卷 14, 编号 3 (2020): SPECIAL ISSUE “COMPETITIVE INTELLIGENCE”
- 年: 2020
- 文章: 8
- URL: https://journals.rcsi.science/1995-459X/issue/view/23526
EDITORIAL
Competitive Intelligence through the Eyes of the Professionals
Forsajt. 2020;14(3):6-13
6-13
STRATEGIES
Intelligent Technology Scanning: Aims, Content, and Practice
摘要
In business or government operations, surprise is rarely a good thing. Although sometimes positive, the effects of unexpected events and developments can take a variety of difficult forms – from being simply inconvenient to disastrous. However, foreseeing the future accurately is a difficult process, especially futures that involve dealing with emerging technologies. Further, unexpected new technology developments can produce significant surprises.
The main response to this uncertainty is to establish early warning systems that help anticipate technological surprises. However, many specific internal company early warning efforts set up to anticipate technological surprises are often not effective. Even when successful, early warning alerts can end up not being enough. Not only are responsive actions by managers essential to dealing with potential surprises, but real benefits can occur when a future technology warning is turned into a company advantage through deliberate actions that arise from the warning process. Incorporating the full set of technology intelligence (TI) practices is an important element of creating a business edge by managing and potentially exploiting surprises.This paper provides an overview of technology intelligence (TI) as practiced by many organizations today, from the private, government, and international sectors. The discussion begins with describing TI objectives and process and then presents several elements of how TI operations are conducted, focusing on TI customers, descriptions of TI needs, and how to address them.
Forsajt. 2020;14(3):15-29
15-29
Contemporary Practices of Intelligence Support for Competitiveness
摘要
This paper focuses on the practices, assessment approaches, procedures, and applied aspects of competitive intelligence (CI). The study relies upon a survey of CI practitioners conducted in 2019 and a comparison of its results with a similar survey in 2006. It was found that companies spend the time devoted to this activity mainly on processes that go beyond collecting information, including planning, analysis, communications, and management. Most enterprises have official divisions and profile managers. The results are used to perform a variety of strategic and tactical tasks.The main sources of information are the Internet, company employees, customers, and industry experts. Compared to 2006, a new key resource has emerged — social networks. Of the analytical methods, SWOT analysis and the study of competitors are most often used. Several channels of communication are used simultaneously to disseminate the received information, mainly email and presentations are used. Key performance criteria are customer satisfaction and the number of decisions made based on the information gathered.A comparative analysis revealed that over the period separating the surveys of 2006 and 2019, the function of the CR has become more formalized. The share of companies with centralized divisions and CI managers has grown. Currently, this activity more often goes beyond the simple profiling and evaluation of competitors. Technology assessment, economic, and political analysis are more actively practiced.
Forsajt. 2020;14(3):30-39
30-39
INNOVATION
Mapping the Technological Landscape to Accelerate Innovation
摘要
The quality of an innovative idea and the likelihood that it will lead to a successful new product or service is directly related to the quality of the information that is used to generate the idea and assess its value. Ideas based on a poor understanding of the underlying need or technologies that might be used to address that need will rarely succeed. An assessment of market attractiveness based on faulty estimates of customer readiness for your innovation and current or potential competitors’ activities and their likely response to your offering is a high-risk effort. To successfully innovate, organizations need to have the best information possible to support their development efforts and up-to-date information on the eternal factors affecting an innovative project’s success so they can decide whether it is worth continuing. Competitive Technical Intelligence (CTI) is a branch of Competitive Intelligence (CI) that provides those developing new technologies, products, and services the information required to make better project selection decisions by ensuring the organization has the best information possible on customer needs, technology options (including using external collaborations to speed development and manage risk), and the competitive environment. CTI continues to provide value throughout the development process by alerting project managers to changes that might affect the attractiveness of a project under development. While CTI shares many tools and approaches with other forms of CI, it has special characteristics that call for a different way of managing the intelligence collection and analysis. Specifically, it is common to supplement the CTI staff’s capabilities in ways not often found in other types of CI by leveraging the interest, knowledge, and skills of their users, the technical staff. Drawing on over half a century of research on technology forecasting and innovation, and several decades of the author’s working with organizations to establish CTI programs, this article outlines where and how CTI can help organizations enhance their innovative efforts.
