UK Competitive Intelligence Forum

A Practitioner's Perspective - Analysis in Action

To compliment SCIP's 2 day course entitled, 'An Introduction to Analysis' on 27^th and 28^th May in London, the SCIP UK Networking Event Series will present a practitioner perspective on analysis through the use of 'closed' case studies. Andrew Beurschgens will take attendees on a journey with both 'Predator Analysis' and 'Scenario Analysis'. How the predator analysis framework reduced the risk associated with a recent wireless auction and the scenario analysis helped define the choices associated with new product management inheriting an existing revenue stream.

In an effort to encourage practitioners to present at these forums, Andrew Beurschgens will be addressing the Networking Event Series Stream 'Analysis in Action' and provide attendees with

A cradle to grave step through the CI process to delivering value around business risks
A practitioner perspective highlighting how the 'theory' is 'practiced'
Encourage other practitioners to step forward to address other elements of the competitive analysis process and value proposition

Other streams include CI in Action, Analysis in Action and The Discipline's Process, as defined by attendee feedback.

About the Presenter

Andrew Beurschgens
Business Market Intelligence Manager
Orange UK

Andrew Beurschgens is a practitioner at Orange and the acting volunteer Taskforce Chairperson for the UK Networking Event Series with similarly passionate SCIP members representing practitioners, recruitment, academia and 3^rd party service provision. Andrew was awarded the Catalyst Award for his volunteer efforts to the profession and was Summit Chair at the 11^th European SCIP Summit hosted in London in 2006. He continues to volunteer for the continued development of the discipline in the UK and Europe.


	Practitioner Perspective Analysis (Orange)	351 Kb

Game Theory - A Tool to Anticipate Competitor Actions

'Business is a game' proclaimed IBM founder Thomas J Watson. 'It is the greatest game in the world if you know how to play it'. Game theory is an analysis technique that helps business analysts understand the rules of the game and how to play it. The technique looks at strategic situations where players choose different actions in an attempt to maximise their returns. It is ideally situated to looking at competitive strategies available to organisations and has been used to select the best strategies in a number of commercial conflicts. The concepts behind game theory are ancient, its use as an analysis approach is new.

Following on from the high calibre feedback this case study received from the 12^th SCIP European Summit in Bad Nauheim in October last year, Arthur Weiss will address the Networking Event Series Stream 'Analysis in Action' and provide attendees

With an understanding of the background to game theory, and how it has developed as a tool for understanding competitor rivalry
Discover how to use decision trees, pay off matrices and PARTS Analysis to analyse business situations
Learn how game theory can be used to anticipate competitor reactions

About the Presenter

Arthur Weiss
Managing Partner
AWARE

Arthur Weiss is a managing partner and founder of AWARE, a consultancy specialising in competitive and marketing intelligence, with services including research and analysis, training and CI strategy consultancy. Previously, he was the European Marketing Information Manager for a blue-chip information services company.

As well as being a specialist in Competitive Intelligence strategy, he is also a popular speaker. In addition, he has written numerous articles and papers that have been published in a variety of journals. He teaches the Marketing Research & Information module for CIM's Advanced Certificate in Marketing at Thames Valley University
Arthur Weiss is a member of the Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals and a Chartered Marketer with the UK Chartered Institute of Marketing. Educational achievements include an MBA (passed with distinction), the CIM Diploma in Marketing and a B.Sc in Biochemistry.


	Game Theory (Aware)	650 Kb

Using Business Wargame to Generate Actionable Intelligence

The success of a company or any significant venture that it undertakes depends on three major lines of force, (i) the organisation's own plans and its execution of them, (ii) its competitors' plans and actions and (iii) relevant (more or less) uncontrollable market trends, the economy, government and regulatory decisions, etc. To succeed, the organisation must ensure that its plans and their execution are robust enough to win in spite of any realistic mix of competitors' actions and those of the uncontrollables.

Business Wargaming helps companies to deal with this problem in several ways. Jay will ensure that attendees understand through case studies

The fundamental concepts, processes, applications, benefits and selected tools involved in Business Wargaming, and how to explain them to senior management
When a Business Wargame should be considered as a means of converting market, competitive and others forms of information into actionable intelligence to support effective planning and decision making at the strategic, operational and tactical levels within an organisation
The key steps, time, effort and resources involved in a typical Business Wargaming project, and how to present them to potential wargame sponsors

About the Presenter

Jay Kurtz
President
KappaWest Inc.

Jay Kurtz is President of KappaWest, Inc., a California-based management consulting firm. For more than 30 years, he and his company have helped its clients, both large global companies and smaller entrepreneurial ventures, to increase their strategic effectiveness and operational efficiency through the application of military concepts and principles in the business environment. Mr. Kurtz is a graduate of the Royal Military College of Canada and Queens University. As an officer in the Canadian Army, he served in several positions in Canada and with the United Nations Emergency Force in the Middle East. Subsequently, he held several sales, marketing and management positions in IBM Canada, including Manager of IBM's Scientific Datacentre, co-founder and the original Vice President Marketing of a successful computer services company specializing in scientific and engineering applications and since 1974, KappaWest. Among the activities there, Jay has undertaken a broad range of assignments, including the design, development and facilitation of Business Wargames, for more than 25 companies in the information technology, telecommunications, aerospace, pharmaceutical, biotech, utility and financial services industries. KappaWest's clients include Alcatel-Lucent, American Express, Amgen, BAE Systems, Baxter HealthCare, Dow Corning, Eastman Kodak, Eli Lilly, Glaxo/SmithKline, Hewlett-Packard, Lockheed Martin, Motorola, Kimberly-Clark and Pharmacia.


	Business War Games (Kappa West)	1766 Kb
	Business War Games Article (CIM)	172 Kb