Search results

The purpose of this paper is to advance and investigate empirically how entrepreneurial attitude and normative beliefs influence managerial scanning for competitive intelligence and how managerial scanning efforts subsequently impact managerial interpretation of organizations' strengths and weaknesses in the competitive arena.

A structural equation model was tested with survey data from 309 managers in the USA.

The results indicate that entrepreneurial attitude orientation and market orientation significantly impact managerial scanning for competitive intelligence, which in turn leads to managerial representations of competitive advantage.

This paper demonstrates that scanning for competitive intelligence is more an entrepreneurial activity than a routine activity for managers, and that managerial scanning efforts can be maximized in highly market‐oriented organizations that value competitive intelligence collection and dissemination. Proactive scanning for competitive intelligence enables managers to develop a fuller picture of the superiority or deficiency of their organizations. Future research needs to address the inherent cyclicity of the managerial sense‐making process.

This paper is the first effort to examine empirically the scanning cycle – that is, the relationships between managerial business motivation, intelligence scanning and sense‐making. It offers strategic guides to both academicians and practitioners on how to achieve a better understanding of the complex and dynamic market through proactive scanning activities.

Adjusting a company to its competitive environment is often done without proper knowledge of the competitive environment. This paper seeks to describe methods and tools that could be used to improve internet‐based scanning of the competitive environment. In addition, the paper aims to describe an example where such methods and tools are used.

Existing literature on environmental scanning, competitive intelligence, and benchmarking is reviewed to brief the theoretical background, and to find new ideas to improve scanning of the competitive environment. Using theory‐building approach, the research is based on constructive methodology. The construction is done in ABB Corporate Research, in the Business Technology Portals Project.

Experts scan the environment using the advanced tools, interviews and knowledge sharing, and managers mainly scan by discussing with other people. Modern search engines can be used to build advanced tools that enhance competitive environment scanning and benchmarking on screening level. Search engines acquire and analyze information from the internet, e.g. from news, company, internet pages, patents, and databases. The methods reduce the time needed for acquiring information, enabling people to concentrate on analyzing the information.

For researchers, the paper provides a literature review of the topic with an innovative construction.

For practitioners, the paper provides an example of framework, methods and tools that can be used to scan the competitive environment.

The theoretical background has been innovatively applied to construct and to deploy very pragmatic tools that enhance scanning the competitive environment.

This research excursion through shipping companies in Vietnam sought to investigate whether organizational culture, ethics, and emotional intelligence influence knowledge sharing, which in turn enhances competitive intelligence scanning. This paper aims to discuss the above issue.

In total, 401 responses returned from self-administered structured questionnaires relayed to 635 middle level managers were processed through structural equation modeling approach to test hypotheses.

Knowledge sharing was proved to positively relate to clan, market, or adhocracy culture, ethics of care, and high level of emotional intelligence. Knowledge sharing also shows a positive effect on competitive intelligence scanning.

For competitive intelligence scanning to be effective, knowledge should be shared among organizational members, which necessitates the three building blocks: supportive knowledge sharing culture (clan, market, or adhocracy culture), ethics or care, and heightened emotional intelligence.

The cumulative pool of data piling through the empirical expedition around hospitals in Vietnam provides the clue on whether corporate social responsibility (CSR) influences upward influence behavior, which in turn catalyzes team processes and competitive intelligence scanning. The aim of this paper is to journey through the review of the constructs of CSR, upward influence behavior, and team processes.

Structural equation modeling (SEM) approach served as an analyst for 349 responses returned from self‐administered structured questionnaires despatched to 522 hospital members in the middle‐management position.

A model of team processes and competitive intelligence evolved along the process of hypothesis testing. Ethical CSR was found to cultivate organizationally beneficial upward influence behavior in the healthcare service organizations.

The research findings provide the insight into the CSR‐based model of team processes which underscores the role of ethical CSR initiatives and organizationally beneficial upward influence tactics in the activation of competitive intelligence scanning deeds in hospitals in Vietnam business setting.

