Abstract:
In today's highly competitive global business arena, companies require some type of formal
Competitive Intelligence (CI) system to gather and analyse information about its competitors
and the industry. These kinds of systems go hand-in-hand with information technology and
software, and since CI software can be very expensive for smaller companies, this study's
aim was to provide a design for a CI methodology framework that could serve as the basis
for the development of a relatively inexpensive modular CI software system. Other
considerations for the study was to develop a CI performance measurement model for the CI
design, as well as to establish best practises for the implementation of a CI system in a
company. An extensive literature study was performed to aid in the design of the CI system.
An empirical study was performed to complement the design of a CI system in order to prove
to companies that a formally structured CI programme is a necessity for a company to not
only survive, but to excel in the competitive business arena. The empirical study attempted
to meet the following research objectives: whether the success of a structured CI programme
to improve the company's competitive performance can be measured; and whether the
success of a structured CI programme to increase shareholder value can be measured. The
key findings of the study were that there is evidence to suggest that there is a correlation
between a high degree of structuring in CI and an increase in competitive performance, but
that there was no conclusive evidence of a correlation between a high degree of structuring
in CI and an increase in shareholder value.
