Articles: Highlights from Arik Johnson's "Competitive Intelligence" Weblog

Read current thoughts on the competitive dynamics that are shaping the rest of business world alongside great new examples of CI at work in the real world of business in "Competitive Intelligence":

• South Korean Business Sees Gold in Olympic Games

• DuPont Teflon: Does One of the Most Successful Products of All Time Make People Sick?

• Weak Employment Report Puts Recovery in Question

• "Vote for Change" Concert Tour Will Rock November Ballot Race

• What can the 9/11 Commission Learn from Toyota? Plenty

• Google's IPO: Trouble Ahead

• Doom 3: Can Carmack's "id" Reinvent Computer Games (as it did with the original, Doom)?

• EDS Pays $135 Million to Buy Its Way Out of a Bad Deal

• No Pain, No Gain: Post-DNC Kerry vs. Bush Polls

• DaimlerChrysler's Youth Brand: Competing with Toyota's Scion Growth Strategy

• Reality TV vs. Democracy: DNC Media Coverage

• Apple vs. RealNetworks as iPod Wars Begin

Plus book reviews, intelligence tools and event recaps, found at Arik's online column, committed to "Lessons, Thoughts & Observations on Strategy, Competition, and Intelligence in Business".

http://www.AuroraWDC.com/ci

Events: Aurora Research Chief Running 2004 Chicago Marathon for American Cancer Society

If you're near Chicago Sunday, October 10th, join everyone at Aurora cheering on Derek Johnson, director of operations for the firm's Recon Intelligence Outsourcing Bureau. He's running the Chicago Marathon in support of the American Cancer Society (ACS).

Derek has two primary goals in this, his first full marathon (26.2 miles):

1. to raise at least $5,000 for ACS, and;
2. to finish the whole race (without walking) in under 4 hours.

Commenting on his training regimen, Derek noted,

"Since I'm training all summer, not a day goes by that I don't think about running this race. I'm really blessed to be healthy and able to help a worthy charity like ACS continue funding research efforts toward finding cures for the many different forms of cancer impacting people's lives. I fully expect this to be the most intense mental and physical challenge of my life so far... but it's really no comparison with the battles faced by people fighting cancer every day."

If you would like to sponsor Derek's run and contribute to ACS, learn more about his personal story and make a donation at:

http://register.charityrunner.org/site/TR?pg=personal&fr_id=1020&px=1028180

Events: Two-Day Workshop - Sydney - August 26-27

We're heading to Sydney, Australia next month for a two-day workshop on "Delivering the Competitive Intelligence Professional - Capitalising on Knowledge for Innovation & Sustained Competitive Advantage", 26-27 August 2004, at the Four Points by Sheraton Darling Harbour Hotel. To learn more about this intense workshop agenda, please download the brochure and contact the organizer for registration:

http://www.AuroraWDC.com/sydney_200408.pdf

Events: Aurora WDC and Board Resources Workshop - Chicago - September 15

Aurora will present "Competitive Intelligence, Linking CI to Strategic Decision-Making" in Chicago on September 15th, in partnership with the 2004 Board Resources Workshops series, "New Rules - New Practices".

Designed as an interactive workshop, exclusively for members of the board of directors of publicly-held companies and their senior executives, the series runs throughout the fall and winter.

More information is available at:

http://www.AuroraWDC.com/chicago_200409.pdf

Events: Aurora WDC at KMWorld & Intranets 2004 - Santa Clara - October 25-28

Aurora will present a pre-conference workshop on "Competitive Intelligence and Corporate Portals" at the 2004 KMWorld & Intranets conference in Santa Clara on October 25th, as well as a shorter presentation on October 28th called "Portal Software for CI: A Critical Review". If you're interested in KM and/or intranets and anywhere near Silicon Valley in late October, don't miss this world-class event. More information is available at:

http://www.kmworld.com/kmw04

Events: Pharma/Biotech Decision Support & Analysis Summit - Philadelphia - November 8-9

Arik Johnson will present a session at CBI's inaugural Pharma & Biotech Decision Support & Analysis Summit in Philadelphia November 9th called "Beyond Corporate Governance" on issues surrounding the new fiduciary regulatory environment and how CI software can help with more aggressive compliance requirements enacted by Congress and the Securities and Exchange Commission. More information is available at:

http://www.AuroraWDC.com/philadelphia_200410.pdf

Best Practices: CI Benchmarking Report Summary Results & Weblog Software Update

Summary results are now available for Aurora's 2004 benchmarking report. Download the PDF of the public version which will appear in SCIP's CI Magazine soon:

http://www.AuroraWDC.com/scip_ci_magazine_20040708.pdf

Plus, the latest SCIP CI Magazine features an update on Traction Software's latest version:

http://www.AuroraWDC.com/scip_ci_magazine_20040506.pdf

Best Practices: Aurora WDC's 2004 CI Software Portals Review

If you've downloaded your copy already, we hope you find the review as useful as the many who've written back with thanks and congratulations; if you haven't gotten your copy yet, don't wait! If you're puzzled about best practices in developing CI software infrastructure, come find the missing pieces.

The 2004 Review is an in-depth, open examination of the top six CI software vendors in business today and provides an updated functional comparison of each application's capabilities. The 69-page report also includes several screen shots of each user interface and benchmarking data of usage trends. The Review is available free-of-charge to qualifying intelligence practitioners and all Aurora customers and partners:

http://www.AuroraWDC.com/software

Best Practices: The Natural Alliance Between New Product Development and Competitive Intelligence

Derek Johnson, Aurora's Executive Director of the Recon Research & Analysis Bureau, comes from a strong financial background where he learned to understand the implications of correctly reading and interpreting a company's financial statements and using that understanding to make tough business decisions.

But he also loves the "softer" metrics of competitiveness, like success in product planning! And, as a member of PDMA, the Product Development and Management Association, Derek explores how NPD best practices impact a firm's bottom line.

A few months ago, Aurora sponsored a joint PDMA/SCIP meeting in Madison, Wisconsin to explore the implications of Competitive Intelligence for New Product Development. In this short essay, Derek gives us an overview of how CI can have a profound impact on how new products get to market and why companies must continually reinvent their product lines to stay ahead of the competition.

http://www.aurorawdc.com/dlj_npd_ci.pdf

Greetings: Aurora Celebrates Nine Years of Intelligence Leadership