21784 Global Business Competitive Intelligence

Subject level: Postgraduate

Handbook description

Business or competitive intelligence (CI) is increasingly used by firms seeking to improve their ability to compete globally. Traditional management information systems are often unable to keep track of global opportunities and threats, or else provide so much information that decision makers are overwhelmed. Business and CI is an important aspect of strategic planning. As such, it draws on, develops and applies concepts from a number of disciplines.

Subject objectives/outcomes

On successful completion of this subject students should be able to:

1. understand the discipline and practice of CI gathering, analysis and synthesis in a global business environment
2. identify and articulate the ways in which improved, detailed, business and CI might contribute to better results for a corporation within the context of the global environment
3. identify opportunities and appropriate techniques to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of a corporation's business and CI capability
4. implement and manage business and CI systems appropriate to a corporation and its competitive, legal and ethical environments.

Contribution to graduate profile

Many organisations today operate within the global business environment and are constantly assessing various opportunities for overseas investment from a global, country, local and market perspective. This is a wide canvas on which to consider critical business decisions. The subject provides students with an opportunity to develop knowledge, competencies and values in relation to the discipline and practice of CI gathering, analysis and synthesis in a global business context, as well as the establishment of CI systems within the home organisation. Students are taken through a series of analytical processes related to the strategic considerations of possible country entry and investment, using a wide range of possible factors.

Teaching and learning strategies

Lectures, discussion groups, case studies and intelligence gathering assignments will be used to cover the major issues relating to this subject. Lecture and other teaching material and subject information will be available at UTS Online. In addition the lecturer will be available for individual consultation face-to-face or online throughout the semester.

Content

• Theories and concepts of CI for global business
• Commencing an intelligence search
• Trends, events and issues in globalisation and the potential impact on global business
• Country analysis
• Market/industry analysis
• Country political risk and strategic decisions
• Analysing and synthesising CI to enhance global competitive advantage
• Developing and managing a CI system
• Contemporary issues in global business — case studies
• Contemporary issues in CI systems — case studies.

Assessment

Assessment item 1: Competitive Intelligence Report (Individual)

Assessment item 2: Competitive Intelligence Report (Group)

Assessment item 3: Class Presentation Report (Group)

Required text(s)

There is no prescribed text for this subject but a useful reference book for this subject (which is out of print) is:

Cook, M and Cook, C, 2000, Competitive Intelligence, Kogan Page, London

Indicative references

Most material for the subject can be sourced from the internet. A primary reference source is the: Competitive Intelligence Review available through UTS Library databases – Wiley Interscience.

Other suggested references

Fuld and Kahaner are two of the foundation writers on competitive intelligence. Fuld has a website which may yield some useful material. However remember that Fuld is involved in a commercial venture as a CI consultant. You can do a search on competitive intelligence to find material in this field. For globalisation, a much broader topic, you can start with the names outlined below, but there are now many texts in this field. Work by Stiglitz should be readily available on the web.

Some early references on CI and globalisation

Cook, M and Cook, C, 2000, Competitive Intelligence, Kogan Page, London

Fuld, LM, 1995, The New Competitor Intelligence, John Wiley and Sons, New York

Hulnick, A, 2002, Risky business, Harvard International Review, Fall, Vol 24, Issue 3, pp 68-72

Kahaner, L, 1996, Competitive Intelligence, Simon and Schuster, New York

Kahaner, L, 1998, Competitive Intelligence: How to Gather, Analyse, and Use Information to Move Your Business to the Top, Touchstone Books, New York

Kotler, P, Jatusripitak, S and Maesincee, S, 1997, The Marketing of Nations, The Free Press, New York.

MacDonald, S, 2002, Globalization and Risk: A Contingent Response for Democratic Governance, Administrative Theory and Praxis, Vol 24, Number 1, March, pp 31-54

Mitroff, I, 2002, Crisis learning: The lessons of failure, The Futurist, Vol 36, Issue 5, start page 19

Pauchant, T and Mitroff, I, 2002, Learning to cope with complexity, The Futurist, Volume 36, Issue 3, May/June, pp 68-69.

Porter, M, 1990, The Competitive Advantage of Nations, Macmillan, London

Stiglitz, J, 2001, Failure of the Fund: Rethinking the IMF response, Harvard International Review, Summer, Vol. 23, Issue 2, pp 14-18

Stiglitz, J, 2002, Globalism and the World's Poor, The American Prospect, Princeton, Winter, A16-A21

Weiss, L, 1998, The Myth of the Powerless State, Polity Press, Cambridge, UK.

Reference websites

Most of your competitive/country intelligence gathering for the assignments will be web based. The following organisations can easily be found on websites using your preferred search engine. They are noted here to get you started but are not meant to be a complete list. You will need to do your own research. This is the value of the subject – that on your own you start to learn how to seek out this kind of intelligence, especially for country specific information. Be careful though in terms of how you review information obtained from these organisations. You will need to think deeply about the facts or issues that are outlined. Remember that you should not necessarily take claims made on such Websites completely at face value. There may be bias. The intelligence might be out of date, or unreliable. Look and analyse the information carefully.

• World Bank (country reports)
• CIA (Factbook) (country reports)
• International Monetary Fund
• World Trade Organisation
• Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Australia) (country reports)
• European Union
• Transparency International (corruption ratings)
• Government Websites (watch for bias)
• Economist Intelligence Unit
• BBC World
• CNN
• Wikipedia (this source may not be reliable so you will have to verify with other sources of CI)