Table A1. Selected definitions from...

Table A1.

Selected definitions from environmental scanning to competitive intelligence

Year	Author(s)	Definition
1967	Aguilar	Environmental scanning is the process that seeks information about events and relationships in a company's outside environment, the knowledge of which would assist top management in its task of charting the company's future course of action
1979	Montgomery and Weinberg	Strategic intelligence systems can help managers to learn about the important environments with which their organization interrelates and to become aware of threats and opportunities that are posed
1980	Porter	The objective of a competitor analysis is to develop a profile of the nature and success of the likely strategy changes each competitor might make, each competitor’s probable response to the range of feasible strategic moves other firms could initiate and each competitor’s probable reaction to the array of industry changes and broader environmental shifts that might occur
1984	Eells and Nehemkis	Corporate intelligence serves as an information aid to the chief executive officer in the execution of his broad responsibilities, geared to the strategic questions of the chief executive officer’s choosing
1987	Vella and McGonagle	CI uses public sources to find and develop information on competition, competitors and the market environment
1992	Herring	Successful strategies are derived from good intelligence concerning a company's total business environment, including the competition. That intelligence must describe both the company's current competitive situation and its most likely future competitive environment
1994	Bernhardt	CI is at once both a process and a product, rooted firmly in the notion that Increased understanding of competitors strengths and weaknesses leads to more effective strategy formulation’
1995	Ettore	CI is a process of knowing what the competition is up to and staying one step ahead of them, by gathering information about competitors and, ideally, applying it to short and long-term strategic planning
1995	Fuld	It is easier to describe what intelligence is not, rather than what it is. It is not reams of data base printouts. It is not necessarily thick, densely written reports. In addition, most certainly it is not spying, stealing or bugging. In its most basic description intelligence is analyzed information
1995	Prescott	The purpose of a CI program is to develop action-oriented implications for managers. Intelligence also needs to be delivered on a timely basis so it can be incorporated into the decision-making process
1996	Kahaner	CI is a systematic program for gathering and analyzing information about your competitors’ activities and general business trends to further your own company’s goals
1998	Achard and Bernat	CI managers have a role in enriching data throughout the information cycle – to transform information into exploitable intelligence, which can be used by decision-makers
1999	Walle	CI can help inform and strengthen the entire strategic planning process as well, yielding sound strategic plans that are more in tune with competitive circumstances and better able to withstand external pressures
2000	Miller	CI is information that’s been analyzed to the point where you can make a critical decision
2001	Fleisher and Blenkhorn	CI is the process by which organizations gather actionable information about competitors and the competitive environment and, ideally, apply it to the decision-making and planning process to improve their performance
2001	Rouach and Santi	CI identifies relevant information quickly and helps the make more successful technological choices. It increases the chances of patent approval. It audits a company’s scientific and technical assets and compares them with its competitors. It detects market threats and opportunities and identifies winning strategies in unknown areas
2002	Fleisher and Bensoussan	Intelligence may be defined as the value-added product resulting from the collection, evaluation, analysis, integration and interpretation of all available information that pertains to one or more aspects of an executive’s needs and, that is, immediately or potentially significant to decision-making
2002	Bergeron and Hiller	The collection, transmission, analysis and dissemination of publicly available, ethically and legally obtained relevant information as a means of producing actionable knowledge. Furthermore, CI is the production of actionable knowledge for the improvement of corporate decision-making and action
2008	Bose	CI allows a company to anticipate market developments proactively – rather than merely react to them. This in turn allows a company to remain competitive by improving its strategic decisions and leading to better performance against its competitors
2008	Calof	Intelligence helps your company sustain and develop distinct competitive advantages by using the entire organization and its networks to develop actionable insights about the environment (customers, competitor, regulars and technology). It uses a systematic and ethical process involving, planning, collection, analysis, communication and management
2013	Du Toit	CI is a strategic tool to facilitate the identification of potential opportunities and threats
2016	Bulger	CI is the robust integration of insights from intelligence pools that are identified across the business environment and in collaboration with other functional areas and disciplines that are synthesized to gain a comprehensive picture of a market in its current state and in its probable future state. The resulting outcome of integrated intelligence efforts is critical decisions influencing and supporting recommendations required to drive and gain a competitive advantage for an organization

