Competitive intelligence analytics for operations managers

This thesis incorporates three studies that revolve around competitive intelligence of a firm, available data sources and improvement of operations through data-informed decision-making. The studies cover a range of topics in the field of operations research: revenue management, capital budgeting decisions and social learning. Chapter 1 presents a new econometric method for estimating customer choice model parameters based on competitor intelligence data. Chapter 2 combines public data on social review platforms with demographic and geographic data to inform facility location and product design decisions in service based industries such as restaurants and hotels. Chapter 3 investigates the effect of social reputation platforms on customer behavior and assesses whether these platforms transmit the general customer opinion. Overall, the studies provide novel theoretical reflections and practical ways through which businesses can implement competitive intelligence to add value to their operations.