Approaches That a Business Firm Could Use to Gather Information About Competition

Evaluate each of the following approaches that a business firm could use to gather information about competition. For each approach, mark your feeling about its appropriateness using the following scale:

1. definitely not appropriate, 2. probably not appropriate, 3. undecided, 4. probably appropriate, and 5. definitely appropriate

The business firm should try to get useful information about competitors by:

__5___ Careful study of trade journals Studying the competitors is the correct way that a company can compete with its competitors.

__1___ Wiretapping the telephones of competitors This is not ethical nor illegal. The company can get involved in legal issues; which would damage their image and for end their business.

__4___ Posing as a potential customer to competitors This can help providing us with the marketing method that the competitor is using and their products.

__3___ Getting loyal customers to put out a phone "request for proposal" soliciting competitors' bids

__5___ Buying competitors' products and taking them apart I agree completely doing this because I can compare my competitors products with mine and their range price; this would help me to better position my business in the market.

__4___ Hiring management consultants who have worked for competitors I would not definitely interrogate the employees but I know this will help my business because those employees by themselves will run my business having present at all time how the competitor works.

__1___ Rewarding competitors' employees for useful "tips" I consider this one as the same as I were "wiretapping the telephones of competitors", and is illegal and unethical.

__5___ Questioning competitors' customers and/or suppliers I believe that the company can gather very useful information doing this. This can be done by designing a survey were our customers and the competitors customers can answered. Using the information gathered from the surveys the company can adjust to the customers needs and below the competitors prices to fulfill the needs at better price.

__3___ Buying and analyzing competitors' garbage I am not sure how can this help my business.

__3___ Advertising and interviewing for nonexistent