Increasing the competitiveness of company by competitive intelligence

Abstract

The article defines three basic factors of the Competitiveness Innovation, competitive strategy and competitive intelligence and their common designation as Competitive Engineering. Furthermore, the article deals with the definition of the term of Competitive Intelligence with regard to its relationship to the concept of Business Intelligence. The author states that the definition of Competitive Intelligence is based directly on the principle of work of state intelligence services with the difference, that the Competitive Intelligence uses only legal sources of information and legal methods in its work. The starting point for support of his understanding of the concept of Competitive Intelligence is comparison of two fundamental meanings of understanding the actual concept of information. The author tends to the view that for the purposes of Competitive Intelligence it is necessary to understand the concept of information not only in its own content as an objective entity, but that it is necessary to combine this information with the recipient (analyst) who interprets the contents of this information on the background of his knowledge and experience. Herewith the author gets to his understanding of the concept of Competitive Intelligence as a prediction about the future state in the neighbourhood of the company. There is also referred the author's concept of Competitive Intelligence, which he understands as an application discipline of the system theory and his own definition of the term Competitive Intelligence. In the discussion is given attention to the existing departments of Competitive Intelligence in the industrialised countries, and to the departments of the Competitive Intelligence Center and Innovation Intelligence Center.