The Importance of Intelligence on the Value Network

How Did NTT View its Competitive Environment at the Emergence of the Internet?

Abstract

Traditional research on competitive intelligence has not distinguished products from services clearly. In adjacent research areas, however, discussions about intersections and differences between products and services are very active. Affected by this trend, this paper conducted a single case study to explore differences between competitive intelligence of telecommunication service and traditional competitive intelligence by analyzing how NTT viewed its competitive environment at the emergence of the Internet. We found that one of unique characteristics exhibited by this case is intelligence on the value network proposed by Christensen, and analyzed that intelligence in contrast to technology intelligence. As a result, we developed two hypotheses: (1) technology intelligence and intelligence on the value network can be handled independently, (2) when a given firm is not far behind in technology, intelligence on the value network can be a source of competitive advantage.