a product. Competitive intelligence system is a company management subsystem combined with the formal and informal operational process in continuous evolution. Its main function is to assess key development trends for members of the enterprise. And analyze the capacity and trend of existing and potential competitors, thereby assisting companies maintain and develop competitive advantages. Competitive intelligence helps to develop the core competence of enterprises, is an important basis for strengthening and changing the development strategy of enterprises.
Second, the relationship between competitive intelligence and knowledge management
Knowledge Management and Competitive Intelligence Contact
The same is the same, it is for improving the competitiveness of the subject.
Both related to information, knowledge
Both will focus on the activities in the enterprise.
Both attach great importance to people's role
Difference of knowledge management and competitive intelligence
Guy D. Kolb pointed out that some people believe that knowledge management is inherent, and competitive intelligence is external, it is not. The difference between the two can be understood from the following four aspects.
1. The background of the era produced is different
Competitive intelligence work is mainly due to material economic period (of course, now in the future, it is urgent), and knowledge management is mainly the product of the Knowledge Economic Age.
2. Different from the side of information and knowledge
The process of competitive intelligence is essentially a transformation process of information. Information is both the raw materials of this activity, and the final product, information is the soul and essence of competitive intelligence. The object of knowledge management is knowledge. Its activity is a tool and raw material for knowledge innovation, and the core is still knowledgeable, information and information technology is only knowledge innovation tools and raw materials.
3. There is a big difference in the epitaxial extension of the two
Knowledge Management includes the establishment of knowledge innovation system, the construction of knowledge infrastructure, the intention of knowledge innovation and the excitation mechanism and the establishment of protection system. Competitive intelligence work is only one aspect of information, its goals, tasks and opponents are more clear, mainly to provide research, production and decision makers provide their own support information and countermeasures.
4. Different of the implementors and implementation methods of the two
Competitive intelligence work is the information processing process, which can only be borne by intelligence workers; and knowledge management is a comprehensive management work, which is generally carried out by CEO (CIO), and even specializes of chief knowledge supervisor (CKO). Essential decision rights to the organization structure, operational way of operation. The methods applied by competitive intelligence work are mainly methods and techniques used by information acquisition and intelligence analysis; and knowledge management is mainly ideological and methods in management, laws, economics.
Third, with competitive intelligence as a breakthrough in knowledge management
Knowledge Management As an emerging management concept, more and more emphasis. Knowledge management is also part of the basic management of enterprises and has always existed in the basic management activities of the enterprise. Therefore, knowledge management is difficult to improve the company's comprehensive competitiveness and make money for enterprises. This may be the biggest obstacle to knowledge management in the promotion process.
Although the knowledge management is more and more attention, how to do, how to effectively reflect value, in domestic enterprises, it seems that there is not much successful case.
In fact, knowledge management is an excellent opportunity for competitive intelligence. Competitive intelligence is the production and value of knowledge products. Knowledge Management Increased Increased Enterprise Competitiveness is definitely more than just competitive intelligence, but the value of competitive intelligence brings to the company is obvious. This is enough to make companies have sufficient motivation to invest in funds, invested in time, and investigators to do knowledge management.
Second, the relationship between knowledge management and competitive intelligence itself is closely related. The activity topics of both are knowledge and information. Knowledge management activities include information acquisition, processing, knowledge of excavation, recombination, innovation, communication, and dominant. Competitive intelligence activities mainly include information collection, information content restructuring, information depth processing, and prediction and analysis of development trends. The research content and scope of knowledge management and competitive intelligence intersects, integrated together. Knowledge Management mainly studies the knowledge of the environment, the knowledge of competitors, the knowledge of the company's products, and the knowledge of users. Like the competitive intelligence, study the intelligence of macroeconomic dynamics, industry trends, consumption trends, market dynamics, technology research and development, competitors, international trade, etc. Knowledge management and competitive intelligence are managed by artificial centers. People are the carrier and source of knowledge. Knowledge management considers how to translate people's concepts make it willing to provide knowledge and sharing knowledge and how to make people exchange, learn knowledge and eventually produce new knowledge. Doing a good job in enterprise competition intelligence to start all people in the company to do "情报", encourage everyone to collect intelligence for companies, and use intelligence. For example, every person of Motorola, no matter what his position is, it is encouraged to provide information to the company.
The knowledge management and competitive intelligence is beneficial to information technology, and information technology has a large extent of communication, communication, sharing, and innovative environment for knowledge and intelligence, providing extremely acquisition, analysis, and decision-making for the timely acquisition and decision of competitive intelligence. Big convenient. In the process of implementing information management, companies can completely integrate knowledge management and competitive intelligence on one information platform.
