The course taught by Adrian Alvarez and Laura Giacosa at the Universidad de Belgrano was the first postgraduate course on the subject in Argentina with its first edition in the second semester of 2007. This course will be organized at least once a year, with the second edition being scheduled for April-July 2008.
The course covers competitive intelligence and strategic analysis. The name of the course in Spanish is “Inteligencia Competitiva y Análisis Estratégico”.
A brief summary of its content can be seen in the following chart:
|
Theme |
Number of classes |
|
CI Model/Wheel overview of the course |
1 |
|
Sources of information |
1 |
|
Process of analysis |
1 |
|
Porter-Delta-6 Angles of competition models |
1 |
|
Blindspots |
1 |
|
Win-loss Analysis |
1 |
|
Financial Analysis |
1 |
|
Scenarios |
1 |
|
Competitive Response |
1 |
|
Presenting results |
1 |
|
Integrative case |
1 |
|
Implementing a successful CI department |
1 |
|
Early Warning |
1 |
|
Successful local and regional CI cases |
1 |
|
Presentation of own cases by students |
1 |
Each class discusses the topics applying a local or Latin American real case to better explain how each theme is applied in practice.
During the course the students have to carry out a case based on their current experience and the concepts learned in the course. The last class is devoted to the presentation and evaluation of the projects carried out by the students.
The CI projects are conducted in groups of no more than five people. The professional background of the students in each group is set to be as diverse as possible to broaden the professional perspective of participants.
Each class will last for four hours. The total number of hours in the course is 60.
Evaluation is made by participation in classes (30%) and the presentation of a competitive intelligence case project.
Liam Fahey (1999) Competitors. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Fleisher, Craig S, and Bensoussan, Babette (2003). “Strategic and Competitive Intelligence: Methods and Techniques for Analyzing Business Competition.” Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Leonard Fuld (1995) The New Competitor Intelligence: The Complete Resource for Finding, Analyzing, and Using Information about Your Competitors. New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
Gilad, Ben (2004) “Early Warning: Using Competitive Intelligence to Anticipate Market Shifts, Control Risk, and Create Powerful Strategies.” New York: American Management Association.
Richard J. Heuer, Jr (1999) Psychology of Intelligence Analysis. Center for the Study of Intelligence Central Intelligence Agency (see their website @ http://www.cia.gov/csi/books/19104/index.html )
Lisa Krizan (1999) Intelligence Essentials for Everyone. Joint Military Intelligence College Occasional Paper Number Six (June 1999). Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.
John Nolan (1999) Confidential: Uncover Your Competitors’ Top Business Secrets Legally and Quickly – and Protect Your Own. New York: Harper Business, a div. of Harper Collins.