Intelligence from Space

The spatial element, which is omnipresent in data and information relevant to organizations, is much underused in the decision-making processes within organizations. This applies also to decision-making within the domain of Competitive Intelligence. The chapter explores how the CI function may benefit from developing a spatial perspective on its domain and how building, exploring and using this perspective may be supported by a specific class of information systems designed to handle the spatial element in data: Geographical Information Systems (GIS). The chapter argues that the key element for linking GIS to CI involves the identification of situations in which spatial analysis may support organizational decision-making within the CI domain. It presents a three-step procedure for identifying how CI may recognize spatial decision problems that are useful to boost the operation of the CI function. The first step concerns identifying relevant spatial variables, for instance by analyzing economic, demographic or political trends as to their spatial implications. The second step involves using GIS for positioning the organization with respect to the identified variables (present and projected position). The third step amounts to drawing strategic conclusions from Step 2 by assessing how the competition in relationship with the own organization would be positioned along the identified spatial analysis lines.

Building a Competitive Intelligence System

Competitive intelligence is understood as the process of acquiring environmental data and transforming them into strategic relevant intelligence. To realize the activities in the four stages of the intelligence process (directing, collecting, analyzing and distributing), a so-called intelligence infrastructure is needed. This infrastructure consists of all the requirements (division of tasks and responsibilities, human resources, and ICT) to perform the intelligence activities. In this chapter we propose an infrastructural approach to designing and implementing a competitive intelligence system. In the infrastructural approach, it is acknowledged that ICT solutions are only a part of the total infrastructure, realizing the CI activities. Moreover, the infrastructural approach is characterized by a specific view on the development process. The different elements of the infrastructure are simultaneously developed and the design of the process is actually executed by the future users. The goal of this participative design process is to create user commitment by taking the interests and needs of the potential users into account. This commitment is supposed to be a necessary prerequisite for a successful implementation of a CI infrastructure. In this chapter, a case is described to illuminate how an infrastructural approach with respect to CI works.

A Framework for Business Performance Management

To manage their performance in a dynamic and complex environment, organizations need forward-looking intelligence. Forward-looking intelligence is the ability to make reliable predictions about where the business is going to and what is driving the business. To produce forward-looking intelligence, an organization should have an insight into its business drivers, an adequate management process, and skilled people able to collaborate and share knowledge. To support the production of forward-looking intelligence, the role of information technology is crucial. However, the existing decision-support infrastructures in companies often fail to support this production. In this chapter, a framework is presented that can be used to structure and organize the production of forward-looking intelligence. This framework also serves as a background for the evaluation and implementation of a supportive ICT infrastructure.

Enabling Strategy Formulation by ICT

In this chapter the role of ICT for competitive intelligence is approached from the perspective of strategy formulation. The authors hold the view that competitive intelligence can be seen as knowledge necessary for the process of strategy formulation. To determine the role of ICT, it is proposed to examine (1) the process of strategy formulation, (2) the knowledge relevant for the process of strategy formulation and (3) the knowledge processes in which the intelligence relevant for the process of strategy formulation is produced and processed. If these three elements are clear, the role of ICT for competitive intelligence can be reformulated as the support of ICT for the knowledge processes, producing and processing the necessary intelligence for strategy formulation. In the chapter, the process of strategy formulation and the knowledge it requires will be described by using the Viable Systems Model of Stafford Beer. It results in an “ICT-architecture” for supporting the knowledge processes, producing the relevant knowledge for strategy formulation.

