Career Development and Lifestyle Planning s2

Advanced Competitive Intelligence 2 Credits

BU.360.705.XX Class Day/Time & Start/End date

Semester Class Location

Instructor Full Name

Contact Information Phone Number: (###)###-#### E-mail Address:

Office Hours Day/s Times

Required Text and Learning Materials

Seena Sharp. (2009). Competitive Intelligence Advantage, John Wiley, NY.

Leonard M. Fuld. (2010). The Secret Language of Competitive Intelligence: How to see through & stay ahead of business disruptions, distortions, rumors & smoke screens [Paperback]

Prescott, J.E. and Miller, S.H., eds. (2001). Proven strategies in competitive intelligence: lessons from the trenches. New York: Wiley.

Additional readings will be provided within Blackboard, or links to websites from the weekly syllabus, below.

Blackboard Site A Blackboard course site is set up for this course. Each student is expected to check the site throughout the semester as Blackboard will be the primary venue for outside classroom communications between the instructors and the students. Students can access the course site at https://blackboard.jhu.edu. Support for Blackboard is available at 1-866-669-6138.

Course Evaluation As a research and learning community, the Carey Business School is committed to continuous improvement. The faculty strongly encourages students to provide complete and honest feedback for this course. Please take this activity seriously because we depend on your feedback to help us improve so you and your colleagues will benefit. Information on how to complete the evaluation will be provided towards the end of the course.

Disability Services Johns Hopkins University and the Carey Business School are committed to making all academic programs, support services, and facilities accessible. To determine eligibility for accommodations, please contact the Carey Disability Services Office at time of admission and allow at least four weeks prior to the beginning of the first class meeting. Students should contact Rachel Hall in the Disability Services office by phone at 410-234-9243, by fax at 443-529-1552, or email: [email protected]. BU.360.705.xx - Advanced Competitive Intelligence – Instructor’s Name-Page 2 of 7

Important Academic Policies and Services  Honor Code  Statement of Diversity and Inclusion  Tutoring  Carey Writing Center  Inclement Weather Policy Students are strongly encouraged to consult the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School Student Handbook and Academic Catalog and the School website http://carey.jhu.edu/syllabus_policies for detailed information regarding the above items.

Course Description: Competitive Intelligence (CI), as defined by the Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals (SCIP), is a systematic and ethical program for gathering, analyzing, understanding and managing external information that can affect an organization’s plans, decisions, and operations. Students learn to apply the CI process and CI-related advanced methodologies, techniques, and tools to better analyze an organization’s current and future competitive position. Students will apply advanced analytical and socio- technical techniques to improve organizational decision making as related to CI, and should gain deep understand the issues related to the collection, analysis, and management of external information.

Course Overview: Students will learn the advanced and practices of competitive intelligence (CI). This course will have you exploring facets of CI from organizational issues such as how successful CI functions are managed to practical individual skills building. The program starts with a theoretical framework for competitive intelligence, and then extends this structure, focusing on how collection and analysis is accomplished by competitive intelligence practitioners.

The course will introduce and enhance research fundamentals as well as introduce you to alternative means of obtaining external market insights. Topics include:

 Properly framing decision-support assignments  Creating a source map  Designing a collection plan  Performing online (secondary) research  Conducting primary (subject matter expert) interviews  Applying advanced analytic frameworks and leveraging software tools  Organizing and maintaining competitive data and information  Establishing an effective CI group and processes.

Student Learning Objectives for This Course All Carey graduates are expected to demonstrate competence on four Learning Goals, operationalized in eight Learning Objectives. These learning goals and objectives are supported by the courses Carey offers. For a complete list of Carey learning goals and objectives, please refer to the website http://carey.jhu.edu/LearningAtCarey/LGO/index.html.

The learning objectives for this course are:

1. Identify the major components, functions, and processes of strategic business intelligence units (Program Learning Objective 1.1) 2. Articulate the role of Competitive Intelligence (CI) and Competitive Analysis (CA) within for-profit and not-for-profit organizations (Program Learning Objective 1.2) BU.360.705.xx - Advanced Competitive Intelligence – Instructor’s Name-Page 3 of 7

3. Build a comprehensive and cost-effective information strategy, independent of media and format, appropriate to your organization’s culture (Program Learning Objective 5.2) 4. Determine what information is needed to complete a profile (or add value to it), where that information is to be found, and how to access it in a cost-effective manner 5. Have the ability to gather data and information about a market, industry segments, product/service/line of business, or competitor (Program Learning Objective 3.2) 6. Evaluate the quality of sources in a business intelligence context 7. Organize CI in a logical fashion and make it accessible to those who need to/should use it, applying appropriate measures of security, so as to point toward a solution 8. Use basic analytic techniques for CA (Program Learning Objective 2.1, 2.2) 9. Appreciate effective, ethical techniques for conducting primary and secondary research and the importance of ethics when presenting CA results and recommendations (Program Learning Objective 4.2) 10. Identify the laws, regulations, and policies that inform (or have an impact on) CI and CA (Program Learning Objective 4.2) 11. Communicate essential points about the subject by constructing a professional and effective CI report and presentation (Program Learning Objective 3.1, 4.1, 5.1)

Attendance Policy Attendance and active participation are part of your course grade. Due to the short duration of the course, one class, both excused and unexcused, may be missed without penalty. Beyond that, your participation grade will be dropped ten points for each absence. Six absences, whether excused or not, result in a failing grade for the course. For an absence to be excused, you must have contacted the instructor prior to the class meeting, and you must provide a valid, legitimate, substantiated excuse.

Assignments In addition to weekly assignments detailed in the syllabus below, each student will complete a company profile within an industry selected at the beginning of the semester; each team will complete an industry analysis/presentation. Additional suggestions and guidelines will be discussed during class.

Evaluation and Grading The final grade will be based on the following activities and weights in the table below. The total points earned will be assigned a letter grade according to the grading scale in Table 2.

Assignment Learning Outcome Weight Attendance and active participation in class 3 10% discussion, including team project work conducted in- class and online discussion (Blackboard) Assignments designed to demonstrate the topic 6 10% covered in the week’s readings and class discussion Mid-Term Exam 20% Final Exam 30% Company Profile (individual effort) 4,5,11 10% Industry Research Project/Final (Presentation) (team 7,8,11 10% effort) Team Journal 1,3,11 10% Total 100%

Important notes about grading policy: The grade for good performance in a course will be a B+/B. The grade of A- will only be awarded for exc ellent performance. The grade of A will be reserved for those who demonstrate extraordinarily ex cellent performance. *The grades of D+, D, and D- are not awarded at the graduate level. Grade ap peals will ONLY be considered in the case of a documented clerical error. BU.360.705.xx - Advanced Competitive Intelligence – Instructor’s Name-Page 4 of 7

Tentative Course Calendar* The instructor reserves the right to alter course content or adjust the pace to accommodate class progress. Calendar References Topic Week Date 1 TBD Personal and course introductions Review of syllabus and discussion of Exercise #1as the basis for the semester’s individual and team work.

The evolution of CI CI function within a variety of settings What’s required to manage an enterprise-wide, comprehensive, and ongoing CI program Corporate culture and the importance of buy-in Positioning of the function within the organization The CI Process and Cycle Allocating your time: Achieving the right balance in apportioning the time you spend on CI Building your proactive CI team and an appropriate process

Exercise #1 (in-class): This semester we will be working in teams, focusing on specific organizations, establishing CI programs in each, from start to finish. These cases will be presented during today’s meeting and our work through the semester will apply the concepts learned to each.

Reading: Fuld, L. (1994). The New Competitor Intelligence. Chapter 1 at Leonard Flud Prescott, J.E. and Miller, S.H.

http://www.fuld.com/TIndex/CIbook/chap01.html (You may need to complete a registration form in order to gain access to the book online; there is no charge.) Chapter 12 (Part 1) of Competitive Intelligence by Matt H. Evans (http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/alashikh/my%20document/Financial %20Management/Competitive%20Intelligence.pdf)

2 TBD Seena Sharp Chapters 1 & 2

Case Study

Establishing the scope and focus of your CI efforts Defining the competition and selecting screening criteria

Reading: Combs, R. (1993). Competitive Intelligence Handbook. Chapters 1-2 at http://www.combsinc.com/ (Click on CI Book in left-hand navigation bar) “Reading”: BEK’s CI Favorites (Instructions on how to gain access to Delicious entries will be given during class) Leonard Flud Prescott, J.E. and Miller, S.H.

