Competitive intelligence
Competitive Intelligence Playbook
By Simon Dudley
A twelve-vector framework for understanding competitors—and applying the same scrutiny to your own business.
About the book.
Competitive intelligence starts with verifiable information. This playbook looks beyond a feature comparison to examine how a business works, where it is vulnerable and what could change its position.
Simon’s framework uses twelve vectors. Each brings a different question to the competitor profile, and each deserves the same scrutiny when applied to your own organisation. The aim is better decisions, supported by evidence that can be checked and refreshed.
The twelve vectors.
- Financial
- Organizational
- Business model
- Portfolio
- Downstream business
- Upstream business
- ESG
- Partnerships
- Good / fast / cheap
- Pitch
- Existential threats
- Five-year plan
Questions worth discussing.
Use these questions with your team or reading group. Record the evidence, the next action and who owns it.
- Which of the twelve vectors is least understood in our current competitor profile?
- Which claims are verified facts, estimates or untested assumptions?
- How do customer and lost-prospect interviews change our assessment?
- Who owns the next research task, and when will the evidence be refreshed?
From reading to a decision.
Choose one question to investigate. Agree on what you need to learn, name an owner and set a date to revisit the evidence.