Workbook
Establishing a World-Class
Competitive Intelligence Function This workbook
is the essences of a multistage research project and provides
the foundation for building your World-Class Competitive Intelligence
function.
Competitive Intelligence represents a “formalized, yet continuously
evolving process by which the management team assesses the evolution
of its industry and the capabilities and behaviour of its current
and potential competitors to assist in maintaining or developing
a competitive advantage” (Prescott and Gibbons, 1993).
The CI function can be divided into two main activities: (a) the
operation, which includes working on intelligence products and
project involving the gathering, analyzing and dissemination of
intelligence based on intelligence requests from managers and
(b) the administration, which focuses on the activities, actions
and resources needed to manage the operational activity. These
two activities interact; both are necessary for an e.ective world-class
CI function.
Most of the literature has focused on various aspects of CI operations
such as collection techniques and analytical methods. Designing
the administration structure of a CI function has been primarily
examined in an ad hoc manner. The workbook, based on systematic
research, reveals how to design a CI administration to achieve
a world-class standard.
