Strategic Management

Evaluate each of the following approaches that a business firm could use to gather information about competition. For each approach, mark your feeling about its appropriateness using the following scale:

1. definitely not appropriate, 2. probably not appropriate, 3. undecided, 4. probably appropriate, and 5. definitely appropriate

The business firm should try to get useful information about competitors by:

__5___ Careful study of trade journals

Watching the growth and/or decline of competitors is good for developing businesses.

__1___ Wiretapping the telephones of competitors

Illegal if you’re not the U.S. government!

___4__ Posing as a potential customer to competitors

Understanding how a competitor works from the inside keeps a company abreast with up to the minute information learned hands on.

____2_ Getting loyal customers to put out a phone "request for proposal" soliciting competitors' bids

Asking your customers to solicit business from a competitor is unethical and could end up back firing by losing the customer to the competitor.

__5___ Buying competitors' products and taking them apart

Analyzing the product of the competitor gives the company an edge and knowledge base to stay ahead of the competition.

___5__ Hiring management consultants who have worked for competitors

Who better to hire then workers who know the ends and outs of a competitors’ business. But these workers should be monitored to find out where there loyalties truly lie.

_3____ Rewarding competitors' employees for useful "tips"

Information is valuable but I think the ethical issue gets in the way of my agreement with this type of reward system.

__4___ Questioning competitors' customers and/or suppliers

Asking consumers what they like about a competitor has no real negative effect. This is how you obtain information and possibly acquire new customers and grow your organization. With regard to suppliers most suppliers want to sell in volume and see you as a potential customer as long as there is nothing inappropriate being asked then there is not harm in this.

__3___ Buying and analyzing competitors' garbage

That’s just nasty! But understanding that some companies will do anything to keep there strategic advantage. I couldn’t do it. But I can’t really give a yes or no.

___1__ Advertising and interviewing for nonexistent jobs

This