Again, competitive intelligence is an effective combination of information management and knowledge management, and the goal is to improve the core competitiveness of the enterprise. Then do not prevent the effective collection and utilization of competitive intelligence as a prominent effect of knowledge management, competitive information can give the company's interest value is obvious, free.
Therefore, the competitive intelligence is to manage knowledge management in improving the competitiveness of enterprises.
Fourth, how to use knowledge management in competitive intelligence work
Knowledge Management has an important inspiration role in the process of building its own competitive intelligence system. From the three major aspects of the "Organization", "Information", "People" of the Enterprise Competitive Intelligence System, we can understand the effective use of knowledge management ideas.
1, organizational structure adjustment
The CKO is similar to the need for knowledge management. In the enterprise competitive intelligence system, the CIO (Chief Information Officer, Information Director) is also set, which is responsible for the leadership of competitive intelligence work across the enterprise. As the core of enterprise management decisions, CIO is a strategic plan to help the highest decision makers to develop corporate development with its own information resource weapons, and to develop information resources and utilization of internal and external information resources, or strengthen enterprises. Competitive strength. He is not just responsible for decision-making activities within the management of information resources, and must participate in the global issue of discussing enterprise development. Therefore, CIO must have a considerable comprehensive and clear understanding of all aspects of the survival and development of the entire enterprise. This is the same as CKOs must understand the understanding of the internal and external environment.
As long as it is a conditional company, it should be established by the CIO-leading business competition intelligence center. As an integral part of the corporate organization, the setting of the Competitive Intelligence Center needs to be combined with the specific actual practicalness of the company. It can consider setting up a competitive intelligence group in the traditional department, and can also be used as an independent core. The department is responsible for communicating with other departments of enterprises, conducting a coordinated and unity of competitive intelligence work across the enterprise.
In summary, this adjustment of this organizational structure is to provide a large-scale quality assurance providing corporate competitive intelligence, improving corporate strategic decision-making capacity, is a majority of "structure to follow the strategy".
2. Information flow of the Competitive Intelligence Center
The operation of the Enterprise Competitive Intelligence Center tightly deducts the collection, analysis, and serving several key processes of intelligence, and has established a competitive intelligence collection, analysis, and serving three subsystems. This truth and knowledge management are related to information management ideas.
In the process of knowledge management, "Identification of Enterprise Have and Needs", "Audit Knowledge", "Organization and Storage Knowledge", "Promotion and Communication Knowledge", "The Application and Innovation of Knowledge", the same competition Intelligence projects have similar situations. In the process of working in the work of the enterprise competitive intelligence project, the first is the intelligence needs of competitive intelligence users, and then collect, review, organize, store, processing, and generate competitive intelligence products that ultimately meet the requirements, and then pass to intelligence users. Perform practical applications. Knowledge Management emphasizes knowledge innovation, and the most valuable ultimate competitive intelligence products are also capable of integrated and summarizing them through capacity, experienced senior intelligence staff. In a sense, this final labor results are also created through their brains. "Enterprise Knowledge Base" established in Knowledge Management is similar to the "Competitive Intelligence Data Warehouse" in the competitive intelligence system. In order to facilitate competitive intelligence "Collection, Analysis, Serving" three subsystems of intelligence personnel, it is specifically set up a database, which can be clear and convenient work.
3. Create a corporate culture that emphasizes the competitive intelligence of "people-oriented"
As mentioned earlier, the most important factor in knowledge management is "people". This is equally important for business competitive intelligence systems. Outstanding human resources management is not only important value for the establishment of a corporate competitive advantage, but also is important for maintaining the competitive advantage.
In order to improve the work efficiency of all aspects of intelligence production, the first consideration is the training of participants. Only by mastering the scientific method can fundamentally guarantee the efficiency and quality of the competitive intelligence; secondly, "people" can be effectively collected by the "interpersonal network". In addition, it involves corporate confidential intelligence protection work, " The quality of people is undoubtedly decisive; in addition, the incentives for people's institutional constraints and good performance are also an important part of the management of competitive intelligence staff.
The above is undoubtedly an important aspect of the competitive intelligence system with the role of "people" involved in knowledge management, but the light is incomplete. "People" is the most important role in competitive intelligence systems, in fact, through "people-oriented", fully mobilize and play all employees to pay attention to the enthusiasm of enterprises, and should also create a "all kinds of competitive intelligence" on this basis. Corporate culture.
