Competitive Intelligence TRIZ

1st Principle

CORPORATE STRATEGY

Corporate Strategy Competitive Intelligence Cycle

Planning

Collection

Analysis

Dissemination

Key Intelligence Topics for Corporate Strategy decision making

I. Assessment of Strategies

A. Focused Differentiation
B. Best Cost
C. Differentiation
D. Low Cost
E. Focused Low Cost
F. Market Skimming
G. Market Penetration
H. Related Diversification
I. Unrelated Diversification
J. Backward Integration
K. Forward Integration
L. Horizontal Integration

II. Consumer Perceptions

A. Negative Moment of Truth
B. Positive Moment of Truth
C. Usage
D. Attitude
E. Image
F. Market Segmentation
G. Customer Satisfaction
H. Brand Recall
I. Purchase Decision
J. Brand Association
K. Value Creation
L. Lifestyle
M. Personality
N. Product Attributes
O. Country of Origin

III. Current Operations

A. Value Chain Analysis
B. Benchmarking Analysis
C. Five Force Analysis
D. Brick & Click Strategy

IV. Competitor Capabilities

A. OODA Loop
B. Offensive Maneuvers
C. Defensive Maneuvers
D. Flanking Maneuvers
E. Guerilla Maneuvers

V. Evaluation of Market Life Cycle

A. Market Crystallization
B. Market Expansion
C. Market Fragmentation
D. Market Consolidation
E. Market Dissolution

VI. Service Triangle Interplay

A. Service Strategy
B. Systems & Procedures
C. People of the Organization
D. Service Strategy – Customer – People of the Organization
E. Systems & Procedures – Customer – People of the Organization
F. Systems & Procedures – Customer – Service Strategy
G. Service Strategy – Systems & Procedures – People of the Organization

Corporate Strategy Six Sigma Improvement Approach cycle for Information Analysis

Define

Measure

Analyze

Improve

Control

Corporate Strategy  5S cycle of “Continuous Improvement” for Analysis of Information

Sort

Set in order

Shine

Standardize

Sustain

Corporate Strategy “8 D” cycle of  Problem Solving Approach for Analysis of Information

Team effort

Describe the problem

Implement and verify short term corrective action

Define and verify root causes

Verify corrective action

Prevent reoccurrence

Motivate your team

FMEA Analysis for Corporate Strategy

Severity

Occurrence

Detection

RPN

Fault Tree Analysis for Corporate Strategy

Reliability Analysis

Safety Analysis

BUSINESS STRATEGY

Business Strategy Competitive Intelligence Cycle

Planning

Collection

Analysis

Dissemination

Key Intelligence Topics for Business Strategy decision making

I. Assessment of Strategies

A. Focused Differentiation
B. Best Cost
C. Differentiation
D. Low Cost
E. Focused Low Cost
F. Market Skimming
G. Market Penetration
H. Related Diversification
I. Unrelated Diversification
J. Backward Integration
K. Forward Integration
L. Horizontal Integration

II. Consumer Perceptions

A. Negative Moment of Truth
B. Positive Moment of Truth
C. Usage
D. Attitude
E. Image
F. Market Segmentation
G. Customer Satisfaction
H. Brand Recall
I. Purchase Decision
J. Brand Association
K. Value Creation
L. Lifestyle
M. Personality
N. Product Attributes
O. Country of Origin

III. Current Operations

A. Value Chain Analysis
B. Benchmarking Analysis
C. Five Force Analysis
D. Brick & Click Strategy

IV. Competitor Capabilities

A. OODA Loop
B. Offensive Maneuvers
C. Defensive Maneuvers
D. Flanking Maneuvers
E. Guerilla Maneuvers

V. Evaluation of Market Life Cycle

A. Market Crystallization
B. Market Expansion
C. Market Fragmentation
D. Market Consolidation
E. Market Dissolution

VI. Service Triangle Interplay

A. Service Strategy
B. Systems & Procedures
C. People of the Organization
D. Service Strategy – Customer – People of the Organization
E. Systems & Procedures – Customer – People of the Organization
F. Systems & Procedures – Customer – Service Strategy
G. Service Strategy – Systems & Procedures – People of the Organization

Business Strategy Six Sigma cycle Analysis for Information

Define

Measure

Analyze

Improve

Control

Business Strategy  5S cycle of “Continuous Improvement” Analysis for Information

Sort

Set in order

Shine

Standardize

Sustain

Business  Strategy “8 D” cycle of  Problem Solving Approach for Analysis of Information

Team effort

Describe the problem

Implement and verify short term corrective action

Define and verify root causes

Verify corrective action

Prevent reoccurrence

Motivate your team

FMEA Analysis for Business Strategy

Severity

Occurrence

Detection

RPN

Fault Tree Analysis for Business Strategy

Reliability Analysis

Safety Analysis

FUNCTIONAL STRATEGY

Functional Strategy Competitive Intelligence Cycle

Planning

Collection

Analysis

Dissemination

Key Intelligence Topics for Functional Strategy decision making

1. Assessment of Strategies

A. Focused Differentiation
B. Best Cost
C. Differentiation
D. Low Cost
E. Focused Low Cost
F. Market Skimming
G. Market Penetration
H. Related Diversification
I. Unrelated Diversification
J. Backward Integration
K. Forward Integration
L. Horizontal Integration

