Use Of Competitive Intelligence Research Articles

The use of competitive intelligence as a strategic tool for student recruitment in public universities

The use of competitive intelligence as a strategic tool for student recruitment in public universities

Towards adoption of competitive intelligence in marketing of library services in public university libraries in Southwestern Nigeria

The use of competitive intelligence (CI) to market library services is a call for re-organisation of public university libraries. CI is an organisation mechanism that facilitates the transforming of competitive information into practical actions. The advent of technology in the educational services is gradually reducing users’ patronage to the library. This call for librarians to map out strategies of retaining the value of libraries and keep their patrons, In line with this, this study examined adoption of competitive intelligence in marketing of library services in public university libraries in Southwestern Nigeria. Related literatures were reviewed to have in-depth knowledge about the new trends that can enhance library marketing and promote library services. As a result, public library need to embrace innovative marketing approaches and leverage digital technologies, by so doing public university libraries can effectively promote their services and resources, thereby maximizing their impact on the academic community. Successful marketing is crucial to promoting university library services and optimizing their influence on research, teaching, and learning. Leveraging diverse communication channels, and understanding the requirements of library users should be paramount to librarians. It is very important that marketing strategies be continuously evaluated and adjusted to guarantee that library services continue to be pertinent and flexible in response to the changing requirements of the academic community.

The key criteria that determine the degree to which management’s use of competitive intelligence

The key criteria that determine the degree to which management’s use of competitive intelligence

A cross-cultural study of competitive intelligence in revenue management

This paper extends the examination of competitive intelligence to revenue management. Revenue management decisions are contingent upon the actions and reactions of competitors. The current study used a cross-cultural approach that compared the use of competitive intelligence by US and Turkish revenue managers by conducting a qualitative study of revenue managers in these locations. Both sets of revenue managers share a similar definition of competitive intelligence and use technology to gather competitive intelligence. The findings also suggest integrity issues for data in Istanbul and that ethical challenges are a central part of competitive intelligence usage.

Core Assumptions and the Competitive Advantage among Commercial Banks in Kenya

Purpose: This paper sought to examine the effect of verification of core assumptions on the competitive advantage among commercial banks in Kenya.
 Methodology: The target population for the study were directors or managers in-charge of planning or strategy in each of the forty banks in the country. Primary data was collected using a semi structured questionnaire. The questionnaire was tested for both validity and reliability and was found to meet the required threshold. . Data was analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. Analysis was done with the assistance of SPSS computer packages.
 Findings: A response rate of 77.5% was achieved in the study and this was adequate for analysis. The study found that verification of core assumptions has a β =0.472 and a p-value of 0.000 which indicates that it has a significant effect on the ability of banks to sustain competitive advantage. The study therefore concluded that verification of core assumptions must be carried out continuously to track their validity on which the company’s strategies are grounded upon.
 Unique Contributions to Theory, Practice and Policy: The study therefore recommends that banks should raise the level of use of competitive intelligence in monitoring the competitive landscape to enable early verification of core assumptions. The study further recommends that banks should continuously monitor the various core assumptions that were considered during strategy formulation to verify their validity to enable the bank rapidly change the strategy, should the core assumption on which it was grounded on be found to be no longer valid.

Key Vulnerabilities and the Competitive Advantage among Commercial Banks in Kenya

Globalization and technological advancement have in a big way altered the business landscape, making it difficult for banks to sustain competitive advantage. The need to enhance competitiveness has forced banks to consider competitive intelligence not only as a tool to guard against threats but also as a mechanism for discovering new opportunities and trends. Competitive intelligence contributes to continuous improvement of the quality of products, services and solutions offered by banks to their clients as well as increasing a firm’s innovative capability. Key vulnerabilities have been identified as one of the strategic inputs of competitive intelligence that a firm needs to focus on in order to gain and sustain competitive advantage. This paper sought to examine the effect of identification and assessment of key organizational vulnerabilities on the competitive advantage among commercial banks in Kenya. The target population for the study were directors or managers in-charge of planning or strategy in each of the forty banks in the country. Primary data was collected using a semi structured questionnaire. The questionnaire was tested for both validity and reliability and was found to meet the required threshold. A response rate of 77.5% was achieved in the study and this was adequate for analysis. The study found that identification, assessment and hedging against key vulnerabilities had significant effect on the ability of banks to sustain competitive advantage. The study therefore concluded that key vulnerabilities should be identified, assessed and hedged against since they could inhibit a company’s strategy from succeeding in the marketplace. The study recommends that banks should raise the level of use of competitive intelligence in monitoring the competitive landscape to enable early identification and assessment of key vulnerabilities, then take steps to hedge the vulnerable areas from being exploited by rivals to the detriment of the bank. The study further recommends that managers should be continuously assessing the vulnerability of their banks with aim of hedging against attack by rivals.

