Competing in the Knowledge Economy : The Knowledge Value Chain (KVC)

Here’s an excerpt from my chapter in the new book Starting a CI Function (SCIP 2008.)

In each organization, the specific mission for intelligence, and the intelligence plan that supports that mission, will vary.  However, a set of “information deficiencies” that is strikingly similar across many organizations, across all industries, remains.  These include:

• There is too much information “out there”, and often it’s hard to find. According to the search engine Technorati, the number of blogs is now over 93 million-with 175,000 being added each day. Not all of these have business value—but a surprising number do, and should be on your intelligence “radar screen”. And it’s only going to get worse. A recent study (”How Much Information?  2003“, School of Information, University of California, Berkeley) found that worldwide information production increased by 30 percent each year between 1999 and 2002. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s here—the shiny (really!) new version 3.2 Knowledge Value Chain Workbook.  Our thanks to the TKA team and partners who made this happen.  Workbook designer John (”The Great”) Fantini and printer Craig (”On-Time”) Pace of Spectragraphic Inc. did yeoman service in getting this edition ready.  Mike (”Pool Boy”) Powell made extensive editorial comments, as did KVC “users” Kathy Walsh of Purdue Pharma and Stephen Lippman of Merrill Lynch.

For those of you with version 3.1, most of the changes are editorial, there is little new content this time (hence its “dot” number).

We have now shipped the book worldwide—most recently to Estonia and Korea—and welcome any feedback from those of you who have it or are using it.

 To order, click here.

Financial Intelligence Requires a Deeper Look
 

New York, NY - Arising Group, Inc. recently completed intensive exercises in financial analysis with Tim Powell of The Knowledge Agency® (TKA).

George Karshner, Executive Vice President at Arising Group, said that understanding the financial fitness of a company is essential to proper due diligence.  “Companies targeted for M&A or involved in litigation may not want to reveal their true financial condition,” Karshner said.  “A company’s public relations team may put on a happy face, but to know the true health of a company you need to look at their public filings and financial statements and understand the implications of the different business ratios,” he added.

Read the rest of this entry »

We recently had to deal directly with a Very Large Phone Company, on whom most of the businesses in my Manhattan neighborhood ultimately rely for both their telephone and Internet connections.  In the process of getting a new phone system installed after our recent office move, my staff and I witnessed some of the most primitive “knowledge” behavior I’ve ever seen.  We noticed that, at least once a week during our ten-week (!) wait for service, a new team would arrive to scout the connections entering our new building on the street level.  Rarely the same team twice.  And each time, the team seemed to be asking similar questions about where wires came from, where they ran, and so on.  And each time (you guessed it) their report that there were not enough lines coming into the building was oddly familiar.

Our building is a 100-year-old former medical equipment warehouse in the High Line district on the Hudson River just south of the Javits Center—now a thriving art gallery district, and soon to become a thriving business district.  The building was not originally built for telephones.  As a result, connection boxes are in odd places, wires run where you’d not expect—you really have to know what you’re doing.

Read the rest of this entry »

I had an experience recently that reminded me how fragile the Knowledge Value Chain really is.  A client had asked for information on the quality of intelligence, a topic that I’ve addressed in many talks over the years.  I looked through dozens of PowerPoint slide shows from these talks, and was printing the slides that were most relevant to his question.

Then, when looking though a file created about 12 years ago, I got an error message that the file was incompatible, and could not be opened.  I tried another file of the same vintage, and got the same message.

After some research on one of Microsoft’s excellent support sites, I’ve come to the conclusion that the software I’m using (PowerPoint 2007, which I find superior in all other respects to its predecessor) will not open the file I’m trying to access.

Read the rest of this entry »

January 11, 2008, NEW YORK—The Knowledge Agency announced today that the new clinic Financial Intelligence:  A Value-Based Approach^TM is completed, and has now successfully completed field-testing at a major corporation.  “I’ve tried to put into a bottle those must-know things about using financial analysis to discover your rivals’ strategies,” says clinic developer and leader Tim Powell.  “These are skills I’ve developed and used every day in my work as a financial analyst, including ten years as a consultant in the Big Four firms.”

The one-day clinic is typically given at a client location, and includes practical modules that use real-world case examples.  Also included is a live exercise in which participants analyze their own company, then a major rival, for clues to the competitive dynamics in your industry.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Wall Street Journal recently (December 10, 2007) ran an op-ed article by two former members of the House Intelligence Committee (Peter Hoekstra, R-MI and Jane Harman, D-CA) under the title “The Limits of Intelligence”.  The article was written in reaction to the 2007 National Intelligence Estimate that claimed that Iran has suspended its nuclear weapons development programs.

However, it contains broader lessons about the uses and misuses of intelligence.  They say, “Intelligence is in many ways an art, not an exact science…The information we receive from the intelligence community is but one piece of the puzzle in a rapidly changing world.  It is not a substitute for policy, and the challenge for policy makers is to use good intelligence wisely to fashion good policy.”

Read the rest of this entry »

To illustrate the principles of value creation, consider these two hypothetical vignettes from everyday life.

Vignette 1 – A Visit to the Doctor

You pay a non-routine visit to your doctor.  The doctor’s first question is, “What kind of pills would you like today?”

Your reaction?  You’re shocked at the incompetence, and look for another doctor.  Any doctor that prescribes medicines upon request is little more than a very expensive vending machine.  We expect the doctor’s first question to be something more like, “What is bothering you today?”

Read the rest of this entry »

Sharp readers of the KVC Workbook (Version 3.1) have spotted several typos:

• Page 3, right column, 1st paragraph – change “necessary” to “necessarily”
• Page 5, 1st line – change “rather” to “father”
• Page 5, right column, 2nd paragraph – after “more”, insert “than”
• Page 6, right column, 3^rd paragraph, 6^th line – change “the” to “to”
• Page 7, 1^st paragraph – change first “who” to “which”, and “their” to “its”
• Page 10, 4^th paragraph – after “of” insert “us”
• Page 12, 2nd paragraph – change the second “do” to “conduct”
• Page 23, 2^nd paragraph – after “routinely” drop “and”
• Page 28, 2nd paragraph, 2^nd line – drop “we”
• Page 30, 2^nd line – change “know” to “known”
• Page 32, 2^nd paragraph, last line – after “$50,000″ insert “car”
• Page 40, 4^th paragraph – after “company” insert “has taken”
• Page 42, last paragraph – change “some” to “an”
• Page 44, 3rd paragraph – drop the second “that”
• Page 46, 1st paragraph – change “diagnosis” to “diagnose”
• Page 62, 3rd paragraph – change “an” to “and”
• Page 66, 2nd paragraph – drop second “you”
• Page 74, 1st paragraph – after “way” insert “as”
• Page 74, 3rd paragraph – change the second “your” to “you”
• Page 79, slide fourth bullet – after “possible” insert “to”

Thanks, you know who you are!

 All of these (and more) changes are made in the new Version 3.2.

The Knowledge Agency has moved!  After a successful five-year run on Fifth Avenue, we’ve moved west to the Hudson River waterfront.

Effective November 1, 2007, TKA’s  address is:

The Knowledge Agency®

548 West 28^th Street

New York, NY 10001, USA

That’s in the Hudson Yards area the New York Times recently profiled as one of the fastest-developing business centers in New York.  Several major art galleries, publishing, and technology firms have already relocated from midtown to here.  Soon Ogilvy and Mather, Morgan Stanley, News Corporation, and Condé Nast are said to be moving their headquarters here.  We have some interesting neighbors!

We’re also in the process of modernizing  and upgrading our phone and Internet systems based on fiber optic T1 technology.  Phone numbers stay the same.