INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
Today’s competition is global in the sense that competitiveness has become a central preoccupation of both advanced and developing countries in an increasingly open and integrated world economy. Competitive intelligence became a fundamental area for more and more large organisations, especially in the developed countries of the world. The development of competitive intelligence has been stimulated by global competition, the emphasis on quality management and the realization by managers about actionable intelligence. The field of competitive intelligence has been in existence since the middle of 1960, competitive intelligence was primarily a library function and the involvement of top management in competitive intelligence towards the decision making process was limited (Prescott, 1991).
Competition in the 21st century focuses on time and speed, as well as quality and innovation. The content of competition has changed in the evolving market environment in the face of ferocious market competition, and the varied and individualized needs of customers. Competitive intelligence is the action of defining, gathering, analyzing and distributing intelligence about products, customers, competitors and any aspect of the environment needed to support executives and managers in making strategic decisions for an organisation (Ezigbo and Uduji, 2013:1). For an organisation to be effective and proactive, it must respond to the opportunities, challenges, risks and limitation posed by the external environment as new competitors are entering the market place, where current competitors are offering new products (Costa, 1995:1-8).
Competitive intelligence enables the business executives to gather and analyze information about the activities of the competitors, business environment and existing trends in order to fulfill the corporate objective of the organisation (Kahaner, 1996). Organisation’s need competitive intelligence to overcome the challenges posed by advancement in science and technology, intensified pattern of competition, quest for competitive advantages brought about by closer customer relationship, developed decision making, quality improvement on products and services. Competitive intelligence pulls together data and information from a very large and strategic view, allowing you to predict or forecast what is going to happen. This in turn allows you to effectively strategize in relation to your competitive environment, therefore competitive intelligence allows you to remain competitive by improving your strategic decisions and this leads to better performance against your competitors, www.exinfm.com/training.
Competitive intelligence is a key and very important factor in the organisation. If the organisation is to remain overtime, management executives have to generally see a need to know more about the new products and services, technology and about current and potential competitors (Nemutazhela and Iyamu, 2011:3). The constant and rapid changing business environment requires manager’s awareness about what their competitors are doing, how the industry is changing and intelligence knowledge gathered enables organisations to identify their strengths and weaknesses. Intelligence information is needed in all aspect of the organisation; with the right information an organisation becomes very sensitive and proactive in knowing about the intentions of their competitors, what their strategies and tactics are and anticipating what the competitors think about our organisation. In the quest for organisations to succeed, there is need to close the loop on competitive intelligence the organisation needs to recognize that other organisations are also performing competitive intelligence therefore, organisations should provide an insight through competitive knowledge into how your competitors learn about you. Competitive intelligence is the systematic and ethical process for gathering, analyzing, and managing information that can impact on organisation operations and plans. Competitive intelligence is a necessary, ethical business discipline for decision making based on understanding the competitive environment (SCIP,2007:55).
Competitive intelligence is a sure way for organisations to develop a strategic fit that leads to creative innovation, quality products, customer satisfaction, improves competitive capacity categorization of information and gaining insights into the activities of the competitor and how these activities are likely to affect the potential future strategies of the organisation (Jepson,2005:10).
Competitive intelligence enables organisation to gain competitive advantage over its competitors. With adequate intelligence, the organisation is able to refocus, redirect and reorient the organisation towards a direction where it can take advantage of new business opportunities, capitalizes and develop its area of strength and reduce its weaknesses and also develop methods to deal with external challenges. Information gathering and competitive intelligence acquisition is a necessary tool because it enables organisation to identify and respond to competing firms, government policies and regulations, host community, technology, customers, suppliers, stakeholders and other business affiliations (Azharkazimi, 2002:17).
Competitive intelligence is needed for any organisation to succeed since it is used to identify the customers, supplier’s employees and other organisations offering similar products. These other organisations are competitors and their objectives are the same. Effectively, the businesses are at war fighting to gain same resource and territory of the customers. It is necessary to understand the competitor, how he thinks, what his strengths and weaknesses are, where he is vulnerable and where he can be attacked. By knowing your competitors, you may be able to predict their next moves, exploit their weaknesses and undermine their strengths. Competitive intelligence is a necessary tool the manager needs to increase the quality of products, and services, strategic planning and market effectiveness (www.xa.ving.com).
