Verified Document

Tracking Competitor's Customers Competitive Intelligence Research Proposal

Due to these concerns and the ethicacy of industrial espionage was closely evaluated through the early 1990s by the U.S. Congress and the Economic Espionage Act of 1996 was passed to protect the rights of corporations to keep their trade secrets, confidential details about customers, pricing, and supply chain specifics protected (Richardson, Luchsinger, 2007). This has also had a significant effect on the types of advanced analytics software applications companies can use to monitor their competitors online, the use of competitive intelligence gathering practices that are potentially unethical including the purchasing of customer lists and advanced customer data from online services when the company has not released it for use in the public domain (Richardson, Luchsinger, 2007). The ethics of customer monitoring are today leaning more towards using publically available data on the Internet and in print. Using advanced analytics software it is also possible to interpolate which consumers are purchasing which products, and then using marketing automation strategies, seek to sell to them. This is also ethical. The deliberate purchasing or stealing of customer data however is not and results in fines to companies that pursue these unethical activates in violation of the Economic Espionage Act of 1996 (Richardson, Luchsinger, 2007). Conclusion

From the context of whether the customers are consumers or businesses the Economic Espionage Act of 1996 applies equally to both. Yet the systems developed to track competitors' customers through CRM systems vary significantly between them being business or consumers (Fleisher, Wright, Allard, 2008). As there...

Parts of this document are hidden

View Full Document
svg-one

In companies whose primary customers are consumers, advanced analytics and inference is used to capture a competitors' target market profile and the build offers to persuade them to leave the company they are loyal to for another (Christen, Boulding, Staelin, 2009)
References

Ranjit Bose. (2008). Competitive intelligence process and tools for intelligence analysis. Industrial Management + Data Systems, 108(4), 510-528.

Christen, M., Boulding, W., & Staelin, R. (2009). Optimal Market Intelligence Strategy When Management Attention Is Scarce. Management Science, 55(4), 526-538.

Liam Fahey. (2007). Connecting strategy and competitive intelligence: refocusing intelligence to produce critical strategy inputs. Strategy & Leadership, 35(1), 4-12.

Craig S. Fleisher, Sheila Wright, & Helen T. Allard. (2008). The role of insight teams in integrating diverse marketing information management techniques. European Journal of Marketing, 42(7/8), 836-851.

Harkleroad, David. (1996). Competitor response modeling: Out-thinking the competition. Competitive Intelligence Review, 7(1), S111.

Tianjiao Qiu. (2008). Scanning for competitive intelligence: a managerial perspective. European Journal of Marketing, 42(7/8), 814-835.

Lee Richardson, & Vince Luchsinger. (2007). Strategic Marketing Implications in Competitive Intelligence and the Economic Espionage Act of 1996. Journal of Global Business…

Sources used in this document:
References

Ranjit Bose. (2008). Competitive intelligence process and tools for intelligence analysis. Industrial Management + Data Systems, 108(4), 510-528.

Christen, M., Boulding, W., & Staelin, R. (2009). Optimal Market Intelligence Strategy When Management Attention Is Scarce. Management Science, 55(4), 526-538.

Liam Fahey. (2007). Connecting strategy and competitive intelligence: refocusing intelligence to produce critical strategy inputs. Strategy & Leadership, 35(1), 4-12.

Craig S. Fleisher, Sheila Wright, & Helen T. Allard. (2008). The role of insight teams in integrating diverse marketing information management techniques. European Journal of Marketing, 42(7/8), 836-851.
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now