Knowledge Is Power

Article on Five Landmines to Avoid When Interviewing at Rivals on www.job-hunt.org

I wrote this article for a leading employment site, www.job-hunt.org. It covers key issues dealing with proprietary and confidential information when interviewing at competitors of current or former employers. Check it out at http://www.job-hunt.org/company_research/5-landmines-interviewing-competitors.shtml.

Four Great Suggestions about Tapping Competitive Intelligence For Product Success

This post is the first of four on the insights from a joint meeting of the Boston Product Marketing Association and the Boston SCIP Chapter held earlier this year.

The Boston Product Management Association (BPMA) and the Boston SCIP Chapter held a joint meeting to discuss how product management and marketing (PMM) staff could work more effectively with competitive intelligence (CI) and competitive intelligence professionals.

The panel consisted of five practioners from different industries with experience in CI and/or PMM with a moderator familiar with CI. The participants were:

Moderator Doug Wolf, whose law firm, Wolf Greenfield specializes in intellectual property and works with CI organizations among others.

As Vice President, Product Marketing and Strategy, Unica Corporation, Andrew Hally leads product strategy and marketing for Unica’s on-demand product lines.

Michael Levy is a Product Marketing Manager at OneSource Information Services (a subsidiary of InfoGroup) where he has been in charge of competitive intelligence and market research since 2001.

C. Todd Lombardo is the Marketing Manager, Agencourt Biosciences, a Beckman Coulter Company with additional experience in product management at PerkinElmer, MJ Research, and US Genomics.

Currently a competitive intelligence analyst at Fallon Community Health Plan, Brad Lovoi has worked as a competitive intelligence professional for the past five years across several industries from healthcare to property and casualty insurance.

Michael J. Salerno, a co-founder of BPMA, is currently planning market-leading CRM applications for Oracle Corporation building on his career focusing on enterprise software.

Most of the panelists had extensive experience in both product management and competitive intelligence and could comment on best practices from both sides.

The first insight is that salespeople are the key source of competitive intelligence

The panelists agreed that their key source of competitive information was their organizations’ sales force, but to gain the best information, the panelists advised establishing informal relationships.

Michael Salerno said that “Having a strong relationship with sales is paramount. They can provide a lot of information about what’s happening in the market. What is effective is to put on a social hat: salespeople love to talk, especially about their successes.”

Michael Levy added that “I live with the sales force. My desk is next to theirs.” He feels as if he’s part of the sales process and he spends more time with sales than with PM.

Brian Lovoi walks among the sales force, “I ask them about the deal, we talk about the Patriots. We sometimes have scheduled meetings with management present, but informal is best; sales are more forthcoming. Sales are invaluable. Make the other person feel important.”

Andrew Hally would rather have sales as sources than customers since sales people see CI through the lens of winning deals, the primary focus of CI at his firm.

Several panel members cautioned about relying too heavily on information from sales and suggesting turning to customers in addition.

Todd Lombardo warned, “Watch out for a salesperson screaming for a feature that only 5% of the customers want. You need relationships with customers so you can ask them to compare competitive products.” Michael Salerno agreed, saying that he been pressed to add a new feature which a competitor had. But when he asked a customer if the feature was key to its decision to go with the competitor, he was told, “No,” he said, “It was nice, and they threw it in free.”

Brian Lovoi observed that sales people love to talk about successes, but to get information about losses is like pulling teeth.

Other sources mentioned included bankers, venture capitalists, industry reports, SEC filings, job descriptions, RSS feeds from blogs.

What Can Wide Receivers and Punters Tell Us about Potential Success in a New Job?

Quite a lot, according to an article, “When ‘Stars” Migrate, Do They Still Perform Like Starts?” by Boris Groysberg, Lex Stan, and Robin Abrahams published in the MIT Sloan Management Review Fall 2008.

The authors studied portability, or how easily could an individual’s skills and knowledge, which constitute human capital, be transferred to a new organization and how quickly that individual could be successful.

Portability, they argue, depends on the preponderance of either general human capital, which can be applied in multiple organizations, or company specific skills which are not as portable. Economist Gary Becker first defined these two types of human capital and the authors expanded the definitions into five categories which they define as:

1. General Management: the skills, knowledge, and traits required to manage.
2. Strategic: specific experience in cost-cutting, driving growth, etc.
3. Industry-specific: skills and training useful in one industry, but not in others
4. Relationships: interpersonal relationships within a company
5. Company-specific: knowledge of an organization’s routines and procedures

Portability decreases as an individual’s skill set moves from category 1 to category 5.

Studying this topic in business proved problematic since so many variables apply to stars in organizations. However, football provided an excellent case study because the success of the teams depends almost exclusively on the players and the information is public.