The brewery sector in Nigeria has a history that dates back to the pre-independence era. Beer of different brands were imported into Nigeria before the World War II. During and after the war, Nigerian started acquiring a taste for Continental European beer and there was a tremendous increase in the quantity of beer imported to Africa. This created an opportunity for a brewery to be set up in Nigeria. The then Nigerian Breweries Limited (NBL) was established amidst fierce competition among the leading brands. Nigerian Breweries was however able to withstand such competition with all the hitherto established companies fizzling out into obscurity. The principal activities of brewery firms include the production, packaging and sales of alcoholic and malt beverages. Over the years, the sector has developed from a duopoly to a sector characterized by stiff competition, albeit with the dominance of two major players. The sector has also evolved from purely bottling activities to a diversified sector involved in the production of canned drinks and the use of tetra packs. The sector had an estimated production capacity of 1.3 billion liters as at 2002. Today, current production is about 1.1 billion liters with Nigerian Breweries and Guinness accounting for over 86% of market share. This translates to a total revenue of over N128 billion, representing approximately 1% of nominal GDP with inflation rate. With inflation rate falling in recent times, we do not expect such revenues to increase considerably in the near future. The brewery sector currently employs more than 5,000 people. It has about 18,100 distribution outlets in the country made up of wholesalers, hotels and clubs. The industry is operating in a moderately risky environment though economic fundamentals are still strong. However, as we do not anticipate any adverse changes in economic conditions, we expect such inherent risk factors to reduce considerably.
Despite the dominance of Guinness and Nigerian Breweries in the Nigerian beer market, evidence has shown that well run regional breweries are very successful. Jos Breweries controls a substantial market share in the northern region with the production of Rock and Class lager beers as well as the Malt Royale non-alcoholic drink. Other notable regional players include Premier Breweries and International Breweries with the latter recently approaching the capital market to raise N1.3 billion in a bid to expand production capacity and improve plant and equipment reliabilities amongst other objectives. Official statistics shows that as at 2004, the Nigerian beer and Malt market had a total consumption of 8.6 million liters (7 liters per capita). Since 1998, an average sales growth of approximately 10% per annum has been observed. If a constant growth over the next five years and barring any unforeseen circumstances, we expect production and consumption rates in the beer and malt market to attain unprecedented levels. Major hindrances to such expected growth trajectory includes the issue of religious and socio-economic considerations and connotations as well as a reduction in disposal income of consumers.
One of the major critical success factors of the brewery firms in this sector today is
aggressive marketing, being a manufacturing related sector with keen competition among its players; large resources are required for adequate advertisements and general publicity. Various media for marketing are usually deployed such as print, electronic as well as billboards and sponsorships of events & programmes. All these efforts create awareness in the minds of consumers, invariably leading to greater patronage. Effective and efficient distribution network is another key success factor for this sector, since beer and other drinks are consumed in virtually all areas of the country. It is pertinent that the end product gets to the final consumer as at when needed. Also, the demand for certain products such as alcoholic drinks is heavy in certain areas and as such producers ensure a higher preference in such areas. Adequate distribution network therefore compliments the productive and marketing strategies of the companies. Currently, the brewery sector is witnessing stiff competition arising from firms competition for common sources of raw materials, similar products of close substitute and serving the same market, with Guinness Nigeria Plc, Nigeria breweries Plc and SABMiller taking the lead. Industry watchers predict a blooming market for investors in the brewery sector in Nigeria. Nigeria breweries Plc and Guinness Nigeria Plc controlling about 90 percent of the market, Guinness with a niche stout brand and Nigeria breweries Plc with prime star lagar beer. Both owned by world beer gaints (Diageo and Heineken respectively). Eventual entrance of SABMiller into the market created variety of products in the market arising from competition, consolidation and expansion of the brewery sector which created value for the consumers. The looming heightened competition became an incentive for innovation and creativity.
| Project details | Contents |
|---|---|
| Number of Pages | 177 pages |
| Chapter one | Introduction |
| Chapter two | Literature review |
| Chapter three | methodology |
| Chapter four | Data analysis |
| Chapter five | Summary,discussion & recommendations |
| Reference | Reference |
| Questionnaire | Questionnaire |
| Appendix | Appendix |
| Chapter summary | 1 to 5 chapters |
| Available document | PDF and MS-word format |
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