Knowledge Is Power

Keep Quiet or Fight Publicly against Intellectual Property Thefts?

DuPont has chosen to vigorously and publicly defend all its intellectual property, even if the technology is old. The older technology is probably generating cash for the company to invest in new businesses so it is worth protecting.

According to a March 8, 2012 article “FBI Traces Trail of Spy Ring to China” by Justin Scheck and Evan Perez in wsj.online, many US companies do not focus enough on intellectual property theft.

“Federal law-enforcement officials contend many U.S. companies do too little to protect their interests, failing to monitor employees and rarely bringing problems to federal agents for fear of bad publicity.”

“That is not the case with DuPont. It hires former high-ranking federal agents to keep tabs on its intellectual property and notifies federal officials of problems. The Justice Department has won at least four DuPont-related cases in recent years, among them convictions in 2009 of a former DuPont employee for stealing information related to Kevlar high-strength fabric and giving it to a Korean company, and of another for stealing trade secrets related to light-emitting diodes and taking them to China.”

“DuPont tries as hard to protect long-established technologies as new ones. It was more than 50 years ago that the company laid the groundwork for an efficient process to produce titanium dioxide, a white pigment used in paints and other products, according to court filings. The company honed the process through the years, becoming the world's largest producer of the chemical. To keep its complex production process secret, DuPont allowed most employees to know about only individual pieces of it.”

China, or course, seeks technology and intellectual property through a number of legal means. China opens certain Chinese markets to foreign investors only via joint ventures with Chinese firms that include intellectual property.

China also hires experts to research areas of interest and puts the legally obtained pieces of information together to create an understanding of the technology or process. This is standard CI approach, but when does it cross the line? An anonymous tip lead to the arrest of Walter and Christina Liew last summer for conspiring with government owned Chinese firm Pangang Group to steal DuPont’s titanium processing secrets for which the Liews received millions of dollars.

“Over the past 15 years, according to court filings and people familiar with the matter, Mr. Liew hired several former DuPont employees knowledgeable about specific pieces of the titanium process—a practice that isn't illegal.”

“One was Tim Spitler, an engineer in Reno, Nev., with a reputation for great titanium expertise. He told a friend around 2003 that he was working with Mr. Liew to cobble together titanium-making know-how to sell to a Chinese company, the friend said in an interview. A lawyer for Mr. Spitler said he eventually agreed to cooperate with investigators.”

“Another was Tze Chao, a 36-year DuPont veteran. Mr. Chao—who last week pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit economic espionage—said in a statement filed in court that shortly after his 2002 retirement, Pangang officials asked him to provide DuPont titanium-dioxide-making information. Mr. Chao said he hooked up with Mr. Liew after learning Mr. Liew was trying to sell similar information to Pangang.”

How does your firm protect its intellectual property? Does it try to handle thefts quietly so no proprietary information might be leaked in a prosecution? Or does it very loudly defend itself to send a message to other potential thieves?

Of course, in either case, companies should have an active policy of protecting and enforcing its IP or it will lose rights.

China, or course, denies any involvement or intent to obtain IP illegally.

An Evening in the CI Trenches, with Clifford Kalb

SCIP Boston enjoyed the presence of Cliff Kalb on April 20, 2011 as he presented to the New Jersey and Boston SCIP chapters; NJ via the e-learning platform provided by SCIP.

Cliff’s presentation about his experiences managing and growing Merck’s CI group, called Strategic Business Analysis at the time he left Merck, provided food for thought about how competitive intelligence (CI) professionals can partner with executives on a strategic level.

Cliff began by outlining the current environment for the pharmaceutical industry as a model for other industries. Cliff uses a four pointed diagram with current competitors opposite new competitors and suppliers opposite customers. Many CI professionals are very knowledgeable about current competitors, he observed, but miss the new competitors. Influencing these are economic conditions, politics, demographics, regulations, and science/technology. For example, demographics favor the pharmaceutical industry as baby boomers age and need more medical care.

A mentor told Cliff, “You don’t drive a car by looking in the rear view mirror.” Foresight is required; 2 days, 2 months, 2 years depending on the situation. Anticipation leads to a competitive edge which results in leadership.

Cliff reminded us that intelligence as actionable and providing a company with sustainable competitive advantage in the marketplace. Otherwise, it’s not worthwhile.

Despite this analogy with driving, a competitor’s actions in the recent past (12-18 months) can be useful in predicting future behavior, thereby reducing uncertainty about the future—the ultimate goal of intelligence. Intelligence is also rooted in history and carefully examines the actions, not the words, of competitors. Just read any CEO’s letter in annual reports. They are all the same.

