Definitions for "competitive intelligence"
(CI)- according to the Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals, CI is a "process of monitoring the competitive environment to enable senior managers in companies of all sizes to make informed decisions about everything from marketing, R&D, and investing tactics to long-term business strategies." The field is populated by practitioners who are former employees of powerful government/military intelligence agencies such as the FBI and the CIA. However, CI should not be confused with the illegal and unethical practices that characterize industrial espionage. One example of how CI might be carried out is to guess what R&D a rival firm is engaged in by noting the topics their in-house scientists are presenting papers on at conferences. View records related to this term
Competitive intelligence is the process of monitoring the competitive business environment for information on everything from marketing to long range business planning.
Analysis of an enterprise's marketplace to understand what is happening, what will happen and what it means to the firm. CI business goals may be offensive: to confidently position the firm in the marketplace, to plot a course for future positioning and to allocate short- and long-term resources; or defensive: to know what is happening, what may happen and how to react.
Data gathered and used by a company for the purpose of learning about its competition in a given market.
Keywords:  company, information
Information about what a company's competitors are up to.