Competitors’ intelligence

Competitive intelligence us the process of defining, collecting, analyzing intelligence about competitions plans and products. Unlike industrial espionage, this is a legal practice. Information gathered via this can be fed back into the decision making loop to fine tune one's own course. Thus this helps in strategic alignment.

On a wider scope, it can gather information not just from the immediate competitor but also the business environment and the geopolitical situation.
So how to define a complete competitive system. Here is a step by step guide.
 Identify the competitors

1. Define KPIs and areas of interest  to collect data about.
2. Gather the intelligence.
3. Analyze the information
4. Communicate the findings upwards in your company
5. Turn this info into action points.
6. Act upon the action points an d reap the benefits.

Reference:
(1),  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Competitive_intelligence
(2). https://www.corporate360.us/blog/power-competitive-intelligence-marketing/