The management at Joy, a local jewelry store in London, has hired a comparison shopper to visit other local jewelry stores to gain product pricing information. This scenario most likely illustrates the concept of _____.

a. threaded marketing
b. competitive intelligence
c. urban informatics
d. market basket analysis

Competitive intelligence is the systematic collection of open information, which once combined and analyzed provides a better understanding of the structure, culture, behavior, capabilities, and weaknesses of a competitor's firm.

Companies use competitive intelligence to compare themselves with others, allowing them to make informed decisions. Most firms today realize the importance of knowing what their competitors are doing, and the information collected allows organizations to find out about their strengths and weaknesses.

Competitive Intelligence includes the tasks of capturing or obtaining information, the treatment and analysis thereof and the transfer of the results to the management, so that it can make the best decisions.

Technological intelligence studies indicate what will be a success in R & D & I, tracking the information available worldwide and providing companies with the lines of research to follow.

Intelligence begins in the identification of a need for information and the collection of relevant information, and ends in filtering and analysis to support a decision.

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