Article
To read the full-text of this research, you can request a copy directly from the authors.

Abstract

Within this article, the authors argue that intelligence management (IM) as a research area is critical for organisations. There is a need to focus on how conceptualisations of intelligence can be supported, especially when one considers the crucial role it plays in the highest echelons of most organisations. A conceptual view of IM is developed from the Problem Structuring Method, which provides a viable framework for addressing problems that are constituent of multiplicities in terms of not only actors, but also perspectives. Data are obtained for participation observation and action research. The study finds that organisations may need to concentrate on the human side of IM by embellishing the role of intelligence managers.

No full-text available

Request Full-text Paper PDF

To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the authors.

Article
Purpose – Unfortunately, the majority of studies examining business intelligence (BI) have focused on its exploitation in large firms. Often studies appear to assume that smaller firms have limited interest or capabilities in intelligence. The purpose of this paper is to redress this imbalance by extending the role of intelligence (intelligence management (IM)) to small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Design/methodology/approach – Data from a sample of 650 SMEs are analysed using multivariate techniques. Findings – The results of the data analysis suggest that entrepreneurial pro-activeness is dependent on IM and Knowledge management; but also that a model fit exists between the IM and the ability of SMEs to enact and sustain entrepreneurial opportunities. The authors also found that firm size is a determining factor in the effectiveness of IM. Originality/value – This study seeks to extend prior research which alludes to the fact that the decision-making capabilities of firms can be substantially enhanced through the exploitation of BI capabilities among SMES, which traditionally have not considered intelligence as a key competitive competency.
Article
Purpose – Virgin Atlantic Cargo is one of the largest air freight operators in the world. As part of a wider strategic development initiative, the company has identified forecasting accuracy as of strategic importance to its operational efficiency. This is because accurate forecast enables the company to have the right resources available at the right place and time. The purpose of this paper is to undertake an evaluation of current month-to-date forecasting utilized by Virgin Atlantic Cargo. The study employed demand patterns drawn from historical data on chargeable weight over a seven-year-period covering six of the company's routes. Design/methodology/approach – A case study is carried out, where a comparison between forecasting models is undertaken using error accuracy measures. Data in the form of historical chargeable weight over a seven-year-period covering six of the company's most profitable routes are employed in the study. For propriety and privacy reasons, data provided by the company have been sanitized. Findings – Preliminary analysis of the time series shows that the air cargo chargeable weight could be difficult to forecast due to demand fluctuations which appear extremely sensitive to external market and economic factors. Originality/value – The study contributes to existing literature on air cargo forecasting and is therefore of interest to scholars examining the problems of overbooking. Overbooking which is employed by air cargo operators to hedge against “no-show” bookings. However, the inability of air cargo operators to accurately predict cargo capacity unlikely to be used implies that operators are unable to establish with an aspect of certainty their revenue streams. The research methodology adopted is also predominantly discursive in that it employs a synthesis of existing forecasting literature and real-life data for accuracy analysis.
Article
Full-text available
OR's traditional problem-solving techniques offer remarkably little assistance in deciding what the problem is. New problem structuring methods (PSMs) provide decision makers with systematic help in identifying an agreed framework for their problem. The result is either a well-defined project that can be addressed using traditional OR methods, or a clarification of the situation that enables those responsible to agree on a course of action. In principle, PSMs can provide analysts with greater access to strategic problems - those engaging multiple relatively independent decision makers. PSMs' transparent methods of representation can capture differing perceptions of the situation, to help generate a consensus or to facilitate negotiations.
Article
Full-text available
Purpose To analyse the use of hermeneutics in library and information science (LIS). Design/methodology/approach Presents a literature‐based conceptual analysis of: the definition of hermeneutics in LIS; and the practical use of hermeneutics within recent LIS studies. Findings The use of hermeneutics in LIS has increased during the last decade, as has the number of authors discussing its scientific value for LIS. In many studies the interpretative character of the objects of study seen as hermeneutic in itself. This is a misconception which draws the attention away from hermeneutics as a scientific point of departure and methodology used in the study of these processes. The problem is specifically present in studies making explicit or implicit reference to a modern view of science, while studies referring to LIS as a postmodern field of study seem to be more at ease with hermeneutics. Practical implications Questions are raised on the fundamental use of hermeneutics in LIS. This may give rise to a deeper discussion on the scientific value and character of hermeneutics in LIS. Originality/value The paper questions the use of hermeneutics as a point of departure in LIS research by looking at the research made within the field. This perspective may increase understanding of the function of hermeneutics within LIS, something which is of value both for the research community and for students within LIS.