II. Consumer Perceptions

A. Negative Moment of Truth
B. Positive Moment of Truth
C. Usage
D. Attitude
E. Image
F. Market Segmentation
G. Customer Satisfaction
H. Brand Recall
I. Purchase Decision
J. Brand Association
K. Value Creation
L. Lifestyle
M. Personality
N. Product Attributes
O. Country of Origin

III. Current Operations

A. Value Chain Analysis
B. Benchmarking Analysis
C. Five Force Analysis
D. Brick & Click Strategy

IV. Competitor Capabilities

A. OODA Loop
B. Offensive Maneuvers
C. Defensive Maneuvers
D. Flanking Maneuvers
E. Guerilla Maneuvers

V. Evaluation of Market Life Cycle

A. Market Crystallization
B. Market Expansion
C. Market Fragmentation
D. Market Consolidation
E. Market Dissolution

VI. Service Triangle Interplay

A.      Service Strategy
B. Systems & Procedures
C. People of the Organization
D. Service Strategy – Customer – People of the Organization
E. Systems & Procedures – Customer – People of the Organization
F. Systems & Procedures – Customer – Service Strategy
G. Service Strategy – Systems & Procedures – People of the Organization

Functional Strategy Six Sigma cycle for Information Analysis

Define

Measure

Analyze

Improve

Control

Functional Strategy  5S cycle of “Continuous Improvement” for Analysis of Information

Sort

Set in order

Shine

Standardize

Sustain

Functional Strategy “8 D” cycle of  Problem Solving Approach for Analysis of Information

Team effort

Describe the problem

Implement and verify short term corrective action

Define and verify root causes

Verify corrective action

Prevent reoccurrence

Motivate your team

FMEA Analysis for Functional Strategy

Severity

Occurrence

Detection

RPN

Fault Tree Analysis for Functional Strategy

Reliability Analysis

Safety Analysis

Information

Information

Information is data joined in revealing ways. Information collection is a very important part of intelligence cycle.

Information can be collected through passive intelligence and semi active intelligence and active intelligence.

When we collect information, we need to evaluate sources of information. We need to list the sources we have found and type of information the source provides.

Collection of information results in using different kinds of sources and for this we need to classify sources and rate them. We need to understand whether the source provides facts or does the source provide information from experts who are sure of their facts or does the source just provides personal opinion. Classifying sources on the basis of whether it is a fact or  authority or  opinion or not verifiable sources helps you understand the authenticity of the information you have collected.

In planning stage when you work on key intelligence topics, you need to understand whether the  information you require is available in passive intelligence or semi active intelligence or active intelligence. Now the sources that you have identified are they facts or expert information from experts or just a personal opinion. When you verify the information you need to segment the information as facts and authority and opinion and unconfirmed sources.

This is just the start of the information collection journey.

Five Force Analysis

Five Force Analysis

Competitive intelligence involves monitoring the operating environment. We need to monitor the suppliers, customers, substitution effect, threat of new entrants and competitive rivalry in the market place.

What we need to understand that a supplier of today could become a parallel or latent or existing competitor tomorrow and if we are able to monitor suppliers we can anticipate whether they will be going in for  related diversification or unrelated diversification or backward of forward integration for being competitive in the market place.

This we call early warning if we are able to detect much in advance. A supplier of yesterday could become a lateral competitor or parallel competitor or existing competitor of tomorrow.

We need to monitor the substitution effect ie the lateral competitors and parallel competitors who eat into our market share. Competitive intelligence helps us identify competitors who eat into the market share by offering substitution alternatives to customers. These competitors who are our parallel competitors of today could become existing competitors of tomorrow who by using related diversification could contest for the same market space.

Customers need to be monitored to work on customer acquisition and customer retention efforts. When we monitor our customers and competitors customers we are able to plan our customer acquisition and customer retention strategies. Inputs for creating a ladder of loyalty are generated here and we can move the existing customer to becoming a client and a client to becoming a supporter and a supporter to becoming an advocate of our products and services who by word of mouth publicity generate goodwill can create positive perception in the eyes of the target segment.

New entrants need to be monitored as they would compete with us for the market space.

Anew entrant could be a existing competitor who is using either low cost or best cost or differentiation or focused low cost or focused differentiation strategy to reposition in the market segment. On the other hand a new entrant could be a lateral competitor who enters into our market space through unrelated diversification or backward or forward integration or related diversification. Further a new entrant could be a parallel competitor who may become our existing competitor through related diversification or backward or forward integration.

Further we need to keep our eye on the ball and monitor our existing competitors who may be low cost option providers and now are considering differentiation or best cost strategy to enter into our market space.

The ability to anticipate competitor movement by understanding strategic options is another way to being competitive. An existing competitor may use strategic options such as low cost or differentiation or best cost or focused low cost or focused differentiation and effect our market share.

