Intelligence is Hidden Key to Motorola’s Success — Details Revealed in Exclusive June Interview with Motorola CEO
Competitive Intelligence drives the company’s success
CAMBRIDGE, MA June 5, 2000
Motorola Chairman and CEO Chris Galvin reveals how he specifically uses business intelligence to maintain Motorola’s competitive edge. Galvin doesn’t make any secret of the fact that his company uses Business Intelligence he openly endorses it.
In an exclusive interview with competitive intelligence guru Leonard Fuld on the Fuld Competitive Intelligence Center (www.factiva.com) during the month of June, Galvin expounds on the benefits of business intelligence, also known as competitive intelligence.
The Fuld Competitive Intelligence Center provides business professionals, from managers to CEOs, with powerful company, industry and trend analysis tools that help them efficiently compile, evaluate and act on competitive intelligence and make timely, strategic decisions.
For the first time, www.factiva.com is offering visitors a chance to weigh in on a topical question. The question this month is: Does your management readily accept dissenting opinions? (Yes or No)
Galvin cites three major benefits of using business intelligence: forewarning, analytical input and objectivity.
“With the exception of the surprise that comes through invention and innovation, we don’t like to be surprised,” he said. “I see business intelligence giving us the ability to be forewarned and to challenge our thinking about our market, our competition and upcoming events.
“Our Business Intelligence team has allowed us to observe how our competitors and others in our industries look at our customers. This group has alerted us to any new business models used by our rivals,” Galvin said.
Regarding objectivity, Motorola’s internal analysts can develop pricing and cost structures from the company’s perspective, assessing it from the company’s vantage point objectively and in depth. Unlike outside analysts and investment bankers, Motorola’s business intelligence team can do an analysis with no stakes involved.
Galvin offered an example of how business intelligence has paid off. In one case, the company learned that several rivals were interested in buying a company whose technology Motorola needed. As a result, Motorola bought a large stake in the targeted company, thereby thwarting any rival’s ability to buy it.
A strict set of legal and ethical standards applies throughout the company at all times, including the process of gathering business intelligence, Galvin said.
Factiva, a leader in delivering and integrating global news and business information on corporate desktops around the world, launched Fuld’s groundbreaking competitive intelligence resource in the award-winning Ask Dow Jones section of Dow Jones Interactive.
Each month, the site features an exclusive interview with a top CEO or other well known executive. The interviews, all conducted by Fuld, uncover each executive’s competitive strategies, challenges and successes. Already featured have been Robert Crandall, the former chairman & CEO of American Airlines, Herb Baum, president of Hasbro Inc., and oil magnate T. Boone Pickens.
Besides exclusive CEO interviews, the Fuld Competitive Intelligence Center offers a Competitive Intelligence Primer and an interactive introduction to competitive intelligence basics covering topics such as information analysis, research techniques, global information interpretation and competitive intelligence program organization. In addition, the site’s Strategic Intelligence Organizer provides a complete checklist of information revealing the best competitive practices used by successful companies.
Fuld & Co. (www.fuld.com), a research and consulting firm, is an international leader and pioneer in the field of competitive intelligence. Founded in 1979 by Leonard M. Fuld, a recognized competitive intelligence expert, Fuld & Co. is based in Cambridge, Mass., and has affiliates throughout the world. The company’s client roster includes more than half the Fortune 500.