Meet the Expert
Alden Taylor
Managing Partner, Strategic Insights
- Co-founder of Strategic Insights, with more than 30 years of expertise in strategic intelligence, general management consulting and financial management.
- Has led numerous client engagements in North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia focusing on strategy, market positioning, competitive intelligence, benchmarking, organizational effectiveness, and process improvement.
- Expertise spans multiple industries including: energy, franchising, financial services, health care, process manufacturing, consumer products, pharmaceuticals and telecommunications.
- Prior to co-founding Strategic Insights, was a Practice Leader for Business Intelligence Services at Kroll Associates and Citigate Global Intelligence.
- As the former president of BACK Management and Taylor & Company, helped clients improve their competitive positioning, exploit strategic advantages and identify potential merger and alliance candidates.
- At Cresap, a Towers Perrin Company, was a Vice President Global Practice leader.
- At the outset of his career, consulted on accounting systems, mergers and acquisitions and foreign business practices for U.S. and foreign clients at Arthur Young & Company (now Ernst & Young).
- Frequent conference leader and speaker for several industries and associations including: EXNET/Management Exchange, Edison Electric Institute, Planning Forum, United States Telephone Association, and American Management Association.
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Your Meeting Package Includes:
- All 7 Best Practices
- Pre-Meeting Discovery Process
- One-on-One Call with Expert
- Meeting Summary Report
- Post-Meeting Engagement
The Mechanics of Competitive Intelligence
Managing Partner, Strategic Insights
Defined Terms
- Benchmarking
- "The systematic process of searching for best practices, innovative ideas and highly effective operating procedures that lead to superior performance."
Source: Hammer, M., and Stranton, S. "The Reengineering Revolution: A Handbook." New York: HarperCollins, 1995, pp. 11. - Competitive intelligence
- Information that is not readily available in the public domain that speaks to or intends to define actions taken by various competitors in an identified segment. Competitive intelligence is generally used to advance strategic positioning in order to secure a dominant position within a market segment.
- Five Forces model
- A model created by scholar Michael Porter which holds that there are five major forces that influence an industry:
- Rivalry (between competitors)
- Threats of Substitutes
- Buyer Power
- Supplier Power
- Threat of New Entrants and Entry Barriers
- Rivalry (between competitors)
- Lateral thinking
The solving of problems by an indirect and creative approach, typically through viewing the problem in a new and unusual light. Contrasted with vertical thinking.
- Oligopoly
- A situation in which a particular market is controlled by a small group of firms. An oligopoly is much like a monopoly, in which only one company exerts control over most of a market. In an oligopoly, there are at least two firms controlling the market.
Source: http://www.investopedia.com/ - Value chain
- The entire set of parties who contribute to create and consume or utilize a product or services. It includes all of the suppliers and contributors to a product or service and then, after the creation of the product or service, the entire set of parties which delivery, distribute or sell a product or service, the end user and the post-sale customer service or support players.
The Mechanics of Competitive Intelligence:
Defined Terms
Expert Topic