The article traces the origins of the competitive intelligence fields and identifies both the practitioner, academic and inter‐disciplinary views on CI practice. An examination of the literature relating to the field is presented, including the identification of the linear relationship which CI has with marketing and strategic planning activities.

Bibliometric assessment of the discipline. Findings reveal the representation of cross disciplinary literature which emphasises the multi‐faceted role which competitive intelligence plays in a modern organization.

The analysis supports the view of competitive intelligence being an activity consisting dominantly of environmental scanning and strategic management literature. New fields of study and activity are rapidly becoming part of the competitive intelligence framework.

The analysis only uses ABI Inform as the primary sources for literature alongside Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals (SCIP) and Competitive Intelligence Foundation (CIF) publications, particularly the Journal of Competitive Intelligence and Management. A more comprehensive bibliometric analysis might reveal additional insights. Simple counts were used for analytical purposes rather than co‐citation analysis.

Attention is drawn to the need for the integration of additional, complementary fields of study and competitive intelligence practice. It is clear that today's competitive intelligence practitioner cannot afford to rely on what they learned 20 years ago in order to ensure the continued competitive advantage of their firm. A keen understanding of all business functions, especially marketing and planning is advocated.

While there have been bibliographies of competitive intelligence literature there have been few attempts to relate this to the three distinct areas of practice. This article is of use to scholars in assisting them to disentangle the various aspect of competitive intelligence and also to managers who wish to gain an appreciation of the potential which competitive intelligence can bring to marking and business success.

The business intelligence (BI) literature is in a flux, yet the knowledge about its varying theoretical roots remains elusive. This state of affairs draws from two different scientific communities (informatics and business) that have generated multiple research streams, which duplicate research, neglect each other’s contributions and overlook important research gaps. In response, the authors structure the BI scientific landscape and map its evolution to offer scholars a clear view of where research on BI stands and the way forward. For this endeavor, the authors systematically review articles published in top-tier ABS journals and identify 120 articles covering 35 years of scientific research on BI. The authors then run a co-citation analysis of selected articles and their reference lists. This yields the structuring of BI scholarly community around six research clusters: environmental scanning (ES), competitive intelligence (CI), market intelligence (MI), decision support (DS), analytical technologies (AT) and analytical capabilities (AC). The co-citation network exposed overlapping and divergent theoretical roots across the six clusters and permitted mapping the evolution of BI research following two pendulum swings. This study aims to contribute by structuring the theoretical landscape of BI research, deciphering the theoretical roots of BI literature, mapping the evolution of BI scholarly community and suggesting an agenda for future research.

This paper follows a systematic methodology to isolate peer-reviewed papers on BI published in top-tier ABS journals.

The authors present the structuring of BI scholarly community around six research clusters: ES, CI, MI, DS, AT and AC. The authors also expose overlapping and divergent theoretical roots across the six clusters and map the evolution of BI following two pendulum swings. In light of the structure and evolution of the BI research, the authors offer a future research agenda for BI research.

This study contributes by elucidating the theoretical underpinnings of the BI literature and shedding light upon the evolution, the contributions, and the research gaps for each of the six clusters composing the BI body of knowledge.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the underlying dimensions of trade show performance in an emerging market context. Firms in industrial and emerging markets typically differ in terms of access to firm level resource endowments. Such differences make attempts to generalize the trade show performance dimensions proposed for industrialized country exhibitors to emerging market exhibitors problematic. This motivates the need for understanding the dimensionality of trade show performance in an emerging market context.

Data obtained from firms that partake in an emerging market trade show that takes place in an emerging market are used to investigate the dimensionality of trade show performance. By subjecting several trade show performance items into principal component analysis, a multidimensional performance construct, applicable to emerging market exhibitors, is introduced.

The empirical findings show that trade show performance, in an emerging market context, is multidimensional. The findings suggest that emerging market exhibitors tend to utilize trade shows somewhat differently from their industrialized market counterparts.

The findings imply the need for exhibit managers in emerging markets to set multiple objectives for trade show participations. The findings also suggest that exhibit managers need to staff the trade show booth with individuals possessing different sets of expertise.

The paper clarifies the dimensionality of trade show performance in the context of emerging markets and sheds light on the tactical and the strategic roles that trade show participations play in emerging markets.

