This presentation on competitive intelligence was given at a Cleantech conference on July 18 for start-up firms. Mary Chitty of Cambridge Healthtech developed the guidance on using secondary sources and the lists of potentially useful secondary sources. Parmelee Eastman of EastSight Consulting created the section on obtaining information from knowledgeable individuals.

1. Parmelee Eastman, MBA Mary Chitty. MSLS
EastSight Consulting Cambridge Healthtech
Wellesley MA Needham MA
peastman@eastsightconsulting.com mchitty@healthtech.com
July 18, 2013
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2.  20 plus
 11-19
 5-10
 2-4
 0
 How do you define “competitors”?
 How do you identify them?
 What do you want to know about them?
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3. 3
 Define Competitive Intelligence (CI)
◦ Understand CI principles and limitations
◦ Competitive vs. competitor
Primary vs. secondary sources
◦ CI vs. market research
 Make CI part of your normal interaction
◦ Always ask one or two questions
◦ Incenting sources to obtain information
 Breakout exercise
◦ Explore process and resources for
researching competitors (including non-
obvious ones).

4. 4
Analyze
Make
decisions
Gather
data

5. Make more money Takes time
Benefits
 Better business
decisions –
segmentation
 More effective
marketing
 Learn from rivals
 Pivot sooner vs. later
Limitations
 Takes resources
 No single source
 Rarely complete
numbers
 No confidential or
proprietary information
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6. 6
 Be honest and take “No” for an answer
 Trade information if possible
 Follow ethical guidelines of your
organization and SCIP (www.scip.org).
Is this your lawyer when
you mention CI research?

7. 7
 Start with secondary sources
◦ Good info plus info to trade
 Use multiple sources
 Smile and dial
 Capture information in a shareable format

8. 8
Advisors
Suppliers
Customers
PartnersPersonal
Network
Tech
Experts

9.  Print or electronic. Free and fee based
 Terminology
 Overviews and introductions
 Associations and organizations
 Databases – business, news, patents
 Social Media and trends
 What are your favorite resources?
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10. 10
 Define, prioritize and clarify decision (and therefore information)
needs
 Check with legal
 Explore relevant vocabulary to ask good questions and locate
more comprehensive information
 Work with all functions in your company –
Sales, Marketing, Product Management, Manufacturing, HR
 Interview customers and partners. Look into industry
associations and organizations
 Begin with the easiest people to talk to
 Think of research as on-going process

11.  Variant cleantech terms can make research and questions challenging
 Not everything is on the web (for free)
 OK to start small and low key – because you’re going to make changes in
questions and strategies as you learn more.
 Avoid analysis paralysis. Plan to iterate
 There may be no answer to some questions
 Ask politely and positively
◦ Take “No” for an answer
◦ Promptly move to a new topic
 If a direct question would be uncomfortable, ask indirectly
 Don’t try to boil the ocean
 What have been your top challenges?
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12.  1. Define your “competitive” space.
 2. List known competitors.
 3. List relevant and related terms. (Keep adding to and refining this list).
 4. List associations. Do they have member companies.
 5. Google terms. Look for relevant resources in top10-20 Google results.
Try term/s plus “companies” plus “associations” etc.
6. Investigate databases, monster.com (search keywords not just job
titles), relevant conferences.
 8. Buyers’ guides may be helpful. Business libraries can help you identify these by
industry.
 9. Government agencies US Dept of Energy Funding opportunities: award search
http://science.energy.gov/funding-opportunities/award-search/?adv=1
 10. Talk to people.
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13. 1. Ask yourself what business decision(s) do you need to make
2. What information about competitors do you need to support the decision(s)? Be
specific
3. Review published or secondary sources of information--Start with known sites
and terms; develop new terms and site. You are looking for information that is
directly useful and that might be of interest to someone else as well as names of
potential sources.
4. Taking your list of questions, determine who is most likely to know this
information
5. If you do not know the appropriate sources directly, who do you know who could
refer you to them?
6. Begin with the people that are easiest to speak with
7. Analyze the information to understand your competitive situation
8. Make decision
9. Repeat
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14.  International Energy Agency Glossary
http://www.iea.org/aboutus/glossary/
IEA Acronyms and Abbreviations
http://www.iea.org/aboutus/glossary/
 Technologies: Terms and Definitions, Clean Energy
Portal, Government of Canada
http://www.cleanenergy.gc.ca/index.cfm?action=te
chterms.summary
 Overviews useful for vocabulary too.
 Many variant Cleantech terms can make research
challenging. Can you recommend other resources?
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15.  Ernst & Young Cleantech 2013 http://www.ey.com/GL/en/Industries/Cleantech
 Massachusetts Clean Energy Industry Report 2012
http://www.masscec.com/content/2012-clean-energy-industry-report
 IPCC, 2011: IPCC Special Report on Renewable Energy Sources and Climate Change
Mitigation. Prepared by Working Group III of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change [O. Edenhofer, R. Pichs-Madruga, Y. Sokona, K. Seyboth, P. Matschoss, S.
Kadner, T. Zwickel, P. Eickemeier, G. Hansen, S. Schlömer, C. von Stechow (eds)].
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New
York, NY, USA, 1075 pp. http://srren.ipcc-wg3.de/report
Wikipedia can be good for overviews – and updates. Drill down to find
related relevant categories and company lists.
See Clean Technology, Renewable energy commercialization
Category: Low carbon economy.
 What are your favorite resources?
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16.  North Shore Innoventures Biotech/Cleantech
http://nsiv.org/about/biotech/
 Association of Cleantech Incubators of New England ACTION
http://www.actionnewengland.org/
 Cleantech Open http://www2.cleantechopen.org/
 International Energy Agency http://www.iea.org/
IEA Statistics https://www.iea.org/stats/
 Massachusetts Clean Energy Center http://www.masscec.com/
 REN21 Renewable Energy Policy for the 21st century
http://www.ren21.net/
 Many more available. What can you recommend?
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17.  National Renewable Energy Lab Publications
http://www.nrel.gov/publications/
 Business and news databases available, some remotely with
library card.
 Boston Public Library, Kirstein Business
http://www.bpl.org/kbl/electronic/
 Mass Board of Library Commissioners Resources
http://libraries.state.ma.us/pages/complete-lst
 Check with colleges or universities you attended for alumni
access. Many other options, some fee based. Do you have
favorites?
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18.  SureChem http://surechem.com/ Start with
free version
Google Patent Search Advanced
http://www.google.com/advanced_patent_search
US PTO and European Patent Office
 Starting point, not a substitute for legal
advice or professional patent searching.
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19.  LinkedIn : Which groups have you found most
useful?
 Cleantech blog http://www.cleantechblog.com/
 Global cleantech meetup
http://globalcleantechmeetup.com/
 Recorded Future Algae Biofuels
https://www.recordedfuture.com/2013/algae-
biofuel-investment/
 What do you use?
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20. 20
 Print or electronic. Free and fee based
 Terminology
 Overviews and introductions
 Associations and organizations
 Databases – business, news, patents
 Social Media and trends
 What are your favorite resources?