Craig S. Fleisher

PUBLIC POLICY COMPETITIVE INTELLIGENCE

The need to strategically manage public policy developments affecting business requires a broadened role for competitive intelligence. Public policy competitive intelligence (PPCI) can provide early warning of threats and opportunities that affect company strategy and allow decision makers to take appropriate action such as working to create, change or defeat legislation or regulation, or taking a public stance on key policy issues. In some cases, it also may be appropriate to respond to public policy developments by altering the companys mission, changing vendors/suppliers, and entering or exiting product or service lines. Public policy issues to monitor include those involving national and regional regulation, taxation, privatization, government expenditures, and actions affecting takeovers, among others. Companies also must monitor global, social, and political factors. Competitive intelligence professionals should collaborate with their colleagues in government relations, community relations, and corporate affairs. A comprehensive assessment of the companys public policy environment (PPE) should be performed. A framework is proposed for a continuous public policy strategy process.

Matching Intelligence Teaching Methods with Different Learners' Needs

Current trends suggest that academia may be well “behind the curve” in delivering effective competitive and market intelligence programs and course offerings to students. There are many reasons why this state of affairs has occurred, and prominent among them is nature of challenges experienced by instructors in disseminating and teaching students the prominent competencies they need to acquire in order to be successful in the changing workplace. Applying cluster analysis to our teaching experiences and the scholarship, we develop a normative conceptual model that contrasts traditional and evolving pedagogical methods. Furthermore, we make the case that new learning tools and technologies which are revolutionizing the way information is taught need to be matched up with the new ways in which unique segments of contemporary intelligence students approach learning. This article is available in Journal of Strategic Security: http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/jss/vol6/iss3/6