Further when we monitor the environment and analyze the information we are able to use role playing and scenarios to generate early warning.

Can Terrorists / Insurgents Breach Commonwealth Games 2010 Security in India? – Threat Perception Commonwealth Games 2010 – Terrorist / Insurgent Threat to Commonwealth Games 2010

Can Terrorists / Insurgents Breach Commonwealth Games 2010 Security in India?

There are 23 competitive venues, 40 training venues and International Broadcasting Centre.

There are 36 functional areas for which Volunteers will be hired and trained.

Each volunteer application will be screened by the Police. But does Police verification really screen anything beside antecedent verification?

There is a Low Probability x High Impact scenario where the terrorists / Insurgents may breach Commonwealth Games 2010 security wearing  FAKE uniforms, they could be uniforms like:

1. Volunteer uniforms given to Commonwealth Games 2010 volunteers

2. Para Military uniforms

3. Rapid Action Force uniforms,

4. Police uniforms

How easy is it in India to counterfeit pharmaceutical drugs, leading fashion brands apparel logos and brand accessories, identity cards etc., the less said the better.

Can the Commonwealth Games 2010 Volunteer uniforms consisting of polo tops, tracks, T shirts, cap and shoes not be counterfeited by terrorists / insurgents.

Although Hologram is the most effective way to prevent counterfeiting, but in India where terrorists / insurgents use fake currency, how difficult will it be for them to counterfeit holograms? Are all athletes participating in the Commonwealth Games 2010 at New Delhi, supposed experts that they will be able to detect fake identity cards?

Who are the Volunteers for Commonwealth Games 2010?

They are mostly students, working executives and retired people.

What is the incentive for volunteers, except the hype of serving the motherland?

For Volunteers at Commonwealth Games 2010, it will be a place to network with foreigners and maybe network and find a job somewhere.

What prevents terrorists / insurgents from using MICE and 6 Degrees of Separation tactics to glean subtle intelligence on the movement of athletes.

What stops terrorists from cultivating hotel staff, vehicle drivers, private security experts or the state of the art Volunteers at the Commonwealth Games 2010?

How will athletes recognize anybody at all  when they are on sightseeing mode at Delhi, India. Will they trust people because they are wearing law enforcement uniforms or volunteer uniforms?

What is the probability that terrorists will not be able to counterfeit law enforcement identity cards or uniforms?

Are 5 star hotels really safe in India as they are made out to be by the supposed security experts?

Are shopping malls really safe as the security experts claim that they are?

Are metros safe? If so, how can collateral damage be avoided in case the terrorists breach it.

Just by talking about disaster management and emergency management and risk management, can the terrorist / insurgent be really stopped? Just by hiring law enforcement security experts or private security vendors, can the terrorists be really stopped?

It is the worst nightmare? I will call it a Low Probability x Hight Impact scenario.

Maybe everything goes well, but WHAT IF?

Who can you really trust?

www.corporaterisks.info

Advisor, Corporate Risks

riskmitigator@yahoo.com

Assistant Professor, MBA Competitive Intelligence & Corporate Warfare program

Paralysis in Competitive Intelligence.

Paralysis in  Competitive Intelligence.

Paralysis in competitive intelligence  happens most of the time  because of the inability of a competitive intelligence analyst to  interpret signals correctly.  Most  human beings are affected by sensory  perception.

What a competitive intelligence analyst needs to be careful about and take into consideration  are the following pitfalls  which cloud decision making and thereby affect competitive intelligence.

Insight, a rare commodity, can get clouded by the subtle influences of the following thinking and behavioral flaws which affect a competitive intelligence analyst’s ability.

