Comprehensive, well-researched, readable, and a title that says it all. This new book, based on the premise that "knowledge has value, intelligence has power," offers an in-depth discussion of how you can make knowledge management and competitive intelligence work together for competitive advantage. The first step, the authors say, is to identify and build on all your company's knowledge assets. The second step is to protect those same assets from your competitors. If you are successful, you've hit on the right mix of sharing and protecting.
The ideas are practical. For instance, to help gauge your company's relative need to protect its intellectual capital, the authors suggest a clever idea borrowed from the beach: the SPF, or solar protection factor, here nicknamed the "strategic protection factor." The SPF score you assign to your knowledge assets, they say, ranges from five to forty-five—the same numbers found on the sunscreen bottle—that indicates the combined level of risk from a standpoint of both knowledge management and competitive intelligence. If your SPF is five, for example, you may not need to worry about copying because you enjoy a first-mover advantage. An SPF of forty-five, on the other hand, is typical for companies in super-competitive industries such as high tech and pharmaceuticals, where knowledge creation and protection are essential.
In the conclusion, authors Rothberg and Erickson sum up their "recipe" for competitive advantage with these five ingredients:
- A simple design that is inclusive, user friendly, and has a focal point.
- A culture that gets people involved and engaged in analysis.
- An SPF designation that responds to national, industry, and firm factors.
- An orientation and process for protecting what you know.
- Leaders who, through policy and person, walk the walk.
The authors are consultants as well as associate professors in New York State at Marist and Ithaca colleges, respectively.