É de conhecimento geral que as mudanças ocorridas no contexto global provocaram mudanças profundas na sociedade e, sobretudo, na competitividade das organizações. Hoje, obtém-se vantagem competitiva através da gestão ótima dos conhecimentos organizacionais, representada pela transformação da informação em inteligência. Este movimento tem se fortalecido no ambinte corporativo em função da crescente necessidade dos gestores tomarem decisões mais assertivas em meio à grande quantidade de dados e informações disponíveis. Diante deste cenário, o processo pelo qual as organizações convertem informação em inteligência tem sido tratado como inteligência competitiva (IC). No Brasil, encontram-se diferentes termos que descrevem este processo, como inteligência de mercado e inteligência de negócios. O fato é que, independente da taxonomia utilizada, as iniciativas práticas em termos da implantação de ações organizacionais e pesquisas científicas têm se intensificado ano após ano. Entretanto, ainda se sente a necessidade de um modelo integrado da IC com as demais estruturas teóricas e práticas que seja capaz de facilitar a compreensão deste fenômeno em sua totalidade. Por isso, o presente trabalho desenvolve uma visão holística sobre a IC e, para isso, é utilizado o método de teoria fundamentada (grounded theory) baseado na triangulação de métodos de pesquisa quanti-quali. De um lado, a pesquisa teórica permitiu compreender a relação entre os diversos aspectos conceituais do tema, destacando a análise quantitativa das publicações em IC que identificou os campos de pesquisa e as referências bibliográficas mais relevantes, utilizada para identificar os principais constructos do modelo holístico. De outro lado, os estudos de caso permitiram confirmar a validade de algumas proposições identificadas no referencial teórico para a construção do modelo. Assim, o trabalho oferece a construção de uma visão holística de IC que emerge dos resultados obtidos ao longo do trabalho, constituído sobre métodos científicos. / Transformations in the global context have caused some deep changes in society, specially in organizations competitiveness. Nowadays, it is possible to achieve competitive advantage through an optimal management of organizational knowledge, represented by the transformation of information into intelligence. This tendency has gained strength in the corporate world because of the growing need of managers to make more assertive decisions due to a great quantity of data and information available. Inside this scenario, the process by which organizations convert information into intelligence has been treated as competitive intelligence (CI). In Brazil, the practical initiatives on the implementation of organizational actions and scientific research have intensified year after year. However, an integrated CI model with all the structures, both practical and theoretical is still necessary to facilitate the understanding of this phenomenon in its totality therefore, this project develops a holistic view of CI. It is based on the grounded theory method, composed of quantitative and qualitative researches. On the one hand, the theoretical research allowed understanding the relationship between the conceptual aspects of the theme, highlighting the quantitative analysis of CI publications that identified fields of research and relevant references, used to identify the key constructs of the holistic model. On the other hand, the case studies have allowed confirming the validity of some propositions identified in the theoretical framework. Thus, this project offers the construction of the holistic view of CI that emerges from the results obtained during the work, constituted of scientific methods.