Article
Full-text available
A Business Intelligence (BI) system is a technology that provides significant business value by improving the effectiveness of managerial decision-making. In an uncertain and highly competitive business environment, the value of strategic information systems such as these is easily recognised. High adoption rates and investment in BI software and services suggest that these systems are a principal provider of decision support in the current marketplace. Most business investments are screened using some form of evaluation process or technique. The benefits of BI are such that traditional evaluation techniques have difficulty in identifying the soft, intangible benefits often provided by BI. This paper, forming the first part of a larger research project, aims to review current evaluation techniques that address intangible benefits, presents issues relating to the evaluation of BI in industry, and suggests a research agenda to advance what is presently a limited body of knowledge relating to the evaluation of BI intangible benefits. Keywords Business intelligence (BI), evaluation, decision support systems (DSS), intangible benefits.
Article
Full-text available
Recent events have made the inadequacies of intelligence services in even the most powerful countries glaringly obvious and various causes for these failures have been canvassed. Many of these problems have arisen from a limited understanding of the complexities of each phase of the intelligence cycle as illustrated by cases drawn from a variety of intelligence contexts.
Article
Full-text available
The article focuses on competitive intelligence (Cl), also known as business intelligence, which is both a process and a product. As a process, CI is the set of legal and ethical methods, a company uses to harness information that helps it achieve success in a global environment. As a product, CI is information about competitors' activities from public and private sources, and its scope is the present and future behavior of competitors, suppliers, customers, technologies, acquisitions, markets, products and services, and the general business environment. There is much more to competitive intelligence than just market research. The word assessment suggests an ongoing process using a variety of information streams and data gathering techniques including psychological profiling and new technology evaluation. The growth of CI has important implications for both the management and operation of IT units. CI supports the information needs of organizations in a variety of ways. Historically, companies have usually applied CI to the information and business planning needs of non-IT business units. Companies have also used CI in their strategic planning process. INSET: Research Methodology.
Article
Full-text available
To be able to exploit the future opportunities for Operational Research (OR), we need to prepare for them now. To conceptualize alternative futures for OR, we need to understand the potentialities of the present. To understand the present, we need to have a grasp of the past history that gave us the OR that we have, rather than some other analytic practice. OR was thrown up by a situation where traditional management methods were proving inadequate to handle the growing complexity of organizational arrangements. Problem structuring methods (PSMs) in turn were generated out of a sense that the trajectory of OR had led it away from important areas of social decision-making. PSMs have made great strides but are still encountering barriers to acceptance. This paper will explore the factors that presently constrain PSMs, and what developments could take them into new fields.
Article
Full-text available
This paper provides a review and evaluation of the use of problem structuring methods (PSMs) in practice. It starts by describing the origins of PSMs, the type of problem situation for which they are suitable, and the characteristics of some leading methods. An overview of the practice of PSMs is provided from a number of angles, including case studies and surveys of applications. A number of issues in the application of PSMs are discussed, in particular an account of the debate about evaluation of the success of PSMs; the selection of an appropriate method; multimethodology; and a variety of aspects of the maintenance of relationships with the client organisation(s). Finally, some possible future developments are suggested, especially through productive interactions with similar or related practices.
Article
Many ambiguities characterize the new, corporate role of CKO and knowledge management in general.
Article
One of the most interesting potential contributions of culture research lies at the intersection of the study of culture and the study of power. At this intersection lies a process of communication in which interested actors present particular understandings of the world in the hope of creating or sustaining preferred patterns of social relations. In this process, groups and individuals struggle to create and disseminate cultural forms that support preferred patterns of power and dominance. This article presents a methodology, critical hermeneutics, useful in analyzing these attempts. To underscore the usefulness of the approach, we applied the method to a corporation's image advertising campaign, a set of texts intended to restructure the corporation's image and reframe a set of issues in a way favorable to it. In this article, we present a research method useful in investigating the management of meaning in and around organizations, a critical hermeneutic approach. The method approaches instances of organizational communication as symbolic phenomena, as texts that require interpretation. The approach thus draws on the field of hermeneutics, an area of philosophy that deals with the theory and practice of interpretation (Palmer, 1969). But the method is also critical in the sense that it enables self-conscious reflection on the social conditions surrounding the production, dissemination, and reception of texts and on their contribution to the creation and maintenance of power differentials in and around organizations (Deetz, 1985, 1992; Held, 1980; Rosen, 1987). By combining a hermeneutic perspective with a critical interest, the method provides a structured approach to the analysis of the role of meaning in the ongoing re-creation of organizations and their environments. Critical hermeneutics can be applied to a wide range of organizational
Article
Sun Tzu's text of The Art of War remains a bestsellingand oft-referenced practioner's book. However, its generalizabilityto the current business environment is questionable. This reviewexamines two central tenets of the book – warfare anddeception – and critiques their relevance in lightof current business practice.
