There is need for an entrepreneur to do enough research and get informed about the competitors around. This can be done individual or seek the help of well-established organization that can give you all required information.

Competitive intelligence essentially means understanding and learning what’s happening in the world outside your business so you can be as competitive as possible. It means learning as much as possible–as soon as possible–about your industry in general, your competitors, or even your county’s particular zoning rules. In short, it empowers you to anticipate and face challenges head on.

One of best websites for gathering competitive intelligence is Hoover’s Online, which, for a fee, provides in-depth profiles of more than 18,000 public and private companies. However, there is also free content available. You can research competitors, track stock market performance, and keep tabs on IPOs.

Other good sites include:

Dun & Bradstreet, which provides information on companies relevant to your business through a searchable database of companies in the United States and around the world for a fee.

Dialog, which has a pay-as-you-go option, called Dialog Select that allows you to search through 50,000 objective and respected publications and documents online and pay for each article or report on a case-by-case basis.

Sourced from: https://www.entrepreneur.com/encyclopedia/competitive-intelligence

Competitive intelligence doesn’thave to be all about finding information about your competitors. It can mean finding ways to gain new business grounds this can be achieved through games that provide tangible results if the action is implemented.

In April 2010, Mars, one of the world’s largest privately owned businesses, embarked on a breakthrough initiative. For the next year, Jessica Eliasi, then the director of Competitive Intelligence at Mars Chocolate, travelled the world running “competitive simulation” games with local market teams from Russia to Mexico to Turkey to England.

These simulations were not some computer-based hypothetical games. They were intense, intelligence-based, role-playing immersion workshops that got leaders to see the market from a different and unfamiliar perspectives.

Such games have become more popular among leading edge corporations. But Jessica’s approach was still unique. While large consulting firms push expensive “war games” at the leadership level, Jessica ran cheap and quick local games based on local market dynamics. She then fed the results as market intelligence input into a senior leadership competitive game. The workshops brought the “voice of the markets” to Mars’ leadership’s doorstep.

By connecting the dots across a series of markets, brands and competitors, Jessica identified the key global insights that provided both risks and opportunities for the global firm.  She brought her on-the-ground experiences to life through a “game” that was played with the business unit’s top management team, pressure-testing some closely held beliefs.  The insights and the workshops have since influenced how Mars assesses risks and opportunities and develops strategy.

This is just one example of how Mars is trying to create and sustaining agility through competitive intelligence (CI).

Simply and clearly put, CI is a perspective on changing market conditions. This means identifying risks and opportunities early enough to allow the company to adapt its strategy or in extreme cases, change it. That simple definition forcefully delineates it from all other information, data, and research services. Information alone is not a perspective on change — information does not automatically lead to insight. Yet the vast majority of companies and executives confuse these two to the detriment of their performance.

The popular literature is filled with definitions and images of competitive intelligence taken from the realm of the government and the military. These cause more damage to the discipline than if management was simply ignorant. They focus the discipline on competitors (“the enemy” in military parlance) instead of the market as a whole — the entire competitive arena. They talk about intelligence “collection,” as if more searches are the essence of perspective. In recent years with the big data craze, collecting digital data has replaced strategic intelligence. Many companies either waste millions on massive databases or research projects that don’t yield useful insight, or throw the first available junior marketing or information specialist at the job and push it down to tactical product level, missing out on the true value of competitive intelligence as a purveyor of strategic change.

Used properly, CI leads to greater strategic agility — the ability to adapt to changing market circumstances. To become more agile, start by rethinking your competitive intelligence process. That means having a clear definition of scope and role, as well as following a few simple steps — such as mandating intelligence reviews at critical decision stages, ensuring the CI analyst has direct access to and input into strategic meetings and reviews, and smartly tapping an informal internal community of practice.

The essence of the competitive intelligence perspective is the view of the competitive set as a whole. Consider the example of Pratt and Whitney, a United Technology company. The commercial engine division, under the leadership of Stephen Heath (since retired) and Todd Kallman spent two intensive days in 2006 “war gaming” P&W’s strategy as its two bigger rivals, GE and Rolls Royce, divided the market between them. Looking at the market dynamic between Airbus, Boeing, GE, and Rolls Royce led to P&W deploying a breakthrough strategy for their new Geared Turbofan (GTF) engine. Looking at each competitor separately would have made this insight so much harder to see.

If you want your company to become more agile, start by rethinking the design of your intelligence process. Focus on building a strategic early warning capability so you don’t miss the big picture.

Sourced from: https://hbr.org/2015/05/competitive-intelligence-shouldnt-just-be-about-your-competitors

Investing in the right business means high and consistent returns.In a good business returns are higher than investing in real estate and socks at times.Buying a business that is already operational saves you time.

Advantages and disadvantages of buying a business

Buying an established business rather than setting up a new business has many advantages but is not without risk. You will need to know the advantages and disadvantages of buying an existing business and be clear about your ability to run a business.

