Competitive Intelligence

Chapter 1

1.0        Introduction

In this current fast-paced world of business and IT, it is rather simple to gather information on suppliers, legislation, market trends, customers, distributors and every aspect of the company itself using the internet browser. Nevertheless, there is some valuable information that cannot be found on the internet and this is known as competitive intelligence (CI). CI is a continuously evolving process that involves analyzing, discovering,  and using intelligence regarding competitors and general business environment from publicly available, non-proprietary information sources and converting it into knowledge on a continuing basis (Blenkhorn and Fleisher, 2005).

2.0        Problem Statement

Competitive intelligence practices consist of assorted phases, ranging from focus and planning, to intelligence acquisition, analysis, dissemination, and use by potential users (Kahaner 1996; McGonagle and Vella 1996).  Even though this is an ethical and legal method, it is still misunderstood by the various economic sectors in Malaysia.The formalized CI exercises are considered generally new in Malaysia; top management and entrepreneurs  have communicated their enthusiasm to see how their organization may profit from methodical focused intelligence exercises(Choo 1994; Daft, Sormunen and Parks 1998)

3.0        Objective

This paper explores the relationship between CI practices and the firm’s performance. With the growing businesses in Malaysia, CI will be a useful method to analyze and gather external information

This study aims to:-

1. identify the use of competitive intelligence (CI) in strategic decision making practices among Malaysian manufacturing companies
2. investigate whether there is a relationship between competitive intelligence (CI) and the market performance of Malaysian manufacturing companies.
3. identify the macro and micro environmental factors that influence Malaysian manufacturing companies.

Thus, this conceptual paper will investigate the understanding and awareness of the organizations on different roles of competitive intelligence exercises and the effect to the business sector viability in terms of market share, sales volume, sales growth and new product introduction.

4.0        Significance of the Research

Competitive intelligence is a very important tool in a firm when it comes to strategic planning and marketing procedures. Furthermore, CI is all about ‘managing the entire competitive battlefield’ (Fleisher and Bensoussan, 2003). Marketing effectiveness simply shows how each company go into the market to gather information and analyze other companies in order to expand and improve their marketing strategies for short-term and long-term objectives.

The need to deliberately procure and investigate knowledge from internal and external business environment is seen as a critical component in settling on compelling business choices. Furthermore, as intelligence is developed in a systematic and formal basis, it allows top managers to make better informed decisions regarding future events (Dishman and Calof, 2008; Gilad, 2004). The methodology of focused insights is laid out in the accompanying steps: