Optimizing the Structure and Efficiency of the Competitive Intelligence Function

Industries Profiled:
Health Care; Pharmaceutical; Diagnostic; Biopharmaceutical; Biotech; Manufacturing; Medical Device; Chemical; Consumer Products; Clinical Research; Laboratories; Consulting


Companies Profiled:
Abbott; Alkermes; Alnylam Pharmaceuticals; Amgen; Astellas; AstraZeneca; BioCryst Pharmaceuticals; Biogen; Bioventus; Cerevel Therapeutics; Clovis Oncology; CSL Behring; Daiichi Sankyo; Genentech; Ipsen; Ironwood; Novartis; Novo Nordisk; Orion Pharmaceuticals; Pfizer; Roche; Sanofi; SCIEX; Servier; Shire; Sunovion; Takeda Pharmaceuticals; Tesaro; Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd; UCB Pharma; Uintah Consulting LLC

Study Snapshot

Best Practices, LLC engaged 38 Competitive Intelligence leaders from 31 biopharmaceutical companies through a benchmarking survey instrument and focus group interviews.

Key topics covered in this report include:

• Structures of Competitive Intelligence functions, strengths and weaknesses of different structures, best practices
• Roles and reporting relationships: Competitive Intelligence stakeholders, reporting roles, reporting functions, geographic span of responsibility
• Critical Competitive Intelligence activities, ranking and budget
• Enhancing Competitive Intelligence capabilities: vendor management, soft and hard skills, skills gaps and skills ranking
• Use of Centers of Excellence for Competitive Intelligence functions

• Competitive Intelligence Reporting Roles and Functions: For the large company segment, 76% report to senior director or above. Meanwhile, 50% of small–mid companies report to vice presidents. Typically, Competitive Intelligence sits in the market research/business analytics function (large companies – 58%; small-mid companies – 38%).

• Competitive Intelligence Activities: Competitor product/portfolio profiling and competitor clinical trial tracking are the two top activities for both large and small–mid companies.

Sr. No.	Topic	Slide No.
I.	Executive Summary: Insights, Opportunities & Analysis	p. 3
	Research overview: Objectives & Methodology	p. 3
	Benchmark class	p. 4
	Key findings	p. 5
	Demographics	p. 9
II.	Competitive Intelligence Operating Model	p. 12
	Operating model evolution	p. 14
	Why CI functions are changing or not changing their structures	p. 15
	Strengths and weaknesses of models	p. 16
	Effective communication and coordination tactics	p. 18
III.	Roles and Reporting	p. 20
	Reporting roles and functions	p. 21
	Competitive Intelligence stakeholders	p. 24
	Geographic span of responsibility	p. 25
IV.	Staffing, Activities and Budgeting	p. 27
	Staff size and CI group composition	p. 28
	Competitive Intelligence activities	p. 30
	Competitive Intelligence activities ranking	p. 34
	Effectiveness of budget models	p. 35
	Budget coordination	p. 36
	Strengths and weakness of budget models	p. 37
V.	Building Competitive Intelligence Capabilities	p. 38
	Competitive Intelligence leader qualifications	p. 39
	Competitive Intelligence soft skills	p. 40
	Competitive Intelligence training	p. 42
	Training type
	Training delivery and frequency
	Centers of Excellence for Competitive Intelligence	p. 50
	Key CoE strengths and weaknesses
VI.	Technology Advancement	p. 53
	AI implementations and gaps
VII.	Appendix	p. 55

• Operating model of Competitive Intelligence function - Large companies vs. Small-mid sized companies
• Evolution of Competitive Intelligence structures over time
• Why Competitive Intelligence functions are changing or not changing their structures
• Strengths and weaknesses of centralized and decentralized models for Competitive Intelligence operations
• Functional leadership of the Competitive Intelligence function
• Most effective coordination tactics used by the Competitive Intelligence function to coordinate work, data, and analyses
• Most effective communication tactics used by the Competitive Intelligence function to convey insights and implications

• Job level of the person to whom the leader (direct manager) of Competitive Intelligence function directly reports
• Functional area of the person to whom the leader (direct manager) of Competitive Intelligence function directly reports - Large companies
• Functional area of the person to whom the leader (direct manager) of Competitive Intelligence function directly reports - Small-mid sized companies
• Key stakeholders for the Competitive Intelligence function
• Geographic span of responsibility of benchmark partners’ Competitive Intelligence function - Large companies segment
• Geographic span of responsibility of benchmark partners’ Competitive Intelligence function - Small-mid sized companies segment

• Total number of FTEs in the Competitive Intelligence function
• Competitive Intelligence group composition - Large companies vs. Small-mid sized companies
• Activities conducted by the Competitive Intelligence function - Large companies
• Ranking importance vs. conduct of Competitive Intelligence activities - Large companies
• Activities conducted by the Competitive Intelligence function - Small-mid sized companies
• Ranking importance vs. conduct of Competitive Intelligence activities - Small-mid sized companies Importance ranking of Competitive Intelligence activities for optimal performance of the function
• Budget coordination for Competitive Intelligence activities – Total benchmark class
• Budget coordination for Competitive Intelligence activities – Large companies vs. Small-mid sized companies
• Key strengths and weaknesses existing within participants’ current budget model for their Competitive Intelligence operations

• Qualifications of Competitive Intelligence leaders within benchmark companies
• Soft skills possessed by Competitive Intelligence staff and most critical training topics for development of strong Competitive Intelligence staff - Large companies
• Soft skills possessed by Competitive Intelligence staff and most critical training topics for development of strong Competitive Intelligence staff - Small-mid sized companies
• Types of training provided to Competitive Intelligence staff at Large companies
• Types of training provided to Competitive Intelligence staff at Small-mid sized companies
• Delivery methods of Competitive Intelligence training – Large companies vs. Small-mid sized companies
• Frequency of training provided to staff on Competitive Intelligence guidelines – Large companies vs. Small-mid sized companies
• Critical success factors in building successful relationships with Competitive Intelligence vendors
• Use of Competitive Intelligence Center of Excellence (CoE) model – Large companies vs. Small-mid sized companies
• Use of CoE model against structure of the Competitive Intelligence function
• Structure of Competitive Intelligence CoE
• Benefits of Centers of Excellence to the Competitive Intelligence function
• Other insights by benchmark partners
• Strengths and weaknesses of using a CoE model for Competitive Intelligence operations

• AI implementations and gaps within benchmark companies