A comparative analysis of the use of competitive intelligence tools in a multinational corporation.

摘要

With the growth of the global economy, organizations large and small are increasingly recognizing that competitive intelligence (CI) is essential to compete in industry. Competitive intelligence is used to gain an advantage in commerce and is useful for analyzing a company's strategic industry position. To remain current and profitable, organizations invest in new technologies to support CI needs; however, too few employees adequately utilize these technologies. Organizations that invest in new technologies and, in turn, use technologies to develop CI tools need to understand factors that influence utilization of those tools. This study provides industry and academia with information to assist in determining characteristics, specifically attitudes, which influence the frequency of employee CI tools usage. No differentiation exists in this study between employees' use of custom developed or commercial-off-the-shelf systems to support CI tools. A comparison of participants' Attitudes Toward Computer Usage Scale (ATCUS) and self-reported CI tool usage assisted in determining employee characteristics that could influence tool utilization. This study employed a quantitative method enabling a survey of a large group of respondents at a single point in time. The survey instrument provided reliability, objectivity, replicable results, a comparison of two populations, and a measure of a number of attitudes. A survey was distributed between two population groups of adult employees to assess CI tool usage. The first population represented a single department and location of a multi-national corporation, and the second population was a representative sample of other industries. Results revealed that a directional relationship exists between computer attitudes and usage of CI tools; however, the relationship is not strong enough to be statistically significant. Results further revealed a directional relationship between positive computer usage scores and using CI tools less often. Managers in both groups have an overall higher computer usage score, which would indicate a greater comfort level with computers; yet, they tend to use CI tools less often than hourly employees. The discussion suggests CI tool usage could be related to positive computer attitudes in a negative manner insomuch as the more positive participants' attitudes, the less likely they are to utilize CI tools. Additional areas of discussion include, but are not limited to the following: (1) volitional control, (2) knowledge workers, and (3) CI practices outside the usage of traditional CI tools. Study limitations included: the size of the population, the consideration of additional factors (such as education level) that were not gathered, and a qualitative exploration would have provided a richer description of the topic. Implications of this study include: human resources, resource allocation, and identification of other means of obtaining competitive intelligence outside of tool usage. The implication to human resource management relates to hiring practices and the importance of training standardization for training on CI tools. This research provides insight with regard to resource allocation for competitive intelligence tools and supporting technologies. Lastly, if other tools are being used to produce CI and are being developed outside the organization, expenditures made to support and develop tools within the company confines could decrease or become unnecessary.