Competitive intelligence as a coping strategy for academic libraries in South Africa

PurposeThis study examined the extent to which public academic libraries in South Africa coped with the changing information environment by using competitive intelligence (CI) to attain competitiveness.Design/methodology/approachThe study adopted positivism as the main philosophical lens and also incorporated qualitative elements to augment the quantitative data through a survey research design. Questionnaires were e-mailed to 25 directors of public academic libraries in South Africa and 17 were returned, yielding a 68% response rate. Attempts were made to reach to the 25 directors through semi-structured telephonic interviews, and only eight responded some through their representatives, yielding a 32% response rate. Using two instruments permitted the triangulation of data. A noted limitation of the study is that some library directors neither responded to the questionnaire nor the interview.FindingsFindings revealed that various competitive intelligence techniques were employed; however, their implementation was not formalised. Competitiveness was driven by various factors such as rivalries in the information value chain; relevance; financial and budgetary constraints; changing user expectations and evolving technology.Originality/valueThis study is novel because there is a dearth of literature on implementation and use of competitive intelligence in academic libraries in South Africa.

The role of analytical CRM on salesperson use of competitive intelligence

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify the impact of analytical customer relationship management (CRM) on salesperson information use behavior. Design/methodology/approach To achieve the aim of this paper, a vignette experiment was undertaken. The data used for the final analysis included 125 professional salespeople across multiple industries. Findings This paper focuses on the personal use of competitive intelligence. The authors find that to maximize the effectiveness of using competitive intelligence, the salesperson must become adept at both choosing the correct pa`rtners to trust and properly valuing information. Properly valuing information can be accomplished through the use of analytical CRM. Practical implications The managerial implications of this paper are straightforward yet important. CRM providers have improved the tools available to salespeople (e.g., heat maps) and have partnered with other large scale providers of customer and market information (e.g., global marketing research firms) to provide a analytical tool that is user friendly to salespeople. Yet, many firms still use simplified CRM platforms, which do little more for the salesperson than offer an opportunity to document notes. Sales firms should move toward this analytical CRM system because it improves the salesperson’s ability to value information and increases the salesperson’s ability to use intelligence to link products to buyer needs. Originality/value This paper contributes to theory through confirming the importance of analytical CRM on salesperson’s information use behavior by using a motivation, opportunity and ability framework. Additionally, a methodological contribution was made through the development of an information value scale.

Competitive intelligence and national intelligence estimates

ABSTRACT National Intelligence Estimates are consensus-driven intelligence products. Yet there is considerable evidence supporting the use of competitive intelligence at every level of activity, including the presentation of finished products to consumers. We examine NIEs from two important periods in US foreign policy: the buildup in Vietnam and Gorbachev's reforms. We find in both cases alternate viewpoints were not presented in the US IC's premier intelligence product when such views could have made a difference. Consistent with contemporary findings in cognitive psychology, we argue the manner in which NIEs are structured and presented should be reformed to offer better decision support.

Study on competitive intelligence in Israel: 2016 update

This paper investigates the state of competitive intelligence among Israeli firmsin 2014. The methodology used was self completion questionnaires, which were responded to in May and June of 2016. A response rate of 26% was achieved with 39 questionnaires returned of the 69 questionnaires that were sent out to 65 local firms, most of them with an annual turnover of greater than 100 million USD. The results indicated that there were insignificant changes in the use of competitive intelligence in Israel in the last 10 years, since a survey conducted in 2006. Initially it looked as if the use of competitive intelligence was expanding, but the actual findings shows that the contribution of competitive intelligence to the decision making process was not progressing as it was expected to and there were difficulties in making competitiveintelligence an integral part of the decision-making process and having it reach an influential position. The results indicated that the recent global downturn evidently had only a minimal effect on the competitive intelligence scheme and in 75% of the firms there were actually almost no changes in the competitive intelligence programs. Clearly, competitive intelligence was primarily a tool used by the larger organizations and most of the firms that responded (60%),were among those who competed in the global markets. I have also attempted to look into the quality attributes of competitive intelligence performance, and it seemed that the low use of analytical tools was an indicator that we cannot ignore. Only 33% of the competitive intelligence professionals were using these tools regularly as part of their analysis work and in presentingtheir findings.

