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Link analysis is the process of

building networks of

interconnected objects through

various relationships to discover

patterns and trends. Its main tasks are

to find and link together information

from various sources, and to adequately

represent and estimate the relevance of

this information.

Developed during the last 15-20

years, link analysis has been applied to

various fields, including mathematics,

social sciences and computer science.

This analysis has recently attracted

wider attention for its applicability to

law enforcement and intelligence

investigations (international terrorism,

illegal money flows), fraud detection

(banking, insurance), Web analysis

(search engines, marketing),

telecommunications (routers, traffic,

connectivity), and competitive

intelligence.

Link analysis can also mine and

analyze competitor site links inextensive detail. Analysis results are

displayed as a graph of linked objects

that support various object

manipulation and drill-down

operations.The visual output of link

analysis facilitates better understanding

of the hidden structure of investigating

data, and helps quickly isolate patterns

for additional investigation.

Links between contextual maps can

facilitate the research process by

providing another way to communicate

knowledge, similar to the social process

(the interaction between people).

Almost any information item can be

associated within one or more

contexts. A tool capable of building up

the context of one item in combination

with other relevant resources can

significantly contribute to

understanding the big picture.

The competitive intelligence team

collects and obtains information from a

wide variety of sources. The link

analysis system should manage

information in any digital form including

e-mail, a key source of incoming

competitive information. Internal

database information relating to people,

companies, and technologies should

also be accessible for inclusion into this

system as should external information

linked to other related internal

resources.

Information received from primarysources provides high quality input to

the competitive intelligence process.

The competitive intelligence team

should be able to quickly add it into the

repository, preferably without

additional processing. This primary

source information can then be

combined with other information,

analyzed for context, and links created

between individual items.

Competitive intelligence professionals

receive information that can be viewed in

multiple contexts. The link analysis

solution has to process information

within these diverse contexts while

applying each individual change to al

contexts. Creating links between these

different contexts gives an added value to

the intelligence picture.

During the link analysis process, links

should be distinguished by type

applying color, thickness or textua

labels. Together with overa ll relat ionship

visualization of the links and their

sources, this supports intelligence

efforts by showing the type and the

relevance of the resources and links

Visualization is also a proven way to

transfer knowledge between team

associates. Visual mapping of gathered

information improves the ability to

communicate knowledge and

understanding of relationships and

textual phrasing.

The contribution of competitiveintelligence is measured by its ability to

create meaningful knowledge

Information has to be integrated into a

picture which will facilitate intelligence

knowledge development. This process

can be strongly supported by link

analysis systems which analyze diverse

resources as well as trace hidden

relationships.

www.scip.org Enhancing the success of our members through leadership, education, advocacy and networking

AUTHOR

Avner Barnea

Competitive Intelligence Lecturer

MBA program of the Ono Academic College, Israel

Blast from the Past: Link Analysis a Tool for Competitive

Intelligence

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For example, the competitiveintelligence team collects information

on companies operating in a

marketplace and then analyzes the

cross ownership of those companies.

Basic link analysis software can create a

context map from the information. This

network displays the ownership links

between the company and its owners to

other companies, and can represent

other attributes like percentage of

ownership.

Finding relations based on similarities

can be useful when looking into thehistory of strategic cooperation

between competitors, for example

when you are evaluating potential

collaboration regarding participation in

a tender offer. Finding similarities

through comparisons based on

companies past activities and links

significant contributes to competitive

intelligence knowledge when the teamneeds precise information, has to rely

on assessments, and creates

recommendations for action. In another

example, when profiling a key person

the team should be able to review his

past or present holdings in varied

companies or his connection to other

business activities.

Competitive intelligence teams are

under permanent pressure to conduct

analysis and create recommendations to

internal customers in a timely manner.

Systems that allow them to efficientlycompose reports based on linked and

organized information can provide

significant added value. It is difficult to

conduct the complicated process of

inference without the ability to

combine contexts and contents, and

trace hidden and visible information

links. Link analysis is an analytical tool

that supports intelligence analysis andthe development of recommendations

that can improve company

performance.

About the Author:

Avner Barnea, former senior member o

the Israeli Intelligence Community, holds an

MA from the Hebrew University

Jerusalem and the Top Executive Program

in Marketing Management from the Te

Aviv University Graduate School

Business Administration. Avner is a gues

lecturer on CI at the Hebrew University o Jerusalem Business School and at th

Business School of the Academic Studies

Division of the College of Management

Currently he is also a lecturer on

Competitive Intelligence at the MBA

program of the Ono Academic College

Israel.

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