Year	Author(s)	Definition
1967	Aguilar	Environmental scanning is the process that seeks information about events and relationships in a company's outside environment, the knowledge of which would assist top management in its task of charting the company's future course of action
1979	Montgomery and Weinberg	Strategic intelligence systems can help managers to learn about the important environments with which their organization interrelates and to become aware of threats and opportunities that are posed
1980	Porter	The objective of a competitor analysis is to develop a profile of the nature and success of the likely strategy changes each competitor might make, each competitor’s probable response to the range of feasible strategic moves other firms could initiate and each competitor’s probable reaction to the array of industry changes and broader environmental shifts that might occur
1984	Eells and Nehemkis	Corporate intelligence serves as an information aid to the chief executive officer in the execution of his broad responsibilities, geared to the strategic questions of the chief executive officer’s choosing
1987	Vella and McGonagle	CI uses public sources to find and develop information on competition, competitors and the market environment
1992	Herring	Successful strategies are derived from good intelligence concerning a company's total business environment, including the competition. That intelligence must describe both the company's current competitive situation and its most likely future competitive environment
1994	Bernhardt	CI is at once both a process and a product, rooted firmly in the notion that Increased understanding of competitors strengths and weaknesses leads to more effective strategy formulation’
1995	Ettore	CI is a process of knowing what the competition is up to and staying one step ahead of them, by gathering information about competitors and, ideally, applying it to short and long-term strategic planning
1995	Fuld	It is easier to describe what intelligence is not, rather than what it is. It is not reams of data base printouts. It is not necessarily thick, densely written reports. In addition, most certainly it is not spying, stealing or bugging. In its most basic description intelligence is analyzed information
1995	Prescott	The purpose of a CI program is to develop action-oriented implications for managers. Intelligence also needs to be delivered on a timely basis so it can be incorporated into the decision-making process
1996	Kahaner	CI is a systematic program for gathering and analyzing information about your competitors’ activities and general business trends to further your own company’s goals
1998	Achard and Bernat	CI managers have a role in enriching data throughout the information cycle – to transform information into exploitable intelligence, which can be used by decision-makers
1999	Walle	CI can help inform and strengthen the entire strategic planning process as well, yielding sound strategic plans that are more in tune with competitive circumstances and better able to withstand external pressures
2000	Miller	CI is information that’s been analyzed to the point where you can make a critical decision
2001	Fleisher and Blenkhorn	CI is the process by which organizations gather actionable information about competitors and the competitive environment and, ideally, apply it to the decision-making and planning process to improve their performance
2001	Rouach and Santi	CI identifies relevant information quickly and helps the make more successful technological choices. It increases the chances of patent approval. It audits a company’s scientific and technical assets and compares them with its competitors. It detects market threats and opportunities and identifies winning strategies in unknown areas
2002	Fleisher and Bensoussan	Intelligence may be defined as the value-added product resulting from the collection, evaluation, analysis, integration and interpretation of all available information that pertains to one or more aspects of an executive’s needs and, that is, immediately or potentially significant to decision-making
2002	Bergeron and Hiller	The collection, transmission, analysis and dissemination of publicly available, ethically and legally obtained relevant information as a means of producing actionable knowledge. Furthermore, CI is the production of actionable knowledge for the improvement of corporate decision-making and action
2008	Bose	CI allows a company to anticipate market developments proactively – rather than merely react to them. This in turn allows a company to remain competitive by improving its strategic decisions and leading to better performance against its competitors
2008	Calof	Intelligence helps your company sustain and develop distinct competitive advantages by using the entire organization and its networks to develop actionable insights about the environment (customers, competitor, regulars and technology). It uses a systematic and ethical process involving, planning, collection, analysis, communication and management
2013	Du Toit	CI is a strategic tool to facilitate the identification of potential opportunities and threats
2016	Bulger	CI is the robust integration of insights from intelligence pools that are identified across the business environment and in collaboration with other functional areas and disciplines that are synthesized to gain a comprehensive picture of a market in its current state and in its probable future state. The resulting outcome of integrated intelligence efforts is critical decisions influencing and supporting recommendations required to drive and gain a competitive advantage for an organization

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