Smart Services: Competitive Information Strategies, Solutions, and Success Stories for Service Businesses

Focusing specifically on the competitive information needs of service-oriented firms, this book illuminates the many forms of competition in service businesses, identifies the most effective information resources for competitive intelligence, and provides a practical framework for identifying and studying competitors in order to gain competitive advantage. Explained are unique challenges and techniques for tackling traditional competitors, uncovering hidden and left-field competition, discovering and tracking competitor strategies, looking for financial intelligence, and looking for intelligence about people.