Strategic Management and Business Policy .
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Evaluate each of the following approaches that a business firm could use to gather information about competition. For each approach, mark your feeling about its appropriateness using the following scale:
1. definitely not appropriate, 2. probably not appropriate, 3. undecided, 4. probably appropriate, and 5. definitely appropriate
The business firm should try to get useful information about competitors by:
_____ Careful study of trade journals
_____ Wiretapping the telephones of competitors
_____ Posing as a potential customer to competitors
_____ Getting loyal customers to put out a phone "request for proposal" soliciting competitors' bids
_____ Buying competitors' products and taking them apart
_____ Hiring management consultants who have worked for competitors
_____ Rewarding competitors' employees for useful "tips"
_____ Questioning competitors' customers and/or suppliers
_____ Buying and analyzing competitors' garbage
_____ Advertising and interviewing for nonexistent jobs
_____ Taking public tours of competitors' facilities
_____ Releasing false information about the company in order to confuse competitors.
_____ Questioning competitors' technical people at trade shows and conferences
_____ Hiring key people away from competitors
_____ Analyzing competitors' labor union contracts
_____ Having employees date persons who work for competitors
_____ Studying aerial photographs of competitors' facilities
After marking each of the preceding approaches, indicate on the discussion board for any 5, 4, 2, or 1, why you thought these acts were either appropriate or inappropriate.
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Solution Summary
The solution evaluates approaches that business firms can use to gather information about competitions. The approaches are determined one of five things: definitely not appropriate, probably not appropriate, undecided, probably appropriate and definitely appropriate.
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