The contribution of CI to the strategic decision making process: Empirical study of the European pharmaceutical industry.

The practice of Competitive Intelligence (CI) is common in the US pharmaceutical industry but there is little evidence to suggest that the European industry has adopted CI to the same extent. This study reports on a specific sub-set of the overall CI activity, namely the contribution which CI makes to the strategic decision making (SDM) process. CI managers in the European pharmaceutical industry were selected and the results from 79 questionnaires and 14 in-depth interviews are provided. Results indicate that the CI activities in respondent firms are reasonably well established and also that the pharmaceutical industry appears to appreciate both the benefits, and requirements of a modern day CI function. However, the industry is not taking full advantage of the CI effort at every stage of the SDM process. Conclusions are drawn which highlight areas for potential improvement. The article also identifies the managerial implications from the findings with suggestions for further research topics associated with this area.