Cliff also observed that the CI professional may not be the most popular person around because he or she is not drinking the cool aid. To be effective, you must view your employer as the “competitor” and think counter strategy. You must have faith in your convictions to challenge conventional wisdom and be the bearer of bad news. When Cliff worked at Roche, he created marketing plans with 10 pages of plans and 70 pages of contingency plans which contained multiple potential scenarios. If we do X, then competitors do Y, we must do Z. The Z actions were approved in advance. Between 30% and 40% of the time, the potential actions did happen.

The majority of SBA clients included headquarters marketing, senior management, research labs management, business development and the country managers. In supporting these clients, Cliff’s group did not respond to every request. If a request could be handled better by another group, the requestor was referred to that group. That included requests for data. Cliff systematically devised a matrix that outlined the best groups for handling specific types of request. If the resources were available directly to the user, for example via a desktop application, the user was taught how to use that resource. The project needed to be scoped so an evaluation of available resources could be made. About 50% of the requests for assistance were handled by the Strategic Business Analysis (SBA) group while 20% were referred to another function. In 30% of the cases, the response was shared by SBA and another group within Merck.

The analytical process used by the SBA group is very similar to something we all learned in school: the scientific method. The steps including defining the question, gathering the data, analyzing the data, drawing meaningful conclusions, preparing recommendations, drafting the report, delivering the report, and seeking feedback.

The SBA group required that requests for assistance be conveyed in writing. Half of the initial requests disappeared because the requestor did not know what he or she really wanted. After meeting with the client if necessary to clarify the need, the SBA group submitted a written response with expected timing and deliverables. Since the group had 40 to 45 active projects at once, priorities had to be assigned to each project.

Interestingly, the time spent defining the questions was highly variable. Even after examining hundreds of project records, no clear pattern emerged for this step although the subsequent steps clustered around a fixed number of days.

After each project, a feedback was requested of the sponsoring manager. If the feedback was not good, Cliff immediately had a closed door session with the project manager.

Cliff’s group existed for 25 years, and still exists today, although the name of the group changed several times. He noted that only Kodak’s group at 27 years can claim a longer history.

The SBA group did not do big, fat competitor profiles, work that was more focused a particular aspect of the competitor asking, “What will the rival do?,” so Merck could figure out how to preempt them. Support for licensing and business development became more important over time.

Cliff noted that the competitor tracking and early warning were the most important aspect of the work. For example, the country manager of Brazil called to say that Johnson & Johnson (J&J) had put a sign in the empty lot across the street from the Merck facility saying future site of J&J plant. The SBA group found out that this sign had appeared in 8 other locations and 9 months later, the buildings were finished, and J&J was busy recruiting Merck employees. Cliff suggested giving all employees an immediate raise to fend off raiding by J&J.

How did senior management use the SBA group? For quantitative forecasting, insight into competitive behavior, early warning, market modeling/benchmarking, and war gaming. For example, the SBA group analyzed the most successful product launches of all time and then assigned the same metrics to the country managers. The SBA group; had one person doing war gaming full-time with senior management always assigned to the competitor side. Especially if the game occurred just before budgeting, budgets were more realistic.

Cliff views the maturation of the SBA group as typical of CI functions. All CI functions begin with data, then use synthesis and analysis to turn data into information. Information evolves into intelligence with the use of insight and experience. Intelligence gives sustainable competitive advantage. Cliff’s direct reports, by the way, averaged 25 years of experience in the industry.

The issue with many CI functions is measuring their value. The SBA group was measured by the long term accuracy of quantitative forecasts, the ability to complete sensitive projects internally, recommendations on cost avoidance, and, rarely, a case with a tangible outcome. One example was the ability to delay a competitor’s entry into a market, relegating it to a minor position, and benefiting Merck by $400 million.

Contact Cliff at CKalb55205@aol.com or 617.956.2742.

SCIP Extends Early Bird Rate for May 9-12 Conference to Feb 28, 2011

Last year's conference received high marks from practioners. So I hope that SCIP's line up for this year of "presentations, workshops and interactive sessions will deliver cutting-edge strategies, best-practices, tools, trends, new products, and advancements in the strategic and competitive intelligence field, and offer unparalleled opportunities to network with your peers."

SCIP Meeting Dec 16 Featuring Harry Markopolos

The servers at SCIP are down right now so meeting notices and registration are also down. But mark your calendars for this event and check the SCIP site soon to register.