Using Web Link Analysis to Detect and Analyze Hidden Web Communities

A great deal of current as well as previous studies on web links has focused mostly on improving the performance of information retrieval systems. The vast but untapped wealth of information from link-related messages generated by online communities has yet to attract the attention of the competitive intelligence researchers and practitioners. The latter groups have depended mainly on traditional intelligence sources while cognizant that much of the information which impinges upon their competitive strengths is shaped by events external to the firm. In view of the foregoing, we present in this chapter an exploratory framework for extracting and exploiting patterns of self-organizing, hyperlinked web communities for corporate intelligence purposes. More specifically, this chapter summarizes how the proposed analytical framework has been applied to MicroStrategy Inc.’s website to give us a glimpse of stakeholder communities’ reactions to the enterprise’s activities and identify some early warning signals. The framework can thus be considered as a prototypical approach for exploiting the Web’s structure and content for Web intelligence purposes.

The Source Map

In the collection stage of the intelligence cycle, one has to determine relevant sources, access them and retrieve data from them. For each data class, many possible sources are available and determining the right ones is often difficult. Moreover, accessing sources and retrieving data may require a lot of effort. In this chapter, we present a tool for supporting the effective and efficient use of sources—the “source map.” In essence, a source map links data classes to sources and contains meta data about these links. These meta data indicate the adequacy of sources in terms of ease of access, ease of retrieval, and usefulness of the retrieved data. A source map can support the selection of appropriate sources (given a required data class), and it can support the assessment of the overall adequacy of available sources.

Sharp Connection

Assessing the value of ICT to support Competitive Intelligence presumes an understanding of the relationship between the two. The chapter argues that starting from either the ICT or CI side to this relationship and linking to the other, as most studies do, cannot secure a fully adequate conception of ICT’s value to CI. Instead, the challenge is to find an appropriate foundation in the relationship itself and use it as a stepping stone for developing an understanding of both ICT and CI. The chapter proposes to use and develop the concept of acceptability to provide that foundation. Acceptability offers a natural connection between the technology and CI sides. An object—e.g., a technology—cannot be acceptable in a void, but presumes a relation to a context or a subject—e.g., the CI function—to be considered acceptable or unacceptable. The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and Task-Technology Fit model (TTF) provide useful elements to develop this approach further. The chapter presents the case of an intranet to support CI, called IntraTel, to illustrate the argument.

It's All in the Game

In this chapter, we explore the role of simulation games for intelligence activities. Although games have been used in intelligence activities, the contribution of building and using simulation games to Competitive Intelligence has, to our knowledge, not been examined thoroughly. In this chapter we fill this gap by explaining the building and using stages of simulation gaming and by discussing the contribution of these stages to directing, collecting, analyzing and disseminating Competitive Intelligence. Moreover, we discuss the role of ICT to enhance the contribution of simulation games to competitive intelligence.

Using Groupware to Gather and Analyze Intelligence in a Public Setting

This chapter focuses on the use of groupware to support local governments in activities in the intelligence cycle. Local governments in The Netherlands have a central role in developing integral safety plans for their district. However, in the implementation of safety plans the contribution of partner organizations such as the fire department and police force is indispensable. Each of the partners may have its own priorities with regard to safety. Using electronic meetings, representatives of all partner organizations identify safety problems within their district and decide on the priority of issues. In two meetings of four hours each, safety problems are analyzed and conclusions formulated to which partners feel committed. This article describes the design of the meetings and reports on results for nine municipalities. Results indicate that participants find that the electronic meetings contribute to intelligence activities. Participants feel the quality of communication in the sessions is high, and their insight into the problem is increased. The sessions support dissemination of intelligence, as shown by an increase in consensus on the problem and commitment to conclusions. Electronic meetings therefore seem an effective and practical way to support key activities in the intelligence cycle, and to develop policies that will be implemented.

The Role of Information and Communication Technology in Competitive Intelligence

This chapter discusses the role of ICT for competitive intelligence activities. To this end, it starts with an introduction to competitive intelligence. Next, it discusses possible uses of ICT for intelligence activities. In this discussion attention is paid to the use of the Internet, to general purpose ICT tools, to ICT tools tailored to one or more of the intelligence stages, and to business intelligence tools (data warehouses and tools to retrieve and present data in them). Finally, the chapter describes how organizations may select ICT applications to support their intelligence activities.