BU.360.705.xx - Advanced Competitive Intelligence – Instructor’s Name-Page 5 of 7

3 TBD Seena Sharp Chapters 3 & 4 Assessing the global business environment and monitoring change Scanning the environment Benefits of a stream of information Collecting data and information that raise questions Understanding complex market and industry trends: Anticipating innovation Identifying and monitoring market conditions: What’s driving change?

Case Study

Reading: Leonard Flud Prescott, J.E. and Miller, S.H.

Reading: Combs, R. (1993). Competitive Intelligence Handbook. Chapters 3-4 at http://www.combsinc.com/ (Click on CI Book in left-hand navigation bar) Reading: Using the Internet as a Dynamic Resource Tool for Knowledge Discovery by Marcus P. Zillman (http://virtualprivatelibrary.blogspot.com) 4 TBD Gathering industry-specific intelligence Company-specific resources: Official and not Competitive Technical Analysis Building the Company Profile: Key Elements (target- and scope-dependent)

Midterm Exam Reading: Leonard Flud Prescott, J.E. and Miller, S.H. Reading: Building a Competitor Profile available at http://www.powerhomebiz.com/vol4/competia.htm Reading: Pitfalls of Competitor Profiles at http://www.outwardinsights.com/articles/ProfilePitfalls.pdf 5 TBD Seena Sharp 5 & 6

Case Study

Planning and conducting primary research  Determining what you need to know  Locating experts  Determining your approach o Surveys and focus groups  Getting around the gatekeepers  Good interviewing techniques Making the most of conferences and exhibitions  Identifying venues  Collection techniques  Debriefing and reporting Critical thinking, ethics, and blindspots

(case study by Jennifer Jordan and Professor Sydney Finkelstein), available at http://mba.tuck.dartmouth.edu/pdf/2005-1-0095.pdf

Reading: Leonard Flud Prescott, J.E. and Miller, S.H. BU.360.705.xx - Advanced Competitive Intelligence – Instructor’s Name-Page 6 of 7

Reading: Loosening Lips (http://www.concernedjournalists.org/node/101) Reading: DIY Detection: Competitive Intelligence for SMEs by Vernon Prior at http://web.freepint.com/go/newsletter/235 Reading: Tradecraft Primer from the CIA (https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the- study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/books-and-monographs/Tradecraft%20Primer- apr09.pdf)

6 TBD Seena Sharp Chapters 7 & 8

Understanding basic analytic techniques Intelligence analysis:  Transforming raw data into intelligence  Recognizing change, trends, and patterns

Case Study

Reading: Leonard Flud Prescott, J.E. and Miller, S.H.

7 TBD Seena Sharp Chapter 9 & 10

Intelligence dissemination  Alerting mechanisms: Push AND Pull  A regular forum  Sharing raw data and mapping information flows Presenting what you know: Making intelligence actionable Developing, designing, implementing, and altering strategies in response to your intelligence and analysis: The ‘best practices’ approach Evaluating your CI process and program Role of technology in supporting and facilitating the CI function

Case Study

Term project (team): Create a presentation (designed for senior management) that explains the competitive situation within your industry. Additional suggestions and guidelines will be discussed during class. Use your team’s group space on Blackboard to post your input. Leonard Flud Prescott, J.E. and Miller, S.H.

7 TBD Team presentations and course wrap-up Leonard Flud Prescott, J.E. and Miller, S.H.

8 Final Exam

Copyright Statement BU.360.705.xx - Advanced Competitive Intelligence – Instructor’s Name-Page 7 of 7

Unless explicitly allowed by the instructor, course materials, class discussions, and examinations are created for and expected to be used by class participants only. The recording and rebroadcasting of such material, by any means, is forbidden. Violations are subject to sanctions under the Honor Code.