Bernie Madoff was the mastermind behind what is widely described as the largest Ponzi scheme in history. How was he uncovered? Did you know that CI techniques played a role? Join us over an Italian holiday feast and networking social, as Harry Markopolos, “the Madoff Whistleblower,” describes how he uncovered Madoff’s scheme and how CI techniques continue to help him in his current cases.

SCIP Massachusetts/Boston Chapter

Presents

The Annual Holiday Networking Party,

featuring special guest Harry Markopolis, “The Madoff Whistleblower”

Buca di Beppo restaurant (formerly Vinny T’s),

Lexington, MA Thursday, December 16, 2010 5:30PM – 8:00PM

Speaker

Harry Markopolis, CFA, CFE, is an independent financial fraud investigator who brings fraud cases to the US Department of Justice, Internal Revenue Service and various State Attorney Generals under existing whistleblower programs. He has been featured in the leading business media, including Wall Street Journal, CNBC, and Bloomberg, and he has provided testimony before the United States Congress.

The Madoff investigation was his first financial fraud case, which he started in early 2000. He’s been hooked ever since. Mr. Markopolos is co-author of the best selling book “No One Would Listen: A True Financial Thriller” published by Wiley & Sons, Inc.; March 2010. The film documentary about his Madoff investigative team, “The Foxhounds: The Pursuit of Bernie Madoff” premiered in November 2010 at the International Documentary Film Festival in Amsterdam.

Program

In 2000, Harry Markopolos recruited and led a four-man team of industry experts to track Bernie Madoff's $65 billion feeder fund network across two continents. This team's eight-and-one-half year long investigation identified dozens of Madoff feeder funds which were delivering a steady stream of new victims to Madoff's doorstep on a daily basis. Most of their intelligence was gathered in person at industry events, conferences, and during meetings. (In fact, very little of their investigation took place on the internet and there was a reason for that – Madoff was so secretive that he made sure that none of these feeder funds was mentioning him by name in their marketing efforts.) Mr. Markopolos will speak about the case from an intelligence gathering standpoint and take questions before the networking/holiday party begins.

Mr. Markopolos will also sign your copy of his book, No One Would Listen: A True Financial Thriller, detailing his investigation.

Location

Buca di Beppo restaurant (formerly Vinny T’s)

20 Waltham Street

Lexington, MA

(See directions, below)

Registration

Includes dinner and soft drinks. Cash bar available. SCIP Member $35.00 Non-Member $45.00

SLA members may email Cynthia Cheng Correia (ccorreia@knowledgeinform.com) for a registration form to fax to SCIP (703.739.2524). Please note: This will be a popular event – register early!

Agenda

5:30 to 6:00 Networking 6:00 to 6:45 Presentation and Q&A 6:45 to 8:00 Networking party

Contacts

Cynthia Cheng Correia, SCIP MA/Boston Chapter Coordinator, ccorreia@knowledgeinform.com, 1.877.400.0883 Robyn Reals, SCIP Education Manager, rreals@scip.org, 703.739.0696 X 107

Are you on the SCIP MA/Boston Chapter LinkedIn Group? Stay in the loop! http://www.linkedin.com/groups?about=&gid=2200786&trk=anet_ug_grppro

Directions & Parking

Directions for Buca di Beppo, Lexington

From The North, South, And West: Route 128 south to exit 31A. Routes 4 and 225 towards Lexington (You must bear right off the exit - It is one way.) Follow approximately 2 miles until you pass the Lexington Battle Green and the Minuteman statue. Take a right at the next traffic light onto Waltham Street. Buca is on the left.

From Boston Or Route 2 West: Route 2 west to exit 54B, Waltham Street, Lexington. Turn right at exit and follow approximately 2 miles. Buca is on the right just before the intersection of Waltham Street and Massachusetts Ave.

From Route 2 West: Route 2 to exit 53, Spring Street and Waltham Street. Bear right off the exit, take the next right and follow back over Route 2. Turn right immediately after going over the highway and follow approximately 1 mile to Waltham Street. Turn left and proceed approximately 2 miles. Buca is on the right just before the intersection of Waltham St. and Mass. Ave.

From Cambridge / Arlington: Follow Mass. Ave. into Lexington Center. After post office and police station, the next light is Waltham St. Turn left and Buca is on the right.

From Woburn / Burlington: At four corners, follow Lexington Street into Lexington until it ends at Mass. Ave. Turn right and then left at the next light - Waltham St. Buca is on the left.

