What do competitive intelligence professionals need to know?
There are few examples in the history of business where managers and employees were trusted with new tasks with such minimal training and background to guide them. Yet this is the case with the majority of competitive intelligence professionals. The results are several myths and misconceptions regarding what competitive intelligence professionals need or need not know. So let’s set the record straight. Competitive intelligence professionals come from a variety of functional and professional backgrounds and even more diverse academic backgrounds. They do not all have MBAs. The uniquely eclectic nature of competitive intelligence makes general knowledge critical. Knowledge of cultures, psychology, economics, and history all play an important role in preparing competitive intelligence assessments. An ideal preparation for CI professionals is in-depth industry knowledge combined with specialized training. This combination is far superior to intelligence background or MBA alone. The promine
