Competitive Intelligence for Global Business

Competitive Intelligence (CI) is concerned with how firms obtain, store and use the information they need to increase their competitiveness. Almost all the top 100 Fortune firms now have in place some form of systematic intelligence gathering knowledge and management system. Traditional management information systems tend to overwhelm decision-makers with information. The “new economy” (e-business) has made this problem worse as it provides managers with a flood of information. CI is not spying, it is not just about competitors and it is not just market research. CI is where the most useful knowledge in “Knowledge Management” comes from. CI is an important aspect of successful strategy. Most successful managers already carry out CI intuitively. The issue now is how to show managers better and more effective ways to carry out CI. This unit explores the ways organisations can do this and puts CI in the context of an evolutionary step by organisations to a fast changing, more competitive and more globalised environment.

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