Abstract
M.Comm.
South Africa as a country continues to rank low in the world of competitiveness. The
research done for this dissertation focused on the need for South African organisations to
perceive Competitive Intelligence (CI) as one of the most important tools to improve their
competitiveness through a systematic, practical approach to make the CI cycle worth while,
especially through skills development. This study intends to identify the skills CI
professionals in South Africa need in order to conduct the CI process in organisations
effectively, thereby improving the country’s competitive position.
However, the difficulty of this task lies with organisations in general not acknowledging the
necessity of CI in the workplace. Only a limited number of organisations recognise the
importance of such a unit. A survey was therefore conducted, by questionnaire, among
organisations with existing CI units in which the respondents had to identify the skills they
deemed necessary for the CI professional to run the CI process effectively.
Findings suggested that the majority of respondents were 40 years and older, in the top
structure of larger organisations and had been using CI for longer than five years. The
overwhelming result is thus that there are skills inequalities between what skills
respondents view as crucial and those that rated highest in their self-evaluation. Skills
identified as most important include, among others, networking and research skills
analytical abilities.
The research also indicated that where CI had been established in certain organisations for
at least five years, it did not reflect positively overall on South Africa’s current competitive
situation. However, where there is a systematic CI approach, problem-solving is easier to
address and negatives could be turned around. With this in mind and a proper “buy-in” into
skills development, it will have a very positive outcome for all the organisations that wish to
improve their competitiveness.