Competitive intelligence in India on a shoestring

[Varsha Chitale]

How can small businesses in India do competitive intelligence (CI)? I had the opportunity to discuss this with a group of small businesses at the TiE breakfast event in Pune last month.

Small businesses have limited resources at their disposal and need to figure out ways to do CI on small budgets. In developed economies which are well documented, this generally means smart use of free internet tools of various kinds to keep tabs on the industry, regulation, competition, etc.

In India, these tools have limited use, as there is miniscule business information available on the Internet. Small businesses in India need to tap into the “market knowledge” available on the street from their customers, distributors, dealers, suppliers, bankers and so on, in order to keep themselves abreast with the developments around them.

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