Advantages of buying a business

Buying a business is generally considered less risky than starting your own business, especially if you can buy a well-managed, profitable business for the right price. Consider these advantages:

• The difficult start-up work has already been done. The business should have plans and procedures in place.
• Buying an established business means immediate cash flow.
• The business will have a financial history, which gives you an idea of what to expect and can make it easier to secure loans and attract investors.
• You will acquire existing customers, contacts, goodwill, suppliers, staff, plant, equipment and stock.
• A market for your product or service is already established.
• Existing employees and managers will have experience they can share.

Sourced from: https://www.business.qld.gov.au/starting-business/buying-business/buying-business-guide/deciding-buy-business

Investing in aggressive companies is better because,this companies diversify their products,thus spreading risk,to survive during hard times or when one product fails.

The Advantages Of Investing In Aggressive Companies

We often hear about the importance of picking a company by means of quantitative analysis, which attempts to value companies mathematically by examining their balance sheets and financial ratios. However, qualitative analysis, which involves looking at intangible elements of companies or their personalities, is also a good way to evaluate the superiority of an investment. Surprisingly, some of the traits of companies with an edge on survival mirror the dispositions of nature’s deadliest predators: the shark and the bear.

Trait One – Consume to Live, Live to Consume
Sharks have a tendency to go for the kill at every opportunity, which is advantageous to them over the long run. You want to find a company that has the same eternal willingness to hunt for sustenance – more specifically, revenues and profits. Whether attacking other companies’ profits with mergers and acquisitions or chewing out chunks of other markets to expand and grow, a company is attractive if it is tracking in on fresh areas of profit, just like Jaws hones in on unsuspecting teenagers.

Be cautious, however, of fake sharks or companies that exhibit false aggression and hunger. These companies were most prevalent during the 70s and 80s, when takeovers and mergers reigned supreme. When faced with floundering fortunes, the fake shark would collect zombies (insolvent companies) or firms that offered no competitive advantage. Therefore, even though these acquiring companies appeared to be growing, they were actually clinging onto the edges of an early grave.

Remember, real sharks follow the scent of fresh blood; they never scavenge for rotten meat. Thus, you should be looking at companies whose takeovers and mergers are strategic improvements.

Trait Two – Fierce Competition Among the Offspring
Some types of sharks have been known to reproduce by means of ‘uterine cannibalism.’ What happens is that when these female sharks give birth, their offspring must, before leaving the womb, fight and kill its unborn siblings. As a result, the emerging newborn sharks are undoubtedly tough and no longer need anything from their mothers.

When looking for investments, you may want to consider companies that procreate like these sharks. When deciding to go ahead on the creation of subsidiaries or capital projects, you want your company to foster projects that, like the cannibalistic newborn sharks, have passed stringent internal tests, proving the ability to thrive better in the short and long term.

Many companies test the viability of a project by means of the net present value (NPV) method, which looks at a project’s future cash flows and subtracts its costs. Although projects that have a positive NPV suggest profitability, you want to pick companies that look beyond a positive number by setting a target profitability. A company that tackles multiple “revolutionary” projects at once may look flashy and innovative, but it may not have the resources to devote enough commitment to any one project. The lack of new projects may be seen as stagnation, but a slower creative process can also mean that the company is extremely thorough when filtering ideas.

Trait Three – Eat Everything
A company that depends heavily on one product, is opening itself up for eventual starvation should the demand for the product drop or a famine strike the supply. It’s better for a company to be like a bear, which can eat and digest almost anything and diversify its diet to help lessen the impact of any one unforeseen disaster. This is also why the individual investor should diversify and rebalance his or her portfolio. A company that spreads its interests into different areas assures itself and its shareholders a fighting chance at surviving the hard times.

An example of a company that is like the real bear is General Electric, which honed in on an industry that rallied when GE’s industries suffered. Venturing into building plane engines when the energy crises and the cold war were eating into GE’s other revenue areas, GE successfully found new areas of profit.

Trait Four – Save up Fat for a Cold Winter
A bear will eat itself into a happy obesity (up to 800 pounds) during the good times, gaining an average of 4.5 pounds a day. These reserves will get the massive animal through the winter, when the bear can lose up to 30% of its body weight. While you don’t want a company that sleeps during the winters, you do want one that prepares for tough times. A company should have fat enough cash reserves to adjust to changes in the market climate without starving.

Some notable companies that are known for keeping large cash reserves include Microsoft and Berkshire Hathaway. If you see a great company without any kind of cash reserves, you don’t necessarily have to run from it, but remember that if its industry takes a hit, it’ll die off much quicker than a fat company.

The Bottom Line
Next time you analyze a company, you may want to observe its behaviors and survival tactics. A company sharing the traits of the shark and the bear will be at the top of its financial food chain.

Sourced from: http://www.investopedia.com/articles/basics/03/072503.asp