Competitive intelligence methods for systems and cultural analysis

Abstract

AbstractA fundamental change in the business environment has occurred in the last 50 years. The change has been a shift from markets being producer‐controlled to being consumer‐controlled. The result is that the classical‐science‐based analytic approach used in most competitive intelligence analysis needs to be supplemented with the use of systems analysis and cultural analysis. These forms of analysis focus on relationships between elements, instead of the properties of elements. This article covers step‐by‐step procedures for performing both systems thinking and cultural analysis, and suggests that organizational analysis is no longer mainly focused on analysis of resources. Today's environment calls for a focus on analysis of both organizational culture and resources. Systems thinking supports the view that organizational culture in large part determines the relationship between resources in an organization. Organizational culture has replaced policy and procedure as the glue holding organizations together and controlling their operations. It controls what an organization can and cannot do efficiently and effectively. This is true for both internal and external analysis, and has a substantial impact on the way competitive intelligence analysis is done. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.