The literature of competitive intelligence - The Library in Corporate Intelligence Activities

In his work for upper-level managers, Mathey (1991) provides a well-balanced picture of the competitive intelligence process. He clearly explains how systematic and highly specific methods of information collection can be implemented. Perhaps most useful, especially for those information professionals who are accustomed to the gathering and organizing of information but not to its analysis, is Mathey's attention to competitive analysis activities. He argues strongly that CI, with a strong analytical component, is an excellent return on investment.

Likewise providing a useful chapter on analysis, Vella and McGonagle (1988) survey such topics as (intentional) disinformation, the integration of competitive intelligence into business planning and defensive CI. Several appendixes in the book are of potential use for CI professionals or departments: "The CI Process-an Outline," "A CI Classification System" (a system of classifying the reliability of data, not of information sources), "Competitor Analysis Outline," and "Setting Up an Internal CI Unit."

Experienced business librarians will not be enlightened by The Competitive Intelligence Handbook by Combs and Moorhead (1992). Several chapters introduce standard business reference sources but do not approach the breadth and depth of any of the standard guides to business information. The authors also provide information on specialized databases and a short discussion of books about CI. Perhaps the most useful chapter presents some "axioms of competitive intelligence" including the following:

* most of the information needed for a given project is available

through publicly available channels;

* information is where you find it;

* single sources of information are unreliable;

* someone else cares about the subject; and

* companies, like individuals, leave a paper trail as they go about

their business.

Some of these guidelines are common research strategies, others are merely inspirational; yet for novice information seekers these truisms are succinct and their explanations potentially instructive.

ESPIONAGE AND SECURITY

The competitive intelligence literature frequently emphasizes that intelligence activities are legal means of acquiring information about companies, their products, their personnel, and the business environment. There is a large related literature about industrial espionage (and counter-espionage), trade secrets, and security that can be fruitfully consulted by CI professionals. While such areas are beyond the scope of this issue, two examples are useful here. One is a book-length bibliography of works about industrial espionage and trade secrets from 1907 through 1984 (Sable, 1985). Besides providing a comprehensive list of works on the topic, it examines the growth of the field as reflected in the literature decade by decade. The second, a book about industrial espionage, can serve-despite its age--as an introduction to intelligence-gathering methods (Bottom & Gallati, 1984). It is intended to be a guide for security managers who want to guard against spies and saboteurs. It is not a spy manual but rather an introduction to covert information-gathering tactics and the means of preventing them. Not included, of course, are issues affected by advances in clectronic storage and retrieval, communications technologies, and networks. Major or topics include: