Our expertise lies in the following areas:

• Competitive business and market intelligence
• Business knowledge creation, management and dissemination
• Specialist website management

Competitive business and market intelligence

Since the early 1980s, most companies that develop long term strategies use the theories and models developed by Michael Porter of the Harvard Business School. Porter leads the Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness at Harvard. The fundamental requirements for developing a strategy are a thorough knowledge of the industry in which a company operates, as well as an understanding of that company's position and of its competitors within the industry. We can help you develop your strategy by providing research and analysis on your industry, your competitors and your company.

Maybe you don't want to embark on a full scale industry analysis, but just need some help and advice. Here's a recent email I received:

This is a typical example of the sort of research business people need to carry out every day. Does it sound familiar to you? Have you got a similar project you've been asked to work on?

Business knowledge creation, management and dissemination

Once you've gathered together data and information about your company, industry and competitors, what do you do? Do you just keep a set of files in a folder on your hard drive, or print out documents to keep in boxes on shelves? A few months later, you know you did some research but you just can't find the results, so you start all over again. We can help you manage and share the precious information you've collected, turning it into useful knowledge.

Whatever your requirements, whether to manage your knowledge using web technology, database software, or even traditional library or archival storage, we have the skills and experience to help.

Specialist website management

Perhaps you already have a website but you're ashamed of it because you haven't updated it recently, or it never appears in the first page of hits when you do a search? There are so many things to think about when designing a website, such as credibility and usability, but most websites only consider the visual design elements. We can audit your website to see if it meets credibility, usability and visibility standards, we can make changes to improve it, and we can service it regularly so that it consistently does what you want it to do - attract and retain customers.

We don't just stand here telling you what to do, we put our advice into practice for ourselves. We're currently developing our own specialist websites and soon you'll be able to link to them from Monaco IQ.

What to do next

If you need help with research, a knowledge management project, or improving the efficiency of your website, don't hesitate to contact us. We can help you on an ad hoc basis, or as part of your regular information or knowledge project requirements. If you're based in Monaco, we would be pleased to meet you and discuss your needs.