Glossary

Competitive Intelligence Glossary

Your complete guide to mastering competitive intelligence. Expert definitions, practical insights, and real-world applications for professionals.

67+
Expert Definitions
5
Categories
100%
Actionable
2026
Updated

Browse Terms

Explore our comprehensive collection of competitive intelligence terms, organized by category and maturity level.

67 terms found
All Categories
All Levels

Fundamentals

10 terms
initial

Business Intelligence (BI)

Business intelligence (BI) transforms raw organizational data into actionable insights for decision-making. Learn about BI tools, architecture, and implementation.

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foundation

Competitive Advantage

Competitive advantage is what makes a company outperform rivals. Learn about cost leadership, differentiation, sustainable advantage, and how to build lasting competitive strength.

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initial

Competitive Intelligence (CI)

Competitive intelligence (CI) is the systematic process of gathering, analyzing, and using information about competitors to make better business decisions. Learn how to build an effective CI program.

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initial

Competitive Landscape

A competitive landscape is the market ecosystem of competitors, substitutes, and emerging threats. Learn how to map and analyze your competitive environment.

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initial

Market Intelligence

Market intelligence is the systematic gathering of data about markets, customers, and competitors. Learn how to build an effective market intelligence program.

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initial

Market Research

Market research is the systematic collection and analysis of data about customers, competitors, and market conditions. Learn proven methods for gathering actionable market insights.

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foundation

Porter's Five Forces

Porter's Five Forces analyzes competitive intensity through five factors: rivals, new entrants, substitutes, buyer power, and supplier power. Learn how to apply this framework.

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foundation

SAM & SOM

SAM (Serviceable Addressable Market) and SOM (Serviceable Obtainable Market) narrow TAM to realistic targets. Learn how to calculate and apply these metrics.

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initial

SWOT Analysis

SWOT analysis is a strategic planning framework that evaluates Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. Learn how to conduct effective SWOT analysis with examples.

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foundation

Total Addressable Market (TAM)

Total Addressable Market (TAM) represents the full revenue opportunity for a product. Learn how to calculate TAM and use it with SAM and SOM for market sizing.

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Analysis Methods

22 terms
foundation

Benchmarking

Benchmarking compares your performance against competitors or industry standards to identify gaps and improvement opportunities. Learn how to benchmark effectively.

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systematic

Competitive Benchmarking

Learn how competitive benchmarking helps organizations measure performance against competitors to identify gaps, opportunities, and areas for strategic improvement.

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foundation

Competitor Analysis

Competitor analysis is the systematic evaluation of rival companies to understand their strategies, strengths, and weaknesses. Learn frameworks for effective competitive intelligence.

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systematic

Competitor Profiling

Competitor profiling creates detailed analyses of rival companies. Learn how to build effective competitor profiles with templates, data sources, and best practices.

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systematic

Competitor SWOT

Competitor SWOT analysis evaluates rivals across strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Learn how to conduct effective competitor assessments.

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systematic

Digital Footprint Analysis

Digital footprint analysis examines online presence and digital activities for competitive intelligence. Learn how to analyze competitor digital strategies.

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systematic

Gap Analysis

Gap analysis compares current state to desired state to identify improvement areas. Learn how to conduct gap analysis with practical frameworks and examples.

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systematic

Industry Benchmarking

Learn how industry benchmarking helps organizations measure performance against sector standards and competitors to identify strategic opportunities.

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systematic

Innovation Scouting

Learn how innovation scouting helps organizations identify disruptive startups, emerging technologies, and breakthrough business models before competitive impact.

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foundation

Market Segmentation

Learn how market segmentation helps organizations divide markets into distinct customer groups to create targeted value propositions and competitive advantages.

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systematic

Market Share Analysis

Market share analysis measures competitive positioning to understand relative market strength, identify opportunities, and track competitive dynamics over time.

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strategic

Opportunity Analysis

Opportunity analysis is the systematic evaluation of potential growth areas and market gaps. Learn how to identify, assess, and prioritize business opportunities.

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advanced

Patent Intelligence

Learn how patent intelligence transforms intellectual property data into strategic insights for R&D planning, competitive analysis, and innovation strategy.

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systematic

PEST Analysis

PEST analysis examines Political, Economic, Social, and Technological factors affecting your business environment. Learn how to conduct effective environmental analysis.

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systematic

PESTLE Analysis

PESTLE analysis examines Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal, and Environmental factors affecting your business. Learn how to apply this strategic framework.

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systematic

Sentiment Analysis

Sentiment analysis extracts emotional attitudes and opinions from text to understand how customers, markets, and stakeholders feel about brands, products, and competitors.

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systematic

Share of Voice (SOV)

Share of Voice (SOV) measures your brand visibility relative to competitors. Learn how to calculate SOV across channels and use it for competitive analysis.

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systematic

Technology Scouting

Learn how technology scouting helps organizations identify emerging technologies, breakthrough innovations, and strategic technology opportunities before competitors.

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systematic

Trend Analysis

Trend analysis examines patterns and changes across markets to identify emerging forces that reshape business landscapes. Learn frameworks for strategic trend intelligence.

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systematic

Value Chain Analysis

Value chain analysis examines activities that create value for customers. Learn how to use Porter's value chain framework to identify competitive advantage.