1. Ambiguity effect – the avoidance of options for which missing information makes the probability seem “unknown”.
2. Anchoring effect – the tendency to rely too heavily, or “anchor,” on a past reference or on one trait or piece of information when making decisions.
3. Intentional bias – neglect of relevant data when making judgments of a correlation or association.
4. Authority bias – the tendency to value an ambiguous stimulus (e.g., an art performance) according to the opinion of someone who is seen as an authority on the topic.
5. Availability heuristic – estimating what is more likely by what is more available in memory, which is biased toward vivid, unusual, or emotionally charged examples.
6. Availability cascade – a self-reinforcing process in which a collective belief gains more and more plausibility through its increasing repetition in public discourse.
7. Belief bias – an effect where someone’s evaluation of the logical strength of an argument is biased by the believability of the conclusion.
8. Clustering illusion – the tendency to see patterns where actually none exist.
9. Capability bias – The tendency to believe that the closer average performance is to a target, the tighter the distribution of the data set.
10. Conjunction fallacy – the tendency to assume that specific conditions are more probable than general ones.
11. Disposition effect – the tendency to sell assets that have increased in value but hold assets that have decreased in value.
12. Gambler’s fallacy – the tendency to think that future probabilities are altered by past events, when in reality they are unchanged. Results from an erroneous conceptualization of the Law of large numbers.
13. Hawthorne effect – the tendency of people to perform or perceive differently when they know that they are being observed.
14. Hindsight bias – sometimes called the “I-knew-it-all-along” effect, the inclination to see past events as being predictable.
15. Illusory correlation – beliefs that inaccurately suppose a relationship between a certain type of action and an effect.
16. Last illusion — the belief that someone must know what is going on. Coined by Brian Eno.
17. Ludic fallacy – the analysis of chance-related problems according to the belief that the unstructured randomness found in life resembles the structured randomness found in games.
18. Neglect of prior base rates effect – the tendency to neglect known odds when reevaluating odds in light of weak evidence.
19. Observer-expectancy effect – when a researcher expects a given result and therefore unconsciously manipulates an experiment or misinterprets data in order to find it.
20. Optimism bias – the systematic tendency to be over-optimistic about the outcome of planned actions.
21. Ostrich effect – ignoring an obvious (negative) situation.
22. Overconfidence effect – excessive confidence in one’s own answers to questions. For example, for certain types of question, answers that people rate as “99% certain” turn out to be wrong 40% of the time.
23. Positive outcome bias – a tendency in prediction to overestimate the probability of good things happening to them.
24. Pareidolia – a vague and random stimulus (often an image or sound) is perceived as significant, e.g., seeing images of animals or faces in clouds, the man in the moon, and hearing hidden messages on records played in reverse.
25. Primacy effect – the tendency to weigh initial events more than subsequent events.
26. Recency effect – the tendency to weigh recent events more than earlier events.
27. Disregard of regression toward the mean – the tendency to expect extreme performance to continue.
28. Selection bias – a distortion of evidence or data that arises from the way that the data are collected.
29. Stereotyping – expecting a member of a group to have certain characteristics without having actual information about that individual.
30. Subadditivity effect – the tendency to judge probability of the whole to be less than the probabilities of the parts.
31. Subjective validation – perception that something is true if a subject’s belief demands it to be true. Also assigns perceived connections between coincidences.
32. Survivorship bias – concentrating on the people or things that “survived” some process and ignoring those that didn’t, or arguing that a strategy is effective given the winners, while ignoring the large amount of losers.
33. Telescoping effect – the effect that recent events appear to have occurred more remotely and remote events appear to have occurred more recently.
34. Texas sharpshooter fallacy – the fallacy of selecting or adjusting a hypothesis after the data is collected, making it impossible to test the hypothesis fairly. Refers to the concept of firing shots at a barn door, drawing a circle around the best group, and declaring that to be the target.
35. Well travelled road effect – underestimation of the duration taken to traverse oft-traveled routes and over-estimate the duration taken to traverse less familiar routes.
36. Bandwagon effect –  a competitive intelligence analyst may suffer from herd mentality.
37. Base rate fallacy – ignoring available statistical data in favor of particulars.
38. Bias blind spot – the tendency not to compensate for one’s own cognitive biases.
39. Choice-supportive bias – the tendency to remember one’s choices as better than they actually were.
40. Confirmation bias – the tendency to search for or interpret information in a way that confirms one’s preconceptions.
41. Congruence bias – the tendency to test hypotheses exclusively through direct testing, in contrast to tests of possible alternative hypotheses.
42. Contrast effect – the enhancement or diminishing of a weight or other measurement when compared with a recently observed contrasting object.
43. Déformation professionnelle – the tendency to look at things according to the conventions of one’s own profession, forgetting any broader point of view.
44. Distinction bias – the tendency to view two options as more dissimilar when evaluating them simultaneously than when evaluating them separately.
45. Experimenter’s or Expectation bias – the tendency for experimenters to believe, certify, and publish data that agree with their expectations for the outcome of an experiment, and to disbelieve, discard, or downgrade the corresponding weightings for data that appear to conflict with those expectations.
46. Focusing effect – prediction bias occurring when people place too much importance on one aspect of an event; causes error in accurately predicting the utility of a future outcome.
47. Framing – Using an approach or description of the situation or issue that is too narrow. Also framing effect – drawing different conclusions based on how data is presented.
48. Hyperbolic discounting – the tendency for people to have a stronger preference for more immediate payoffs relative to later payoffs, where the tendency increases the closer to the present both payoffs are.
