Competitive Intelligence in India

Companies in India monitors competition usingThere are Business Intelligence companies in India
either Passive Intelligence and Semi Activewho sell software to Indian corporates to monitor
intelligence and Human Intelligence. Organizations inopen source emissions. There are database
India are discreet about competitive intelligence.providers in India, who sell databases and industry
They do not call it competitive intelligence. Leadingreports and credit reports. Even global companies
companies in India monitor the environmentare discreet about competitive intelligence in India.
through open source emissions such as FinancialInformation Warfare is on the rise.
Times, Economic Times and other newspapers.Existence of Information Warfare - Class 2
Business houses in India also watch business newsTo make sure that the competitor will not be the
channels. Scanning of the environment is donefirst in the market with a new product, corporate
using external auditors, internal auditors and legalespionage is on the rise and the need of the hour
experts. Organizations use analysis tools such asis to have effective Competitive Intelligence
Five Force Analysis, Strength, Weakness,structure in place..
Opportunity and Threat Analysis, Value ChainMost companies understand the need of
Analysis, Political, Economic, Social and TechnologyCorporate Social Responsibility, further counterfeit
Analysis are used by employees in thebrands exist in the market, the Indian
organizations. Indian businesses derive low costgovernment needs to take more stringent
advantage as white collar workers come at loweractions.
salaries.Existence of Information Warfare - Class 3
Industry reports are available through FederationIt is common to see Class 3 Information Warfare
of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industrytaking place, where competitors or vested
and Confederation of Indian Industry.interests may spread information real or fictitious
Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce andto De-Position a competitor and Re-Position their
Industry membership has over 1500 corporatesown brand.
and over 500 chambers of commerce andEvery organization in India has the eye on the ball.
business associations, Federation of IndianEverybody monitors competitors and undertakes
Chambers of Commerce and Industry espousesconsumer research either in house or it is
the shared vision of Indian businesses and speaksoutsourced.
directly and indirectly for over 2,50,000 businessIn the last 5 years, MBA Competitive Intelligence
units. They monitor the environment and help& Corporate Warfare by Amity Institute of
Indian businesses become competitive.Competitive Intelligence, Amity University, India,
The Confederation of Indian Industry works tohas mushroomed to teach competitive intelligence.
create and sustain an environment conducive toEverybody in India practices competitive
the growth of industry in India, partnering industryintelligence in some form or the other but they do
and government alike through advisory andnot have a structured department called
consultative processes. Confederation of Indiancompetitive intelligence.
Industry is a not-for-profit, industry led andWhat India really lacks is not Hindsight Analysis but
industry managed organization, playing a proactivelacks Insight and the ability to Foresee.
role in Indian business development process.Insight is the weakness which Indian companies
Founded over 114 years ago, it is a premiersuffer with. Insight cannot be replaced by business
business association, with a direct membership ofintelligence software or artificial intelligence or
over 7800 organizations from the private as wellindustry experts or management consultants.
as public sectors, including Small and MediumShortfall is of people who can sift through Micro
Enterprise and Multinational Companies, and anand the Macro picture and become true
indirect membership of over 90,000 companiescompetitive intelligence experts.
from around 385 national and regional sectoralAgain the age old question of whether mind set is
associations.important or skill set is important.