There are several reasons behind our research in this model:

The environment is changing faster than ever.
Global markets are shifting sooner.
New emerging markets are now threatening other established markets.
Markets are prompting the creation of new disruption models.
The increase in global actors makes it harder to concentrate on just a few actors.
New technology replaces traditional operations processes.
Shifting of global regulations.
New geopolitical forces.
Increase in market uncertainties.

We consider, therefore, that additional resources should be invested to track and anticipate trends and changes that have a significant impact on the business of a particular organization.

The model described in the book can have several applications:

Contextual Analysis - How well do you know your business surrounding? Who are the factors and actors that play the central role in your business? How do you follow them? The model will create a map which highlights those actors that have the highest impact to the business and the urgent need to be followed.
   
Trendspotting - How do you identify a new trend? How do you asses the impact of a new potential impact? How do you follow changes of the trends? The model will generate several hypotheses and then propose several methods to produce a systematic process of analysing trends.
   
Scenario Analysis - How to you handle your future industry? How do you produce a scenario? Where do you look for information to test scenarios? The model will help supporting scenario planning in your organization. Actors, factors are related together to offer a better picture of the current and future business or industry structure.
   
Competitive Early Warning - How well are you prepared to anticipate changes? How do you identify early signals of changes? The book discussed this topic in chapter seven.

We consider that there are several landscapes that potentially every company should monitor. Each company invests resources to monitoring the landscape that has the most significant impact to the firm's business. Therefore, the analysis can be generated around the following landscapes:

Technology
Regulation
Competitor
Customers
Product

 

  What Practitioners say
  The book is very good! Useful ideas, very fast to read, real-life examples… practical for business people! I find it very interesting. Congratulations!
Patricia Junkes,
Former CI specialist at Embraco, Brasil.
  It is well-researched, well-organized, and well-written. I especially enjoyed the chapter on Competitive Early Warning. Dale Fehringer,
Former VISA Competitive Intelligence director, San Francisco, California.
   
  What specialized Magazines, Journals and Book rewivers say about our work
 

Cet ouvrage introduit une nouvelle perspective à l'analyse classique de l'environnement stratégique. il permet, entre autres, d'identifier les acteurs sources de changements radicaux au sin d'une organisation ainsi que les industries en devenir et de les cartographier. Le modèle ainsi proposé permet de mettre en œuvre un système d'alerte le plus précoce qui soit
Regards IE, Number 18 Jan/Feb. 2007

"Mapping and Anticipating the Competitive Landscape" is an useful and timely book. It is "aimed at experts as well as a wider audience interested in a practical approach to company management". It thrusts the reader into a world of uncertainty, ambiguity and change in which the analysis of past data may be more dangerous than the use of more intuitive approaches. These require human co-operation and a shared exploration of the unknown, guided as much by insight and experience as by structured analysis. When the view through your windscreen is limited by fog there is little value in focussing your eyes on the rear view mirror!
Adrian Davies,
Book reviewer for Long Range Planning, 30th March 2007

Mapping and Anticipating the
Competitive Landscape is a different
addition to the competitive intelligence
literature. although it is short, it is
well written and provides a surprisingly
profound look at a spectrum of
analytical issues.
John J. McGonagle,
Competitive Intelligence Magazine, March-April 2007. Download review