O presente trabalho estuda a existência de relação entre o monitoramento do ambiente externo por uma organização e sua orientação estratégica. A abordagem metodológica é empírico-positivista de natureza quantitativa com método de pesquisa survey (levantamento). Elaborou-se um questionário fundamentado na tipologia de Miles e Snow (2003) para identificar a orientação estratégica e no estudo teórico de Daft e Weick (1984) para identificar o modo de monitoramento. Analisaram-se 120 questionários respondidos por profissionais relacionados ao monitoramento em organizações de grande porte. Empregaram-se técnicas de análise multivariada para identificar e classificar o modo de monitoramento em procura formal e procura informal. Classificou-se a orientação estratégica em Prospectora (inovação), Defensiva (eficiência), Analítica (híbrida) e Reativa por meio de questões da escala de Conant et al. (1990). Os dados da amostra indicam o predomínio de organizações Analíticas. As Prospectoras parecem mais presentes entre as organizações multinacionais. No geral, o monitoramento procura informações quantitativas de fontes claramente definidas, sendo os concorrentes o principal foco de atenção. Os aspectos econômicos, de inovações tecnológicas e regulatórios são mais observados do que os socioculturais e políticos. A falta de apoio da Alta Direção é percebida como a principal dificuldade da prática do monitoramento. A estruturação das atividades, a estruturação das informações coletadas e a ocasionalidade das pesquisas qualitativas são aspectos que diferenciam a procura formal da procura informal. Como principal resultado, encontraram-se indícios de que o modo de monitoramento varia com a orientação estratégica, com uma tendência da procura formal ser mais utilizada pelas organizações Analíticas e Prospectoras e da procura informal, pelas Defensivas e Reativas. Daft e Weick (1984) pressupõem a ocorrência maior de uso da procura formal pelas Analíticas do que pelas Prospectoras, o que não foi evidenciado neste trabalho de investigação. Considera-se que o viés da inovação presente nas Prospectoras e o viés do seguimento de inovações bem-sucedidas nas Analíticas demandam uma observação mais abrangente e constante do ambiente, justificando nestas organizações a tendência ao monitoramento do tipo procura formal pela sua maior estruturação e regularidade. / This research investigates the relationship between the scanning of the external environment by an organization and its strategic orientation. The approach was the quantitative-empirical-positivist method together with the survey research method. It was developed a questionnaire based on the typology of Miles and Snow (2003) to identify the strategic orientation and the theoretical study of Daft and Weick (1984) to identify the scanning mode. One hundred twenty questionnaires completed by professionals involved with scanning in large organizations were analyzed. Techniques of multivariate analysis were used for identifying and classifying the scanning mode in formal search and informal search. The strategic orientation was classified as Prospector (innovation), Defender (efficiency), Analyzer (hybrid), and Reactor by using questions of Conant et al. (1990) scale. The sample data indicate the predominance of Analyzer organizations. The Prospector organizations seem more prevalent among multinational companies. Overall, scanning seeks quantitative information from clearly defined sources, with competitors being the main focus of attention. Economic, technological innovation and regulatory aspects were more observed than socio-cultural and political aspects. The lack of support from top management is perceived as the main difficulty in the practice of scanning. Activity structuring, structuring of gathered information, and the occasional qualitative research are aspects that differentiate formal search from informal search. As a main result, it was found evidence that the scanning mode varies with strategic orientation, with a tendency of formal search being more used by Analyzer and Prospector organizations, while informal search is more frequent among Defender and Reactor organizations. Daft and Weick (1984) assume a higher use of formal search by Analyzers than by Prospectors; however, this was not evidenced in this study. It was considered that the bias of innovation present in Prospector organizations and the bias of following successful innovations in Analyzer organizations require a more broad and continuing observation of the environment, which explains the tendency to the formal search type scanning mode in these organizations due to its greater structuring and regularity.

O presente trabalho tem como tema a Inteligência Competitiva (IC), assim entendida como o conjunto das atividades envolvidas na coleta, análise e utilização estratégica de informações do ambiente competitivo no processo decisório das empresas. A IC é aqui estudada a partir de uma visão distinta de seu Contexto e de seu Processo. Argumenta-se que as empresas interpretam seu Ambiente Competitivo (AC) de forma distinta e, por esse motivo, organizam-se diferentemente para as atividades envolvidas no Processo de IC. Investiga-se neste trabalho os relacionamentos entre o modo com que essa empresa interpreta o ambiente competitivo e os elementos característicos do Contexto e do Processo de IC, com foco em empresas fornecedoras de produtos e serviços para órgãos do governo federal brasileiro. A partir de pesquisa realizada com uma amostra de 73 empresas, o estudo adiciona indícios confirmatórios da validade de alguns dos constructos teóricos de IC propostos na literatura e conclui pela existência de uma relação entre o modo com que a empresa interpreta o seu ambiente competitivo e as características de seus elementos contextuais e de suas atividades de IC. / This study discusses Competitive Intelligence (CI), defined as the set of activities involved in collection, analysis and use of strategic information from the competitive environment in decision-making process of organizations. CI is studied here from a perspective of its context and its process. It is argued that firms interpret their Competitive Environment in distinctive ways and, therefore, organize themselves differently for the activities related to CI. This work investigates the relationships between the way in which companies interpret the competitive environment and the elements characteristic of Context and Process of IC, focusing companies that supply products and services to federal agencies in Brazil. From a survey conducted with a sample of 73 companies, the study adds evidence confirming the validity of some of the theoretical constructs of IC proposed in the literature and concludes that there is a relationship between the way the company interprets its competitive environment and the characteristics of their contextual elements and activities of CI.

