Measuring the Added Value of Competitive Intelligence in Business

The very purpose of the research is to measure the applicability and effectiveness of the Competitive Intelligence (CI) concept in the business environment. We are analyzing the concept as a general and we are looking at the business environment to see whether the CI techniques do or do not have an impact in the strategies and success of the companies.

In most companies and, according to the main interest of this research, in corporations, it is desired that each existing or newly created division has a measurable dimension of efficiency and impact in the business. Both, the employees from the respective divisions and the division, as a whole, are periodically evaluated by measuring the performance objectives set at the beginning of a year; objectives that can be quantitative, through the effective calculation of the amounts attracted in the company, especially when we talk about sales teams, as well as qualitative ones, where the impact that employees have on the team’s working climate, the reduction of reputational risk and others are subject to analysis.

From the recent analysis of the relevant bibliography, for competitive intelligence, a model for measuring efficiency in multinational companies has not yet been developed. Although CI is intended to identify opportunities and threats in the business environment to support the decision-making process in companies, most of them do not periodically and systematically measure its value.

Since the management of corporate-type companies requires standardized measurements, aligned with the organizational culture, the CI products do not bring these figures with rigor, so supporting the CI functions, the growth of these departments and the related budgets is difficult.