Journal of Small Business and Entrepreneurship Development

The Opportunities of the Use of Competitive Intelligence in Business: Literature Review
Assoc. Prof. Ligita Gaspareniene, Assoc. Prof. Rita Remeikiene, Prof. Vaidas Gaidelys

Abstract
The article is aimed at the revelation of the opportunities of competitive intelligence application in business using different ways and tools of information collection. The scientific literature identifies the following stages of CI interpreting it as a process: establishment of the need, evaluation of the need, need fulfilment plan, need funding, long-term plan making. However, companies not always search for the information about competitors’ actions but they might want to seek to protect their information from competitors. Under the conditions of this reverse need, the following stages of CI can be defined: identification of possible threats, evaluation of the threats; assessment of threat level, selection of priorities, funding, and threat elimination. It has been established that the most popular CI information sources are as follows: company’s own knowledge obtained while searching competitors’ websites, participation in fairs and exhibitions. It shows that information is easily accessible, although it is not always reliable or verified. The model presented by the authors of the article enables to identify the main specificities of CI using in big and small - medium business sectors. The main differences between these two sectors include CI funding and access to secret competitors’ information.

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