This paper aims to examine how competitive intelligence (CI) relates to the strategy formulation process of firms.

Due to the novelty of the phenomenon and to the depth of the investigation required to grasp the mechanisms and logics of CI, a multiple case study has been performed related to four companies located in Brazil that adopted CI practices within dedicated business units to inform and support strategic decision-making.

The authors provide detailed empirical evidence on the connection and use of CI practices throughout each stage of the strategy formulation process. Moreover, the study suggests that CI practices, despite their strategic relevance and diffusion, are still extensively adopted for tactical use.

This study sheds light on how CI practices may inform, support, and be integrated in the strategy formulation process, as few studies have done before.

The business intelligence (BI) research witnessed a proliferation of contributions during the past three decades, yet the knowledge about the interdependencies between the BI process and organizational context is scant. This has resulted in a proliferation of fragmented literature duplicating identical endeavors. Although such pluralism expands the understanding of the idiosyncrasies of BI conceptualizations, attributes and characteristics, it cannot cumulate existing contributions to better advance the BI body of knowledge. In response, this study aims to provide an integrative framework that integrates the interrelationships across the BI process and its organizational context and outlines the covered research areas and the underexplored ones.

This paper reviews 120 articles spanning the course of 35 years of research on BI process, antecedents and outcomes published in top tier ABS ranked journals.

Building on a process framework, this review identifies major patterns and contradictions across eight dimensions, namely, environmental antecedents; organizational antecedents; managerial and individual antecedents; BI process; strategic outcomes; firm performance outcomes; decision-making; and organizational intelligence. Finally, the review pinpoints to gaps in linkages across the BI process, its antecedents and outcomes for future researchers to build upon.

This review carries some implications for practitioners and particularly the role they ought to play should they seek actionable intelligence as an outcome of the BI process. Across the studies this review examined, managerial reluctance to open their intelligence practices to close examination was omnipresent. Although their apathy is understandable, due to their frustration regarding the lack of measurability of intelligence constructs, managers manifestly share a significant amount of responsibility in turning out explorative and descriptive studies partly due to their defensive managerial participation. Interestingly, managers would rather keep an ineffective BI unit confidential than open it for assessment in fear of competition or bad publicity. Therefore, this review highlights the value open participation of managers in longitudinal studies could bring to the BI research and by extent the new open intelligence culture across their organizations where knowledge is overt, intelligence is participative, not selective and where double loop learning alongside scholars is continuous. Their commitment to open participation and longitudinal studies will help generate new research that better integrates the BI process within its context and fosters new measures for intelligence performance.

This study provides an integrative framework that integrates the interrelationships across the BI process and its organizational context and outlines the covered research areas and the underexplored ones. By so doing, the developed framework sets the ground for scholars to further develop insights within each dimension and across their interrelationships.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the environmental scanning practices and information sources used by large companies as well as by small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs), the latter being relatively absent from scientific scrutiny. In doing so, it endeavours to contribute to a better understanding of the scanning and information‐gathering behaviour of SMEs, in order to develop measures to overcome their potential disadvantages in this respect.

Data were obtained from 165 Portuguese firms. Respondents were required to evaluate their use of 11 different environmental scanning practices and 12 information sources. For data analysis, the variables were classified using principal component analysis. Subsequently, the retained components and variables underwent a one‐way variance analysis.

Results indicate that smaller firms do not scan as broadly and as frequently as their larger counterparts. Although external information sources are used equally by larger and smaller enterprises, in general there is also a positive relationship between the exploitation of information sources and firm size.

Findings are taken from the Portuguese context, with its own idiosyncratic economic structure and climate. Generalisations should therefore be made with caution.

As the “size effect” influences the propensity for environmental scanning, SMEs are urged to adopt inter‐firm strategies in order to achieve a critical mass. The importance of building scanning and information networks among SMEs must be highlighted.

Research on environmental scanning in SMEs and comparative studies of the firm size effect have been relatively scarce. The findings reveal that firm size matters, insofar as the use of different scanning practices and information sources mostly augments with increasing firm size.