Article
The field of Artificial Intelligence (AI), from its very beginnings in the 1950s, has been criticized for its name as well as its ambition. Most of the debate concerns the possibility of artificial intelligence and presumes there is indeed some thing which is intelligence; the only question has been whether or not artificial systems can be built which exhibit, or have, this thing. That is, the debate has remained for the most part within the rationalistic tradition. In this section, I would like to explore two alternative approaches to this issue. The first considers the consequences of viewing artificial intelligence as another metaphor for computing. That is, perhaps certain kinds of computing systems can be usefully viewed as being like intelligent beings in some significant way. An immediate consequence of this view, of course, would be a lowering of the aims and ambitions of the field. The claim that a system displays something like intelligence is surely much weaker than the claim that it is intelligent.
Article
In recent years there has been an increasing awareness of the importance of methodology in Operational Research. The work on which this study is based was done as a first step in an attempt at empirical investigation of Problem Structuring in the practice of O. R. First, the term Problem Structuring is explained. The study then summarizes the treatments of problem structuring found in the O. R. and related literature and describes the themes running through that literature in terms of four ″streams of thought″ .
Article
Purpose The paper seeks to explain how competitive intelligence officers can participate more fully in strategy formulation and implementation, and how they can contribute to the strategic intelligence process. Design/methodology/approach The paper presents a review of the literature and the development of a strategic marketing intelligence and multi‐organisational resilience framework. Findings Competitive intelligence officers can contribute more fully to the strategic intelligence process and help establish an intelligence culture that incorporates counter‐intelligence. By adopting a broader understanding of what strategic marketing represents, marketing managers can devise new approaches to managing customer relationships and can develop international/global brand positioning strategies that when implemented counter the actions of legitimate competitors and new entrants, and disrupt the actions of counterfeiters and fraudsters. Research limitations/implications A study can be undertaken to establish how a multi‐organisational resilience value system evolves within an organisation, and how trust and credibility among competitive intelligence professionals can be developed. Practical implications Academics and practitioners can collaborate in order to establish how an intelligence culture can be created within an organisation. Furthermore, they can also collaborate in establishing how a proactive approach to risk assessment can underpin scenario analysis and planning and aid the strategic decision‐making process. Originality/value A number of insights are provided into how competitive intelligence officers contribute to the development of a multi‐organisational resilience value system that is underpinned by an intelligence culture.
Article
This paper examines the way that a major global organization manages organizational intelligence for competitive and strategic advantage. We demonstrate the full complexity of organizational intelligence management through a case observation. Earlier research has already established the fact that there is a direct relationship between good corporate intelligence and strategic change. The fact that businesses are operating within business environments that are even more complex and dynamic than before means that many firms are planning with less certainty than before. As we begin to explore possible competitive scenarios for the twenty‐first century organization, a radical rethink on current organizational intelligence strategy needs to commence, especially as companies deal with more challenging and disruptive scenarios such as terrorism and industrial espionage. The research range will need to be expanded to ensure that its implications can be tested. The procurement of more systems and data centers will not necessarily provide that strategic edge organizations need. Instead, organizations need to focus on enhancing the role of the intelligence analyst and managers. A case study is used to support arguments that the twenty‐first century organization cannot be solely reliant for its strategic planning process on systems without substantial investment in the human aspects of intelligence management. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Article
The search for scientific bases for confronting problems of social policy is bound to fail, becuase of the nature of these problems. They are wicked problems, whereas science has developed to deal with tame problems. Policy problems cannot be definitively described. Moreover, in a pluralistic society there is nothing like the undisputable public good; there is no objective definition of equity; policies that respond to social problems cannot be meaningfully correct or false; and it makes no sense to talk about optimal solutions to social problems unless severe qualifications are imposed first. Even worse, there are no solutions in the sense of definitive and objective answers.
Article
The Internet, as an information-rich resource and an interorganizational communications tool, has transformed the way that firms gather, produce and transmit competitive intelligence (CI). Yet, there is little empirical work on the impact of the Internet on CI and the subsequent effects on the organization. This study fills that gap by studying downstream impact of Internet usage on both CI and the organization. A questionnaire survey is used to gather data for the study. The findings indicate that research and external use of the Internet is significantly related to quality of CI information. However, the relationship between internal use and quality of CI information is not significant. The study also provides empirical evidence that quality of CI information is positively related to organizational impact. Implications of the results are discussed.