49. Illusion of control – the tendency for human beings to believe they can control or at least influence outcomes that they clearly cannot.
50. Impact bias – the tendency for people to overestimate the length or the intensity of the impact of future feeling states.
51. Information bias – the tendency to seek information even when it cannot affect action.
52. Interloper effect – the tendency to value third party consultation as objective, confirming, and without motive. Also consultation paradox, the conclusion that solutions proposed by existing personnel within an organization are less likely to receive support than from those recruited for that purpose.
53. Irrational escalation – the tendency to make irrational decisions based upon rational decisions in the past or to justify actions already taken.
54. Mere exposure effect – the tendency for people to express undue liking for things merely because they are familiar with them.
55. Moral credential effect – the tendency of a track record of non-prejudice to increase subsequent prejudice.
56. Need for Closure – the need to reach a verdict in important matters; to have an answer and to escape the feeling of doubt and uncertainty. The personal context (time or social pressure) might increase this bias.
57. Negativity bias – phenomenon by which humans pay more attention to and give more weight to negative than positive experiences or other kinds of information.
58. Neglect of probability – the tendency to completely disregard probability when making a decision under uncertainty.
59. Normalcy bias – the refusal to plan for, or react to, a disaster which has never happened before.
60. Not Invented Here – the tendency to ignore that a product or solution already exists, because its source is seen as an “enemy” or as “inferior”.
61. Omission bias – the tendency to judge harmful actions as worse, or less moral, than equally harmful omissions (inactions).
62. Outcome bias – the tendency to judge a decision by its eventual outcome instead of based on the quality of the decision at the time it was made.
63. Planning fallacy – the tendency to underestimate task-completion times.
64. Pseudo certainty effect – the tendency to make risk-averse choices if the expected outcome is positive, but make risk-seeking choices to avoid negative outcomes.
65. Reactance – the urge to do the opposite of what someone wants you to do out of a need to resist a perceived attempt to constrain your freedom of choice.
66. Restraint bias – the tendency to overestimate one’s ability to show restraint in the face of temptation.
67. Selective perception – the tendency for expectations to affect perception.
68. Semmelweis reflex – the tendency to reject new evidence that contradicts an established paradigm.
69. Status quo bias – the tendency for people to like things to stay relatively the same .
70. Von Restorff effect – the tendency for an item that “stands out like a sore thumb” to be more likely to be remembered than other items.
71. Wishful thinking – the formation of beliefs and the making of decisions according to what is pleasing to imagine instead of by appeal to evidence or rationality.
72. Zero-risk bias – preference for reducing a small risk to zero over a greater reduction in a larger risk.
73. Actor-observer bias – the tendency for explanations of other individuals’ behaviors to overemphasize the influence of their personality and underemphasize the influence of their situation.  However, this is coupled with the opposite tendency for the self in that explanations for our own behaviors overemphasize the influence of our situation and underemphasize the influence of our own personality.
74. Egocentric bias – occurs when people claim more responsibility for themselves for the results of a joint action than an outside observer would.
75. Barnum Effect  – the tendency to give high accuracy ratings to descriptions of their personality that supposedly are tailored specifically for them, but are in fact vague and general enough to apply to a wide range of people.
76. False consensus effect – the tendency for people to overestimate the degree to which others agree with them.
77. Fundamental attribution error – the tendency for people to over-emphasize personality-based explanations for behaviors observed in others while under-emphasizing the role and power of situational influences on the same behavior.
78. Halo effect – the tendency for a person’s positive or negative traits to “spill over” from one area of their personality to another in others’ perceptions of them.
79. Herd instinct – Common tendency to adopt the opinions and follow the behaviors of the majority to feel safer and to avoid conflict.
80. Illusion of asymmetric insight – people perceive their knowledge of their peers to surpass their peers’ knowledge of them.
81. Illusion of transparency – people overestimate others’ ability to know them, and they also overestimate their ability to know others.
82. Illusory superiority – overestimating one’s desirable qualities, and underestimating undesirable qualities, relative to other people.
83. In-group bias – the tendency for people to give preferential treatment to others they perceive to be members of their own groups.
84. Just-world phenomenon – the tendency for people to believe that the world is just and therefore people “get what they deserve.”
85. Notational bias – a form of cultural bias in which the notational conventions of recording data biases the appearance of that data toward (or away from) the system upon which the notational schema is based.
86. Out-group homogeneity bias – individuals see members of their own group as being relatively more varied than members of other groups.
87. Projection bias – the tendency to unconsciously assume that others share the same or similar thoughts, beliefs, values, or positions.
88. Self-serving bias (also called “behavioral confirmation effect”) – the tendency to claim more responsibility for successes than failures. It may also manifest itself as a tendency for people to evaluate ambiguous information in a way beneficial to their interests.
89. Self-fulfilling prophecy – the tendency to engage in behaviors that elicit results which will (consciously or not) confirm existing attitudes.
90. System justification – the tendency to defend and bolster the status quo. Existing social, economic, and political arrangements tend to be preferred, and alternatives disparaged sometimes even at the expense of individual and collective self-interest.
91. Trait ascription bias – the tendency for people to view themselves as relatively variable in terms of personality, behavior and mood while viewing others as much more predictable.
92. Ultimate attribution error – Similar to the fundamental attribution error, in this error a person is likely to make an internal attribution to an entire group instead of the individuals within the group.