Inteligência competitiva em organizações de serviços: uma revisão sistemática da literatura

É crescente a importância do setor de serviços na economia mundial. Diante de um mercado dinâmico e globalizado, marcado pela concorrência acirrada, a inteligência competitiva – IC pode auxiliar as organizações de serviços no processo de tomada de decisão e na concepção de vantagens competitivas frente aos concorrentes. Nesse contexto, este trabalho tem por objetivo delinear o estado da arte relativo à utilização da inteligência competitiva em organizações do setor de serviços, através da pesquisa e análise de artigos presentes nas principais bases de dados. Este estudo possui caráter teórico-conceitual, compreendendo uma revisão bibliográfica sistemática da literatura, incluindo uma análise bibliométrica e análise de conteúdo. Foram levantadas publicações em periódicos indexados pelas seguintes bases condizentes com o tema da investigação: Web of Knowledge, Scopus, Ebsco, ScienceDirect, e Engineering Village. Os resultados permitem inferir sobre a importância sobre o tema inteligência competitiva para a sobrevivência e aumento da competitividade em organizações de serviços. Por fim, verificou-se a existência de uma lacuna relacionada a estudos prescritivos, com foco em investigações aprofundadas sobre o tema abordado, sendo este tipo de estudo relevante para que a área atinja maturidade.

The Impact of Competitive Intelligence on Sustainable Growth of the Enterprises

This paper is focused on the better use of knowledge of enterprises to support their sustainable growth and innovation. The aim is to describe the positive impact of competitive intelligence on sustainable growth of the enterprises through the quantitative marketing research which was conducted in the Slovak enterprises during 2014. Our attention in this research was focused inter alia on that if the implementation and subsequent use of competitive intelligence in terms of the Slovak republic leads to an improvement in the competitive position of businesses and increasing of their market share.

Competitive intelligence as an important contributor to the growth of banks: A Zimbabwean perspective

This paper explores how competitive intelligence has been an important contributor of growth in banks in Zimbabwe and how the banks are making use of competitive intelligence for such growth. The paper used a descriptive cross-sectional research methodology. Data was collected through questionnaires and interviews. Purposive and stratified sampling methods were used. The paper found that most Zimbabwean banks have undertaken competitive intelligence in one way or another for strategic planning and better understanding the competitive business environment and competitors. The findings from this research will assist the entire banking sector and will be of great academic value.

Gaining and leveraging customer-based competitive intelligence: the pivotal role of social capital and salesperson adaptive selling skills

This study explores the generation and use of competitive intelligence (CI) within the buyer–seller exchange process and its influence on salesperson performance. Using the concept of social capital as a theoretical foundation and multilevel data collected at three time points from 686 customer–salesperson dyads, the authors empirically test a conceptual framework that proposes both antecedents and consequences of CI sharing between customer and salesperson. The results of the study demonstrate that CI sharing by customers is a function of salesperson customer orientation, customer-centric extra-role behaviors, and relationship quality. CI sharing translates into increased perceived value, share-of-wallet, and profit margins when the salesperson utilizes the information to position and differentiate his or her product; however this occurs only when the salesperson has strong adaptive selling skills. Surprisingly, CI negatively influences these outcomes among low-adaptive salespeople, indicating that CI can actually work to a firm’s disadvantage if the salesperson is not equipped to respond to it. These findings suggest that CI must be examined differently than general market knowledge and that firms may leverage CI to their tactical advantage at the salesperson–customer interface if managed effectively.

