External analysis 23Area of external information Category General content
Market intelligence • Market potential :Capacity, consumption, imports, exports- Structural change :Mergers, acquisitions, new entries
- Competitors and industry :Competitor information, industry policy
- Pricing :Effective and proposed prices
- Sales negotiations :Information on specific current or
- Customers potential sales
:Current or potential customers, markets
and problems
Technical intelligence • New product, processes :Technical information relatively new or
and technology unknown to enterprise- Product problems :Involving current products
- Costs :For processing, operations, etc. for
- Licensing and patents suppliers, customers and competitors
:Products and processes
Acquisition intelligence • Leads for mergers, joint :Information concerning possibilities for
ventures, or acquisitions the organisationIntelligence on broad issues • General conditions :General information on political,- Government actions and demographic, etc.
policies :Decisions affecting the industry
Other intelligence •Suppliers and raw materials :Purchasing information- Resources available :Availability of people, land, other
- Miscellaneous resources
:Any other information
Figure 2.2
Critical areas of external information (Source: Adapted from Aguilar, 1967)
at 18 per cent. The importance placed on market intelligence was true
across all functional areas. The most significant categories of information
within this area were market potential, accounting for 30 per cent alone
and structural change, accounting for 10 per cent. The only other category
that reached double figures was for the category of new products, process
and technology under technical intelligence.
One crucial aspect of this activity, especially where it underpins futures
forecasting, is to detect weak signals. That is, identifying fragments of
information that indicate significant changes, but whose potential impact