Examining the records of wide receivers, who have to work closely with teammates to succeed, and punters, who are individual contributors, from 1993 to 2002 demonstrated three important points:

1. Wide receivers are less likely to perform as well as punters the first year after switching teams.
2. The performance of wide receivers improves by the second season with a new team as the individuals build organization-specific human capital.
3. Team owners and managers know this so punters moved 19.4%.while wide receivers changed teams only 8.3% of the time during the study.

How does this apply to CI positions? Top ranking CI professionals such as CI Evangelists score high on relationships and company knowledge while CI analysts must demonstrate CI skills independent of the organization to succeed.

This illustrates that analysts who are focused on information outside the company are more portable that higher level CI staff who are much more dependent on relationships to succeed.

However, a number of CI professionals have moved from industry to industry and are successful. Does this negate the comparisons with the authors’ categories? Actually, I think it reflects the fact that many organizations do not have adequate CI expertise in-house and cannot develop it internally. They recognize the need to hire from outside and that CI process expertise is portable. However, both the companies and the candidates must insure that sufficient time is allowed for new hires to build the relationships and the organization-specific knowledge key to CI. Otherwise, the CI person will fail and CI receive a black eye.

Bottom line, CI skills are portable; just make sure you have enough time to be successful.

Discount Rates for SCIP09 Registration through January

Register Now and use promo code "SCIP09Early"

Lower Rates for 2009 and Early-Bird Discounts

SCIP is sensitive to your budget! After all, the conference fees have been reduced by nearly 15 percent from last year. In addition, early-bird registrants are entitled to a significant discount through January 31. Groups of five or more receive an additional $100 off per registration. Do not forget to book your hotel room at the SCIP rate.

SCIP09 Keynote: Michael Treacy

Michael Treacy is the best-selling author of The Discipline of Market Leaders, and has spent much of his distinguished career transforming major corporations worldwide. Treacy has been a professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management and an advisor to the National Board of the United Way of America. Hear him discuss his new formula of business management, called Value Disciplines, at SCIP09.

Get Ready for Five Tracks of Incredible CI Programming!

These five tracks have been painstakingly chosen to bring you the most timely and relevant topics to bring you the most for your professional development investment. The five tracks for SCIP09 are:

• CI Offense/Defense

• Professional Effectiveness

• Critical Skills

• Innovation in CI

• Active Dialog

It’s All Online

Information about SCIP09 is being updated at www.scip.org in real time! You can register online now or check out the latest postings about sessions, workshops, speakers, and all of the exciting events happening at SCIP09.

Announcing a Focus on Aviation

I founded EastSight Consulting to focus on information technology and communications. Both of these industries are characterized by rapid and major changes in technology, globalization, and regulatory environment. Now I and my team are turning our seasoned research and analytical skills to the aviation industry as it learns to respond quickly to cost and competitive forces in the midst of increased globalization and ongoing deregulation. I am very excited to be working with industry experts such as world-renowned Dr. Kenneth Button of George Washington University.

Learn more in the following press release and at www.eastsightaviation.com website.

Not Just Oil: Dr. Kenneth Button Reveals Underlying Causes of Airline Industry Crisis

WASHINGTON, D.C. – September 25, 2008 –Contrary to popular belief, high fuel prices are just a symptom of a much deeper disease in the Aviation industry, according to a report by Kenneth J. Button, Director of the Center for Transportation Policy, Operations, and Logistics at George Mason University (go to www.eastsightaviation.com). Offering service in advance in a time of rising prices is terribly risky, profits are negligible even in boom times, the market is governed by antiquated laws and traffic control systems, and the airline industry is set up to encourage a great number of competitors while restricting mergers and alliances that could save existing airlines.

Many of the laws governing mergers and cartels date back over a hundred years, when advanced transportation was a train. Laws need to be reformed to meet the realities of the 21st century where the service sector dominates. Over 20% of the U.S. economy as a whole is engaged in international trade, and the airline industry is rapidly moving in the same direction.

Dr. Kenneth Button states, “Oil is like any other input; an industry, even in a normally competitive market, should be able to adjust to the new cost levels, albeit neither immediately nor painlessly, with customers ultimately paying higher prices and consuming less. The fundamental problem is that once an airline offers a service for, say, six months in the future, it has to commit to have a plane, crew, fuel, landing and take-off slots, gates, check-in counters, etc. in place at that scheduled time. In an attempt to gain revenue, an airline can raise prices, but because of competition it can’t unilaterally keep higher prices, so it fails to recover its fixed costs.”

Airlines also rely on a considerable amount of public infrastructure. They are under the direction of the FAA, which has been under mounting criticism over the way it provides and manages air space, and delays occur because of congestion and failures in the system. Airports exacerbate the problem with inefficient allocation of capacity. The overall delay costs for 2005 were estimated to be at least $9.4 billion, and have grown since then.

This economic conundrum has been largely ignored in policy formulation. Contrary to traditional economists, who believe there can never be too much competition, unless competition is limited, the industry may implode.