Competitive intelligence at Brazilian industrial maintenance departments

The industrial maintenance activities, generally, were considered as more one problem to the organizations. This image needs to change in Brazil , because this sector is part of the companies supply chain, is responsible to maintain equipments reliability and availability and it is a generator of the companies costs. This responsibility increases in a country where the productive capacity is in the limit, demanding extra efforts and where increasing pressures for reductions of the costs and restrictions techniques and human beings are increasing, ask to paradigms changes. The present study had for purpose to identify main canals of captation of the information used by the Brazilian industrial maintenance professionals, demonstrating systematic use of Competitive Intelligence can bring technological advance and profit of competitive advantage. For this, a qualitative research was made, using as research instruments the Delphi method, interviews with professionals and an experimental delineation C.I- Competitive Intelligence in a department-pilot (automotive sector).The results had shown to the use of formal and informal sources in different frequencies of access and the fragility in these departments in the not-systematic use of C.I, harming the above-mentioned challenges.

Inteligência competitiva nos departamentos de manutenção industrial no Brasil

The industrial maintenance activities, generally, were considered as more one problem to the organizations. This image needs to change in Brazil, because this sector is part of the companies supply chain, is responsible to maintain equipments reliability and availability and it is a generator of the companies costs. This responsibility increases in a country where the productive capacity is in the limit, demanding extra efforts and where increasing pressures for reductions of the costs and restrictions techniques and human beings are increasing, ask to paradigms changes. The present study had for purpose to identify main canals of captation of the information used by the Brazilian industrial maintenance professionals, demonstrating systematic use of Competitive Intelligence can bring technological advance and profit of competitive advantage. For this, a qualitative research was made, using as research instruments the Delphi method, interviews with professionals and an experimental delineation C.I- Competitive Intelligence in a department-pilot (automotive sector).The results had shown to the use of formal and informal sources in different frequencies of access and the fragility in these departments in the not-systematic use of C.I, harming the above-mentioned challenges.

Competitive Intelligence in Europe

Considers the development of competitive intelligence as a formal discipline, noting that the use of competitive intelligence in Europe has been stimulated by developments in the USA. Notes that the pressure on companies to move from being competitor aware to being competitor intelligent is driven by the need to have a competitive strategy, the ability to use the intelligence once it is gathered to contribute to the bottom line, the ability to study competitors. In most European countries the developments which have resulted in a major intensification of competition between companies include: privatization; deregulation; liberalization; global marketing; periods of economic recession and reduced product and service differentiation. Consultancies providing competitive intelligence consist of competitive intelligence specialists, corporate investigators, secondary data feeders, benchmarking companies and market research organizations. Factors inhibiting the growth of competitive intelligence in Europe include data protection legislation, fear that competitive intelligence is unethical, counter intelligence, failure of competitive strategies to yield the expected gains. Concludes by discussing the role of the information manager in competitive intelligence gathering.

Identifying gaps and blind spots in competitive intelligence

As a result of the intensification and globalization of competition in most fields, the use of competitive intelligence (Cl) in strategic decisions has grown in potential importance. Yet evidence exists that many companies have serious blind spots concerning their competitors' capabilities, intentions and possible reactions to offensive moves. This article introduces a relatively simple but systematic approach to identifying and studying competitive blind spots and facilitating the effective use of Cl in strategic decisions. Applying this approach retrospectively in two companies, and prospectively in a third, we found that if identified serious gaps in Cl, which, in all cases, may have contributed to results shortfalls.

The corporate culture and use of competitive intelligence

The corporate culture and use of competitive intelligence

Competitive intelligence and strategic group decisions: A new diagnostic tool

The use of competitive intelligence (information on competitors, technology, market developments, etc.) in strategic group decision making is of great interest to practitioners and strategy researchers alike, yet relatively little is known about the availability of competitive intelligence and the actual need for intelligence by decision makers. This article develops a decision-dependent input/participants matrix which is the basis for the derivation of seven intelligence availability and demand indices. The indices are diagnostic tools to help companies design and monitor strategic competitive intelligence gathering and distribution. They constitute part of an organizational intelligence support system designed to strengthen group decisions such as launching a new product. Practitioners can use the indices to diagnose problems countered by groups of decision makers in the intelligence gathering and distribution activities of organizations, and researchers can use them in the systematic study of this new field. An application of the tool to a pharmaceutical company is described.