The Mindshijls Group
This article reports on a survey of competitive intelligence as used by a representative cross-section of Australian firms, examining possible relationships between CI usage, levels of market risk and complexity, management information needs, and the competitive environment. Australia is believed representative of post-industrial economies, combining a diverse and sophisticated market with high exposure to international competition. The survey found that, as expected, CI usage is higher in markets where exposure to risk is greater, but this linkage varies significantly between, and even within, industries. Management perceptions and awareness of information needs have a major effect on CI usage. While improved CI "processes" had the biggest effect on improving perceived competitiveness in industries such as Retail/Wholesale and Transportation, in other industries increasing the number of CI "sources" was more likely to be associated with improved competitiveness. o 1997 John Wiley Sons. Inc.
Although much has been written regarding competitive intelligence (CI), there has been far too little empirical research carried out on the subject. This survey discussed below, examining the use of CI by Australian firms, is unique in that it is the first attempt to obtain a reasonable idea of the level and pattern of CI usage by a representa-tive cross-section of firms. Previous research uaworski and focused on firms that are more likely to be actively engaged in business CI. These surveys provide a good sense of what firms using CI are doing, but not the extent of the use of CI in the general population of firms.