Competitive intelligence and the formulation of marketing strategy.

The area of competitive intelligence (CI) and its working relationship with marketing strategy formulation (MSF) has received limited in-depth research. Previous reports and studies on this relationship have largely ignored the contribution which CI can make to MSF. This is partly because managers and academics themselves, have not yet identified the relationship. It is also extremely rare to find evidence of any investigative study looking at this aspect of CI within European companies. This paper reports on the first and only CI Doctoral study to be completed in the UK to date. The focus of the research was designed to fill the gap in current knowledge on the ‘Role of Competitive Intelligence in the Formulation of Marketing Strategy’. An overview of this work is reported here, providing the salient findings from the empirical study. Central to the objectives of the study were issues of the current state of CI in European companies, whether a relationship between CI and MSF existed at all and if so, how CI contributed to the marketing strategy process.