Advancing Competitive Intelligence as a Correlation of Competitive Advantage in Iraqi Banking Industry

Abstract

The extant literature suggests that firms could gain and sustain competitive advantage using competitive intelligence. Competitive intelligence is a tool that keeps firms abreast of changes in market preferences, technology, competition, and social and strategic positionings. However, despite the fairly-developed corpus on the link between competitive intelligence and competitive advantage, the literature seems short on treating this relationship within the banking sector of the Arab world. Drawing on the resource-based view (RBV) and knowledgebased view (KBV) frameworks, this paper advances competitive intelligence as a correlate of competitive advantage in the Iraqi banking industry. Four hypotheses were advanced, and methods were suggested for collecting data (through the appropriate instruments) and testing the hypotheses. The result may provide a starting point or motivation for further research in this direction.