Introduction to Competitive Intelligence
Competitive intelligence can be defined as knowledge and foreknowledge about the external operating environment. The ultimate goal of each intelligence process is to facilitate decision-making that leads to action.
The intelligence process enables turning information into intelligence by processing it via analysis, interpretation and synthesis and utilizing it in the future-oriented decision-making. Managing the future does not only mean being able to anticipate what will happen outside the company but also being able to shape the happenings through own actions, i.e. to proactively create one’s future.
Competitive Intelligence is not market research or industrial espionage. While market research often focuses on fulfilling a specific information need or set of needs, intelligence is a completely legal ongoing process of developing a holistic picture of the operating environment including competitors, customers and markets. An effective intelligence process continuously contributes to an organization’s knowledge base.
Key Statements from the Document
- Intelligence is the lifeblood of strategy.
- Eventually, all intelligence terms refer to using systematic methods to collect, analyze and disseminate information that supports decision-making.
- The goal of CI is to facilitate more effective strategic planning and, as such, it’s one of the most important strategic tools that management possesses.
- The elements of Competitive Intelligence reflect strongly the categorization of business information types.
- Companies are encouraged to adopt the classical four-step intelligence cycle used by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and other national security organizations throughout the world.
- It is argued that human intelligence, also referred to as “tacit knowledge”, seems to set organizations apart regarding their intelligence capabilities and, eventually, competitiveness.
- Most decision-makers seem to prefer a timely answer to a totally accurate answer. It is argued that only 70 percent of the delivered intelligence needs to be totally accurate if it is delivered on time.
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