Competitive intelligence: a scientometric analysis of the literature

Abstract

Currently, if a company has accurate information regarding any issue, there is no guarantee that company managers will make the best decision - having such information only represents the first step in a decision-making process. In fact, companies are seeking new tools to support this process and thus increase their capability to make a decision through competitive intelligence (CI). This suggests that companies are seeking better performance by adopting CI tools, but these theories are not well established academically. In this context, this article proposes a scientometric analysis study, such as that conducted by Jourdan et al. (2008), to determine the CI categories. A scientometric analysis was developed that identifies five relevant research fields - business intelligence, environmental scanning, knowledge management, strategy and decision. This article suggests a framework that describes how these fields are related to competitive intelligence.

Keywords:
Competitive intelligence; Business intelligence; Scientometric analysis