Analysis

in k
L

as a Tool for
Competitive Intelligence
By Avner Barnea

Link analysis is the process of building networks of Whenever you meet with competitive intelligence
interconnected objects through various relationships to professionals to discuss various issues, you hear about the
discover patterns and trends. Its main tasks are to find essential need for an efficient analytical tool that supports
and link together information from various sources, and CI methodology in creating recommendations for decision-
to adequately represent and estimate the relevance of this makers. One key issue is the high value of analysis based on
information. links between diverse resources as well as on tracing hidden
Link analysis has been developed over the past 15-20 relationships.
years and applied to various fields, including mathematics, Some new search engines (Mooter, Kartoo) utilize link
social sciences, and computer science. This analysis has analysis to represent results. But they cannot substitute for link
recently attracted wider attention for its applicability to law analysis as a legitimate tool for the competitive intelligence
enforcement and intelligence investigations (international team to maximize CI developing efforts in the firm.
terrorism, illegal money flows), fraud detection (banking,
insurance), web analysis (search engines, marketing),
telecommunications (routers, traffic, connectivity), and INTELLIGENCE NEEDS
competitive intelligence (CI). Identifying intelligence needs is the responsibility
Link analysis can also mine and analyze competitor of the competitive intelligence team together with other
site links in extensive detail. Analysis results are displayed senior executives in the firm. The CI team should be able to
as a graph of linked objects that support various object easily retrieve their Key Intelligence Topics (KITs) and Key
manipulation and drill-down operations.The visual output Intelligence Questions (KIQs) and to understand them in
of link analysis facilitates better understanding of the hidden an easy and manageable way since these topics and questions
structure of investigating data, and helps quickly isolate guide the planning of CI activities.
patterns for additional investigation. Collected information has to be examined within the
relevant CI context to facilitate the establishment of the
knowledge base. It also should be available through an
MEANINGFUL INTELLIGENCE internal search engine as well as many other link analysis
The contribution of competitive intelligence is mechanisms. Individuals who look at a particular KIT should
measured by its ability to create meaningful knowledge. It see more than one activity connected to it and be able to
is not enough to simply retrieve information that has been easily communicate that content to anyone in the firm.
gathered before. This information has to be integrated into Competitive intelligence team members need to be able
an overwhelming picture which will create intelligence to produce a report that is relevant to the KITs and KIQs,
knowledge. This process can be strongly supported by link shows how the gathered information relates to the completed
analysis systems. report. Intelligence users should be able to create and access

28 SCIP 2005 www.scip.org Competitive Intelligence Magazine

specific information in context while also limiting their has to provide this information in these diverse contexts while
access to appropriate information. Using the same approach, applying each individual change to all contexts. Creating
competitive intelligence managers should also be able to track links between these different contexts gives an added value to
the activity of their CI professionals on various projects, from the intelligence picture.
the initial stage up to dissemination and representation of the Links need to be distinguished by type, using either
intelligence material. color, thickness, or textual labels. Together with visualization
of the links and the resources, this makes the daily work of
the CI user more beneficial by providing the type and the
INITIAL NEEDS relevance of the resources and links. Visualization is also a
The competitive intelligence team collects and obtains proven way to transfer knowledge between team associates.
information from a wide variety of sources. This information Visual mapping of gathered information improves the
needs to be automatically indexed so that it can be searched ability to communicate knowledge and understanding of
as free text. Competitive information also has to be kept relationships and textual phrasing.
secured and accessible only by authorized individuals, but still A learning process is involved when integrating new
allow it to be shared in a secured and compartmentalized way. information with previously existing knowledge. The links
An internal system of compartmentalization will provide between context maps may help facilitate the research process
users with multiple access points to the information based on by providing another way to communicate knowledge,
read only, editing, and deleting. similar to the social process (the interaction between people).
The system should manage information in any digital Most any information item can be associated within one or
form including email, a key source of incoming competitive more contexts. A tool capable of building up the context of
information. Internal database information relating to people, one item in combination with other relevant resources can
companies, and technologies should also be accessible for significantly contribute to understanding the “big picture.”
competitive intelligence research. External information An example is when the competitive intelligence team
should not only be available but also linked to other related collects information on companies operating in a marketplace
internal resources. and then analyzes the cross ownership of those companies.
A prominent source for competitive intelligence Basic link analysis software can create a context map from
information is internet sites. You should be able to obtain the information. This network displays the links between the
information through your web browser and save it easily company and its owners to other companies by ownership,
(drag and drop) into the CI repository. You should also be including other attributes like percentage of ownership.
able to pull information from a site resource by clicking on An important element in the creation of the intelligence
the link. knowledge is the ability to integrate both structured and
Information received from primary sources provides unstructured information and to build up analysis based from
high quality input to the competitive intelligence process. linked text. This enables the analyst to see a full picture of the
The CI team needs to not only obtain this information as information relevant to the issue under investigation.
soon as possible but also quickly store it in the repository Finding relations based on similarities can be useful
as free text, preferably without additional processing. The when looking into the history of strategic cooperation
information can then be analyzed for context and create links between competitors, for example when you are evaluating
between individual items. Field reports should also be in a potential collaboration regarding participation in a tender
format common to all users, before and after CI professionals offer. Finding similarities through comparisons based on
customize it. companies’ past activities and links significant contributes to
The competitive intelligence team has a particular CI team knowledge when it needs precise information and
need for analytical templates. An example is establishing a has to rely on assessments and create recommendations for
standard methodology of SWOT analysis of products or action. In another example, when you look at a key person
technologies. Saving this information in a central repository you would also like to discover his past or present holdings
allows the CI professional to tailor the content and the in varied companies or his connection to other business
context map according to their needs. Using these types of activities.
templates together with other resources allows the CI team As a competitive intelligence analyst views information,
to concentrate more on the content and research using the it is very common for them to highlight important
gathered information. passages. Often this highlighted information will be used to
compose a review and to help the analysis task. Text analysis
methodology can link these highlighted texts according to
ADVANCED ANALYSIS the varied subjects that they cover. In this way, the efforts
CI professionals receive information that can be viewed invested in analyzing the article can be available when the
in multiple contexts. The knowledge management solution user is examining specific content.