O objetivo da dissertação é explorar Redes Bayesianas como ferramenta para reduzir incertezas nos processos de Inteligência Competitiva. Nela, através da revisão de conceitos de Planejamento Estratégico, Tomada de Decisão, Inteligência Competitiva e da capacidade de inferência de Redes Bayesianas é proposta uma abordagem de utilização destas redes com este intuito. Para tanto um estudo de caso apresenta o passo a passo da implementação da abordagem proposta em um ambiente simulado de gestão. No estudo de caso, cada uma das etapas da modelagem de cenários é descrita em detalhes, salientando os cuidados necessários para esta modelagem. Com a modelagem finalizada, dois quase-experimentos foram conduzidos em ambientes simulados para avaliar a percepção e o desempenho dos tomadores de decisão que utilizaram Redes Bayesianas em relação aos tomadores de decisão que não a utilizaram. Os dados obtidos no primeiro quase-experimento não se mostraram confiáveis e no segundo quase-experimento não formaram uma amostra significativa do ponto de vista estatístico. Não obstante, foi possível apresentar contribuições através das observações e dados obtidos nestes quaseexperimentos conduzidos. Do ponto de vista processual, falhas na construção dos quaseexperimento e sugestões de melhoria foram apresentadas. Quanto à ferramenta modelada e construída com base em Redes Bayesianas, foi possível identificar percepções do usuário relativas ao seu uso e sugestões de como aprimorá-la. Quanto aos dados de desempenho obtido, foi possível analisar, no segundo quase-experimento, indícios, mesmo que não conclusivos, que justificam a proposição de novos estudos para aprofundamento. Com base na literatura e nos indícios obtidos é possível acreditar que Redes Bayesianas podem ser usadas na redução de incerteza nos processos de inteligência competitiva e de tomada de decisão. / The aim of this work is to explore Bayesian Networks as a tool to reduce uncertainties in the process of Competitive Intelligence. Here, by reviewing the concepts of Strategic Planning, Decision Making, Competitive Intelligence and the ability to infer of Bayesian Networks, it is proposed an approach for using these networks with this purpose. For this, a case study presents a step by step implementation of the proposed approach in a simulated management environment. In the case study, each step of the modeling scenarios is described in detail, emphasizing the care required for this modeling. With the modeling complete, two quasi-experiments were conducted in simulated environments to assess the perception and performance of decision makers who used Bayesian networks in comparison to the decision makers who have not used it. Data from the first quasi-experiment were not reliable and the second quasi-experiment did not form a representative sample from the statistical point of view. Nevertheless, it was possible to make contributions through the observations and data from these quasi-experiments conducted. From the standpoint of procedural, flaws in the construction of quasiexperiments and suggestions for improvement were presented. Regarding the tool modeled and constructed based on Bayesian Networks, it was possible to identify user perceptions regarding their use and suggestions for how to improve it. As for the performance data obtained, it was possible to examine in the second quasi-experiment, evidence, while not conclusive, that justify the new studies on the subject. Based on the literature and the evidence obtained, it is the possible that Bayesian Networks can be used for reducing uncertainty in the process of competitive intelligence and decisionmaking.

Access to correct and updated intelligence about our environment is in an increasingly degree considered important in the private as well as in the public sector. At Mälardalens University, competitive intelligence as an area of research is closely related to Information Design - a multidisciplinary consideration which goal is to improve the receiver´s understanding of intended messages. This study was conducted in order to find out how Information Design was represented in different kinds of literature regarding Competitive Intelligence. Also, it describes the main focus areas concerning Competitive Intelligence in the same literature. Through an explorative "pearl-growing" method combined with searches through referrals, 60 different sources provide a broad basis for analysis. Results state that considerable differences between the sources exist regarding approach and focus, although some major similarities are visible as well. However, in the examined literature, Information Design reveals itself as a subject of slight importance at best. / Tillgång till korrekta och uppdaterade underrättelser om vår omvärld betraktas i allt högre grad som viktigt i såväl den privata som den offentliga sektorn. Vid Mälardalens Högskola relateras omvärldsanalys som vetenskapsområde till Informationsdesign - en tvärvetenskaplig disciplin vars mål är att öka förståelsen hos mottagaren av avsiktliga meddelanden. Studien genomfördes för att ta reda på hur informationsdesign behandlades i olika slags litteratur om omvärldsanalys. Dessutom beskriver den huvudsakliga fokusområden kring omvärldsanalys i samma litteratur. Genom en explorativ ”pearl-growing”-metod kombinerad med referenssökningar ger 60 olika källor en bred bas för analys. Enligt resultaten finns avsevärda skillnader mellan källorna beträffande infallsvinkel och fokus, även om en del stora likheter också är synliga. Informationsdesign, emellertid, visar sig i den undersökta litteraturen vara ett område av i bästa fall underordnad betydelse.

Our aim with this thesis was to closer study business intelligence to be able to present an overview of both the concept and the phenomenon. We have also developed a framework that show how business intelligence can be used effectively. We think that our framework can be of help to under-stand the areas which constitutes the core of business intelligence. We think that the framework we have developed is a good basis for the im-plementation of business intelligence in an organisation and that it also can be of help in the daily business intelligence work. / Vårt mål med denna uppsats var att studera business intelligence närma-re för att kunna presentera en övergripande bild av både begreppet och fenomenet. Vi har även tagit fram ett framework för hur en effektiv an-vändning av business intelligence skulle kunna se ut. Vi tror att vårt fra-mework kan vara till hjälp för att förstå de områden som utgör kärnan i business intelligence. Vi tror att det framework vi tagit fram är en bra grund för införandet av business intelligence i en organisation och att det även kan vara till hjälp i det arbete som dagligen utförs gällande business intelligence.

