Best Practices in Managing Competitive Intelligence Research

This publication examines the role of competitive intelligence (CI) in the pharmaceutical industry. It is aimed at helping managers in both pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies better understand the role of CI and how best to manage it. Pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies are under constant competitive pressure from firms with competing drugs, both in-market and in development. Branded drugs only have a limited in-market lifetime; the firms that market them need to develop and execute highly effective sales and marketing strategies, especially since individual drugs can be turned into multi-billion dollar blockbusters. It is prudent that firms understand in detail the constantly shifting external competitive environment. The authors have interviewed leading CI practitioners in eight international companies, providing a mix of both large- and medium-sized pharmaceutical and biotechnology firms in both the U.S. and Europe. Moreover, both authors are CI professionals and have been practicing CI for some 15 to 20 years. They have, therefore, also incorporated some of their hands-on experience on how CI managers organize and manage their groups.