This Just In: Corporate Espionage Continues to Grow

The corporate world is in a constant state of battle and each participant searches for the key bit of competitive intelligence that will give an edge. Espionage has been a constant practice in nearly every industry and there is no sign of slowing.

http://economicintelligence.blogspot.com/2007/04/corporate-spying-grows.html

The likelihood of getting caught is pretty slim. So many do it because most activities are never going to be discovered. And, some forms of espionage are so simple to execute that you almost feel compelled to try.

To stay on the side of ethical, I use a pretty simple rule: "If a person would lose their job by providing this information to me, I won't pursue it."

Just because you can think of creative ways of gathering info doesn't mean that you should execute on every one of them.

And, then, you need to decide if the information you pursue is going to provide you a benefit anyway. If the information is interesting but worthless, why would you risk your company's ethics and legal standing?

Before you chase any piece of information, try to apply the following two questions and plot the answer on the quadrant below:

1- How practical is it to procure this information?
2- What is the potential ROI?


Try to stay in the upper right-hand quadrant. Otherwise, your company is wasting time, money, and perhaps legal capital on efforts that just don't really matter.

If you have an idea about a competitive intelligence or competitive advantage project, talk to me and let's figure out where it might fit in the overall productive scheme of things.

Email or phone (801-838-9600 x5050)