Competitive Intelligence Education: Competencies, Sources, and Trends

Information Management Journal, Mar/Apr 2004 by Fleisher, Craig S

* Blackboard, WebCT, and other Internet-based platforms used by most large-sized university instructors

* self-contained and scheduled CDs like the Iron Horse Media/Fuld War Room product

* Web seminars such as those offered by SCIP

Technology is also increasingly a larger part of CI course content. For example, it would be difficult to teach CI without discussing the importance of database management and structure, secondary data acquisition formats and processes, network formats, enterprise information systems integration, information security, and communication protocols.

5. Active tone - There is a growing awareness that CI is learned through actively listening, reading, discussing, and performing. The first three typically had been emphasized through the early days of CI education in the 1980s and 1990s, but actively "doing" CI has grown. Most CI educational offerings require learners to participate in assignments and projects that put their new understandings into practice. Students can rarely pass contemporary courses without having demonstrated competence in, for example, a data-acquisition assignment such as querying a supplier about developments in their field, formulating recommendations about a competitor's next development offerings, or designing the architecture of a CI information system.

Salary studies by SCIP and others have demonstrated that advanced degrees are worth correspondingly more in terms of a CI practitioner's compensation. What is not known is whether an advanced degree is a necessity to serve in certain CI capacities or whether individuals already in the profession have greater tendencies to seek additional education. For those practitioners who recognize that they require continuing education, they must make a choice as to the appropriate nature and content of their studies. This dilemma points to the ongoing difficulty of a field that lacks agreement about a common body of knowledge and has no overseers in the form of professional bodies or governmental agencies to lead and regulate it.

Future of CI Education

The demand and need for effective CI practitioners have remained stable and strong through several decades and economic cycles. Educational offerings to meet this demand will likely grow slowly but steadily into the future. Prospective and current CI practitioners will have many opportunities to acquire and learn needed CI competencies, although these may not necessarily emanate from post-secondary institutions. Through astute combinations of formal and self-directed learning opportunities, CI practitioners can readily acquire the knowledge, skills, and abilities they need to be effective in an increasingly knowledge-based environment.

References

Barr, M.M. and R. Basch. Super Searchers on Competitive Intelligence: The Online and Offline Secrets of Top CI Researchers. Medford, NJ: CyberAge Books, 2003.

Blenkhorn, David L. and Craig S. Fleisher. "Teaching CI to Three Diverse Groups." Competitive Intelligence Magazine 6(4), 2003.