Parking:

Street parking is available and a large lot is behind the buildings on the other side of Waltham St.

Jay Paap Speaking at Boston SCIP Meeting 11/17/10 on Using Competitive Intelligence to Support Innovation

Come hear CI expert Jay Paap speak on using intelligence to grow.

Program Title: Using CI to Support Innovation: Tools to Help Organizations Grow with Intelligence

Too many firms feel innovation is only for R&D and new product development groups of high tech companies. It is, of course, but innovation goes well beyond that. Innovation is important in any service, product, and government organization that wants to make improvements that provide value to their internal or external customers.

Whether its a brokerage house examining new reward systems, an insurance firm assessing new customer interface technologies, or a software firm tweaking its latest iPhone app, innovation follows the same underlying dynamic and firms who understand how it works have a real competitive advantage.

Where does CI fit in? Too often models of innovation start with screening ideas, and the role of CI is seen as secondary. Such models are wrong. Research conducted at MIT for NASA in the 1960s uncovered an important insight – innovation starts with intelligence, not ideas! Intelligence on expected customer requirements, on possible new technologies, and the competitive environment - these are the where good ideas come from and the starting points of innovation.

The message of this talk is simple and clear: Any organization wanting to innovate needs to recognize the central role of CI.

The workshop will be led by Dr. Jay Paap, a SCIP Fellow, a CI practitioner for over three decades, and a much in demand speaker who regularly presents talks and workshops on innovation and CI to executive audiences around the world. Jay will draw on his research and consulting work with hundreds of firms in integrating CI into their innovation programs. His talk will cover three main areas, and provide the basis for an extended dialogue with attendees following the presentation:

• How does innovation work and why is CI so critical to its success?
• What CI tools and techniques are most useful in supporting innovation?
• How can CI effectively interface with the sponsors of innovation?

Speaker Jay Paap is President of Paap Associates, a management consulting firm assisting major organizations in a broad range of business and technology development efforts.. For Dr. Paap’s very impressive full biography, please visit: http://www.jaypaap.com/bio.html.

The meeting will be held from 6-8 PM at Simmons College and the cost for members is $20 and $30 for non-members, including light refreshments.

Please register on www.scip.org.

For more information, please contact Cynthia Cheng Correia, SCIP MA/Boston Chapter Coordinator, ccorreia@knowledgeinform.com, 1.877.400.0883 or Robyn Reals, SCIP Education Manager, rreals@scip.org, 703.739.0696 X 107.

Cancellation Policy Cancellations must be received in writing by Tuesday, November 16 to be honored. <><><><><><><><><><><<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> By the way, are you LinkedIn with the Boston Chapter? If you aren’t, join the SCIP Boston Chapter Group on LinkedIn! Find us at: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?about=&gid=2200786&trk=anet_ug_grppro, where you can start and join discussions, hear about upcoming local events, view job postings, and more!

SCIP Europe Early Bird Discount Extended to Oct 22

European Competitive Intelligence Summit Session will be held in Barcelona, November 16-18, 2010).

SCIP’s 15th Annual Competitive Intelligence Summit presents over 30 speakers who cover all aspects of competitive intelligence, from collection to analysis to optimizing value.

The keynote speakers are:

Joaquin Mollinedo - Chief Innovation and Sustainability Officer in Acciona

Mario Sanchez Moreno - Director of Strategy and Internationalization at the High Council of Chambers of Commerce

Here’s a sample of the sessions:

• Successful Partnering with External Suppliers. Nikki Gainey, GE Healthcare.

• Value of Trade Show Intelligence, Andreas Vesper, Sitka Deutschland

• Implementing BSC in a Competitive Intelligence Unit. Mario Esteban-Martinez, Acciona

• Competitive Brand Intelligence Gathering, Takahiro Kudo, Honda

• Competitive Intelligence in a Consumer Brands Company. Luis Madureira, Central Cerfejas e Bebidas

• Knowledge Management and Competitive Intelligence. Daniel Cho, Philips Healthcare

• Building and Managing a Corporate CI Unit. Michel Bernaiche, Dunkin’ Brands

• Applying Scenario Analysis. Eduardo Flores-Bermudez, Bayer Schering

• Visibility, Value, and Vitality, Scott Leeb, Prudential Retirement

CI Becoming More Strategic Says AMA CI Panel

The Boston chapter of the American Marketing Association held a panel discussion of competitive intelligence (CI) on July 27, 2010. Panelists included:

Nan Bulger, Senior Director, Strategy & Marketing, Market Intelligence Philips Healthcare

Natalie Corridon-Gregg, Director of Technology Analysis, Global Competitive Group EMC

Keith Golembiewski, Head of Strategic Research, The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc.

