COMPETITOR'S ANALYSIS

This is sequel to my earlier blog under the title "How to form a productive group". In that blog I had described a story from MAHABHARAT to highlight the fact that how a compulsive decision maker often misses/neglects the vital information before he/she jumps into a decision. This type of decision sometimes proved to be disastrous as it has happened in this story of MAHABHARAT. Let me recapitulate the vital part of the story once again.

Drone heard the news that his son Asvathama has been killed in the ongoing battle. He wanted to know the veracity of this news from Yudhishthir, the eldest Pandavas against whom Drone is fighting. Drone wanted to check it from Yudhishthir as the latter was known for his honesty and truthfulness. Yudhishthir did not reply directly but gave enough hints to Drone to investigate further to know the truth. Yudhishthir had uttered.

ASVATHAMA HAS BEEN KILLED. BUT IT COULD BE AN ELEPHANT OR HUMAN.

In the cacophony of battle field Drone could not hear the second part of Yudhishthir pronunciation and concluded that it is Asvathama, his son, has been killed. He, then, refused to fight in the battle out of sorrow and was killed in the process.

The reaction to this blog was quite encouraging, which prompted me to write this sequel. Let us further analyze this story keeping in view the present management study and scenario.

In study of "communication" in our management schools, lot of emphasis has been put to the listening skill. It is also taught the communicator needs to convey a lot through body language. As far as the receptor is concerned apart from listening skill, one should be observant of body language of the speaker. Though the body language is culture and region dependant, it does convey a universal subtle message to the recipient about the sincerity behind the words spoken by the speaker. Hence an eye contact by the recipient is important though it is always told that it is the speaker who should maintain the eye contact. What I want to convey is that in communication both speaker and recipient need to be alert to make the process complete.

In the story above, we tend to sympathize with Drone because he could not listen to Yudhishthir completely in the noise of battle field. Some people say Yudhishthir deceived him. Now the mute question is whether Drone had observed the body language of Yudhishthir? Drone knew Yudhishthir very well as latter was the student of former. And here is Yudhishthir, a reluctant speaker, who in the first place told to his brothers that he could not tell lie and who after lot of persuasion, only agreed to convey the matter in a data form instead of direct information. For the first time in his life Yudhishthir is going to tell something indirectly and reluctantly instead of direct truth for which he is known and famous. Surely his body language must have defied him if we consider the scenario and the character of Yudhishthir as described in MAHABHARAT. But Drone not only failed to see the lip movement of Yudhishthir but also did not observe the body language of the latter. Whom to blame? Yudhishthir? Or Drone?

The second analysis will throw light on another practice of industries of today, the competitor's study and analysis. Sounds good and practical. Yes, one needs to know what the competitor is doing and planning for. Here one depends on insider's information. Let us not talk about ethicality of the issue. Like love and war, in business too, everything is alright. Collection of insider's information is of course rampant in tendering process of supply and purchase where everybody tries to know his/her competitor's rate. It is also an industry practice to declare the price quoted by parties after the tender is opened for the reference of competing parties. That is of course fine. But the worries lie with insider's information. How far it is reliable? Is it dependable? If dependable then to what an extent? Is it not like Drone asking the information to Yudhishthir against whom he is fighting? Be careful. The insider's information is like a double edge sword. You do not know which side it will cut. It can be a deliberate leak out to mislead you and if you are a compulsive decision maker, be sure that you are going to be trapped. Hence direct dependency on insider's information while making competitor's analysis is just like Drone's dependency on Yudhishthir's words. Hence insider's information requires lot of filtration, re-filtration, analysis and confirmation before a decision is arrived at.

In a smart business scenario it is always better to know the strength and weakness of your rival when the opportunity is divided and subdivided amongst various rival groups. It is also a smart business move to exploit the weakness of your rival. But always take a decision based on your own strength not based on others' weakness.