Commercial Intelligence


The concept explains how to define, gather, analyse, and distribute intelligence about products, customers, competitors, and any aspect of the environment needed to support executives and managers in making strategic decisions for the organisation.

Technique Overview

Commercial Intelligence

Commercial Intelligence Definition

Commercial intelligence (CI), also known as corporate or competitive intelligence, is information on business environments and competitors obtained from open sources (McGonagle and Vella, 2002; Hastedt and Guerrier, 2010). According to the Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals, commercial intelligence gathering is the process of ethically collecting, analysing and disseminating accurate, relevant, specific, timely, foresighted and actionable intelligence regarding the implications of the business environment, competitors and the organisation itself (Oubrich, 2011).

Commercial Intelligence Description *

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Business Evidence

Strengths, weaknesses and examples of Commercial Intelligence *

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Business Application

Implementation, success factors and measures of Commercial Intelligence *

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Professional Tools

Commercial Intelligence videos and downloads *

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Further Reading

Commercial Intelligence web and print resources *

Commercial Intelligence references (4 of up to 20) *

  • Bergeron, P. and Hiller, C.A. (2002) Competitive Intelligence. Annual Review of Information Science and Technology, Vol. 36, pp. 353-390.
  • Bose, R. (2008) Competitive Intelligence Process and Tools for Intelligence Analysis. Industrial Management and Data Systems, Vol. 108(4), pp. 510-528.
  • Chen, H., Chau, M. and Zeng, D. (2002) CI Spider: A Tool for Competitive Intelligence on the Web. Decision Support Systems, Vol. 34, pp. 1-17.
  • Choo, C.W. (1998) The Knowing Organization: How Organizations Use Information to Construct Meaning, Create Knowledge, and Make Decisions. New York: Oxford University Press.

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