I’m at Print Outlook 2008 in New York City, and I noticed during Andrew Paparozzi’s presentation on commercial printing in 2008, based on survey results, that there were several themes revolving around competition. Print is more competitive than ever, and he stressed differentiation and not doing things just because competitors were doing them.
Will this drive an increased interest in competitive intelligence in printing? My experience is that this is one industry where CI hasn’t really taken hold, at least not in the same way as in medical/pharma and other industries. Perhaps as print gets more competitive and more dependent on innovation and positioning we will see a growing demand for CI in print.
Related posts:
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
CI, competitive intelligence is what I tried to market for over ten years to the printing industry but basically gave up because there has to be something intelligent on the other end.
The printing industry thinks being innovative has something to do with buying the latest technology. Hardly innovative but that seems to be the view.
As you know Steve, my area of interest has been in the consistency and predictability of the density control problem on offset presses. I developed the science that explains the problem and that leads to practical and inexpensive solutions. This is basically CI.
Printers do not want CI nor do press manufacturers. They just want existing products as in the case of the printers and just rehashed old technology as in the case of the press manufacturers. Therefore there is no way for them to gain a sustainable competitive advantage. Even worse, when they do try to innovate without the required knowledge (CI), they make mistakes which result in the wasting of valuable resources.
It is a shame because the opportunities are great but there has been too little imagination and courage to try and obtain valid CI, even when it has been offered. The industry doesn’t even have the language to know how to ask the right questions.