Super Searchers on Competitive Intelligence: The Online and Offline Secrets of Top CI Researchers

Citation

Chawner, B. (2005), "Super Searchers on Competitive Intelligence: The Online and Offline Secrets of Top CI Researchers", The Electronic Library, Vol. 23 No. 2, pp. 259-260. https://doi.org/10.1108/02640470510593040

The success of Information Today's “Super Searchers” series is indicated by the appearance of this, its 12th volume. Previous titles have covered business, Wall Street, health and medicine, advertising, and global business, to name just a few. The latest volume follows the same format as earlier ones, with the majority of the book consisting of transcripts of 15 interviews with competitive intelligence (CI) practitioners. The Society for Competitive Intelligence Professionals defines CI as “a systematic and ethical program for gathering, analyzing, and managing external information that can affect [a] company's plans, decisions”. Carr's introduction gives a fascinating background to the field, noting that while CI has a long history, it became popular as recently as the 1960s, in part because of an increased emphasis on strategic planning by company management. She also notes that there are many ways of approaching CI, and the different interviewees show this in their descriptions of the way they approach their work. The final point Carr makes is that CI involves more than just gathering information – analysing the results and placing them into a business context is as important as finding the raw information. Each of the interviews covers roughly similar ground, beginning with a description of the person's background before moving on to questions about the way they approach CI and whether they follow a “template (some do and some do not). While all of the CI professionals interviewed for the book have extensive experience in the field, they each approach the CI process slightly differently, perhaps reflecting their differing backgrounds and industries. Given that much CI work involves commercially sensitive information, the interviewees are remarkably open about describing some typical projects, and notable successes and failures. Only a few people entered the CI field from a library and information studies background – others came via marketing, management, scientific research, or operations research. Unlike earlier volumes in the series, the interviews emphasise process and techniques rather than specific sources. A recurring theme is the need to have networks of people, often within the company, who contribute snippets of information to CI practitioners. The final interview, with John Prescott, a professor with a research interest in CI processes, is in many ways the most valuable, because it includes a rich model of the relationship between business strategy and CI programmes. An appendix lists sites and sources mentioned in the interviews, with a brief description of each. There is a brief glossary of CI terms and an index. Super Searchers on Competitive Intelligence will be particularly useful for people who looking for a range of approaches to providing CI, but “traditional” librarians might find the emphasis on protecting commercially sensitive information challenging. Recommended for business collections, or for practitioners interested in working in this area.