Not only is knowing the market for your product necessary, knowing your competition is essential as well. According to the blog, “Competitive intelligence: Know your rivals,” from Canada Business Network, “Gathering information about your competitors is a sensible market research practice that allows you to be proactive about your business decisions.” Even in sports, for instance, UFC fighters train with their trainers specifically for the style of their opponents. Knowing the opponents and their strategies is crucial for UFC fighters to make smart decisions with less risk of surprises that may have come if they hadn’t prepared. Things that should be looked for according to the article are: new products or services, changes in personnel, and how competitors achieve their goals.

In business, information about competitions can be found in many ways. Some of them include: talking to the opponent’s intermediaries, customers, and other organizations familiar with the rivals. However, there isn’t a set line between ethical and unethical ways of retrieving vital information; cheating companies will inevitably have a further advantage by knowing more information. Companies should therefore invest money on ways to prevent unwanted data leakage. One way to implement this is by dealing with suppliers that only work for that company.