The research aim is to understand how the competitive intelligence (CI) process in large-scale Swiss telecom companies contributes to management decision-making. Studying CI activities of the Swiss large-scale telecom firms (Swisscom, Sunrise, Orange/Salt, Cablecom) in a dynamic European context offers useful insight into the critical challenges that service firms now face when developing intelligence in disruptive market contexts where aggressive competitive behaviour is evident. In considering CI theory, this study has reviewed perspectives drawn from research on the CI process, studies on knowledge management and work on systems thinking. In extending the predominant modular view of CI to include elements of systems thinking, this study has added to our academic understanding of CI at firm level. An Integrative CI Activities framework was developed that enables a more holistic perspective of CI to be adopted, taking account of operational, organisational and strategic perspectives. A diagram representing the range of CI analysis methodologies has also been generated, that differentiates between internal/external orientation and static/dynamic forms of CI analysis. Such frameworks can be used by CI researchers in other market contexts. The methodology for this study drew on a pragmatist philosophy, using a case study strategy that adopted mixed methods in data collection, including semi-structured depth interviews with top CI Analysts in each firm. Findings have shown differences in the scope of CI Activities that link to stages of CI development (developing, developed) and variation between headquarters-centred and firm-centred approaches to CI planning and implementation. The adoption of query based, flexible analysis approaches in firm-centred settings differ from more structured CI analysis techniques in headquarters-based firms. Evidence from this study suggests that networked communication, strong feedback mechanisms and the adoption of more flexible CI analyst roles link to more effective CI processes and to greater potential for direct CI contribution to decision-making. Key contributions emerge through the three lenses of analysis adopted (operational, organisational and strategic); in terms of operational CI processes, the study identifies a complex integrated system at work in firms that implement CI effectively. In studying the link between organisational structure and CI analysis, the study has mapped organisational support patterns and how they shape the CI process at firm level. With respect to the strategic lens, following a detailed worked study of predictive analysis in one case firm, findings have identified adaptiveness in CI design as essential to address disruptive market change. Managerial consideration include a need for a) greater flexibility in CI implementation at firm level to adapt to turbulent markets, b) acknowledgement of the importance of the CI analyst role further and c) more dynamic CI content to be generated by CI analysts.

This thesis concerns technologies useful for competitive intelligence purposes. Its structure follows the scheme of the competitive intelligence cycle. For every phase of this cycle applicable techniques are specified, and possibilities of their software support are reviewed. The basic technique is deconstruction of competitive intelligence process to its basic components, and searching and exploring methods which can be used within those components. That means, above all, evaluation of usable software. The aim of my thesis is to make readers acquainted with principles of competitive intelligence, bring together different methods of work, and introduce useful technologies including particular software products. This thesis should also be helpful in deciding about methods in case of planning competitive intelligence, and what advantages and disadvantages it brings.

Executive information systems or Business Intelligence (BI) systems are implemented in the majority of companies today. Contemporary trend is to focus these systems on the Corporate Performance Management (CPM), in which special processes, methodologies and metrics necessary for measurement and management of the business performance are used. This thesis explores how principles and tools of Competitive Intelligence (CI) may be applied in these systems. CI is another discipline useful for strategic management of a company. In the theoretical part of this thesis are briefly described principles of BI, CPM and CI. The main aim is to analyze the possibility, whether we can extend a potential of the executive information systems through the usage of Competitive Intelligence principles and technologies. This part is based especially on technical literature and other relevant sources. The practical part of the thesis explores these questions on a real system called the Business Navigation System (BNS). The aim is to analyze BNS in a viewpoint of Competitive Intelligence serviceability and to design new functionality. The contribution of this thesis in the theoretic area is the consideration; whether it's possible to derive benefit from the principles of CI in the executive information systems. The practical contribution is an evaluation of BNS and the suggestions, how to involve technologies of CI to the some modules of this system.

This thesis discusses the opportunities of using open data particularly from the perspective of commercial organizations. At first, the concept of open data is generally described including the relationships with related concepts. The thesis also mentions the general benefits and estimated economic impact of using open data. Next, it is described the current situation of open data activities in the Czech republic, the current possible sources of open data and also the possible business models for open data. The practical benefits of this thesis include the visualized outputs from the content analysis of national open data catalogues data.gov.uk and govdata.de, which demonstrate what kind of published datasets are available in those catalogues as an example for the Czech republic and also the conclusions of the performed pre-survey on demand for open data in the Czech republic. Based on this and similar surveys around the world, it was found that there is a big interest on open data from the commercial organizations and the biggest issue is its insufficient availability.