Carol Galvin, Principal Segment Analyst, IBM Software Group Market Insights Team

Moderator Question: What is competitive Intelligence?

Nan: Ten years ago, CI equaled watching tier one direct competitors. Now CI encompasses much more.

Carol: It’s easy to see what in the headlights, but need to look beyond for tidbits. Get into the white space.

Natalie: The value-add for CI is creating the “so what.” I love the while space talk about what don’t we know. An EMC product may be filling a niche that we don’t know we are filling. If we don’t understand that and a competitor does; we’re in trouble. For example, a new competitor emerged that offered only five features on a product vs. our 100+ features on ours. We did not believe that they would succeed. But those five features were the five most important features—at a better price point.

Carol: In a meeting recently, we were looking at small venture capital funded companies that can produce competitive products quickly.

Nan: Being in CI is tough because we are often the bearer of bad news.

Carol: Deliver news clinically. Don’t call the product manager’s “baby” ugly. Give strengths and weaknesses.

Keith: Move CI upstream by asking additional questions.

Carol: Build consensus outside of and prior to the big meeting so there are no surprises in the room.

Keith: Build trust and have no hidden agendas.

Question: Does your company value CI?

Nan: Very, very much. I work directly with the CEO. Just recently, Philips decided that all strategic reviews will be run by market intelligence. We are heavily armed with analysis. My CEO asked, “Why should I believe you?” I replied that I was not in sales, I was not in marketing, I was not in finance, I was not in manufacturing. “I’m an independent unbiased source.”

Carol: The same is true at IBM. In the last 15 years, CI has risen in importance. Recently, management threw out business plans not blessed by CI.

Nan: CI staff members are strategic advisors. A lot of finance people are coming into CI. They have good skills for CI such as understanding of financial statements, attention to detail, and auditing experience.

Natalie: At EMC, CI is part of the sales organization. Although we are based there, we are becoming advisors to senior management. Also, like IBM, senior executives threw out plans not blessed by CI. EMC values CI, but CI is seen as many different pieces, not as an integrated whole.

Keith: Businesses at The Hartford is still silos so CI is silo’d.

Carol: CI is part of a global based corporate organization and is now called Market Insights. We support all functions. Each geographic organization has a mirror CI group with information funneled back to corporate. So a group in France can collect the information that is important to France. Within CI, one group is assigned to senior leaders, one to product management, one to sales, etc.

I can view a single competitor from five to six different angles depending on the group. CI staff must like variety. If you like focusing on a single issue, CI is not for you.

Nan: Philips has three business groups with some overlap. For example, some lighting products are used in surgical setups. The company has about 70 CI people worldwide. Part of my job is establishing processes for CI within the company.

Carol: For example, a product was being developed. Things went along for about six months. But then MI said that this product will not be a market leader if you continue along the same path. The product features were changed so it could be a market leader.

CI pulls all the pieces together to tell a cogent story.

Keith: CI and MR are done by the same person.

Question: What are the parameters for ethical behavior?

Natalie: Ethical behavior is in your DNA, or not in your DNA. If we were given a competitor’s confidential deck of slides by a common partner, we would not open it. It might advance our understanding of the competitor significantly, but we would not open it. Eventually all the information in it will be publicly available.

Nan: In most cases, people want to behave ethically, but do not know the boundaries. We do training and set up risk levels. People can call the MI group and get a quick answer.

Question: What is the future of CI?

Keith: Financial services are late to the game so CI will expand.

Carol: The strategy component will increase as globalization increases. Previously, a CI staff member was an expert on one competitor. Now we are hiring social media experts more.

We still do ad hoc reports and we create regular reports go out after earnings reports. We do not use email anymore. People get a tidbit and a link to more information in the cloud. We track usage and this works. It is verbotim to attach a report to an instant message. No need for newsletters—just Google it.

Nan: Specialities develop, like business analytics, sales or strategic CI.

Question: How do you handle emerging competitors?

Carol: We spend time on emerging technology. There are very experienced individuals at IBM called Fellows who follow emerging technologies; they’re not in CI, but they help us.

Nan: We run forums with diverse groups. We try to understand what customers want in the future and which firms have the competence to satisfy those needs. We do lots of scenario planning.

Carol: Hard to get people to commit to take the time out of busy schedules to attend an event that looks out five years.