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strategic

Win-Loss Analysis

Win-loss analysis systematically examines deal outcomes to understand why you win and lose opportunities. Learn how to extract actionable insights from sales outcomes.

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systematic

Win Rate

Learn how win rate measures sales effectiveness in competitive deals and how organizations use competitive intelligence to improve deal outcomes.

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Strategic Planning

15 terms
strategic

Barriers to Entry

Barriers to entry are obstacles that make it difficult for new competitors to enter an industry. Learn about types of barriers and their strategic significance.

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strategic

Blue Ocean Strategy

Blue Ocean Strategy creates uncontested market space instead of competing in crowded markets. Learn the framework, tools, and real examples of successful blue oceans.

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systematic

Channel Strategy Analysis

Learn how channel strategy analysis helps organizations evaluate distribution channels, optimize partner networks, and design effective go-to-market approaches.

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strategic

Competitive Positioning

Learn how to establish distinctive market positions that influence customer perception and create sustainable competitive advantages through strategic differentiation.

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strategic

First-Mover Advantage

First-mover advantage is the benefit gained by being first to market. Learn when being first helps, when it hurts, and how to evaluate first-mover strategies.

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strategic

Go-To-Market Strategy

Learn how to plan and execute effective go-to-market strategies that turn products into market success through positioning, customer acquisition, and channel optimization.

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advanced

Market Disruption

Learn how market disruption transforms industries through innovation patterns. Understand disruption types, warning signals, and strategic responses.

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strategic

Market Entry Strategy

Learn how to plan and execute market entry strategies that account for competitive dynamics, customer needs, and strategic positioning for sustainable market success.

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strategic

Scenario Planning

Learn how scenario planning prepares organizations for multiple futures. Understand scenario development, uncertainty analysis, and strategic response frameworks.

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strategic

Strategic Differentiation

Learn how to build sustainable competitive advantages through strategic differentiation that competitors cannot easily replicate.

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advanced

Strategic Foresight

Learn how strategic foresight and scenario planning help organizations prepare for multiple futures and build resilience against uncertainty.

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strategic

Strategic Intelligence

Learn how strategic intelligence transforms market data into competitive advantage through systematic collection, analysis, and interpretation of business information.

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advanced

Threat Modeling

Threat modeling systematically identifies competitive threats and strategic vulnerabilities. Learn how to anticipate and prepare for competitive risks.

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foundation

Unique Selling Proposition (USP)

A unique selling proposition (USP) defines what makes your product different from competitors. Learn how to create a compelling USP with real examples.

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foundation

Value Proposition

Learn how to create compelling value propositions that differentiate your business and communicate unique customer value effectively.

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Tools & Techniques

16 terms
advanced

AI-Powered Competitive Analysis

Learn how AI transforms competitive analysis through automated data collection, pattern recognition, and predictive modeling for strategic insights.

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systematic

Brand Monitoring

Learn how brand monitoring helps organizations track mentions, protect reputation, and build competitive intelligence through systematic digital channel analysis.

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systematic

Buyer Intent Data

Learn how buyer intent data helps B2B organizations identify high-probability prospects through purchase signal analysis and behavioral intelligence.

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foundation

Competitive Analysis Tools

Competitive analysis tools help track and analyze competitors. Learn about tool categories, evaluation criteria, and how to choose the right tools for your needs.

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foundation

Competitive Intelligence Software

Competitive intelligence software platforms help organizations track and analyze competitors systematically. Learn about features, benefits, and how to evaluate CI platforms.

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initial

Competitive Monitoring

Competitive monitoring is the ongoing tracking of competitor activities, market changes, and industry developments. Learn how to build an effective monitoring program.

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advanced

Continuous Intelligence

Learn how continuous intelligence enables real-time business insights through streaming analytics, automated monitoring, and immediate decision support.

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systematic

Data Aggregation

Learn how data aggregation consolidates disparate data sources into unified intelligence platforms for competitive analysis and strategic decision-making.

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systematic

Digital Intelligence Platforms

Learn how digital intelligence platforms unify data collection, analysis, and strategic decision-making through integrated analytics and real-time insights.

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foundation

KPI Dashboards

Learn how KPI dashboards transform complex business data into strategic insights through visualization, real-time monitoring, and decision support.

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advanced

Predictive Analytics

Learn how predictive analytics uses machine learning and statistical modeling to forecast business outcomes, customer behavior, and market trends.

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systematic

Pricing Intelligence

Learn how pricing intelligence helps organizations monitor competitor pricing, optimize strategies, and make data-driven pricing decisions for competitive advantage.

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advanced

Real-Time Analytics

Learn how real-time analytics enables instant business insights through streaming data processing, automated monitoring, and immediate competitive response.

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systematic

Sales Intelligence

Sales intelligence is data that helps sales teams find, engage, and close deals more effectively. Learn about data types, sources, and how to use sales intelligence.

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systematic

Social Listening

Learn how social listening transforms online conversations into competitive intelligence, enabling brands to understand customer sentiment and market trends in real-time.

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systematic

Voice of Customer (VoC)

Learn how Voice of Customer programs transform customer feedback into strategic business intelligence for product development and competitive positioning.

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Implementation

4 terms

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