Babette Bensoussan

Babette Bensoussan is an author and competitive intelligence specialist, who has written several books on competitive intelligence and analysis. She runs a Sydney, Australia based consulting firm, The MindShifts Group Pty. Ltd.

Career

Babette was a Founder and Vice President for the Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals in Australia (SCIPAust), a member of the Journal of Competitive Intelligence and Management and Competitive Intelligence Review editorial boards. She was awarded the SCIP Meritorious Award in 2006, and was the first international recipient of the SCIP Fellows Award in 1996. She also has taught undergraduate, MBA and executive courses on competitive analysis and intelligence at the Sydney Graduate School of Management and Bond University.

Babette is widely recognised and sought after for her international expertise in competitive analysis, and has provided mentoring and training to executives and organizations to assist with the delivery of the highest level of knowledge and implementation of competitive intelligence.

With over twenty years experience as an international specialist in strategy and competition and as founder and director of The MindShifts Group, Babette has undertaken major studies for and consulted to Australian and Global Fortune 500 companies. She has undertaken over 300 projects and consulted to a wide range of industries and markets including aerospace, information technology/computers, transport, financial services, waste services, pharmaceuticals, utilities, mining and manufacturing operations.

Apart from her active business responsibilities, Babette has taught Competitive Intelligence at both the Sydney Graduate School of Management, University of Western Sydney and at Bond University in the undergraduate business and MBA programs. She has also served as a member of the National Australia Day Council (1997-1999) and the NSW Board of Adult and Community Education (2000–2002).

Babette has shared her knowledge of competitive business analysis by co-authoring two books. “Strategic and Competitive Analysis” and “Business and Competitive Analysis” have both been the top selling books in this field since being published in 2003 and 2007 respectively. A third book is due for release in 2008.

Babette has a Bachelor of Business from the University of Technology, an MBA from Macquarie University Graduate School of Management and completed Advanced Training for Competitive Intelligence Professionals at the Academy of Competitive Intelligence in the USA.

Key Concepts

Bensoussan is recognised for several important contributions to the fields of business intelligence, competitive analysis and competitive intelligence . She may be best known for her work on competitive analysis methods, particularly in identifying the 48 methods that are required competencies by intelligence practitioners. She is also recognised for her business model analysis, competitive positioning analysis, four corners analysis [Hartzman, D. (2005). "Intelligence Analysis: Stating the 'So What?'", Intelligence Insights, The Bulletin of the CI Division of the Special Libraries Association,1(3), p. 9.] ,and shadowing. [McGonagle, J.M. (2002). "Book review: Strategic and Competitive Analysis," Competitive Intelligence Magazine, 5(5).] .

Awards

* 2006 American SCIP Meritorious Award - Babette is the first Australian and first female international recipient to receive this award.
* 2006 Alumni Award from MGSM.

Bibliography

Babette has written several publications in the field of competitive analysis and intelligence. These include the following:

* 2008 "Analysis without Paralysis" By Babette Bensoussan and Craig Fleisher (FT Press (Financial Times Prentice Hall)

* 2007 "Business and Competitive Analysis: Effective Application of New and Classic Methods" w/ Craig Fleisher(FT Press)

* 2007 "Staying Ahead of the Competition: How Firms Really Manage Their Competitive Intelligence and Knowledge - Evidence from a decade of rapid change", w/ C. Hall, Singapore: World Scientific.

* 2003 "Strategic and Competitive Analysis: Methods and Techniques for Analyzing Business Competition" w/ Craig Fleisher (Upper Saddle River, Prentice Hall)

References