The economic success of a country depends on its capacity to apply activities which create a competitive advantage. The business environment is highly complex in South Africa and the purpose of this article is to examine the current situation with regard to competitive intelligence (CI) activities in South Africa. Since CI is a relatively new activity in South Africa, this study is mainly exploratory in nature. A questionnaire survey methodology was used where questionnaires were administered to CI experts in organisations in South Africa. The majority of respondents has postgraduate degrees and was in either top management or senior/middle management level of their organisations. Only 55% of the respondents are of the opinion that they cope above average with changes in the business environment and 60% of the respondents strongly agreed that the most important CI activity in their organisation is to use CI to remain cognisant with government legislative trends. It is recommended that organisations should enhance a CI culture by creating CI awareness among employees and provide CI training sessions for new employees.
Purpose -While competitive intelligence (CI) is a relatively new business discipline, it is evolving in complexity and importance, to maintain pace with rapid business development. It is the aim of this paper to establish the level of maturity of the CI function within a South African retail bank based on key characteristics for different levels of maturity. Design/methodology/approach -The research for the paper is based on an extensive review of literature and application of the grounded theory research approach. Grounded theory is more interested in theory building than theory testing, which makes it eminently suitable for areas of research to which little attention had been paid and in which little exploration had taken place. For the empirical evidence, a survey was conducted among a pre-selected group of respondents of a South African retail bank by means of a questionnaire and personal interviews. Findings -The results of the survey indicated that the CI function was at a mid-level of maturity, after the underlying elements of the CI functions had been surveyed. While there is significant opportunity for the function to develop to a world-class level, such growth is limited by respondents' requirements. The CI function is used in support of various levels of decision makers for various levels of decision making. There appears to be a lack of, and great requirement for, the provision of analytical products. Respondents indicated that the CI function should move towards being a key component of company strategy.Research limitations/implications -The research was built around the various elements of the CI function, namely the key information needs of CI users, CI deliverables and capabilities, analytical products, relationship with management, sources of information, level of staffing of the CI function as well as the period of time the CI function has been operational. Some of the key findings were that the CI function should assist senior management in developing and reviewing a set of Key Intelligence Needs (KINs); that the CI function should be appropriately resourced; that the CI function should develop and deliver information on trends and implications in respect of the KINs through application of resources and analytical skills; that the CI function should develop and deliver early warning signals.Originality/value -No research has been done on the level of maturity of the CI function in South African companies. The paper provides recommendations on ways for the CI function at the retail bank to evolve from a mid-level of maturity to a world-class level.
Background: Innovation is a key prerequisite for being organisationally competitive. Therefore, it is imperative that enterprises grow and mature their innovation capability. Knowledge management plays a fundamental role in the ability of enterprises to innovate successfully. Objectives: There are no formal guidelines for using knowledge management to grow innovation capability maturity. The researchers intended to develop a knowledge management framework that enables innovation capability. Method: The scope of the research did not allow for the practical implementation of the framework. However, five industry and subject theory experts evaluated the applicability and usability of the framework. Results: All five experts reported that enterprises could use knowledge management tools and organisational facilitating conditions to allow innovation capability maturity to grow. The importance of the framework is that it gives guidelines for using knowledge management as a vehicle for growing innovation capability maturity. Conclusion: The framework determines whether enterprises’ organisational conditions and knowledge management tools are sufficient to sustain or grow their innovation capability maturity.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.