Abstract
M.A.
Managers have an important and prominent role in an organisation. As
decision-makers they hold the authority and responsibility to act on the
available information. As leaders, they set examples and promote a culture of
information sharing and collaboration. As strategists, they ensure that
information policies are well aligned with the organisation's mission.
One of the greatest challenges facing an organisation is to understand how
the external environment is changing, what the changes mean, and how the
organisation can best respond to the new provisos. The process of learning
about the external environment is environmental scanning, i.e. the art of
gathering and interpreting information about the environment enabling the
organisation to have the knowledge to develop effective courses of action.
The goal of information management is thus to harness information resources
and information capabilities to enable the organisation to learn and adapt in
an ever-changing environment.
Key information processes will be assessed with reference to special
problems of managing each process. At the same time the opportunity for
change would be highlighted by combining an understanding of information
use behaviours with a more flexible, user centred design of information
services and systems.
Competitive intelligence on the other hand is the systematic process of
gathering and analysing information about the activities of competitors and
general business trends to further the organisation’s goals. All definitions point
toward creating knowledge from openly available information by use of a
systematic process involving planning, collection, analysis, communication
and management which result in decision-maker action. While competitive
intelligence incorporates knowledge management processes of collecting and
storing knowledge, competitive intelligence definitions discuss the actual
analysis of the gathered information.
Key factors for success of information management in organisations reinforce
the need for the integration of business strategy and information. The key
factors are the relationships with customers and suppliers; flatter management
structures and better use of resources; training and quality and environmental
issues. Each of these factors rests on information, its use, creation, storage
and dissemination.
A process approach to information management supports the integration of
business strategy and information. The calls for integration come from at least
three different communities: information management, information systems
and management. Successful companies are those that adapt to and shape
their environments. They do so by using and creating information in a process
of continuous improvement and innovation.
Key factors for success in organisations reinforce the need for integration of
business strategy and information. Managers in firms see their success as
dependent on their organisation's ability to accommodate and manage
change and to respond to changes in their environments.
The study concludes with a case study of Pyromet Technologies showing that
it is possible to have an integrated strategic information management model
incorporating all three variables successfully.