Competitive Intelligence as a Marketing Tool

Abstract:

In the article, on the basis of foreign and Russian sources, the authors consider the discussion issues of the definition of the concept of «marketing». The analysis of available definitions is given. The authors’ understanding of the essence of marketing is offered. Competitive intelligence is presented as one of the marketing tools. The authors formulated their understanding of the competitive intelligence as a multi-aspect phenomenon. Firstly, this is a special kind of legal intelligence activity on the legitimate, ethical collection and analysis of mainly open business information that is of fundamental importance for the well-being of organization. Secondly, competitive intelligence is a proactive set of tools and techniques used in strategic marketing and management in order to identify and level out risks, to find opportunities for the development of a company, to strengthen its positions in the market and, ultimately, to ensure its competitive immunity. Thirdly, competitive intelligence is an organizational structure or service that provides information to the management of an enterprise. The authors carried out a comparative analysis of competitive intelligence, benchmarking and industrial espionage in the following parameters: a strategic purpose of use, a goal of working with the information, the methods used to collect information, subjects of study, differences in position from the perspective of competitive intelligence.