Question: What type of person is good in CI?

Carol: What does it take to be good in CI? A person that can do research, but also able to analyze and synthesize the data. My question is where do you find these people.

Nan: Depends on the type of skill that you are looking for.

Question: How to determine ROI for CI?

Natalie: That’s why it’s taken so long for CI to grow. Win/lose data helps. All sales at EMC must go through salesforce.com. Otherwise, we would not know about lost business. It’s an investment to be in CI.

Carol: Helping sales win more deals. What is the opportunity cost—how much revenue will be missed if CI not done. Look for the “ah has.”

Nan: Do cost analysis of performing work inside vs. outsourcing.

Keith: Building relationships.

SCIP10 Presentation Notes: From Product to Service: Analyzing a New Business Model

From Product to Service: Analyzing a New Business Model, presented by Michael Sperger, Director of Market Intelligence, SAP

Michael asked if the audience could spot the service aspect of a plane.

(Microsoft clip art)

No, not delivering the fuel or moving the plane. GE engines are “sold” as part of a package. The engine is leased and GE takes responsibility for maintenance. The Service Level Agreement (SLA) says that GE will solve problems within two hours or swap out the engine. Another example is Netflicks. These are examples of the old expression for selling services: “Sell holes, not drills.”

Why this trend? Services decline less in downturns

Five competitive risks exist in this transition:

• Determining the pricing and value propositions
• Sales force transition

Different mix of Hunter (type of salesperson good at closing new accounts) vs. Gatherer (salesperson good at maintaining existing accounts) sales styles may be appropriate. Plus, the change in corporate model will cause some sales people to leave. Sales can not price right in service model. Sales compensation should change to depend on the life of contract and profitability

• Operations/delivery issues

“The Checklist Manifesto,” a best seller by surgeon Atul Gawante on using check lists to handle the complexity of modern life, suggests an approach to get people to use checklists in hospitals. Train low level staff first and then ask others to participate. A bottoms-up implementation plan may work better than a tops-down one.

• Differentiating service

Customers are more locked-in with a service model. This works great for incumbent, but terrible for competitors. Try closing a small piece of work to prove yourself and get to know each other.

In addition, if you are a manufacturing company moving to a service model, you may start to compete against your distributors.

Three tools for doing CI in a Product-to-Service transition are:

• Competitor profitability analysis
• Organizational model transformation
• Tactical program design

Use CI to Find Opportunities; Not Just Threats

This is the message from SCIP10: CI will be valued by top management if the function can assist in developing growth opportunities for organizations in addition to providing insight on the competition.

While this message appeared in numerous sessions, Dave Frigstad, founder of Frost & Sullivan, stated it explicitly.

He started his career in CI at a Danish firm. The CI group recommended against three proposed products; all three failed. Then the board decided that his group had to approve all new product concepts before significant investment would be allocated. Sixty percent of the proposed products were turned down by CI. This winnowing meant that products with more potential received funding and return on investment increased significantly. The company became one of the fastest growing, most profitable firms in Denmark.

CI also alerted the company to opportunities with existing products; market segments which were not covered by competitors. For example, spectrometers were becoming significantly faster, but instruments over a specified speed could not be sold in then Communist Eastern Europe. Frigstat’s group suggested developing a lower speed product for the Eastern European market. The resulting product became the number one seller in the US as well as the only product sold in Eastern Europe.

The bottom line: a Frost & Sullivan survey of CEO’s found that their number one concern was growth. CI needs to help organizations grow. Avoiding competitive threats is important, but it is hard to measure the avoidance of a problem. It is much easier to measure growth and much more appreciated by top management.

I Won a Catalyst Award from SCIP!

The Catalyst Awards are given by SCIP to individuals who significantly support its activities. I have been active in the Womens Leaders Council as a speaker and coordinator of the WLC event at SCIP09, and organizer of conference calls to re-form the group during the transition of SCIP from stand-alone to part of the Frost & Sullivan family.

I was Boston Chapter Chair for three years and am now assisting Cynthia Correia as Boston Chapter Co-Chair.

Part of my motivation for working on these organizations is self-serving from a business viewpoint. I do get contacts and information from these groups. But more importantly for me, I have contact with two very nice groups of CI professionals and have developed some friendships from these contacts. These activities have helped me keep up with developments in CI. I did not do these to win an accolades—I was pleasantly surprised to hear about the reward.

My advice is to get involved with SCIP, or other CI organization, in any way that makes sense to you and enjoy the personal and professional benefits.