Article
Organizational knowledge creation theory explains the process of making available and amplifying knowledge created by individuals as well as crystallizing and connecting it to an organization’s knowledge system. What individuals get to know in their (working) lives benefits their colleagues and, eventually, the wider organization. In this article, we briefly review central elements in organizational knowledge creation theory and show a research gap related to the quality of tacit knowledge in a group. We advance organizational knowledge creation theory by developing the concept of “quality of group tacit knowledge.” Based on this concept, we further develop a comprehensive model explaining different levels of tacit knowledge quality that a group can achieve. Finally, we discuss managerial implications resulting from our model and outline imperatives for future theory building and empirical research.
Article
Exploratory search processes can greatly help the analyst in representing analytical insights in intelligence analysis. Rich information collections, which contain analyst's search results and executable collection specification by which similar information can be found together with the analyst's rationale for collecting them, can be used in the process of exploring information represented by complex graphs. The rich information collection can also represent a hypothesis, especially if it involves hypothetical entities or relationships. A user-created information element can be marked as hypothetical. Executing a rich information collection's collecting specification can serve as a search for the existence of the hypothetical entity. Diagnoistic evidence between competing hypotheses can also be represented by rich information collections.
Article
Purpose The purpose of this article is to provide a new paradigm and a practical model whereby knowledge management may reunify the founding principles of knowledge with business challenges in organizations, such as innovation or yet customer's needs. Design/methodology/approach The new paradigm revolves around the concept of collective intelligence. It is broken down into three blocks, each of which constitutes an aspect that needs to be taken into account while addressing a business challenge. In each case presented, these aspects have been exemplified, so as to show how they participate to the problem solving process. Findings The paper provides practical methods. The paper also provides information about how the approach can be applied in a great variety of domains, such as electrical engineering, health care or yet information technology. Research limitations/implications Opens a new field of reflection whereby the organization's knowledge, seen as representing its uniqueness, internal coherence and ability to solve everyday problems, can play a strategic role. Also, it is a reference for co‐innovation between partners, as the reciprocal integration between two sources of knowledge may be seen as a co‐adaptation between the organization's value chain and the partner's one. Practical implications Constitutes a real potential to develop a variety of new approaches in knowledge management, based on the concept of collective intelligence. Originality/value The paper brings together issues that are usually dealt with in separate domains, such as customer relationships, analysis of competencies and know how or yet innovation processes and value chains.
Article
The recent deregulation of telecommunication industry by the Taiwanese government has brought about the acute competition for Internet Service Providers (ISP). Taiwan's ISP industry is characterized by the heavy pressure for raising revenue after hefty capital investments of last decade and the lack of knowledge to develop competitive strategies. To attract subscribers, all ISP dealers are making an all-out effort to improve their service management. This study proposes a Business Intelligence process for ISP dealers in Taiwan to assist management in developing effective service management strategies. We explore the customers' usage characteristics and preference knowledge through applying the attribute-oriented induction (AOI) method on IP traffic data of users. Using the self-organizing map (SOM) method, we are able to divide customers into clusters with different usage behavior patterns. We then apply RFM modeling to calibrate customers' value of each cluster, which will enable the management to develop direct and effective marketing strategies. For network resource management, this research mines the facility utilization over various administrative districts of the region, which could assist management in planning for effective network facilities investment. With actual data from one major ISP, we develop a BI decision support system with visual presentation, which is well received by its management staff. � 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
The Convergence of Knowledge Management and Business Intelligence
  • C Cook
  • M Cook
Cook, C. and Cook, M. (2000) The Convergence of Knowledge Management and Business Intelligence. New York: Auerbach Publications, www.brint.com/members/online/ 20080108/intelligence/, accessed 8 July 2009.
Artificial intelligence: A hermeneutic defense Software Development and Reality Construction
  • T Gordon
Gordon, T. (1992) Artificial intelligence: A hermeneutic defense. In: C. Floyd, H. Zullighoven, R. Budde and R. Keil-Slawik (eds.) Software Development and Reality Construction. Springer, pp. 280–290.
The intelligence alchemy -A perspective for the 21st century organisation
  • S Maguire
  • G U Ojiako
  • I Robson
Maguire, S., Ojiako, G.U. and Robson, I. (2009) The intelligence alchemy -A perspective for the 21st century organisation. Strategic Change 18(3-4): 125-139.
Evaluating the intangible benefits of business intelligence: Review & research agenda
  • M Gibson
  • D Arnott
  • I Jagielska
  • A Melbourne
Gibson, M., Arnott, D., Jagielska, I. and Melbourne, A. (2004) Evaluating the intangible benefits of business intelligence: Review & research agenda. Proceedings of the 2004 IFIP International Conference on Decision Support Systems (DSS2004): Decision Support in an Uncertain and Complex World: 295-305.