Forsajt. 2020;14(3):41-54
41-54
The Next Pharmaceutical Path: Determining Technology Evolution in Drug Delivery Products Fabricated with Additive Manufacturing
摘要
Additive manufacturing (AM) is increasingly gaining a presence in the pharmaceutical industry, specifically in the reconfiguration of drug delivery systems wherein new products are being developed for administering pharmaceuticals inside the body, and drug testing systems wherein complex tissues are created to analyze medical treatments. This paper proposes a novel methodology of Competitive Technology Intelligence (CTI) to uncover the evolution of new drug delivery products where additive manufacturing is present. Using the multiple linear regression analysis and hype cycle model as a conceptual basis, we processed data from scientific papers and patents indexed by Scopus and PatSnap for the period of 2004–2019. The outcomes of this study can create a relevant knowledge base for decision-making on introducing novel technologies such as AM. Industrial and academic communities are devoting important efforts toward the advancement of AM in the health industry, especially pharmaceuticals. It is expected that this technology will bring new solutions to address fundamental global health problems. However, this technology is still in its very early stage. Therefore, investments should focus on research and development (RD) to build a solid foundation for commercialization in the next decade.
Forsajt. 2020;14(3):55-70
55-70
MASTER CLASS
The Business Anticipatory Ecosystem outside the “First World”: Competitive Intelligence in South Africa
摘要
The purpose of this article is to extend the Competitive Intelligence (CI) business ecosystem concept and measurements, as developed by our previous work, to South Africa. The article is based on a pioneer study on the CI business ecosystem conducted outside North America and demonstrates how the concept and measurements are applicable in other countries.The business ecosystem view considers the state of CI both in terms of intelligence practice (by firms) and the support system that enables firm practice. For this study, measures from past studies and additional revised measures were used to examine firms’ CI practice as well as CI supporting systems within government, academia, and professional associations.Through multiple lines of research, the study noted that CI remains a practiced discipline in South Africa with evidence of the field having evolved within the country. While CI practices have grown in terms of some elements (for example, academic contribution), activities in other aspects of the ecosystem have declined such as association involvement, conferences, workshops, and training. Future research should be conducted to better understand the changes in these elements and their impact uponCI practice.
Forsajt. 2020;14(3):72-87
72-87
Changing Priorities for Strategic Planning from National to Territorial Levels
摘要
This article deals with new aspects of Competitive and Strategic Intelligence applied to territorial development. Priority is given to the epigenetic role of information in enabling institutions and people to move toward new visions and new methods of thinking. Territorial security is also examined as well as different examples and how they might be implemented. Competitive and Strategic Intelligence at the territorial level must be added to already well-known methods and tools, which are all ways to develop projects linked to the ‘commons’ and well-perceived by residents. This study also emphasizes the need to explain, demonstrate, and openly present the options for territorial development to reach the widest possible consensus. A special note has been added to the introduction, since during the writing of this paper the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak has exposed details about the economic, social, and political life and challenges that the actors of Competitive and Strategic Intelligence face while seeking new approaches and a new vision of its role.
Forsajt. 2020;14(3):88-99
88-99
EDUCATION
Strategic Intelligence Teaching to Leverage Professional Success
摘要
This research investigates whether undergraduate students believe that Competitive Intelligence (CI) teaching leads to an increase in their chances of professional success, regardless of whether they want a career in CI or not. It is an exploratory study, with an initial section on bibliographic research about CI teaching, followed by assessment of the perceptions of a class of six undergraduate students in a semester-long CI course. The data analyzed were: 1) teacher assessment; 2) students’ self-assessment of the Degree of Learning (DL) in certain attributes of competence (i.e. pre-established knowledge, skills, and attitudes); 3) self-assessment of the Degree of importance (DI) for the same attributes in achieving the students’ professional success (the reference for this part of the self-assessment was the individual career strategy, created by each student during the course). Based on the DL results and the teacher’s assessment, it was found that CI instruction was positive for all students. In addition, the self-assessment results indicated high DL and DI medians for almost all attributes, suggesting broad mastery of various attributes of competence considered important by students for their own professional success (despite the limitations in terms of statistical confirmation). The present work is original and relevant as it provides initial evidence that CI teaching can increase the chances of professional success for undergraduate students, even for those who do not wish to act as CI professionals. Furthermore, it is expected that the same benefits achieved by Brazilian students will also be available to CI students around the world since the appropriate adaptations were made, which have significant practical and social implications related to their employability and success.
Forsajt. 2020;14(3):101-112
101-112