www.corporaterisks.info

Advisor, Corporate Risks

riskmitigator@yahoo.com

Assistant Professor, MBA Competitive Intelligence & Corporate Warfare program

Extracting and Interpreting Emissions in Competitive intelligence

Extracting and Interpreting Emissions in  Competitive intelligence

It is not the competitors organization one faces that is important but the think tank that controls the organization that needs profiling. If one can understand how the competitors think tank  functions, one can anticipate how the competitors organization will act and react to ones maneuvers in the market.

One needs to be sharp enough to interpret the  subtle emissions that competitors reflexively emit about their innermost thoughts and intentions.

One should never let ones mask down as the competitor is watching to interpret ones emotions as they indulge in role playing to anticipate your intentions and capabilities.

Develop the intuitive ability to penetrate the veil and deception which the competitor creates by intentionally sending out emissions in OSINT for you to read and work on complex scenarios.

Your analysts will always interpret information through their own preconceptions and prejudices, it is unfortunately a failing of a human mind.

If the analyst lacks insight into the complexity of a human mind, one will always remain a prisoner of ones perception. There are so many variables such as political ideology, religious ideology and individual ideology coupled with the class and caste system influences that influence perceptions of the target as well as the analyst. This makes extraction of information by discreet and subtle  probe very complex, forget being dumb enough to call or meet the competitors think tank and believe in your ability to extract information.

Analysis is always perception driven. Human beings always wear a veil of illusion. They  will never let their guard down and let you get a secret glimpse into their souls. Early in life one learns to be competitive by masking ones true feelings and emotions and learns that communication is never a tool to express emotions but to influence human behavior.

You are sadly mistaken if you consider the competitors think tank to be gullible and retarded as a moron that by your discreet questions, you will be able to extract information. You are able to extract what the think tank wants you to extract and you relish in your ability to extract information.

Intuition always warns when competitors probe through OSINT and this is why OSINT is always doctored to create a rouse. The deliberate murkiness makes extraction of information difficult while using active intelligence tools in competitive intelligence.

It is inherent in the nature of a human being to conceal their thoughts, and thoughts and actions always have a dissonance as the competitors competitive intelligence operators are  always scanning the environment to interpret overt as well as subtle emissions. But it is unconsciously that human beings betray their intentions and this is an art which if you have not mastered, you will never be able to interpret signals in the manner you should interpret them.

When you profile people and categorize them into a personality type, have you forgotten that the competitors competitive intelligence operator may intentionally lead you up a garden path because the subject wants you to profile and categorize the subject as a particular personality type.

Never underestimate the intelligence of a human mind and lastly the intelligence of a competitive intelligence operator of the competitor who doctors information for you to play with  and lets you derive the cheap thrill of believing that you have superior information extraction capability.

It is at times of crisis that you may believe  that the multiple masks which human beings use may be breached. In ordinary human beings it is possible to breach a couple of masks of deception that they wear but breaching the mask of the think tank of a competitor requires a very powerful intuition.

As a competitive intelligence analyst you need to understand that it is the quality of information that is more important than the quantity of information that you harvest.

A competitors think tank will always plant moles and mislead,  you think that the competitors organization follows 10 commandments and the Bible and some code of ethics.

The moles planted by the competitor are handled by a very competent handler who is trained in the art of making the organization competitive and you believe that you will be able to penetrate the “veil of illusion” with your state of the art  technology.

Human beings leave strong and subtle emissions in OSINT and let you gather and analyze information, but what if the competitors competitive intelligence operator intentionally leaves a paper trail for you to follow?

The competitors competitive intelligence operators are not complacent as the competitor is always profiling you and yet innovating and constantly adapting to outflank and outmaneuver your organization in the corporate battlefield.

Never forget that  competitive intelligence is anticipating competitors actions and reactions to your moves.

The competitors competitive intelligence team is as smart as you, if not superior.

www.corporaterisks.info

Advisor, Corporate Risks

riskmitigator@yahoo.com

Assistant Professor, MBA Competitive Intelligence & Corporate Warfare program

Jungle Survival

Survival in a jungle depends on a single most important factor which is keep travelling.

You may be lucky to have a machete, compass, first aid box, sturdy pair of shoes, hammock and a mosquito net.

To find one’s way out of the jungle, one should seek the one that is safest and which offers the least resistance.

The path which offers the least resistance is the waterway. Search for a stream and travel downstream.

Remember to prepare signals for the rescue party.

On the other hand, a ridge has sparse vegetation and less number of streams to cross than a valley.

A ridge can serve as a guide and give one an opportunity of a higher vantage point.

A jungle can engulf you,  so remember not to focus on the immediate environment.

This means to say, do not focus on the  the immediate trees and bushes in front of you, but focus at the perimeter.

Which means to say look through the jungle.

One must stop occasionally and stoop to look at the jungle floor.

Once you are aware of your environment, chances are that you will avoid getting scratches and bruises.

In case you are avoiding your kidnappers / terrorists, avoid trails or paths frequently used for the terrorists / kidnappers are most likely to watch those trails.

Watch out for disturbed bushes / trees / jungle floors as the kidnappers / terrorists / poachers may have set up pitfalls and traps for wild game.

You do not want to be caught in a poacher’s trap.

www.corporaterisks.info

Advisor, Corporate Risks

riskmitigator@yahoo.com

Assistant Professor, MBA Competitive Intelligence & Corporate Warfare program

Detecting Weather Conditions

Insects and birds fly lower to the ground than normally they would do in heavy moisture laden air.

If you sight insects and birds flying lower than usual, near the ground, it indicates likelihood of rain.

Most insect activity increases before the advent of a storm.

On the other hand bee activity increases before the advent of fair weather.

In low pressure regions slow moving or difficult to detect winds and heavy humid laden air often indicate a low pressure.

One can smell and hear low pressure. The inactive humid air makes jungle odors much sharper and easy to detect.

Further sounds have more clarity and carry farther in low pressure than high pressure.

This signals advent of bad weather and this bad weather may linger on for several days.

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Advisor, Corporate Risks

riskmitigator@yahoo.com

Assistant Professor, MBA Competitive Intelligence & Corporate Warfare program

Essence of Islam = Sufism

Mystical ecstasy is the only closely guarded secret of nature and needs dedication, sacrifice and labour far greater than what is required to unravel the mysteries of the visible universe. Nobody can sell the magic formula or manipulate society by offering a short cut.

Khwaja says :

“They met the Sultan’s brandished steel The crocodile’s gnashing teeth

They bowed their necks, the death to feel Who follows in their train

They climbed the steep ascent of super consciousness Through peril, toil and pain

Oh God, to us may grace be given To follow in their train”

That which intoxicates the consciousness without drinking, smoking and eating, ‘that which makes our consciousness experience the climax of ecstasy of far greater magnitude than the sensual pleasures, that because of which we experience weightlessness and suspended animation of the physical body, it is nothing else then the mystic’s wine, some call her Kundalini and some Ganga, some call her vidyut lata and some beloved.

The charlatans prostitute her as a cool breeze in the palm of hand and a tingling sensation at the back of the spine. Any misguided effort or attempt to invoke Kundalini destroys the aspirant, as when trillions of megawatts of energy is unleashed, it can result in one of the most painful deaths known to humanity.

Murshid Omar Khayyam said that

“Up from the earth’s centre through the seventh gate, I rose,

And on the throne sate, and many knots urravelled by the road,

But not the knot of human death and fate”

“While the rose blows along the river brink, With old Khayyam the Ruby vintage drink, And when the angel with his darker draught Draws up to thee, Take that and do not shrink”

The esoteric practice of Ashgal is the key to Wehdat (final merger with the Divine beloved). Through relentless spiritual conditioning of the consciousness, magical powers to know the past , present and future and the ability to understand the language of all creatures, to become invisible at will, to leave one’s body and enter other bodies at will, to levitate, to become lighter than a proton and heavier than a black hole, are some of the para normal powers which the immortal God Realised Saints developed. The final goal of Ashgal practices is Wehdat (merger with the All Pervading Divine).

Murshid Gurdial before his death sang sang :

“Is a ray ever separate from the sun,

Will a drop exist separate from the ocean, The light merges with the light,

The union is complete now, What a holy communion”

Murshid Shah Abdul Latif said :

“Unlock yourself and see HIM”

The six esoteric astral centres of the Sufi’s are :

———————————————————

Akhfa

Khafi

Siri

Qalbi

Rohi

Nafsi

Esoteric Chakras in Hinduism:

————————————

Sahasrara Chakra

Ajna Chakra

Visuddhi Chakra

Anhata Chakra

Manipura Chakra

Svadhistana Chakra

Khwaja says that through perfect Fikr (concentration on the Divine) and Perfect Ashgal ( Meditation on the Divine ) that Marifat (Union with the Divine Beloved ) is attained.

Kundalini’s descent from the Ahkfa to Khafi is an staggering encounter revealing the All Pervading Divine Light, thus making the All Pervading eternal Unmanifest God, manifested through the Khafi (Ajna Chakra). The illuminating glory surrounding the vision of God as seen by the disciples of Prophet Christ, the Noor I Allah as seen by the disciples of Prophet Mohammad, the Circling Light of the Taoists and the blazing radiance of a million suns as described in the Holy Gita, bear testimony to the sayings of All God Realised saints who have left their foot prints in the sands of time to follow and realign our goals.

Khwaja says :

“They who know God, know God, None else knows”

“God Alone exists Rest is a dream”

“Wherever you turn, there is the face of God”

Tasawwuf or the Sufi way has been described as the creed of love, the dogma of heart and religion of spirit. Sufi dynamics revolves around Muhabbat. Here Muhabbat should not be misunderstood for any thing less than love for the All Pervading Divine. Muhabbat is Muhabbat , it can only be comprehended during Marifat (union with the Cosmic Divine), before that it would be difficult to understand it with the yardstick of human love.

Khwaja has stressed that

yearning for the All Pervading Divine has to be cultivated through relentless practice of moral injunctions and fixed observances with perfection in Fikr (concentration on the Divine) and Zikr (remembrance on the Divine) with Muraqaba (contemplation on the Divine) which would result in illumination of the self. It is through Marifat that Muhabbat is felt permeating our entire being. Divine love is an ecstasy permeating our consciousness, not even the joys of our love to our spouses or to our children is as selfless as the Divine love.

