what is competitive Intelligence?

Competitive intelligence is the process of legally and ethically gathering, analyzing, and acting on information about an organization’s market environment, competition, and other forces that may impact its future success.  (Source: Competitive Intelligence for Dummies by Jim Underwood, Chapter 2)

To learn more about what competitive intelligence is and how to do it, check out this list of ebooks.

industry/Market Research Reports

Industry reports provide orientation to the political, economic, social, technological, environmental and legal (PESTLE) conditions and trends.  Use what you learn from them to search and browse trade journals and association web sites.

 

  NetAdvantage (Standard & Poor's Capital IQ)
Offers market information, company quotes, equity index information, industry information (including the S&P Industry Surveys), and economic data.

  IBISWorld
Provides access to U.S. and global industry market research reports.

  First Research Industry Profiles (ABI/INFORM Collection - ProQuest)
Provides industry profiles with critical analysis, statistics, and forecasts. Coverage extends back to 2009.

  D&B Hoovers
Offers public and private company and industry information including company profiles, market research reports from Marketline, Freedonia, Euromonitor, and RMA updated with recent news, executive profiles, and analyst reports.

  EMIS Intelligence (Emerging Markets Information Service)
Delivers company and industry information together with relevant news, research, and analytics for developing markets.

  Mintel Insights & Analytics  Limitations on Use
Offers product and industry market research reports covering U.S. and international marketplaces. Each report combines data and analysis of the competitive landscape, supply chain, market-share size and trends, and consumer profiles. Analytics advance search monitors new product activity in consumer packaged goods markets worldwide.

  eMarketer
Offers data and reports related to digital marketing. Topics include advertising spending, digital marketing, social media, media usage, e-commerce, email marketing, and device usage. Coverage is global.

  Statista
Provides a portal to statistics and studies gathered by market researchers, trade organizations, scientific publications, and government sources. Topics covered include industries, media, companies, product categories, and countries.

  Passport (Euromonitor International)  Limitations on Use
Provides lifestyle statistics and reports, market data and analysis, and market forecasts for selected countries. Includes 6-year historic market size data for selected consumer products plus 5-year forecasts.

company profiles

For large public competitors there are syndicated company profiles and public information can be abundant.  Information about start ups or private firms may be sparse.  

  NetAdvantage (Standard & Poor's Capital IQ)
Offers market information, company quotes, equity index information, industry information (including the S&P Industry Surveys), and economic data.

  MarketLine Company Profiles (EBSCO)
Offers detailed reports on U.S. and foreign companies in a wide range of industries. These reports provide a description of the business, company history, key personnel, products, services, and competitors. MarketLine Industry Reports are available from the D&B Global Business Browser database.

  D&B Hoovers
Offers public and private company and industry information including company profiles, market research reports from Marketline, Freedonia, Euromonitor, and RMA updated with recent news, executive profiles, and analyst reports.

  Mergent Online  Limitations on Use
Provides detailed financial statements for U.S. and international public and private companies, including SEC filings and current and historical annual reports for U.S. and international public companies. Data can be downloaded in a variety of formats. Also includes country profiles.

  Morningstar Investing Center
Contains information on more than 30,000 stocks, mutual funds, and exchange-traded funds. Provides independent analysis, industry information, stock charts, portfolio building tools, and web-based educational tutorials.

  Nexis Uni  Limitations on Use
Formerly known as LexisNexis Academic. Provides full text access to national and international newspaper and magazine articles and news transcripts, business, company, and industry information in the U.S. and abroad, and legal documents, including U.S. Federal and State court cases, and law reviews. Coverage varies.

  MarketLine Company Profiles (EBSCO)
Offers detailed reports on U.S. and foreign companies in a wide range of industries. These reports provide a description of the business, company history, key personnel, products, services, and competitors. MarketLine Industry Reports are available from the D&B Global Business Browser database.

  Factiva (Dow Jones)
Provides access to international, national and local news sources. Many different news media such as newspapers, magazines, wires, blogs and transcripts are aggregated in English and foreign languages. The content is current and archival. Industry, company and market profiles are also provided.

  CrunchBase
Great source of information on start-ups, including founders, products, competitors and funding.

  A to Z Databases

news

Search the news to find out what competitors, regulators, suppliers, market trends are up to.

  Access World News (NewsBank)  Tutorial
Provides full text access to national and international newspaper articles and radio and television news transcripts. Many newspapers, including the Philadelphia Inquirer, offer full-image “page view” format. Includes user-friendly subject browse feature, as well as full text searchability. Coverage varies.

  Factiva (Dow Jones)
Provides access to international, national and local news sources. Many different news media such as newspapers, magazines, wires, blogs and transcripts are aggregated in English and foreign languages. The content is current and archival. Industry, company and market profiles are also provided.

  ABI/INFORM Collection (ProQuest)
Provides access to scholarly journals, dissertations, working papers, key business and economics periodicals, and country- and industry-focused reports.

  Business Source Premier (EBSCO)
Provides access to a wide range of academic business journals and trade magazines. Topics include management, marketing, finance, economics, and management information systems. Full text access may be embargoed for up to three years. Coverage goes back to 1965.

  Nexis Uni  Limitations on Use
Formerly known as LexisNexis Academic. Provides full text access to national and international newspaper and magazine articles and news transcripts, business, company, and industry information in the U.S. and abroad, and legal documents, including U.S. Federal and State court cases, and law reviews. Coverage varies.

  Wall Street Journal  Limitations on Use  Access Instructions
Offers full access to all sections of the newspaper and WSJ.com website.
Access courtesy of the Villanova School of Business.

  New York Times (NYTimes.com)  Access Instructions
Offers access to all sections of the NYTimes.com website without monthly limits. Coverage from 1851 to present, with limited availability of articles from 1923-1980. For full text access to all NYT content except the most recent five years, use ProQuest Historical Newspapers.
Subscription courtesy of the Provost's Office and Falvey Library.

  Philadelphia Business Journal (American City Business Journals)  Limitations on Use  Access Instructions

  Financial Times  Limitations on Use  Access Instructions
Provides full access to the web edition which features the same content found in the print edition plus additional multimedia features, company tear sheets, interactive charting, a dictionary of financial terms, and recruitment tools. Digital access to the print edition is available via ABI/Inform and Nexis Uni.
Subscription courtesy of Villanova School of Business.

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