The Corporate Information Agency: Do Competitive Intelligence Practitioners Utilize It?

This article reports on a research study investigating the use and perceptions of corporate information agencies by competitive intelligence (CI) practitioners. The corporate information agency is a corporate library or an information/knowledge center. CI practitioner refers to those business professionals, in various organizations, who are particularly committed to strategic and competitive intelligence analysis and production activities. In this study, we administered a survey to a sample of 214 CI practitioners to ascertain the extent to which they utilize, are aware of, and perceive the usefulness of corporate information agencies provided by their organizations. With 63 valid responses, we observed high degrees of use, awareness, and perceived usefulness. Multiple regression results also show significant correlations between perceived usefulness and use of the corporate information agency among the responding CI practitioners. Supported by empirical evidence, these findings provide a benchmark of knowledge regarding the value of corporate information agencies in CI practices.