Wehdat, should be then our only goal in life. For a human being who has developed the urge for the Divine would understand the wonders of love permeating the entire universe. Only on attainment of Marifat that Wahdat ul wajud (oneness of being) is perceived, before that we are indulging in intellectual delusion by using the terms such as brotherhood of man etc. The key to God Realisation is Muhabbat. It is this intensity of the urge that decides whether an aspirant will remain an amalgamation of chemicals or realise that the aspirant is a drop of consciousness in the Universal All Pervading Super Consciousness of the Unity understood as the Divine Light. Sometimes the aspirant finds that when they have developed the urge for the Divine, the Unmanifest All Pervading does not manifest itself, this could be for a variety of reasons including our lack of consistency or pre spiritual puberty level. We must understand that spiritual pleasures can be felt only when we have stilled the desire for gratification of the senses.

Spiritual conditioning through practice of instructions of the Murshid (Spiritual mentor) with renunciation of our wants which do not serve any purpose other that gratification of the physical body would aid our efforts in seeking the nectar of Immortality. The tendencies such as Haivania – carnal desires, Ammarah – desires enhancing our greed, Mulhama – the inspired motivated self, all these make up a human personality. We are forever bound by the cause effect of these desires unless we make a serious effort to improve our evolutionary positioning in the universal ladder of perfection. When an aspirant ventures for this transition, they should only make an effort under the guidance of the Murshid (spiritual mentor) for without the able guidance of the Murshid it would be very difficult for us to attain freedom from the slavery of senses. The subtle difference between Mind, Ego and Intelligence collectively making our consciousness cannot be understood by mere book knowledge. Experience is one of the gates to teachers and without experiencing it ourselves it would be difficult for us to even comprehend the realm of esoteric science and its hidden treasures. If we accidentally mistake the imagination of our thought processes or the voice of ego as the voice of the soul, we must immediately seek spiritual help for attunement otherwise we would start speaking to ourselves and be termed as a loony. It is very important to understand that without the able guidance of the Murshid (Spiritual mentor) it is next to impossible to identify the voice of the soul in the haystack of ego and intelligence lying with each other to categorise thoughts emerging in our brain.

Khwaja once said that :

“Only when the foundation is strong that a legend stands”

Marifat, the spiritual ecstasy, climax of paranormal communion cannot be possesed of as non existent for the God Realised Saints of all the religions of the world bear testimony to its Truth. Attainment of Mutminnah – tranquil self is a platform from which we can dive deep into the esoteric realm of superconsciousness. When we activate the tranquil self through relentless practice that we enter the esoteric dimensions of the hidden siddhis, unavailable to the ordinary human being in the life span of 125 years. How is this purity attained and what are we to understand by the nexus of Muhabbat and Purity. We should appreciate that the efforts of the God Realised Saints was to free us from the misery of human bondage which no amount of material comfort can justify. Are we nct scared to die and knowing that tomorrow it may be our turn, we still justify our greed as savings for the rainy day. Very true indeed, the rainy day is the day of the death of our physical bodies but unfortunately we would not be able to carry any wee bit of our accumulations. No amount of coaxing by the saints can ever make us understand the truth behind renunciation of desires. With the goal of Marifat (Union with the Divine) as our only purpose in life would enable us to have a very successful innings of 125 years if not more. The aspirant under the influence of Haivania, Ammarah and Mulhama, ensnared by the gratification urges is a slave to the desires binding the consciousness to the physical body. Therefore when we dry the juice of sense gratification that we enable our consciousness to attune with the cosmic properties of the soul,

That which is beyond the reach of the most powerful microscope and that which is beyond the realm of inter galaxy travel can be attained by the grace of the Murshid.

I was asleep in a slumber of ignorance, the jogi woke me up;

He cleansed my mind of the dirt and showed me the essence

www.corporaterisks.info

Advisor, Corporate Risks

riskmitigator@yahoo.com

Assistant Professor, MBA Competitive Intelligence & Corporate Warfare program

Navigating Direction while Evading Hostage Situation in Hostile Terrain [ Southern Hemisphere ].

Navigating Direction while Evading Hostage Situation in Hostile Terrain [ Southern Hemisphere ].

Once you are able to escape from the insurgents in a “Hostage situation” and are in an isolate area or unknown terrain, you need to keep composure and get your bearings right.

If you are in the Southern Hemisphere:

1.  Find a stick about a meter long and find a open clearing where the stick will cast a definite shadow.

2.  Insert the stick  it stands vertical to the ground.

3.  Mark the tip of the shadow.

4.  Wait for 15 minutes and you will find that the shadow has moved by 1” to 2”.

5.  Now mark the tip of the second shadow.

6.  Now place your left foot on the first mark of the shadow.

7.  Place your right foot on the second mark of the shadow.

8.  If  you are in the Southern Hemisphere, you will be facing in the South direction.

9.  Now get your bearings and take a decision whether you want to move North or South or East or West.

10. Stay alert and evade a hostage situation.

www.corporaterisks.info

Advisor, Corporate Risks

riskmitigator@yahoo.com

Assistant Professor, MBA Competitive Intelligence & Corporate Warfare program