First of all hello! I'm new to the forum, so please be gentle.
Second a couple of apologies:
1. sorry if this has been covered a million times before. If so, please do give me some links to other threads and I'll happily read them. A search came up blank, but I may have just searched the wrong term!
2. Sorry if this is in the wrong forum. Seemed the closest fit to what I'm asking.
3. Sorry for my first post being a question. In fact all of my posts will be questions. I'm a law dummy, which is why I'm here!
Anyway, on to my dilemma.
I work for a global, california based company, which for reasons that will become apparent, I do not wish to name.
I have been asked by my boss to take on, in part, the role of our competitive intelligence team member. I know nothing about CI, and openly said this to my boss. She said to do my best, to which I replied "where do I even start?" (You could write my CI experience on a postage stamp with a crayon). She informed me that I should call around competitors pretending to be a customer or analyst or contractor working on behalf of a customer. Through doing so, I am to find information about their pricing and service offerings.
I may be a law dummy, but I'm pretty sure that this is an offence that could get me fired or even put in jail! The prospect of jail really does not appeal.
So, can anyone help? Am I being needlessly paranoid? If I am correct, could anyone point me towards relevant CI laws? I'm not averse to doing a bit of research, but I don't know where to start. If I can find the relevant regulations, then maybe I can try to work within them, or if they are too complex, just present them to my boss as why I will not take on this role.
btw, I was absolutely, positively not hired to do competitive intelligence.
Thanks so much for your help,
Doug.
Second a couple of apologies:
1. sorry if this has been covered a million times before. If so, please do give me some links to other threads and I'll happily read them. A search came up blank, but I may have just searched the wrong term!
2. Sorry if this is in the wrong forum. Seemed the closest fit to what I'm asking.
3. Sorry for my first post being a question. In fact all of my posts will be questions. I'm a law dummy, which is why I'm here!
Anyway, on to my dilemma.
I work for a global, california based company, which for reasons that will become apparent, I do not wish to name.
I have been asked by my boss to take on, in part, the role of our competitive intelligence team member. I know nothing about CI, and openly said this to my boss. She said to do my best, to which I replied "where do I even start?" (You could write my CI experience on a postage stamp with a crayon). She informed me that I should call around competitors pretending to be a customer or analyst or contractor working on behalf of a customer. Through doing so, I am to find information about their pricing and service offerings.
I may be a law dummy, but I'm pretty sure that this is an offence that could get me fired or even put in jail! The prospect of jail really does not appeal.
So, can anyone help? Am I being needlessly paranoid? If I am correct, could anyone point me towards relevant CI laws? I'm not averse to doing a bit of research, but I don't know where to start. If I can find the relevant regulations, then maybe I can try to work within them, or if they are too complex, just present them to my boss as why I will not take on this role.
btw, I was absolutely, positively not hired to do competitive intelligence.
Thanks so much for your help,
Doug.