Of mounting concern in the U.S. is whether the airline industry can generate sufficient revenue to encourage long-term investment. Given the tight financial markets in 2008 which seem unlikely to loosen in the near future, investors may be less than enthusiastic about bailing out the airlines again. As Warren Buffet said, “I have an 800 number now that I call if I get the urge to buy an airline stock. I call at two in the morning and I say: "My name is Warren and I'm an aeroholic." And then they talk me down.”

But even if reforms are made, the underlying problem remains: that this type of market is inherently unstable. It will still require innovation, imagination, and entrepreneurial flair by airline owners and management to continue providing an extensive network of cheap and safe services. The United States airline industry needs to be able to operate profitably; and updating laws and traffic control systems, allowing more mergers, and helping them grow market power are necessary to preserve airline travel as we know it and depend on it.

MEDIA: To schedule an expert interview contact: Parmelee Eastman EastSight Aviation Associate EastSight Aviation 781-416-3686 info@eastsightaviation.com

EastSight Aviation Formed to Assist Aviation Industry Return to Profitability

Skyrocketing fuel costs have hit the aviation industry as hard as hurricanes have hit our coasts. And like hurricanes, fuel prices are highly variable. Airlines have always evolved to succeed despite multiple waves of change. But with the highest waves in the industry’s history, participants need assistance to advise them on how to survive and succeed in today’s world.

EastSight Aviation has been formed to address these needs of the struggling aviation industry by providing services that will help industry players survive—indeed--prosper. Services range from tailored, proprietary studies to published reports with unique findings. Learn about the fundamental problem of the airline industry from our first report, Airline Economics: Why the Current Structure Is Not Sustainable. For more information on this report or on EastSight Aviation, please call 781.416.3686 or visit www.eastsightaviation.com.

Most companies are swimming in a sea of information. We apply our proven research methodology to focus on the key issues of your organization and then synthesize our findings with your internal knowledge to provide actionable intelligence on topics ranging from best practices to potential competitor moves.

In the area of strategic communications, we help our clients identify key decision makers and market influencers, craft appropriate and effective key messages, and determine the most effective channels for delivery of those messages to maximize their power and impact.

Successful organizations continually find new opportunities by entering into new market spaces, connecting with new partners, and discovering new opportunities and technologies despite the stresses of rapid change. EastSight Aviation facilitates innovation through rigorous models that capitalize on your connections to technology and resources to maximize your bottom line.

All organizations must organically adapt in order to persevere and succeed. You have experience in aligning organizational strategies with the mission, goals, vision, and values of your organization. EastSight Aviation can help you achieve a higher level of performance by ensuring that your business processes, systems, and rewards directly support your organization’s goals within the framework of rapid change. We can help you adapt your organization to meet present and future needs — motivating employees to outflank competitors, while retaining key skills, capabilities, and personnel.

We also help teams understand the distinctive make-up, culture and capabilities of their international organization. EastSight Aviation can help you view your own culture — as others perceive it — then change your actions and attitudes to succeed brilliantly.

The group consists of professionals with deep experience and interest in the industry such as Professor Ken Button, University Professor and Director of the Center for Transportation, Policy, Operations, and Logistics, and Director of the Aerospace Policy Research Center, School of Public Policy, George Washington University, and professionals with extensive experience with industries with rapid change. Associate Parmelee Eastman can apply the business lessons learned in the fast-paced information technology field to the aviation industry.

We are still exploring and evaluating the best way to proceed with our group and tailoring the services which will prove most useful by our aviation clients. We welcome your feedback on how we can help you.

Watch out!

Don’t get paranoid, but competitive intelligence and corporate espionage can be everywhere and your organization should take certain steps to avoid the loss of intellectual property and other confidential material.

 

Expert Harry Markopolos, aided by suggestions from the attendees at this week’s Boston Chapter SCIP meeting, recommended a number of actions to keep information secure:

 

• Do not let employees send key data to their home emails
• Make sure non-compete agreements are valid in your state
• Train your workforce about the possibility of being interviewed for non-existent job openings during which the competitors fish for confidential information
• Identify key employees who might be approached to sell corporate secrets and offer them a reward for working with government officials to prosecute the buyers
• Buy a screen shield for newer laptops for use when traveling—the manufacturers have made the screens much more legible for users and for snoopers.  Or use an old laptop with its hard to see screen
• Encrypt data

Internationally, the US laws against corporate espionage do not apply so international travel requires extra precautions:

• Keep all important data on a removable drive and always take it with you
• Beware of discussions on national airlines of countries who have significant competitors to your firms—your seat could be bugged
• Same for western style hotels in Asia—your room may be bugged
• Is there a local bar that westerners frequent?  If so, watch out for offers of companionshi

These are just a few of the issues mentioned Wednesday evening.  Don’t get paranoid; just be very careful.  Once IP is lost, it is gone whether or not the thieves can be found and prosecuted.