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Article: Gaining an edge: competitive intelligence takes off. (field grows in importance and respectability)(Cover Story)
- Article from:
- Chemical Week
- Article date:
- June 26, 1996
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1996 Access Intelligence, LLC. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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When Dow Chemical announced a sizable expansion of chlor-alkali capacity last year it surprised a lot of industry people--but not everyone. One of Dow's rival producers told CW preliminary work had been spotted during a flyover of Dow's Freeport, TX site. "We looked at aerial photographs and figured in the timeframe set they'd be able to add about 200,000 tons of the 250,000 tons/year announced." Welcome to the world of competitive intelligence, an emerging tool in the effort to keep ahead of the competition--by keeping a close eye on them.
"Probably half of U.S. chemical companies have a more or less continuous or fairly well-staffed competitive assessment ...