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Background about competitive intelligence:

• Distinct business function: Competitive intelligence began as a special area of marketing research but it has grown beyond its origins. Its now a distinct, free standing business function and today it provides information in all business areas not only marketing

• Importance: Competitive intelligence allows us to gain information about competitors strategies, capabilities and options by carefully observing the competitors activities thus valuable clues can obtained.

• Intelligence performs two separate tasks:

- offensively seeks information about competitors

- defensive in nature and works to protect the organizations information from its competitors

• Term espionage & catch as catch can way: The author used the term espionage but not to refer to illegal techniques of gaining information. However, the term espionage here refers to initiative and qualitative methods resulting from using different forms of information in a catch as catch can way.

Distinct Field:

As stated before, competitive intelligence is now a distinct field that was originated from marketing research. However, it came out with its own tools and techniques.

• The field has been triggered by:

1- computer revolution

2- the wide range of data available through the internet

3- the availability of satellite photographs

4- one more thing is the need for competitive intelligence techniques in special situations

• Special methods of analysis: as a distinct field, it also has special methods for analyzing data

• The nature of information gathered: The information gathered from competitive intelligence are not usually based on hard facts. However, they are formed of several independent observations based on assumptions and intuitions that build up the basis strategic decision.

• Generalization: competitive intelligence as stated is an important different entity which serves...