Competitive intelligence: construct exploration, validation and equivalence

摘要

Purpose - Little empirical research has been conducted on competitive intelligence (CI). This paperrnaims to contribute to the quantitative strand of the CI literature by exploring and validating therntheoretical constructs of the CI process. Design/methodology/approach - Data from 601 questionnaires filled out by South African and Flemish exporters were subjected to exploratory factor analysis and construct equivalence analysisrnbetween the sub-samples. Findings - The results showed that the CI process consists of three constructs, while the context in which CI takes place consists of four constructs. This agrees to some extent with the literature. Whenrnverifying the constructs for both cultures it was found that all but one CI context construct can bernviewed as equivalent in both groups. Bias analysis identified one item in the questionnaire that wasrnbiased. Via regression analysis it was also indicated that the context in which CI takes place influencesrnthe CI process to a large extent. The research identified size as an important influencing factor in arnbusiness' CI process. Practical implications - Businesses involved in CI should take note that an improvement in theirrnformal infrastructure, employee involvement and internal information processes could enhance theirrnCI capability. Originality/value - This paper contributes towards the formalising of the constructs of competitivernintelligence.