Volume 8 • Number 4 • July-August 2005 SCIP 2005 www.scip.org 29

CI teams are under permanent pressure to create reports Expert competitive intelligence systems that mimic the
and disseminate them to internal customers in a timely way the human brain processes information can make a
manner. Systems that allow them to efficiently compose significant contribution to CI activity. As we normally think
reports based on linked and organized information will in contexts, link analysis has the potential to make the CI
provide significant added value. In addition, this preliminary workflow more effective. There are practical advantages that
analysis can be fully or partially saved for future re-use. integrated link analysis systems can bring to CI professionals.
A key part of any process is the ability to learn from Various CI software products can support CI work but
previous experience, either from successes or from failures. there is no CI platform in the market that covers all the
These lessons can then be applied to future planning and aspects necessary to provide a complete solution. There is
execution. One advantage is the ability to look back at the an existing demand to develop the parameters that can help
KIT’s and the KIQ’s and to compare the results using the measure the effectiveness of link analysis to the value created
actual information that was gathered and processed versus the by CI activity.
information that was requested. Changing the attitudes of decision-makers towards CI
and its needs is a day-to-day project for CI managers and CI
consultants. Executives exposed to the CI discipline through
SENIOR EXECUTIVE ATTITUDES short seminars and training or by formal academic studies
Senior executives I have interviewed were for the most have a higher willingness to work more closely with the CI
part unacquainted with competitive intelligence work. team. This can also have a weighty affect on their decision to
Many of them do not receive CI reports as part of their improve the expert tools for the CI work.
decision-making process. For those who do have competitive [Author’s note: I am indebted to Sam Roth, an expert on
intelligence teams, most were concerned only with the CI systems, for his advice and support. This paper is based on
“bottom line” of the CI activity and were unaware of software interviews with 16 competitive intelligence professionals and
needs by their CI team. 21 senior executives, both in Israeli firms that have CI units
Only few were ready to invest a significant amount [$ and those that do not, conducted in 2002-2004.]
35,000 or more] for software that could improve the standard
of their CI final products. In a few instances, when the CI
manager was supported by a particular decision-maker, that
senior management would consider purchasing advanced
software. Even after the advantages of a link-analysis system Avner Barnea, former senior member of the Israeli Intelligence
were presented, the attitude of decision-makers was mostly Community, holds an MA from the Hebrew University of
unchanged. Some CI managers did not promote such a Jerusalem and the Top Executive Program in Marketing
system primarily because they did no believe that they could Management from the Tel Aviv University Graduate School
‘sell’ the system benefits to their executives. of Business Administration. He is a consultant in the field of
Although many decision-makers expected more competitive intelligence and business strategy in Israel and
from their competitive intelligence unit from a strategic abroad. Avner is a guest lecturer on CI at the Hebrew University
perspective, they did not consider purchasing advanced CI of Jerusalem Business School and at the Business School of the
software capable of link analysis even when it was proposed Academic Studies Division of the College of Management. He
by their CI team. Information technology managers were also provides various business-training programs.
generally not supportive of examining different CI software
options, as they felt that existing systems were sufficient for
CI needs. When advanced CI software was considered as part
of the process of establishing a new CI unit in the firm, the
chances for purchasing was higher.

CONCLUSION
It is difficult to conduct the complicated process of
inference without the ability to combine contexts and
contents, and trace hidden and visible information links.
Link analysis is an analytical tool that supports CI analysis
and the development of recommendations that can improve
company performance.

30 SCIP 2005 www.scip.org Competitive Intelligence Magazine