Investing well thanks to competitive intelligence: instructions for use

Publish-editorial — Knowing the market well is a prerequisite for investing well. As a business leader, you know full well that your competitors’ choices influence yours. They are the ones who influence your investment strategies. But how to do a good strategic watch and how to best manage your investments? Here are some answers.

Business intelligence, the key investment tool

To know the positions of your competitors, strategic intelligence or competitive intelligence is the best tool. But you still have to do it right. Explanations.

What is Strategic Intelligence?

Strategic intelligence consists of finding information on companies. This information generally concerns technological innovations, threats or development opportunities.

Why look at what is happening with competitors?

Competitive intelligence is a strategic component for the development of a company. It allows you to have real-time insight into your competitive environment. New products, new technologies, new communications, nothing escapes you.

Although it depends on your radius of action, your strategic watch allows you to:

• choose the most suitable technological options;
• to compare your know-how and see in which direction to develop it;
• to set up new projects;
• to make the management of your business more efficient;
• to modify, extend or diversify the activities of your company.

In any case, strategic intelligence is your best ally. It helps you understand your positioning in relation to your competitors. It also gives you their intentions. With its information, you can compare the possible results of each type of investment and choose the one that will give the best. Comparing is therefore the most logical way to choose the investment that will bring you the most return.

How to properly monitor the intentions of your competitors?

The current economic and commercial context is increasingly competitive. Developments are uncertain and accentuate this pressure. Also, a strategic watch becomes more than necessary to consider your future investments.

For your competitive intelligence to be effective, you must receive sufficient and varied information. Thus, the minimum information to know is:

• balance sheets;
• legal numbers such as SIRET and SIREN;
• the names of leaders;
• the overall financial health of the business;
• solvency ;
• turnover.

Some resources go further with more in-depth financial and legal information.

From comparison to investment

For an entrepreneur, investing in his business is not easy. Indeed, you must choose the right strategy, the right investment and the right financing for it. A few ways to get there.

What investment strategies are available to companies?

In a context of strong competition, the investment strategy developed by a company must give it an advantage. She seeks to distinguish herself by doing better than the others.

Also, to achieve its goals, a company can rely on several strategies:

• cost leadership;
• innovation and technology;
• the differentiation ;
• Cooperation.

The strategy of cost leadership is linked to the reduction of costs to offer services or products cheaper than competitors. The company can then seek to negotiate better prices with suppliers, invest in new technological processes or cut corners on marketing.

The innovation and technology strategy leads the company to distinguish itself through innovations that its competitors do not have. This strategy often goes hand in hand with the differentiation strategy.

The differentiation strategy is for the company to offer something unique. The differentiating advantage of the company can be of any order: commercial, technical, technological, qualitative. The important thing is that the consumer is aware of the value added by this difference.

Finally, the cooperation strategy is very different. Instead of facing each other in competition, companies cooperate in order to obtain an exchange of advantages. While this often occurs between companies with complementary activities, cooperation can also take the form of franchises, concessions or even subcontracting.

All of its strategies are illustrated with one or more investments.

What growth strategies should you choose for your business?

Over the course of its life, your business will go through several phases of growth. Each phase requires substantial investments that should be compared to choose the right one. Indeed, the levers of growth are varied and must take place at the most opportune moment. Also, you must compare them to choose the one that is best suited to your goals, but also to the market.

In general, the main growth strategies are:

• increasing market share;
• the conquest of new markets;
• product diversification;
• the acquisition of a company, often competing or complementary;
• the purchase of new franchises;
• franchising your own business;
• repositioning your business.

How to choose financing?

Once the investment has been chosen, you must proceed with the implementation. For this, quite often, you need to obtain funds. These funds come either from inside or outside the company.

Although not the most common option, some companies do raise funds internally. Capital then generally opens up to employees.

Externally, companies can also raise funds, but often rely on banks to obtain the money. Between the banking companies, the conditions are often different. In addition, the interest rates are very disparate, sometimes leading to a significant repayment differential. An online comparator can then help you find the best bank for your project. It will help you compare the financial aspects, but also the conditions for granting the loan. Indeed, some banks are more demanding than others on this point.

With the successive economic crises, the markets are increasingly strained. Strategic intelligence makes it possible to monitor, as well as possible, the movements and intentions of your competitors. With all this data, you can best define the most profitable investments for your business. Don’t forget that, in addition to its positioning, the success of your investment also depends on the financing conditions.

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