Burkhardt & Co. – Competitive Intelligence Agency
How well do you know your competitors? Well enough to communicate your advantages to clients to get the amount of business you need and want? We generate useful answers.
At Burkhardt & Co. (aka, “The Jigsaw Puzzle Folks”), our ‘competitor analysis’ enables clients to enhance competitive positioning – thereby increasing business opportunities. We have a track record of delivering results so you achieve more. Your business success matters to us.
Competitive intelligence is the systematic, legal research and analysis of competitors and competitive industry dynamics – market data and industry activity (customers, market strategy, broader market context, etc.) – for market advantage. Use competitive intelligence to enhance your own market strategy.
We combine the research skills of librarians with honed interviewing skills and the business knowledge of MBAs to collect relevant, meaningful data from primary and secondary sources to provide relevant, meaningful data collection, market analysis, and reporting for insightful results.
Why Competitive Intelligence?
Competitive intelligence is a critical aspect of business planning and success. In addition to the adage “know yourself,” know your competitors. You need to know your firms’ own capabilities, resources, assets, and areas for improvement in order to function and improve; not knowing this same information about your competitors leaves you “in the dark” – unable to know how to position and market your firm competitively in relation to other firms.
Think of competitive intelligence as filling out your competitor’s business plan. A blank business plan – departmental data, company size, sales figures, marketing ideas, etc. – is useless; filling in these aspects of information about your competitors informs you of your relative competitive position so you can plan your own strategy. At Burkhardt & Co., we piece together the “information jigsaw puzzle” about your competitors so you can compete strategically.
Competitive intelligence is appropriate in every phase of market conditions; it positions you to move toward your next level of success. When economic conditions are strong, use market research and competitive intelligence to develop your long-term market strategy. During economic downturns; it’s tempting to not pay for “extras” like market research or competitive intelligence (“we can’t afford it right now”). Actually, what you can’t afford during economic downturns is to give up hard-to-keep market share due to not continuing to develop competitive insights and advantage – thus giving up the ability to position your firm competitively.
Competitive Intelligence: Primary and Secondary Research
Public competitor data (quarterly investor calls and reports, etc.), public records research, professional databases (i.e. corporate librarians!), employee recruitment assessments (LinkedIn, job boards, etc.), trade shows, media searches, social media assessments, skillful online research, interviews with knowledgeable industry stakeholders, etc.
Competitive Intelligence: Actionable Analysis
Research becomes useful when evaluated for what it means to your bottom line.
As the author of Competitive Intelligence Workbook (2001), our founder literally “wrote the book” on how to pull together competitor data to interpret what the data means competitively. We work with you and communicate with you to ensure our data collection becomes a meaningful component of your business planning and corporate strategy.
Contact us for more information about retaining our competitive intelligence services.
Burkhardt & Co. 