Benchmarking CIA - Competitive Intelligence Definition

[Vivek Raghuvanshi]

BENCHMARK CIA and Learn!



We should Benchmark CIA. Why? Because: Benchmarking does not necessarily have to be within Competitive Intelligence Industry only. When we Benchmark across diverse industries, we as Competitive Intelligence professionals can improve and avoid stagnation.

This is how we INNOVATE. Please appreciate positive connotations. This is how we can take care of Competitive Intelligence Industry's Existing Competitors / Latent Competitors / Parallel Competitors.

Lets look at CIA's Vision:

One Agency. One Community. An Agency unmatched in its core capabilities, functioning as one team, fully integrated into the Intelligence Community

Lets look at CIA's Mission:

We are the nation’s first line of defense. We accomplish what others cannot accomplish and go where others cannot go. We carry out our mission by:

Collecting information that reveals the plans, intentions and capabilities of our adversaries and provides the basis for decision and action.


Producing timely analysis that provides insight, warning and opportunity to the President and decisionmakers charged with protecting and advancing America’s interests.


Conducting covert action at the direction of the President to preempt threats or achieve US policy objectives.

Lets look at CIA's Core Values:

Service. We put Country first and Agency before self. Quiet patriotism is our hallmark. We are dedicated to the mission, and we pride ourselves on our extraordinary responsiveness to the needs of our customers.


Integrity. We uphold the highest standards of conduct. We seek and speak the truth—to our colleagues and to our customers. We honor those Agency officers who have come before us and we honor the colleagues with whom we work today.


Excellence. We hold ourselves—and each other—to the highest standards. We embrace personal accountability. We reflect on our performance and learn from that reflection.

My Interpretation of COMPETITIVE INTELLIGENCE by Benchmarking CIA:
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COMPETITIVE INTELLIGENCE - VISION

One brotherhood, one community, unmatched in its core capabilities, functioning as one team

COMPETITIVE INTELLIGENCE - MISSION

We are the Organisation's first line of defense. We accomplish what others cannot accomplish and go where others cannot go. We carry out our mission by:

Collecting information that reveals the plans, intentions and capabilities of our adversaries and provides the basis for decision and action.


Producing timely analysis that provides insight, warning and opportunity to the President and decisionmakers charged with protecting and advancing Organisational interests.


COMPETITIVE INTELLIGENCE - CORE VALUES

Service. We put Our Organisation first and before self. Quiet and unassuming demeanor is our hallmark. We are dedicated to the mission, and we pride ourselves on our extraordinary responsiveness to the needs of our customers.


Integrity. We uphold the highest standards of conduct. We seek and speak the truth—to our colleagues and to our customers. We honor those Competitive Intelligence officers who have come before us and we honor the colleagues with whom we work today.


Excellence. We hold ourselves—and each other—to the highest standards. We embrace personal accountability. We reflect on our performance and learn from that reflection

[Tadeusz Lemańczyk]

I'm afraid there is a weakness in your Interpretation of COMPETITIVE INTELLIGENCE by Benchmarking CIA. Who are "our adversaries"? Would "One brotherhood, one community, unmatched in its core capabilities, functioning as one team" be up in the air because of it? ;-)

[Vivek Raghuvanshi]

Our adversaries are:

1. Market Research agencies
2. Management consultant agencies
3. Business Intelligence agencies
4. Knowledge Management agencies
5. Credit Reporting agencies
6. Private Investigation agencies
7. Database providers

All these are highly debatable.


Further Competitive Intelligence operates mainly in OSINT environment " be up in the air because of it is just fine" if we see the denotation here.

If we go in for connotations, then, I will tow the line.

[Tadeusz Lemańczyk]

Do you really mean that "COMPETITIVE INTELLIGENCE - MISSION" is "Collecting information that reveals the plans, intentions and capabilities of [...] 1. Market Research agencies 2. Management consultant agencies 3. Business Intelligence agencies 4. Knowledge Management agencies 5. Credit Reporting agencies 6. Private Investigation agencies 7. Database providers"? I'm afraid that each of us working in his/her company collects information that reveals the plans, intentions and capabilities of rival companies which compete with his/her company in market economy all over the world. Can we therefore function "as one team" just like CIA functions?

[Vivek Raghuvanshi]

Ex-President Bush once said:

" Dissent is healthy in Democracy"

Cheers!

[Jerry Spencer]

Well said, Tadeusz. If we (a competitive intelligence community/organization) tried to outstrip our "adversaries", we would be at odds with one another as each would be in an adversarial position.