Surviving Competitive Inteligence projects in Central and Eastern Europe and Russia - June 2009

Competitive Intelligence for business purposes is still a new concept in the Central and Eastern European region. The communist era was one in which free market “competitiveness” was almost unknown and “intelligence” was associated with the security services. The contract killing of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya in October 2006 and killing of Magomed Jewlojew owner of independent internet portal in Igushetia, despite the police protection underlines the fact that the largest country and market in this region does not operate to the same rules as we are used to in the traditional arenas of research. Simultaneously the Monopoly board game square “Go to Jail, go directly to jail, do not pass Go, do not collect $200” certainly seems relevant to us at PMR. We advised one client that their proposed methodology could land them and those they intended to interview in prison.